The Five Why's
THE FIVE WHYS
I read a lot of material regarding success, from music to sports to business. Success has a lot of commonalities across disciplines. And so it was that I discovered the "Five Whys," which is a practice that began at Toyota, and was widely adopted by other businesses.
The process is simple. Identify what went wrong, and ask why. Then ask why again and again - 5 total times. The goal is to get the ROOT CAUSE of the issue, then apply a fix to that root cause. Here are some examples for singing.
EXAMPLE A:
1) Why is the tone thin?
-The singers aren't singing openly
2) Why are the singers not singing openly?
-They didn't breathe through an open vowel formation
3) Why aren't the singers breathing through an open vowel formation?
-They waited until too close to the entrance to breathe
4) Why are the singers breathing so close to entrance?
-They aren't counting rests to anticipate the entrance
5) Why aren't the singers counting rests?
-They believe their responsibility to the music only occurs when actively singing: they are literally "resting" rather than tracking the music silently
EXAMPLE B:
1) Why is the cutoff ragged?
-The singers are placing the "t" at different times
2) Why are the singers placing the "t" at different times?
-They are unsure of where the "t" goes
3) Why are the singers unsure of where the "t" goes?
-They are not counting through the sustained note
4) Why are the singers not counting through the sustained note?
-They are watching for a cutoff rather than tracking beats
5) Why are the singers watching for a cutoff rather than tracking beats?
-The director always fixes the problem by saying "watch for my cutoff" rather than guiding the singers through the process of counting for the cutoff
The "Five Whys" addresses problems in a way that helps choirs identify how to prevent "mistakes" before they happen. The "Five Whys" helps determine if there is a gap in knowledge or in execution, and allows directors to make corrections accordingly.
