In the video entitled “How to Avoid Becoming Jadded” on the channel of the great composer Junkie XL (just look for Junkie XL on YouTube – a channel that I highly recommend to everyone who is interested in composing a soundtrack), there is a first answer to this (translation free):
“…I will quote a recent friend of mine, Conrad Pope, who said: if music can’t humble you, there’s something completely wrong here.”
This is also one of my first answers when asked about ways to stay motivated. In our case, from singing lessons, a good performance by a famous singer or not, can deeply motivate us . So when you catch yourself in those moments, open a video on YouTube, go to a concert by a great singer, go to a theater, find a friend who sings well, etc., and watch this show with the utmost attention.
Another very interesting way is to set small goals with defined deadlines . For example: I have to get this song ready in 2 months. The result of this preparation can be a presentation to family or friends; or our end-of-semester pocket shows; or even our recordings. In this way, we avoid that feeling of not evolving, because if we do this with a certain frequency, we will have previous records (old recordings) for monitoring.
Our motivation can also be greatly affected by the environment in which we study . A house full of colleagues, family members, pets etc can be a little intimidating for some people or, at the very least, can be very distracting. Neighbors may also complain about excessive noise depending on the type of house or building you live in.
One of the best places for you to study, without a doubt, is a studio, as stated here in this other post. But if for some reason you can’t make it to a studio, at least try to be somewhere that isn’t intimidating and also doesn’t have too many distractions. If you’ve been driving for a while, try studying in the car. Many students here at the studio have reported that this experience is super positive. Just be very careful in traffic, go slow and in the right lane if you’re singing in the car, eh? A lot of responsibility… we don’t want to cause accidents! J
A very good tip is also that if you like equipment and/or technology, try to buy hardware and software that motivate you to study . Today, I think that AT LEAST every singing student should have a USB microphone, a computer and a good headset. There are free recording software – on mac we have GarageBand (which is already installed) and on Windows you can download Cakewalk from BandLab. But if you like these subjects, you can look into some other things that can make you even more motivated. And I’m not talking about spending lots of money here, just buy what you can, think is necessary and YOU WILL HAVE TIME TO LEARN TO MIX. It’s no use having the best equipment or software in the world if you don’t know how to operate it.
Finally, if you are a person who doesn’t like routine, try to avoid it.Repetition is intrinsic to the activity of learning an instrument or singing. There’s not much to get away from it. Without several repetitions, you don’t fix, you don’t gain fluency and the musculature doesn’t strengthen. But you can, for example, change your place of study; or change the order of the exercises or even the focus of the exercises (even if it is necessary to go back to that workout you were doing and that you got tired of); or change songs (again, even if you have to go back to music that wasn’t resolved yet); or if you play more than one instrument, change the instrument you are using to accompany yourself in that study; or change the YouTube video you are using as a reference, look for another version or cover for example; if you were studying with a score, memorize it, if not (and you can read), look for the score.Anyway, use your imagination to avoid the routine!
This post has just a few examples of what most people who have passed through our studio had a problem with keeping themselves motivated, but you can be different! Test these tips, but don’t stop there! Get to know yourself and avoid the things that don’t motivate you and accentuate the things that do. The key to success is there!
