Vocal Progress: A Concept?

One of the less clear things I've found about being studying voice in college has been feeling a sense of improvement in my technique. It's no secret that my first experiences with music were as an instrumentalist; I started playing the cello and eventually trombone a few years before I even began to take singing seriously in high school. With instruments aside from one's own voice and body, I feel that progress is a more tangible thing. You see it through etudes and the development of muscle memory. In cello, I've seen and heard it through the development of a more consistent tone, a less problematic and tense bow-hold, etc.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that voice is a completely different ballgame with this idea. We are all our own worst critics, but with voice especially it's hard to notice progress I think because of how it's so closely connected to mental activity, and not as much physical. Singing involves anatomy, but small muscles and areas that we can't necessarily "feel" outright or manipulate as well as let's say, hands or larger body parts. When learning vocal technique, what you "hear" also isn't always what you can trust. Everyone brings their own conceptions - or misconceptions - of what things should sound like when you sing. Unfortunately, these can be flawed and lead to tension areas developing, and unhealthy technique. These are all working elements that make seeing one's own vocal improvement difficult.

Fortunately for me, I had a class project this semester that made this a little clearer to me.

In my Music Technology class, I had a "Practice Audio" project to complete that focused on how practicing an excerpt or an etude once a day over the course of 10 days can actually make a difference. Granted, maybe this idea is more geared towards those who don't feel as motivated to practice, but for me this served a different purpose. Once a day for 10 days, I sat in a practice room and recorded myself singing about 1:30 of one of my German pieces I have to learn this semester. This was, admittedly, an irritating process. I would listen back, and immediately begin nitpicking at my sound's lack of consistency, flaws in my German diction, and so on. After day 10, I was relieved to not have to pull up another Voice Memo on my phone. Still, I had to assemble a single audio track that transitioned through these practice sessions, in hopes of there being signs of improvement. Once I completed and submitted this final product, I was still skeptical of there being any evidence of me making progress on the piece. I went back to the project later on and listened back, and after doing this and seeing my Music Tech professor's comments, I was a little surprised.

I actually heard progress through my practice.

It was subtle to me at first, but it was definitely there. I felt more comfortable with the melody, and more confident, and it became apparent with my sound throughout the audio as it went from session to session. My German (though not perfect by ANY stretch) was clearer, and my phrasing was more consistent. I've attached a link to the audio here, to help prove my point...hopefully.

At first the Practice Audio assignment was annoying to me and filled with a lot of unhealthy criticism towards myself, but I found that it shifted into a learning experience that was a lot more positive than I anticipated. For anyone interested, I'd recommend trying out the idea for 10 days, if not longer if you want to focus on more long-term effects. It's certainly not a perfect method, but it allowed me to notice things about my practicing that I didn't see at first, so I consider it beneficial.