How Working on your Voice Satisfies All Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions
According to the Daily World Buzz, the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for each year are listed below. I am not sure where they get their list, but I can’t argue that these things are probably on many lists, and if you Google New Year’s Resolutions, most of these come up year after year!
The Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions are:
Get into shape, Save money, Lose weight, Give up smoking, Assess work/life balance, Learn a new skill, Be kinder to myself, Give up/ cut alcohol intake, Give up / eat less chocolate, & Clean out closets.
All of these resolutions are about making changes for the better. Now, wouldn’t it be great if you could make just one commitment, make one change, or take on one new activity in the new year that would satisfy of all of them? Well, I humbly submit that you can. Studying voice will do all this and more. How?
Let’s take a look at the resolutions and see how
1 Get into shape. Singing is a very physical activity. Breathing for singing alone can be very demanding if done correctly. Little known fact: It’s quite possible to get a “six-pack” from practicing proper breathing! (My partner will validate mine.) Plus, most teachers will require that you stand in front of a mirror during lessons or to practice, and there is nothing quite like mirror-time to convince you to get in shape!!
2 Save money. Well, I can’t help you here because you usually have to pay for lessons. But I suppose your desire to improve yourself may be motivation to sock away the dollars needed for the lessons, and if you can save for one desire, perhaps you can save money for other things too.
3 Lose weight. The increased activity from learning to stand and breath properly will help you drop pounds and inches, especially if you also eat less (not most singer’s strong suit, but….), and since you have to fit lessons into your life, you will probably have less time to eat than you did before. And then of course, you will have to stand up in front of your fans to show them your progress, so you will need to look good in your rock star outfit!
4 Give up smoking. Smoking makes your vocal folds dry and irritated and compromises the process of singing or even speaking well. Progress is very slow and can be frustrating. You will probably have to quit smoking in order to study voice or it may be a waste of your time and money. Besides, no voice teacher worth her salt will work with someone who is a smoker. It just doesn’t make sense.
5 Assess work/life balance. Although studying voice may add another activity to your already-busy life, the thought of taking it on can force you to assess your work/life balance. And humming at work is a great way to keep things in perspective.
5 Learn a new skill. If you have never studied voice before, you will obviously be learning a new skill. But if you already sing or are a public speaker, you will still learn new skills. In fact, when it comes to voices, even professionals need trained ears to hear them from time to time and advise them on their technique and improve their skill. In addition, learning to use your voice more effectively will help all of your communication.
7 Be kinder to myself. Singing is very enjoyable. Often, when I tell people what I do, they tell me that they have always wanted to be able to sing. Certainly, doing something that is fun and that you have always wanted to do is being kind to yourself, even if you think your singing in public is not kind to anyone else! So what?! Take the lessons for yourself. By the way, less than 1% of the population is actually tone deaf. Everyone else can sing to one degree or another.
8 Give up/ cut alcohol intake. With all of your practicing and lesson time, you will have less time to drink. In fact, you may want to drink less because you will be happier. Research by Dr. Alfred Tomatis tells us that singing massages the brain and calms us down. Very cool! This being the case, there is much less need to drink if you already feel good.
9 Give up / eat less chocolate. OK. This is one resolution to which I take exception. Since we all know chocolate is good for you, let’s not be stupid! In fact, I think you should take a piece of dark chocolate with you to each lesson and share it with your voice coach!
10 Clean out closets. The motivation to do this last one can easily be derived from learning to sing. First of all, you need to have a place to practice where no one else will interfere. Closets are good for that, so you will need to clean out your closet in order to find that space. Secondly, because creative activity makes you feel more energized, you will find that after a lesson you are pumped up and it will be easy to take on your closet.
In short, New Year’s resolutions require goal setting, dedication, and patience to see through. If you wish to make changes and are looking for a way to make them stick, there is nothing like a new discipline to help you. Studying voice requires dedication, patience, and a willingness to do things differently; in other words, it ’s just the kind of activity that can change your life for the better.
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