How to Practice a Tricky Song Section

Let’s set the scene:

You’ve chosen your goal for your voice and it’s practice time.

The aim today is to nail a tricky part of a song you’re working on. It could be an intricate part of the melody that you just aren’t getting yet; it could be a mind-bending riff that you’ve set your heart on being able to replicate.

You’ve tried singing the whole thing through and it just isn’t working. But that’s the extent of the tools you have: repetition, repetition, repetition. And while repeating things correctly is absolutely fantastic for building the pathways required to learn something, repeating the mistakes you’re making is just embedding them further.

So you get frustrated, criticise yourself for not being as good as you want to be, and leave another practice session feeling rubbish and never wanting to practice again.

I can absolutely relate to this scenario (because it was me!)

But giving up is not the answer. All we need is more tools in our vocal practice toolbox.

In her 2012 article for the Music Educators Journal, Stephanie Prichard outlined a number of options available to the practicing musician that can be more effective that just repetition.

In our scenario above, two things are already hugely beneficial: we have a goal for the session and we have identified the difficult section.

Prichard tells us that setting action-based goals (“I’m going to perfect this riff”) is more effective than time-based goals (“I’m going to practice for 45 minutes”).

She also outlines how certain practice strategies, including “pinpointing difficult sections” can increase practice success more than just repeating passages of music (and therefore continually practicing mistakes).

Here are some of the other commonly identified practice strategies and how we might make use of them in our singing practice:

1. Slow Practice

This strategy is possibly the most commonly considered - taking the phrase slower can help us be sure of the notes we need to be hitting, the rhythms that are tripping us up, or even the vowel/vocal quality that we will require for success. Whether we are learning from recordings or notation, this strategy is simple to employ (thanks ‘playback speed’ options on Youtube!) and can make a huge impact in a short amount of time.

2. Simplification

A step further from just slowing things down, simplifying the problematic section can be done in a number of ways.

Clapping, counting, naming notes, removing lyrics, detaching notes that may be slurred/sung on the same vowel, analysing the key, meter, or the relationship between melody and chord are all options that can help to make tricky phrases easier to conquer. Natalie Weiss does a great job of demonstrating this kind of method in her ‘Breaking Down the Riffs’ series.

I also love this approach because in analysing the basic elements individually, we can often discover why something has been challenging us. This means we can gain deeper understanding, give ourselves some grace and bring self-compassion into our singing practice.

3. Adding On

Another strategy is to start with just singing the first few notes of the section, gradually adding more and more.

This can work well, though care is needed to make sure that the latter parts are equally practised; we all have those songs where we know the first verse better than the last because our practice always starts at the top! One remedy would be to ‘add on’ backwards, starting at the end of the section and gradually adding more of the previous notes.

4. Whole-Part-Whole

Like ‘adding on’, this strategy similarly shortens the amount being practiced at one time but doesn’t work sequentially from the start (or end).

Instead, the whole phrase is sung, then the part that requires extra practice is focussed in on before it’s put back into the context of the full phrase.

5. Chunking

This strategy is again similar. It involves breaking down longer phrases into smaller chunks - perhaps a bar/measure or two - in order to focus on more achievable amounts of focussed practice, as well as helping memorisation.

6. Self-Recording

The benefits of recording yourself and then watching/listening back are numerous. Oftentimes, it’s difficult to pay attention and truly see/hear what you’re doing until you see/hear it “as an outsider”. In the case of a tricky phrase, listening back will help to assess accuracy and determine next steps.

Most people now have the ability to record their practice on their smartphones and watch it back. It may take some getting used to in order to be able to listen more objectively to your own voice, but the more you do the easier it will become.

7. Practice Journal/Log

Keeping a practice journal is a useful strategy to keep you focussed on your goals. Writing down which strategy was used during your practice session will also help you to determine which one works best for you in certain situations.

For more singing practice tips you can follow me on social media @TessaSmithMusic, or explore thesingersguide.com where there are resources all about optimising your singing practice.