A singer’s instrument exists inside of them, so everything that occurs in the mind and body affects sound.

If you are working on breaking an habitual pattern to improve your singing, start seeing the bigger picture.

So for eg. If you are working on better postural alignment, a relaxed jaw/neck –understand that this habit may not be just showing up in your “practise sessions”.

What do I mean? Try the following:

• Start watching your body’s habitual patterns today.
• Then extend this awareness for an entire week, just being aware of what patterns are noticeable in various activities at work, school, exercise, relaxing etc.
• Pull out a notepad or your iPhone and note your findings.

Give yourself just this week be interested and avoid being judgemental/critical of yourself.

You are collecting information in which to make a change.

So for example, if you have a tight jaw in singing, notice whether you are clenching or tightening your teeth/ jaw whilst you are at work, at home watching the TV? In your life at the moment is anything making you angry/upset and causing stress?

It is more than likely that the nasty habits you are working through in your singing lessons actually flow right throughout your everyday and may even stem from the activity/activities you are participating in.

If you are working on your posture, how are you sitting in your chair right now? Do you feel your sit bones equally weighted on your chair, or do you find that one side is more weighted then the other?

Habits die hard, so start by just noticing and being aware of what your postural/jaw/body habits are, as this is the first step in holistically changing a pattern and improving your singing.