Psst, have you tried bubbling?
And have you ever wondered how we keep what we learn…?
A year and a half ago I learned a great new voice exercise from a friend called the ‘lax vox’ exercise. The singer in me is on a constant journey of improvement so I was excited to try something I’d never done before.
The exercise involves having a straw in some water and signing through the straw; in my house it’s affectionately known as bubbling.
I loved bubbling! Every morning before breakfast, I was bubbling musical scales and my favourite musical theatre songs. The exercise is designed to strengthen your voacal muscular coordination and breath use. And it worked!
I was thrilled because my vocal technique really had changed. My daily bubbling turned into every other day, then would pick up again when I’m performing or teaching, then it dropped off nearly completely. And this morning I could hear and feel some difficulty in my voice.
I realised I hadn’t bubbled in a long time and I’d fallen into a familiar trap: Just because I learned the skill once, it doesn’t mean its mine forever. It’s the equivalent of going for a run once and thinking I’ll be fit for life.
We get what we practice for.
When I was in the daily practice of bubbling, my voice was always getting stronger and so it’s obvious that that would drop away when my daily practice did.
So this morning I got bubblin’ and decided I’m playing for keeps.
