The Standard: What Excellence in Singing Really Means

Welcome back to The Voice Science Podcast.

It’s Josh, today I want to talk about something that I don’t think most singers or teachers ever stop to consider. It’s something we all feel, and honestly something we all wrestle with, but it stays in the background.

It’s what I call The Standard.

And let me be clear right away — I don’t mean a set of benchmarks. I’m not talking about whether you can sing high C, or whether you can sing pianissimo for twelve seconds, or whether you can pull off a stylistic riff in gospel or jazz. Those are just measures. They’re surface things.

What I’m talking about is something deeper, and in some ways much harder. The Standard is philosophical. It’s a way of asking yourself, what should excellence look like, and am I really willing to hold myself to that?

It’s uncomfortable, because as soon as you name it, you start to see all the places where you — and your peers, and your teachers — fall short. But that’s the point. The Standard isn’t about comfort. It’s about clarity, and it’s about honesty.

Also, there may come a point where you decide, “you know what? I’m good enough for what I want to be”, and that is a beautiful decision if it’s true.

What The Standard Actually Is

At its core, The Standard is the bar you choose to hold yourself to even when nobody else is watching.

That’s the test. Not “what can you do when the audience applauds you.” Not “what can you pull off when adrenaline is high.” It’s “what do you demand of yourself in the practice room, alone, with nobody to impress and no one to clap?”

Are you the kind of singer who says, “Eh, that was close enough, let’s move on”? Or are you the kind who stops and says, “No, I know that I let my support slip. Let’s do it again.”

And the same goes for teachers. When a student asks you something you don’t know, do you bluff? Do you give them a half-answer just to keep your authority intact? Or do you say, “That’s a great question. I don’t know the answer yet. Let’s dig into it together”?

That moment — the bluff or the honesty — is where The Standard shows up.

And this is important: The Standard is not perfection. It’s not the fantasy of never making mistakes. Perfection is paralysis. You’ll never start if you chase that. The Standard is different. The Standard is integrity. It’s about not cutting corners. It’s about being able to say, “This is my best work today, and I didn’t fake it.”

Beginners and The Standard

So, let’s look at what this means in practice. Starting with beginners.

For beginners the standard is about showing up and being honest about where you are. A beginner singer doesn’t need to sound like Renée Fleming or Audra McDonald. That’s not their Standard, at least yet, maybe never… Their Standard is much simpler — and in some ways, much braver.

Picture this: a beginner sits down to practice. They sing through an exercise, they crack, they go flat, it sounds messy. They have a choice. They can laugh it off, scroll on their phone, and say, “Well, I’ll get it next time.” Or they can stop, record themselves, and listen back even though they hate the sound. They can notice: “Okay, I’m flat. Why? Oh, I let my breath collapse.”

That’s The Standard at the beginner level. Not pretending you’re beyond where you are. Not hiding from the flaws. Facing them.

And a lot of people never do that. They stay in denial. They’d rather sing songs they like badly than actually confront the basics. But the Standard says: be excellent at the level you’re at. Sing the simple five-note scale, every day, until it’s not a mess anymore. That’s where excellence starts. Practicing each skill until suddenly you aren’t a beginner anymore.

Intermediates and The Standard

Intermediate singers, this is where things get tricky. Because as an intermediate singer, you’re “good enough.” You can sing in tune, you can get through a song, people compliment you. You sound musical. And that can feel like arrival.

But here’s the danger: this is the stage where most singers plateau. Because they confuse sounding good enough with meeting The Standard.

The Standard at this level isn’t about sounding nice. It’s about ownership. Do you actually know what you’re working on? Are you showing up to lessons saying, “Yeah, I think I sounded okay,” or are you showing up saying, “I noticed I’m having an issue with the high notes in measure 45, I think it’s because I am taking too large of a breath”? You might be right, you might be wrong, but you are identifying issues and potential corrections.

And this is where excuses creep in. The intermediate singer says, “Well, I just don’t have the high notes.” Or, “I’m just not good at rhythm.” That’s giving yourself an out. The Standard says: “I’m not there yet, but I know why, and I’m doing the work to change it.”

And that difference — the excuse versus the ownership — is often what separates the people who keep growing from the people who stay stuck.

Advanced Singers and The Standard

At the advanced level, The Standard shifts again. By now, you’ve got the fundamentals. You can sing repertoire, you can handle auditions, you know how to practice.

So what does The Standard ask of you here? Consistency.

Because at this point, the question isn’t “Can you sing the notes?” The question is, “Can you sing them consistently, and can you make choices that serve the music?”

An advanced singer walks into rehearsal and delivers every time. Not just on the good days. Not just when they feel inspired. They show up and they’re solid. And when they make choices, they aren’t random — they’re informed. They know when to lean into power and when to pull back, they know what style they’re in, they know how to phrase.

And the Standard here is brutal, because it won’t let you coast on talent anymore. You have to refine. You have to polish. You have to be consistent.

The Standard for an advanced singer is the difference between “Oh, that was a good run” and “I can count on you to deliver at this level, every time.”

Professionals and The Standard

And then, at the professional level, The Standard expands beyond you.

Because now other people are depending on you. Directors, colleagues, audiences. At this level, The Standard is about trust.

When you’re a professional, your voice is no longer just your personal playground. It’s your contract. It’s your livelihood. If you don’t take care of it, if you don’t prepare, if you cut corners, you don’t just hurt yourself — you let other people down.

And that’s what makes the professional Standard so unforgiving. It’s not just, “Can you sing the role?” It’s, “Can you sing it night after night, even when you’re tired, even when the conditions aren’t perfect?”

This is why reliability is the professional’s Standard. And it’s also why professionalism isn’t just about skill — it’s about character. Can people trust you? Are you on time? Do you know your part? Do you treat your colleagues with respect?

Because at the professional level, your reputation is everything. One missed rehearsal, one “good enough” performance, and people remember. The Standard is about being trustworthy.

Teachers and The Standard

Now let’s flip to teachers, because the Standard here might matter most of all.

If you’re a teacher, the Standard is not about showing off your own voice. It’s not about proving you can sing higher or louder than your students. It’s about serving them.

The Standard for a teacher is clarity and honesty. It’s about being able to diagnose what’s actually happening in a student’s voice and explain it in a way they can use. And it’s about having the humility to admit when you don’t know.

I’ll say this bluntly: if you’re bluffing your students, you’re failing The Standard. If you’re teaching myths because they’re easier than doing the work to learn the real science, you’re failing The Standard. To take this just a little further. Even if you are confident in the answer, I would encourage you to consider why you are confident. There is a lot of misinformation in singing that has been passed down from trusted sources like our previous teachers.

The Standard for teachers is about protecting voices. Protecting confidence. Protecting joy. Because a teacher can either nurture a singer’s growth or shut them down forever.

And that responsibility is huge. Which means the Standard for teachers is even higher than for singers. Because when you fail yourself, you hurt one person. When you fail your students, you can set back a whole generation.

The Standard as VoSci

And then there’s us.

VoSci was founded on this idea of The Standard. We’re not here to be another voice on YouTube shouting out random exercises. We’re not here to pump out content for clicks. We’re here to build something rigorous, reliable, consistent, and transparent.

That’s what The Standard looks like for us. If we put out a course, it’s been thought through, tested, and it’s something we’d stand behind in front of any critic. If we say “weekly podcast,” then it’s weekly. If we teach science, it’s sourced. If we don’t know, we say so.

And that’s not about gatekeeping. It’s not about making singing harder to access. It’s about making the pathway clearer. We want to set the bar high — but then hand people the tools to reach it.

Because the truth is, the noise out there is overwhelming. Everyone’s got a hack. Everyone’s got a miracle. But hacks don’t last. Miracles don’t hold up in rehearsal. The Standard is what lasts.

Living With The Standard

Now before I wrap up, I want to be clear about something. The Standard is not a finish line. There’s no point where you suddenly arrive and say, “I did it. I’ve met The Standard. I’m done.”

It doesn’t work that way. The Standard is something you keep reaching for, and the moment you think you’ve caught it, it shifts. That’s not failure — that’s the point. If you’re growing, the bar will always keep moving.

And here’s the other uncomfortable truth: you’re not going to live up to it all the time. Nobody does. I don’t. I miss things, I let something slip, I put out work I later realize could’ve been clearer or more rigorous. That’s part of the human condition.

The Standard isn’t about never falling short. It’s about how you respond when you do. Do you ignore it? Excuse it? Pretend it didn’t happen? Or do you say, “Yeah, I didn’t live up to it this time. Let me try again”?

That’s why The Standard is both demanding and forgiving. Demanding, because it asks you to be honest. Forgiving, because it gives you another chance tomorrow.

So what does this look like in practice?

First, keep The Standard visible. Write it down. Put it in words you’ll actually see every day: “Would I stand behind this?” Make that the question you put at the top of your practice journal or your lesson notes.

Second, shrink the frame. Don’t try to hold yourself to the entire Standard all at once. Pick one place where you know you’ve been sloppy — maybe it’s actually recording yourself, maybe it’s showing up warmed up, maybe it’s being honest when you don’t know something. Work on that one thing. Excellence is built step by step.

And third, invite accountability. It’s easy to lie to yourself, but harder to lie to a peer. Share your recordings with someone you trust. Ask them one question: “Does this meet the Standard?” And then take the answer seriously.

Those are simple things. But over time, they build the habit. And the habit is what matters. Because the Standard isn’t about a moment of greatness — it’s about a way of working.

Conclusion: Choosing The Standard

So here’s where I want to leave you.

The Standard is not a checklist. It’s not a specific note or achievement. It’s not something that happens to you. It’s something you choose.

And you choose it every day. In the practice room, when nobody’s listening. In the classroom, when a student asks a hard question. On stage, when the conditions aren’t ideal. In the work you publish, when you could cut a corner and hope nobody notices.

The Standard is about being able to say, “This is my best work today, and I didn’t take shortcuts.”

And if you think about it, that’s liberating. Because it means The Standard isn’t perfection. It’s integrity. It’s honesty. And it’s always moving. As soon as you reach one level, you realize there’s another. And that’s the point.

So my challenge for you this week is simple: What’s The Standard you’re holding yourself to right now? Are you living it? Or are you coasting?

Because in the end, The Standard isn’t about competition. It’s not about being better than the singer next to you. It’s about excellence. It’s about integrity. And it’s about being able to look at your work and say: “Yes. I would stand behind this.”