VOICE RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

About Attitude and Mindset in Singing

Ingo R. Titze

A
s a voice scientist trained in physics, I can say generally
much more about the vocal instrument than the vocalist who plays
the instrument. While the player and the instrument are tightly
packaged in singing, the most successful vocalist is probably the
one who can mentally separate himself from the instrument, at least from the
mechanics of sound making. I thank Greg Enriquez, a singing teacher in Las
Vegas, for a stimulating discussion on this topic. He asked me to describe my
own singing, which I still cultivate at a rather advanced age. He was surprised
that my answers were not couched in scientific language, but rather in terms of
Ingo Titze
self-expression and communication with an audience. I was rather surprised
myself that words like register, pitch range, spectrum, and vibrato did not
surface. Everything that came out of my mouth was mental, emotional, and
experiential. Sports psychologists say that professional athletes regrettably
spend less than 20% of their practice time on mental preparation. More than
80% of the time is spent on the physical aspects of training (stretching, weight
lifting, running, jumping), with their mind peacefully turned off. Then, when
it comes to performance time, the preparation for addressing spectators,
opponents, team players, and one’s own ego is lacking.

ABOUT WINNING AND LOSING

In preparing for a vocal performance, one important decision I make is
whether the performance is of a cooperative nature or a competitive nature.
The two are often confused by vocalists. Clearly, in an audition for a role or a
part, the performance is competitive. A winner needs to be chosen. But what
about performance in a church, or at a party with friends? Should the same
mindset about “ winning the audition” be applied to every setting? I hope
there is not much difference of opinion about that.
The competitive mindset is one of winning at all times, in all situations, and
(sometimes) at all cost. To be a winner, one must be comfortable with winning,
not just once, but over and over again. Not many of us are life-scripted by our
upbringing to be winners. This is not to say that we are losers, but we’re not
comfortable with winning all the time. We want the other person to have a turn,
too. But if we follow that mentality, the odds of succeeding in a competitive
environment are low. Regrettably, your opponents must lose, over and over
Journal of Singing, September/October 2022 again, and you must feel good about that. There is no room for negotiation,
Volume 79, No. 1, pp. 53–56 sharing, or feeling sorry; even manipulation is part of the tactic of winning.
https://doi.org/10.53830/TQGB8893
Copyright © 2022
The cooperative mindset, on the other hand, is based on sharing and nego-
National Association of Teachers of Singing tiating. Everybody can be a winner, and nobody needs to be a loser. The focus

September/October 2022 53
Ingo R. Titze

is on collective success rather than individual success. you wrong.” A natural-born fighter can pull it off, but
This would be the mindset when performing at a party, following a counterscript all of one’s life creates a lot of
a family reunion, or an otherwise fun-loving gathering. psychological unrest. The fighting attitude sometimes
The situation in a church performance is still dif- carries over into social situations where winning and
ferent. Here the focus is on God. A singer or speaker is losing is not an issue; the fighters cannot take off the
only a medium, a conduit for spiritual communication. boxing gloves.
By drawing attention to oneself, one can only be a loser. The question for the vocal performer is: Can I strut
Comments like, “I was totally uplifted by this service,” or like a winner when an audience expects me to strut, and
“never has music or speech touched my soul like this,” can I return to a cooperative environment off-stage?
should be valued higher than “you were awesome,” or Most performers long for the rush that comes with the
“your voice was fantastic today.” Thus we can add a spotlight, then give it up prematurely because they are
third mindset to the competitive and cooperative ones, embarrassed and apologetic when they have it. Then
the spiritual mindset, which is often one of self-denial. they seek to regain it offstage. This flip-flop seeking and
Winning or losing is totally irrelevant. relinquishing the spotlight can be a major distraction for
It is the rare performer who feels comfortable with a vocalist. What helps is to create a performance focus,
all three of these mindsets, being able to choose appro- discussed below.
priately among them. The few who are scripted to be
winners, by their parents or teachers, usually assume PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
center stage wherever they are. They generally attract
attention, they usually have the best story to tell, and they Many performers are affected by psychological stress.
are often talked about by others. Parents or caretakers This includes preperformance anxiety, postperformance
have implanted in them a great deal of self-confidence, depression, loneliness, difficulty getting along with
and winning is an obvious and expected outcome. When others, and loss of sleep. Preperformance anxiety is a
they do not win, they are convinced that this unfortunate particularly debilitating problem for performers who
outcome was beyond their control. But their life isn’t engage in skills that require the perception of calmness,
necessarily easy. In a cooperative setting, they are often ease, and agility. Many musicians and dancers are in
viewed as arrogant, aggressive, and less than friendly. this category. One of the endearing features of opera,
This can be more of a perception than a reality, primarily art song, and ballet, for example, is that minimum effort
by those who do not understand the winner’s mindset. is portrayed when the tasks are maximally difficult.
The larger percentages of us are taught to be non- Our nervous system, which is designed for survival, is
winners and non-losers. We usually follow a dual script. not well suited for this type of trickery. When fear sets
One parent may have taught us to be competitive and in, the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous
the other parent to be cooperative. Thus, we may do system produces the “fight or flight” response, or the
everything to win, but once we have won, it feels uncom- parasympathetic branch produces the “freeze or faint”
fortable to keep repeating the victory. The second script response. These responses, stemming from the phylo-
calls for relinquishing the crown, letting someone else genetically “old” limbic system in our brain, are defense
share in the glory. This mindset is appreciated by oth- mechanisms that we have in common with animals.
ers, especially our competitors, but keeps us out of the “Fight or flight” involves a heightened activation level in
spotlight. Nevertheless, there are performance settings many muscles to either defeat an opponent in combat,
where this adaptable mindset is entirely appropriate, and or to outrun the opponent in an escape. These muscle
the consummate performer knows when to sit down and activations can be of a “shotgun” nature, totally lacking
share in the glory of others. the differentiability for precision movement needed in
For the few who are scripted to be losers as a result an artistic skill. There is also increased heart rate, dry
of many negative comments in childhood (perhaps by mouth, sweating of the palms, or tremor in the limbs.
both parents), becoming a winner is following a com- “Freeze or faint” involves inhibition of many muscles,
plete counterscript. The mindset must be: “I will prove a playing dead approach to survival. This is used by

54 Journal of Singing

 Voice Research and Technology

animals that clearly cannot overcome or escape their out the audience. The audience clearly senses this, but
opponent, hoping to become less desirable prey by being by shutting the audience out, the performer breaks the
limp or nearly dead. There may even be an inhibition of vicious cycle and does not allow the audience’s per-
the sensory system, so that an inevitable death scenario ception to heighten his fear. A protective shell is built
is rapid and less painful. This freeze or faint response is around the performer and his instrument. A slightly
obviously also not helpful to a performer who is trying broader focus is on a character that the performer por-
to demonstrate skill. The two types of responses can be trays. Preparation consists of studying the character. By
observed in vocalizations uttered by people who ride becoming someone else, fear can be eliminated because
roller coasters (or other free­fall objects) in amusement the audience is consumed with the character, not the
parks. Some scream in an uncontrolled fashion, others performer. However, motor skill has to be automated;
clam up and utter no sounds; rarely does anyone engage otherwise, the performance may suffer by the character
in normal vocalization, and, if so, it is done by those who transformation.
have overcome the fear of falling. An even broader focus can be assumed by those who
So, if fear is the culprit that disrupts our ability to have automated their skills (and know their character). A
perform skilled behavior, what are we afraid of when focus on the audience, or on the goal of the performance,
vocalizing in public? We are not being physically is an appropriate focus. Here the performer prepares
attacked, nor are we likely to fall off the stage. The real herself by getting to know the audience, their likes and
fear for performers is loss of self-esteem, humiliation, dislikes, their history. She chooses members in the audi-
being poorly evaluated by others, and (surprisingly) ence and specifically performs for them. But the broader
success itself. The last one of these fears, success, goes focus can also be the event itself, its humanitarian
back to the concept of feeling comfortable with winning. purpose. Here the performer prepares by deciding how
Being successful as a performer may mean a change of she can best meet the needs of the organizers, hoping
lifestyle, giving up certain securities (home, family, a to surpass their expectations. It should be understood
steady paycheck, watching ballgames or drama series, that, even if the invited performer is a “mega-star,” the
etc.), or having to change one’s personality. But for planned performance has a purpose other than to gratify
most performers, the fear is being evaluated, particu- the star. People behind the scenes have agendas they
larly if the evaluation involves one’s competency, ease, would like to see met.
and self­-assurance. Then a vicious feedback cycle (with Yet another focus is a spiritual one. Whether one calls
catastrophic outcomes) can be set into motion. Fear this focus broad or narrow is perhaps debatable. Here
diminishes fluency and ease, which is evaluated as less the performer seeks divine intervention. She dedicates
skillful by the audience, which is sensed by the performer her performance, and perhaps her whole life, to a
who is poorly focused, which produces more fear, which Supreme Being. This focus is extremely helpful to those
results in less fluency and ease. who are control freaks, who worry about every detail. In
a spiritual focus, control is relinquished to the Supreme
FOCUS Being. Fear is eliminated because God is in control, and
God will not abandon you if you are in his service. But
A new word has now been introduced, focus. Focus is a spiritual focus requires faith, because God works in
a self-administered strategy to overcome mild cases (seemingly) mysterious ways. An occasional “failure”
of stage fright. For some performers, this may not be by the performer may not be a failure at all in the eyes
enough; more professional approaches such as medica- of God. The “failed” performance may actually have
tion, hypnosis, or other psychotherapies may be needed. improved another person’s life in some strange way. For
But focus is a first approach for the performer to elimi- example, another person on stage, or a young budding
nate distractions that trigger fear. Focus can be narrow performer in the audience, may have derived courage
and broad, internal and external. A narrow focus is from the fact that the star is mortal. Thus, a spiritual
sometimes needed when the skill level is not yet high. focus is a long-range (eternal) focus, in which occasional
The performer focuses on execution, literally shutting failures are acceptable and inconsequential.

September/October 2022 55
Ingo R. Titze

To this point, all of the foci mentioned have been

Dr. Ingo R. Titze has served as Founder and President of the National
external. Even the narrow focus on skillful execution is Center for Voice and Speech since 1990. His was a University of Iowa
external, in a sense. When the focus is internal, that is, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Voice, Speech, and Vocal Music
on oneself, it is most destructive. In singing a difficult prior to retirement from Iowa in 2019.
aria, it is easy to lose focus after having poorly executed a He has published over 500 articles in scientific and educational journals.
run or high note. If the thought is “I have blown it,” and His book publications include Principles of Voice Production (1994), The
subsequent thinking is that my performance is failing, it Myoelastic-Aerodynamic Theory of Phonation (2006); in collaboration
with Katherine Verdolini, Vocology: The Science and Practice of Voice
usually will. The focus must immediately be changed to Habilitation (2012); and Fascinations with the Human Voice (2010), which
an external one to break the vicious fear cycle. It is better is printed in eight languages. His research interests include biomechanics
to think that the bobble may give a new dimension to of human tissues, acoustic phonetics, speech science, voice disorders,
the character, or that the audience may appreciate your professional voice production, and the computer simulation of voice. His
formal training is in Electrical Engineering (MS) and physics (PhD).
honesty in taking a chance with a difficult piece. A high
wire act in the circus would have no lasting appeal if Dr. Titze is a founding member and first elected President of the Pan-
American Vocology Association. Other professional affiliations include the
nobody had ever fallen off the wire. Acoustical Society of America, The National Association of Teachers of
To solidify the focus, performers often engage in a Singing, the American Speech Language Hearing Association, and the
preperformance ritual. This varies from doing specific American Laryngological Association. Honors include The Gould Award
warm-up exercises to eating certain meals at certain for outstanding research in laryngeal physiology (1984), the Silver Medal
Award from the Acoustical Society of America (2007), the Honors of the
times, to prayer and meditation, to relaxation therapy,
Association from ASHA (2010), and the Sundberg-Titze Award from the
to walking in a park, to reading an inspirational text, or Voice Foundation (2020). He has administered and taught in the Summer
to going over lines of text. But, for some performers, the Vocology Institute, the premiere Vocology training program, for 20 years.
ritual doesn’t work because it is not specific to the focus. He has been married to Kathy Titze for 52 years, with whom he has four
They see other people’s rituals and adopt them simply children and nine grandchildren. He remains an active singer.
as a thing to do. This can be more a distraction than a
solidification of one’s own focus.

CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE

SONG AND THE SINGER
Over the years, I have learned the importance of “put-
ting the song into my voice,” as opposed to “putting my
voice into the song.” It took me a long time realize that
most of the tenor arias I fell in love with as a kid were not
intended to be sung by vocalists who have an instrument
in the norm of the population. They were meant for the
statistical outliers. For years I struggled to reach the B ♭ s
in “Celeste Aida” and high Cs in “Che gelida manina,”
never getting to the level of expressing the emotions of
the aria. Occasionally I built a music theater song into
my practice to relax my voice. My wife Kathy applauded
and said, “That song is in your voice. You own it.”
In conclusion, while science explains much about the
vocal instrument, I would like my long-term readership
to know that when science “geeks” like me sing, their
mind is not on physics and mathematics, but they are
connecting with listeners in ways that physics has not
yet captured.

56 Journal of Singing