Critique Your Singing Without Self-Criticism

When you're learning how to sing, you need to be able to listen to and critique yourself. Part of learning is recognizing what sounds right, what doesn't and what may need more work. This is a normal and necessary part of developing your voice, whether you're learning on your own or working with a vocal instructor.

Maybe you didn't quite reach a note the way you wanted to, you felt yourself straining or part of the song simply didn't sound right. You notice it, make an adjustment and try again. That's constructive self-evaluation, and it's an important part of learning.

The problem begins when “That note didn't sound right” becomes “I don't sound good.” Or “I need to work on this” becomes “Why is it taking me so long?” Now you're no longer simply critiquing your singing. The inner critic has made it about you.

The Difference Between Constructive Criticism and Your Inner Critic

It can be easy to confuse constructive criticism with the inner critic because both can come from wanting to sing better. You care about how you sound and want to improve, so naturally you're going to notice things that aren't quite where you want them to be yet. The difference is in what you do with those observations.

Constructive evaluation keeps the focus on your singing. “That note wasn't quite right. What happened?” gives you something to work with. The inner critic turns the same situation into “That sounded awful. I should be able to do this by now.” One encourages you to figure something out; the other makes you question whether you're good enough.

Both may want you to improve, but they go about it very differently. One helps you grow by becoming more aware of your voice. The other makes you feel that you need fixing.

Why Your Inner Critic May Actually Want You to Sing Better

The inner critic isn't always telling you to give up. Sometimes it pushes you to practice harder, repeat something again and again or keep going because you're frustrated that you haven't mastered it yet. That's one reason it can be mistaken for determination.

But working harder isn't necessarily the same as learning better. There is a difference between practicing because you're curious about how to improve something and practicing because you're angry with yourself for not getting it right. You can challenge yourself without making every difficult note feel like a personal failure.

Where Does the Inner Critic Come From When You Sing?

We all have an inner critic sometimes, and it doesn't necessarily begin with singing. It can grow from being criticized, ridiculed or made to feel that we weren't good enough. It can also come from our own expectations when we believe we should be further ahead than we are.

Singing can bring those feelings to the surface because our voices are personal. “I don't like how that sounded” can easily turn into “I don't like my voice.” But no negative belief about yourself is going to teach you how to sing better. You still need practice, patience and the willingness to keep learning.

How Pressure, Comparison and Perfectionism Can Affect Your Singing

The inner critic often shows up through pressure, comparison, perfectionism, impatience or putting yourself down. You may think you should have learned something by now, compare yourself with another singer or decide that because you struggled with something before, you're probably going to struggle with it again.

It's a little like a horse in a show-jumping competition. If it approaches an obstacle already believing it can't make the jump because it couldn't do it before, it may hesitate and not make it over. Our beliefs can work much the same way: they can either help us rise to what we're capable of or hold us back before we've really given ourselves the chance to get there.

You don't need to convince yourself that you can do absolutely anything. But don't decide what you can't do before you've had the chance to find out.

A Positive Mindset Can Make It Easier to Learn How to Sing

Having a positive mindset doesn't mean pretending everything sounds great. It means being able to hear something you don't like without immediately turning it into something negative about yourself.

There is a big difference between “That didn't work. Let me try it another way” and “I can't believe I still can't do this.” The first keeps you focused on learning. The second adds frustration and self-doubt to something you're already trying to figure out.

Sometimes working on the way you think about your voice is just as important as working on the voice itself. It's much easier to explore what you're capable of when you're curious rather than constantly waiting for yourself to get something wrong.

How to Tell Which Voice You're Listening To

One of the easiest ways to tell the difference is to notice where the thought takes you. Constructive evaluation makes you curious about what you can change. The inner critic makes you doubt yourself and your abilities.

If you hear something you don't like and begin thinking about what you could do differently, you're still working with your voice. If the same mistake leads to “I'm not good enough,” “I'll never get this” or “Everyone else is better than me,” you're no longer solving the singing problem. You're judging yourself because of it. And judgment done negatively will more likely than not affect how well you sing. If you sing from a place of confidence, your voice usually rises up to meet it. But if you are filled with doubt, oftentimes your voice will fall short of what it is capable of. 

Turn Singing Judgment Into Something You Can Actually Use

When you catch yourself judging your singing, make the thought more specific. “My high notes sound terrible” doesn't give you much to work with. “I'm getting tense when I approach the higher notes” does.

The same goes for “I can't sing this song.” Maybe most of the song is fine and two sections are giving you trouble. Now you know where to put your attention.

Move from judgment → observation → adjustment. Notice what actually happened, decide what you want to change and try again. That's what constructive criticism is meant to do.

Your Singing Mistakes Aren't Supposed to Tear You Down

Mistakes are part of learning how to sing. You're going to miss notes, have days when your voice doesn't cooperate and sometimes take longer to learn something than you expected. A mistake tells you what happened that time. It doesn't tell you what you'll be capable of later.

You can also be happy with your voice while you're still improving it. Appreciating how you sound today doesn't mean you've stopped growing. Your mistakes can become stepping stones instead of reasons to doubt yourself. It is up to you to choose which path to take with your voice.

You Can Have High Standards Without Being Hard on Yourself

Having high standards for your singing is one thing; expecting perfection is another. High standards give you something to work toward, while perfectionism can turn those standards into another tool of the inner critic. You may become so focused on hitting every note correctly and doing everything technically right that you forget that good singing is about more than technical accuracy. Expression, emotion, personality and all those little nuances are part of what makes a voice sound well-rounded and human.

When you're focused on being perfect, some of those qualities can get lost because so much of your attention is going toward avoiding mistakes. Positive standards allow you to work on your technique while still giving yourself room to experiment, express yourself and grow into your voice. You can hear something you don't like and think, “I'm not happy with that yet,” without turning it into a criticism of yourself.

That's really where the difference lies. You can expect a lot from yourself and continue working toward the singer you want to become without punishing yourself for not being there yet. Being kind to yourself doesn't mean giving yourself a free pass. It means giving yourself a better environment in which to learn.

How to Stop Your Inner Critic From Taking Over Your Singing

When the inner critic gets loud, interrupt the negative thought loop before one thought turns into several. If “That sounded terrible” starts becoming “My voice isn't good enough” and then “I'll never be a good singer,” stop yourself. One thing didn't sound the way you wanted it to. Don't let one moment become a judgment of your entire voice.

Step back and take a breath if you need to, and don't be afraid to answer the inner critic. If it says, “You should be better by now,” remind yourself, “I'm still learning. I don't need to have this mastered today.” If it tells you that you can't do something, you can answer, “You don't know what I'm capable of yet.” Take control of the conversation instead of letting it control you.

Make sure you're noticing what is going right, too. The inner critic can make one bad note seem more important than everything you just sang well. Pay attention to what has improved, what feels easier and what you actually like about your voice. Mistakes aren't evidence that you're failing; they're opportunities to learn something that you didn't know before.

And sometimes, simply sing because you enjoy it. Put on a song you love and sing without analysing every note or looking for something to correct. If singing becomes nothing but an exercise in finding problems, it's easy to lose the reason you wanted to sing in the first place.

You may not be able to stop every negative thought from appearing, but you can decide how much authority you're going to give it.

Start Practicing Like Someone Who Is on Your Side

You still need the constructive part of yourself. You need to hear when something could be better, recognize what's happening and make adjustments as you go. That's part of becoming a better singer.

But you don't need the part that tells you you're always behind, somebody else is better, you should have learned something by now or that one bad note means you're a bad singer. None of those things teach you how to sing the next note any better. And believing some negative prediction about your future abilities when you have no idea how much you can improve is rather ridiculous, so try not to entertain it. Keep your mind focused on positive progress instead. 

We can't eliminate every negative thought we have, and I'm not suggesting that you try. Sometimes, when we try too hard to address negative thoughts, we can get caught up in the negativity itself. It's often better to push past it with a more positive approach. Do whatever works for you to help you feel better about yourself as a singer. You don't need to give in to those negative beliefs or allow them to determine what you believe you're capable of.

So keep your standards and keep challenging yourself to grow. Just make sure you're doing it as someone who is on your own side. You can become a better singer without fighting with yourself. Be your cheerleader instead of a disgruntled referee. Your voice will sound better, and you'll feel better about yourself as a singer, too.

 

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Hi, I'm Stella Jasmin, the creator of The Singing Journey. I created this space for singers who want to grow their voices while also building the confidence and mindset to enjoy singing along the way. As a singer myself, I know how easy it can be to get caught up in self-doubt, overthinking and wondering whether your voice is good enough. That's why I focus not only on improving your singing, but also on helping you feel more confident in yourself as you learn.

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