Every now and then when I’m working with a singer during a lesson or on our YouTube channel, this question will pop up: “Do you have a practice tape that I could practice along to or can you recommend something on YouTube?” I get it — press play and sing without overthinking, often even while doing another task while practicing, like folding laundry or answering emails. But here’s why I actually dislike pre-recorded vocal exercise tracks — and why they might be holding you back.
Pre-recorded practice tracks are not tailored to your current vocal range
“Whenever I sing along to one of those warm-up tracks on YouTube, my voice gets tired” is a complaint I’ve heard all too often from singers! One of the main reasons (and the following two sections are also culprits) for that is that the generic prerecorded track is not tailored to your current vocal range! And no, choosing a track which has a voice type such as baritone or soprano in the title does not mitigate this issue because your range is to a much larger extent limited by your technical abilities than by your anatomy. Playing a track that doesn’t take into consideration this factor and singing along to it makes it rather likely for you to push and strain at least a little bit in an attempt to squeeze out a couple more semitones. And I’m not saying that a practice session shouldn’t present any challenges. On the contrary!
Practice tracks are moving along at a steady pace with no time for evaluation and corrections
I do believe that it is very important to challenge yourself during your singing practice session and you should be actively trying to expand your range beyond your current limitations. However, that should be done with enough time to evaluate each attempt and retry with corrections if the last attempt wasn’t adequate. Pre-recorded tracks just breeze along and make it hard to pause, readjust and try several attempts at the same pitch. Instead, most singers will just continue following the pitch from the track up and up several semitones above the one where the first problems started until they inevitably get up to the pitch where things fall apart completely. Instead, a singer should take pauses and reassess the strategy and technique from the first pitch where unneeded extra tension and/or instabilities present themselves.
Loss of focus
Pre-recorded tracks make it really easy to lose focus and just sing along the track without actively paying attention to the technical elements that you’re practicing. That’s sometimes even the reason people decide to practice this way – they feel they can practice while performing another task. However, focused practice beats autopilot practice every time!
Specific technical needs
The exercises you do should reflect the style of music you want to sing and the desired voice qualities you want to work on. For example, you might want to get better at brassy belted high notes in gospel songs and the tape you’re practicing with spends a disproportionate amount of time on semi occluded vocal tract exercises such as lip rolls, tongue trills or humming. That is surely not the most time effective way to work towards your goals as a singer! Your practice session needs to be tailored for your specific needs and desired outcomes!
What should you do instead?
If it’s between doing nothing and practicing along those tapes, it’s better to do something than nothing, but there are definitely more efficient ways to practice! You don’t need to be able to play complex scale patterns on an instrument nor even have an instrument nearby. You can just use a simple piano app on your phone to give yourself starting pitches. I always suggest to keep the exercises simple, but focused on a technical aspect you’re aiming to master. That way you don’t need to focus so much on executing complex scale patterns (unless that’s the point of the practice session), but you can instead focus on technical precision. After each repetition, before ascending or descending in pitch, ask yourself if the repetition you just performed met the desired technical goals. If yes, go on to the next pitch. If not, try to figure out what was out of whack, readjust and try again on the same pitch. Rinse and repeat! Only after that pitch is performed adequately with consistency, move on!
I understand that this process can seem a lot more tedious and require more mental focus, but I promise it will bring you more consistent results faster than singing along to random practice tracks on autopilot!
If you’re not sure where to start or want help tailoring a practice routine to your voice and goals, I’d be happy to work with you — feel free to reach out for a lesson here!