Question from a young teen singer: Head Voice/Chest Voice – what’s the difference?
What’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.
So, “when you sing through your head voice do you use your chest voice too?” . . . yes, to some diminishing degree depending upon how high the note is. Don’t try to “take up” the weight of low notes to your high notes (that’s belting in its worst form), but maintain some of the tonal intensity. Also, bring to your low notes some of the lightness and penetrating clarity that you feel from your “head voice” notes.
If you know how to sing in “head voice,” (feeling those heady vibrations) but “can’t sing high notes,” don’t fret. I suspect that you’re in your teens – right? Your voice is very much in the development process and it’s more important that you DISCOVER where the boundaries of your vocal range are, rather than attempt to force your range high or low at the present. You likely need several years (until you’re close to 20) to feel much more secure about your range.
If you’ve never experienced vibration sensations when you sing, let me suggest that as you practice; gently place the finger-tips of one hand – fingers spread wide over your face, and just barely touch your face. You’re more than likely to become aware that with various notes or vowels you can FEEL slight buzzy feelings. That’s what “head tone” is associated with. Even if you can’t feel anything at this stage in your development, don’t fret. As you grow older your voice is going to get stronger and expand in range.
As I say, this subject is actually a massive one, and if you’re interested you can read more about it in some of the following books:
• The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, by James C. McKinney
• The Structure of Singing, Richard Miller
• Solutions for Singers, Richard Miller
• Singing, the Mechanism and the Technic, William Vennard
Best wishes to you.
Tags: chest voice, consistent seamless vocal quality, head voice, learn how to sing, vocal training, voice training