I know my voice will never be up to much but I work on my songs, even ones that I have done for years, by singing them. Seems to make sense to me. You train for a run by running. You train for a performance by performing!

The converse seems to underline the point. I have been learning to play accordion for years and while I can squeeze a few tunes out, I am simply not ready to perform them in public due to lack of practise. While I can always find time to sing, sitting with the chest piano every day seems to elude me :-(