Have you ever heard the expression “practice makes perfect“? I’m writing this article to comment on how inaccurate that statement really is. The reality is “perfect practice makes perfect“. Practicing mistakes will not yield a perfect performance. More importantly, in the context of rehearsing for a live performance, if the way you practice is at all different from the way you intend perform live, you’ll probably come up short of perfect.
Here’s an example from my personal repertoire.
I used to play in a band called notwithstanding, I was the lead singer and that was it. I held the microphone in my hand and I practiced at home karaoke style… that’s more or less “perfect practice”. Now take my new solo project; I’m a singer/songwriter that plays guitar while singing.
I generally practice “half-assed” by just walking around my home with my guitar and strumming along with a subtle mumble here and there. This method of practice is faulty practice and could never achieve perfect results. It most definitely improves my versatility in such ways as being able to carry conversation while I play, or move about the stage with a little dance while I solo… but here’s the real kicker.
When I perform live, I have to sing into a stationary microphone. Now because I habitually “practice” while walking around and mumbling… my body is completely untrained for the use of a microphone. On numerous ocassions, I miss the microphone all together because I am so used to looking at the fret board as I pick my melodies on the guitar. Had I practiced with a microphone stand, I could at least train myself to keep my mouth focused on the microphone and not bob around singing in all directions losing every other word.
This is what I mean by “perfect practice makes perfect”. You need to simulate the same scenario you’ll be faced with on stage. If a UFC fighter has to wear a mouth piece in the ring, then he should wear one while training. Otherwise his body will be unprepared for the lack of air flow with a mouth piece obstructing the airway in the ring as opposed to an empty mouth in the gym. If you really want to make sure you’re cardio is going to be ready, you need to prepare it with the same mouth piece you’ll be wearing in the ring.
Give it some thought. What’s different about your practice setup as compared to your live setup? Are they one in the same? Perhaps that’s what you need to rework to improve your craft. Not only have I noticed that singing without a microphone has limited my ability to be on target when performing live.
I’ve also noticed that practicing without my drum machine hasn’t helped my ability to play with the drum machine. The drum machine has perfect timing/rhythm, I do not… but I can train myself to play with perfect timing/rhythm by practicing with the same beats I would live.
So like I said, “practice doesn’t make perfect”…. “perfect practice makes perfect”.