Sneak Up On It

I remember my aunt being an expert at touching the tip of her nose with her tongue (as my daughter is, now). Her advice for learning the skill? Your tongue needs to sneak up on your nose.

Now, of course our tongues can’t actually sneak up on our noses. But the act of trying to touch your nose forces your tongue into the wrong position, so the method worked. (Or seemed to work. I still have never succeeded.)

I think that a lot of singing technique is the same. When you come directly at it, you clench muscles, add tension, and take other actions that disrupt the technique. It’s only when you sneak up on it that you can fall into the right form. That’s part of why voice teachers spend so much time asking singers to try silly-seeming things. In the act of doing them, you look away from your technique, and might just get to sneak up on it.

What other skills work best when you sneak up on them?