Focus of Attention in Voice Training

Abstract

The vast majority of motor learning studies investigating focus of attention have found that an external focus of attention (focusing on the effect of a movement) results in enhanced performance and learning, compared to an internal focus of attention (focusing on the body movement itself). The present study attempts to determine if the high incidence of internal focus of attention instruction that has been reported in the realm of athletics is replicated in voice training. Two hundred and seventy-eight singers, who were at least 18 years old and taking voice lessons, were recruited to participate in an anonymous research survey entitled "Instructions given to singers in voice lessons." The main six questions asked singers to report phrases or instructions that their studio voice teachers gave them in regard to posture, breathing and/or support, tone clarity and/or onset of tone, space and/or resonance, articulation, and reducing tension. Approximately 50.83% of the total responses were classified as inducing an external focus, 39.42% were classified as internal focus, 6.48% used a combination of both internal and external focus, and 3.27% were categorized as miscellaneous. The results of this study indicate that voice teachers use both external and internal attentional focus directives in the voice studio. Given the robust body of literature supporting the use of external focus, it is noteworthy that the current study found that external focus is used more often than internal focus in voice training.