Where’s the best place to practice?
It’s sometimes hard to find the right time and place to practice your vocal technique. But what if I told you that there are at least 7 places in your daily life that you can effectively practice and improve your voice? If you’re anything like me, you’re probably always on the move and don’t have a lot of time to practice. Many people don’t have the luxury of taking time out to physically go to a specific location to practice like a school or practice room. So today I want to tell you about the 7 best places to practice vocal technique, the advantages of each of these places, and which skills you can work on specifically so that you can get the most out of your practice time wherever you are.
#7: In front of family and friends
Now I know this isn’t a specific location, but it’s a very important place because it can help you work on your confidence. Family and friends can be either your biggest fans or your biggest critics, and you need both in order to focus on your people skills and to learn how to deal with other people’s opinions of your voice (and there will be lots of them) especially if you decide you want to speak or sing in front of larger groups. Use the feedback you get from the people you know and apply it to your practice.
#6: At work or at school
These are two locations that are perfect for practicing your speaking voice, as well as your general communication skills. For example, if you work at a job where you’re on the phone constantly, you can use that situation to subtly practice your articulation, breath support, and vocal dynamics. If you’re still in school, you can do the same when you’re in class, whether it’s asking questions of your teachers, or talking to your friends. Also keep in mind that you’re also most likely with larger groups of people, during lunchtime, for example, so you can also use those situations to practice your people skills.
#5 and #4: Concerts and parties
I lump those two locations together because they provide similar conditions for practicing your skills, as both have to with vocal projection. Being in situations where the acoustic conditions are extreme gives you a great opportunity to work on things like breath support and playing with your sound color. These two locations are so important that I’ve made a video specifically about how to practice your vocal skills in these places, so make sure to subscribe to the channel and click the notification bell to stay up to date on when the video is available.
#3: The gym
This location may seem a little weird at first, but hear me out. If you go to a gym or fitness studio regularly, you probably use your voice a lot more than you realize, especially if you lift weights. One of the physical and psychological tools we use to lift heavy weights is our voice.
Think about it: what’s the first thing you do when you start to lift a heavy weight, or when you realize that you’re running out of juice at the end of a set? You moan and groan. You do this instinctively as a means to channel your energy into your muscles. You can use this situation as an opportunity to work on distributing your energy between your voice and your body, as well as working on your breath support and your sound color.
#2: Your car
Now assuming that you actually have a car, practicing your vocal skills here has a number of advantages. The two most important advantages of practicing in the car are privacy and sound isolation. The inside of a car is more or less soundproof by design, so you can be as loud or as quiet as you want, which makes it the perfect place to practice things like vocal dynamics. In addition to that, if your car has a stereo system, you can practice songs you download or stream from Apple Music or Spotify, or you can go totally old school and use CDs. All of this can be done while driving from one place to another or while you’re parked somewhere.
#1: The shower
Singing in the shower has all of the advantages of singing in the car, at a party, at a gym, or at work or school, but it also has a distinct advantage that none of the other locations on the list has. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed steam, then you’d be correct.
Inhaling the steam produced while taking a hot shower is like a soothing massage for your vocal folds, keeping them moist and elastic, while at the same time relaxing the muscles that control the movement of the vocal folds, and lubricating your throat. The warm water also relaxes your whole body and makes you feel good. You’re able to hit high and low notes a lot easier in this relaxed state.
Try these places out
You should try these places out and let me know how it works out for you. If there are some other crazy places that you’ve practiced that I haven’t mentioned, make sure to let me know about them in the comments below.
Now as you guys know, I’m all about helping people like you get stronger, healthier voices and bodies, so if you’re looking for a program that incorporates all of the vocal and fitness tips that I give you on this site, please check out my VOXXBODY® workout.
See you again soon!
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