sandra,
really, the first thing i look for in a student is how much they have
taken charge of their own singing. the first thing i ask with a new student
is "what would you like to do with your singing?" from there, we find out
how much of that goal the student can already do and fill in the blanks.
when it comes to monitoring their practice, i always ask "what are you
trying to do?" usually, the answer is a listing of things they're trying
not to do. as singing is an action, it behooves us to identify that action
first, so that we may be doing the action on purpose.
unfortunately, the process of learning to sing can be elusive. often,
the path that makes the most sense, leads nowhere. the true path is often
one you ruled out even before you started. how many times has a person
we've never met or a place we've never been to, been described to us and,
when we finally meet that person or go to that place, they turn out
completely different from what we imagined?
in this light, i would encourage the experimenter in you. an
experiment is designed to find out for certain the answer to "what if...?".
do it, tape it, assess it, repeat the experiment. confidence is knowing
something will happen, lack of confidence is knowing something will not.
until you know for certain, you have no idea. part of practicing is finding
out.
being on the right track is half the battle. finding out how far down
that road you have to go is the rest. i often play a guessing game with my
students. i tell them i'm thinking of a number (it is always 200 trillion)
and i'll tell them if they are too low or too high. it is amazing how many
give up after guessing 10. only one person has ever guessed 'too high'.
if you don't know what 'just right' is, find out what 'too little' and 'too
high' are. if you are always sneaking up on just right with the horrible
fear of going over (why can't you come back?), you may not live long enough
to reach your goal.
tape everything. keep the tapes. a year from now, if you don't like
your progress, you may need a different teacher. if you like your progress,
celebrate. the odd thing is, if you do get better, it may have been so
gradual, you didn't notice. your standards may have become more
particular,as well, to the point you thought you were getting worse. you
won't know for sure unless you have something to go on, other than what your
friends say. if you keep the tapes, you can go on your judgment, not your
friends taste.
if this is too general, tell me something you are working on and i will
tell you what i would do specifically to apply the above.
mike
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