If you're like most singers striving to get better, chances are good that you spend a lot of time practicing the technical side of the art; things like breath control, scales, vocal exercises, hitting high notes, tone quality - the list is endless! These things are definitely crucial to improving as a vocalist. However, in my years of studying, performing and teaching singing, I've found that most people work on the technical aspects of this art without first learning about and really understanding (on a gut level) the underlying principles that can either make these techniques effective or frustratingly INeffective.
You probably know that we humans have 5 basic senses, right? Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. But in actuality, there are more than just 5 scientists have identified over 20 different senses! Some of the more interesting ones include perception of temperature (thermoception), perception of pain (nociception) and perception of balance (equilibrioception). However, the two senses we'll be discussing in this article, which apply directly to singing, are:
1. Kinesthetic sense (proprioception)
2. Internal sense (interoception)
Kinesthetic Sense
Your kinesthetic sense (pronounced KIN-UH-STET-ICK) is how in tune you are with the movements of your body. If you want to do a quick test of your kinesthetic awareness, close your eyes and try to touch the tip of your nose with your index finger. If you wind up sticking your finger in your mouth by accident, you're either drunk (haha) or just not used to coordinating these particular parts of your body. You'll notice, however, that if you try this little test a few more times, your accuracy improves. That just goes to show you that like most things, you can train yourself to gain an amazing degree of awareness over your kinesthetic sense!
How does this apply to singing? Well, as a vocalist, there are several physical challenges you face, including: distributing your weight, aligning your hips, moving gracefully (especially if you're on stage), improving the expressiveness of your facial and body gestures, and many more. When done right, all of these parts add up to make a good performance. In fact, one of the biggest benefits of training with a quality vocal coach is that they point out all of the weird body language stuff you do when you sing; stuff you're probably not even aware of it!
To illustrate how important developing your kinesthetic sense is, a funny story comes to mind. At the university where I studied classical voice, every friday we had something called performance lab, during which music students would perform for their peers and professors in the more intimate of our two performance halls. During my first semester there, my vocal coach insisted that I perform to gain experience on stage, and since I wasn't really good yet, I was incredibly nervous about showcasing my lack of singing ability. But I studied my music, practiced it with my pianist, and when my name was called, I went up there and did my best.
The blast of adrenaline made my knees almost buckle and the song seemed to go by in a split-second. After the performance, one of my good friends, a talented musician named Alex gave me some of the most honest feedback I've ever received. "Dude... " he said, "you looked like you were jerking off." Apparently, during my performance I was moving my hands interpretively along with the music in a gesture that bore uncanny resemblance to what many teenage boys across the world do to ease their antsiness. The funniest part about it is that I had absolutely NO clue that I was doing it!
I hope you got a chuckle out of that. When Alex told me I was mortified, but looking back it's pretty hilarious. The takeaway here is that you often do stuff during a performance that you aren't even aware of, so the goal should be to improve your kinesthetic awareness in order to infuse power and persuasiveness into your performance, and avoid confusing and distracting body language. In addition to training with a vocal coach who helps point these things out, the absolute BEST way to do this is by videotaping yourself.
If you've ever recorded your voice and thought "man, that doesn't sound anything like me!" then you're already aware of the fact that what you see, hear and feel isn't necessarily what the audience is seeing, hearing and feeling. If you simply grab a digital camera or your iPhone and leave it recording during your practice sessions and voice lessons, you'll be absolutely blown away by what you discover, especially when the pressure's on!
As you study your recordings and observe your physical behavior, you'll be able to slowly begin closing the gap between what you THINK you're doing and how you THINK it looks with what's really going on. Once your own perception of your body movements matches up with how it looks to an outside observer, you'll have achieved a high level of kinesthetic awareness!
Internal Sense
Your internal sense is your awareness of and ability to manipulate various physical movements inside your body. It includes things like control of your breathing muscles, general muscular tension, coordination of fine larynx muscles, sensations of resonance and more. What makes developing the internal sense such a unique and interesting challenge is that it's mostly hidden from sight. You could even say that this is part of "learning to listen to your body," - a new agey concept for some - but not for singers in the know!
The internal sense, in my opinion, is even more vital for a singer's development than the kinesthetic sense. That one's easy; you simply videotape yourself and adjust body movements until how they look and feel match, and BAM! you've got good kinesthetic awareness (although there's always room to grow). The internal sense, on the other hand, is tricker because there's no reliable feedback mechanism that lets you observe yourself from the outside and make adjustments when something looks unusual.
However, there are a number of ways to train this awareness indirectly. Here are 3 practical ways:
1. Exercise - You have the ability to contract all of the voluntary muscles in your body, and even involuntary muscles can be controlled indirectly (the diaphragm is an example of this). Great singing requires you to "optimize" the degree of tension of individual muscles and muscle groups, from the legs, to the ribs, to the larynx and everything in between. Too much tension and your sound comes out strained and squeezed; too little tension and your notes come out flat due to lack of support. World renowned pioneer of singing and voice scientist Richard Miller coined the term "dynamic equilibrium" to describe this state of optimal tensions.
Only YOU can determine how much to contract the various muscles involved in singing. The reason exercising is so powerful in developing the internal sense is because when you repeat the same maneuvers over and over, you engage the same muscle groups and feel them strengthen and grow in relation to each other and surrounding muscle groups. If you've ever seen "The Karate Kid", you can consider exercising as the equivalent of "wax on, wax off" for developing the internal sense.
2. Partial Sensory Deprivation - Sounds fancy, but all it means is depriving your other senses of stimulation so that the internal sense gets intensified and is more easily perceived. Have you ever heard about how blind people develop a better sense of smell and hearing than people with sight? They still have the same noses and ears that everybody else has, yet they've learned to get more information out of these senses in order to get by better. In fact, brain scans show that the areas of the brain associated with the remaining senses of blind individuals actually grow and make more connections to compensate for their lack of sight.
In the same way, closing your eyes, practicing in a room devoid of any pronounced smells, making sure the temperature is perfect, and generally removing any kind of superfluous stimuli from your environment will necessarily create more awareness of the movements going on inside your body as you practice singing.
3. Conscious Attention - Sounds obvious, but the more you focus on and pay attention to what's going on "inside", the more control you'll develop over time. Working on your breath control is one of the best ways to achieve this because you're already at least partially aware of some of the mechanics of breathing, so your mind has a reference point for further awareness. Research various breathing techniques online and in books and try them out. Go to a few yoga classes and become very intimate with how the breath affects your mood, physical sense of well being and mental performance; you might be surprised at the power of this connection. Then apply what you've learned to your singing.
Conclusion
It bears repeating that YOU are the only one who can create an accurate, consistent representation of the internal body. Take ownership of this responsibility (as well as for your singing progress in general) and don't allow anybody - not even a teacher - impose their paradigm on you simply because it works for them or for some other students. YOUR body will tell you what's up, but you must learn to listen to it with complete honesty and openness.
... most singing tips are total B.S.!! Get REAL singing advice in my free singing eBook - Smart Singing Basics - simply click HERE to grab your copy!
Vic Dorfman is a vocal coach and singer and the head honcho over at The Smart Singer
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