Question from a young teen singer: Head Voice/Chest Voice – what’s the difference?
Saturday, July 26th, 2008What’s the difference between a head voice and a chest voice? When I sing I either sing from my chest or switch to my throat for higher notes.
Answer: Hello Alexis,
This is a very broad subject and answering it fully in this space will be impossible to do justice to it. Still, let me see if I can help you understand something of the subject about which you question, using easily-understood terms – because the language of “voice teaching” can be vague, conceptual and unscientific very often.
As you know, we have the ONE instrument – our voice – but which involves our entire body’s cooperative coordination. That said, you’ve obviously been introduced to the idea of “chest voice” and “head voice.” You probably already associate “chest voice” with an area of notes that lie low in your range, and you probably associate “head voice” with an area of notes that lie high in pitch in your voice.
Perhaps one of the main reasons for using the terms “head” and “chest” is that, often, associated with singing the “low” and “high” notes, there are vibrations, buzzy feelings, a singer can become aware of and feel. When singing low notes in a strong sound, one can often become aware of vibrations in the throat, neck, and collar-bone area, thus the designation “chest voice.” When singing high notes in a strong sound, one can often become aware of vibrations (buzzy feelings) somewhere in the head and face (often referred to as the “mask”). Becoming aware of these feelings is good.
Now, obviously the quality of sound in the low notes and the quality of the sound in the high notes are quite different. One may sound “masculine” or “brusque” and the other “hooty” or “penetrating”. But what the trained singer learns to do is to sing throughout his/her range so that the quality of sound is consistent and seamless with no sudden changes of color.
One of the things that singers learn to do is to “bring down” some of the “heady feelings” to the area of their low notes, and to some degree “take up” some of the strong “feelings” of the lower notes to their upper range. But all of this is done in balance – and with the oversight of a well trained voice teacher.
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