Vocal Music Advice

Werdna (pronounced: vehrd-NAY), 17, says: I don’t exactly know very much about the vocal fry. I’ve always been told that it is harmful for your voice and that it isn’t “true” singing. Would you clarify this for me?

ANSWER: Good question, Werdna.

The vocal fry is another “register” of the voice … a different way to produce (very low-pitched) tones.  What happens is that the vocal cords close loosely and air is made to bubble up through them (quite literally).  With practice these notes can be “tuned.”  In this way men are able to access a few notes lower than the bottom end of their normal modal register – and this is usually used in choral situations by baritones or basses who may have notes as low as low C, B or B-flat that can be reached no other way.  It is said that “Russian basses” frequently specialize in this, and thus are able to produce some very resonant low notes.  Like falsetto, this register of the voice is rarely used and should not be a part of common usage because predominant long-term use will eventually damage the voice.  Occasionally one will hear a public speaker or radio announcer with a speech idiosyncrasy in which every sentence ends by falling in pitch with the final syllable spoken in a low vocal fry.  It can be quite irritating —or amusing— to listen to when it becomes a repeated mannerism.

Warmly, Dr. A.

Werdna (pronounced: vehrd-NAY), 17 says: I was mainly asking because I’m unsure of what exactly falsetto is used for. I may certainly be wrong, but to me falsetto is just how I reach notes that are above my range – which doesn’t happen very often in choir while I sing the baritone part. I’m confused as to what the sound is supposed to be like. Will it only ever be as you said “light and flutey without a lot of color”? I’m never sure what to do when my choir director asks me to sing louder while in falsetto, I can only get so loud.

Sometimes it seems like it’s not very smooth when I switch up to falsetto. I want to change this to get a smooth transition – are there vocal exercises that I can do to help with that?

Answer: Fair question Werdna:

Unless you decide to become a “falsettist-countertenor”, falsetto is used to access high notes that can be reached no other way.  Inevitably those first notes in falsetto can be vastly smaller in sound and without the potential of strengthening them.  Falsetto is not the normal/usual function of the voice, but only one to use sparingly.  This apparently is exactly how and why you are currently using falsetto.  Bravo!  It will only ever be “light and flutey without a lot of color”.  The only exception to that is when you are reaching the upper limits of your falsetto range – when about all you can produce is a fortissimo sound.  Unlike the normal singing voice that has a great deal of potential for dynamic changes and expressiveness, falsetto does not have the same potential for much dynamic change, and therefore we call it “monochrome”.  Forgive me for meddling now … but it is unfortunate that your choir director is asking you to produce a loud sound just where you find yourself having to move into falsetto.  While the music may ask for that, developing voices (especially at your age) simply are not capable of many of those things yet, so it is not reasonable to demand them, besides being impossible just as one transitions into falsetto.  Your expressive abilities will have greatly increased by the time you’re 21, and developed even more by the time you are 30.

Re: making a smooth transition from “modal voice” (normal singing) to falsetto: an ascending and descending scale can be vocalized, first where it is comfortable in your range, then with every repetition raised by a half-step. I suggest using a major scale up an octave plus a note and down again.  Rather than crescendo to the top note (as one does when developing the voice), decrescendo to the top note so that you are approaching the high notes close to a pp dynamic level.  Sing by feel, until you feel yourself moving into falsetto without a massive FLIP.  It will take some experimenting, and possibly some weeks to find yourself able to make that switch easily.  Either way, don’t fret about it.  [In the ascending/descending scale: begin ascending on the major scale starting on the vowel EEE for 4 notes, AY for the next 4 notes, AH from the top note working down 4 notes, AY descending another 4 notes, with the last note on EEE.  This uses the octave-plus-a-note exercise I described above.]

What continues to be important as your voice develops is that you maintain wonderful posture and a normal respiration process.

Let me know how you fair.  Best wishes.

Karim writes: Hey, I’m a 20 year old guy and for the last year or so I’ve been training my voice and exploring my range after I got interested in music. Over recent months my voice has developed very much as I vocalized more and more. I took a friend’s advice to learn how to use head voice and mix voice to get to the higher notes. Since then my range has expanded dramatically as I’ve learned to negotiate my breaks and access higher notes in head voice.

My range overall on a typical day is F2 to G5 and this is without the use of falsetto [Dr. A. italicized this]. I used to consider myself a bass-baritone but now my voice is capable of sustaining notes above high C with ease. I no longer know what to think about my voice and this has proven very frustrating. I used to sing quite low, often in vocal fry out of habit and had trouble going higher than F sharp above Middle C without falsetto but this no longer the case although I’ve kept my lower range. However, in recent months since my range developed I find myself singing in a higher tessitura. I have really good stamina above high C but I find that my lower chest voice has become less impressive. Am I becoming a tenor? And is there such a thing as going too high?

ANSWER: Karim, thank you for your questions.

Based on the information you have given me—and without the benefit of me actually hearing/seeing you, it would appear that your voice is developing as a tenor.

However, to be honest, I have some skepticism about the ability to now sing to a G above a tenor’s normal “high C” “without the use of falsetto”. Forgive me for this skepticism, but if this were the case you would be a rarity indeed … and if that high tessitura were comfortable also, you could consider yourself a counter tenor.  I suspect that in actuality your sound is becoming increasingly thinner as pitch ascends, perhaps without any noticeable break until you are functioning entirely in falsetto.  Still, this does not mean that you may not find yourself squarely and comfortably singing as a tenor.

You might do well to do a good deal of listening to great tenors like: Jussi Björling, Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti, Stephen Costello, John Aler, David Hobson, Peter Pears, Bruce Ford, Fritz Wunderlich.

Regarding your question “is there such a thing as going too high?” naturally the answer is “yes.”  However, singing “too high” suggests that there is some compromise of good vocal balance in the process, such as an introduction of too much tension, or use of falsetto exclusively.  So, as your voice continues to develop, be sure to “listen” to your body … and pay attention to any signs of strain that works against long-term stamina.

Best wishes.

Marcus asks, “What is the difference between a Countertenor and a Tenor?”

Answer: Great question Marcus.

In both cases we are talking about mature adult men who are well past adolescence.

A TENOR is a singer whose useful singing range spans from the C below middle C to the C above middle C – two octaves. This is necessarily a generality, for there is a good deal of tenor literature that does not require a high C, and therefore many men who would be uncomfortable reaching for the high C, are still comfortable singing up to A and B-flat and have a light lyric sound that makes them comfortable with the higher range and a lot of tenor literature.  Now, normally, as expected, we are talking about a man.  However, it is well to note that there are a very few women whose comfortable and useful range is identical to this – and are, therefore, tenors!  They are rare.

A COUNTERTENOR is a male singer who either:

1. genuinely has the vocal range of an alto or mezzo-soprano using his modal voice (full cord action), or,
2. is a baritone who uses his developed falsetto register exclusively (or almost exclusively) for singing and therefore sings in the alto (F to F two octaves) or mezzo-soprano (A to A two octaves) range.

The first is what I would identify as the true countertenor.  These men are relatively rare.  Their vocal apparatus simply did not continue to grow and enlarge to the size of most men’s larynges, and their range naturally remains little altered by adult maturation.  If a counter tenor were to answer the phone anonymously, you would likely assume you were hearing the voice of a woman.

The second instance named above is more prevalent, and from this voice teacher’s perspective these singers are more accurately identified as “falsettists.”  However, these men are popularly known as “countertenors” and that is why I included them in the identification list.  If this man were to answer the phone anonymously, you would know immediately that you were hearing a man … because these men speak with their normal (baritone) voice, and only sing with the falsetto register.

I hope this has been helpful.

Hi!
I was just wondering if you could give me a clear definition of what ‘Head Voice’ is, how it works and how to achieve it?  David

ANSWER: Hello David,

Guess what?!!  I cannot give you a “clear definition” of “head voice.”  The reason is that the term denotes a non-scientific concept related to experiencing resonance on high pitches of the range.  We have just ONE voice … not a “chest voice” and a “head voice” or a third alternative … no we just have ONE voice.  “Head voice” is one of those esoteric terms in singing jargon that is used nefariously in association with resonation and vocal registers and can be very confusing to young students of singing.  However, I will not be in the least surprised if within a short while half-a-dozen voice teachers or voice students will proclaim—in my comment section—a dogmatic “definition of head voice,” each different from one another.

Having said that, the term “head voice” is widely used, so some explanation is in order to help clarify the situation.  The vocal cords are capable of vibrating in four distinctly different patterns.  (By the way not every individual is capable of producing notes in all these ways.)

The “vocal fry” can sometimes be heard by bass singers when reaching their lowest tones in a choral setting … and it happens when the vocal cords are loosely adducted (closed) and air bubbles through them.  A number of baritones and basses can produce the “sound” of the vocal fry and it affords them a few notes lower than their normal speaking-singing voice (modal register).  It often has a deep sepulchral sound.  The “vocal fry” register is the lowest in the human voice.

Modal register is the normal register for speaking and singing.  When the vocal cords adduct (close) and air is pushed through them, the whole musculature (of the vocal cords) is set into motion producing sound that can be clear and ringing.  In general, except for singers who specialize as falsettists, the modal register is universally used by all trained singers throughout their range.

Falsetto register is produced when the body of the vocalis muscles are relaxed and just the ligamentus edges are brought together … and only that thin portion vibrates.  The resulting sound is usually “fluty,” monochrome, breathy and without many overtones.  It lacks the richness and variation in color that is possible in the modal register.  This register also tends to overlap some of the highest notes in the modal range and continue higher for a few notes.

The “whistle” register is the highest vocal register and lies above the female falsetto range.  In this scenario, the vocal cords are seen to have closed over two-thirds of the length of the cord leaving one small portion open, not completely unlike puckered lips when whistling.  The sound is light, and until it became trendy through such popular singers as Maria Carey and Minnie Riperton, was used little.

The reason for giving you all this background is that depending on who the voice teacher is, s/he may use the term “head voice” to refer to falsetto, while others refer “head voice” to the upper-most notes of the range in modal register.  Rightly understood, the reference to “head” should be in conjunction with the high notes of a person’s range in modal (normal) register.
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Hello! I was just wondering how long I might expect it will take me to rebuild a formerly strong voice.
I sang for many years as a part of my school choirs and as an actress in both school and community theatre. When it was time for college, however, I came up short on tuition and did not end up attending an academy for arts. Instead of striving, I settled for a private state university, majoring in psychology and writing, and (depressed… and relinquished my real outlet. Frustrated with my lack of efficacy as a performer, I believe I have let my abilities dwindle from disuse). I literally have not sung a single note in over two years. Let alone that, I have become utterly quiet and have spoken, in addition, very little over the course of the past two years.

Recently, I realized that my passion for arts-involvement is not something I can merely “get over” in greater quantities of time but rather a permanent part of myself that will merely continue to ache. I am looking into private vocal lessons; however, I am worried. I went from singing daily to a two-year hiatus. Is there ANY hope? And will it take years?

What can I expect to sound like? How long will it take before I sound like I used to? Will it ever be the same? Can I ever surpass my former level even, or are my previous abilities the best I could hope for at this point?
These are my many questions; I apologize but am hoping you can help me apprise what are the realistic parameters of my situation. Thank you so very much; I look forward to your advice.

Answer: Dear Lacey,

You’re only 20 … so there is DEFINITELY hope!  You can make a full recovery.  Be encouraged.

Having given you this encouragement, I should warn you that you need to start slow … and forget seeing a teacher for about 6 months.  Follow a regimen SOMETHING LIKE the following:

Weeks 1 – 3, Sometime shortly after you are fully awake (maybe after breakfast) find a favorite book or magazine, and read aloud for 15 minutes (not two hours!).  Your voice needs to get back to phonating!!  If your work place does not let you talk or interact, then read aloud again when you return home … and start calling your friends on the cell phone for 5-minute chats.  Start using your voice.  Do this EVERY DAY.  Hum your favorite songs around the apartment/house.

Weeks 4-6, Continue starting early in the day reading aloud.  At some point later in the day, vocalize (singing) for 15 minutes.  Your vocalizing can either be singing songs you know, humming, vocalizing tunes on open vowels or just vocal exercises like scales on all the primary vowels.  Do this EVERY DAY.  You have started to use your voice again, and it needs to feel comfortable and easy and not over-taxed.

Weeks 7-12, Read aloud for 15-minutes early in the day.  Later in the day (it can be evening), warm up your voice vocalizing easily and without strain for 15 minutes.  Follow this with 10 minutes of vocal rest, and then sing songs that are comfortable in your voice for another 15 minutes.

Weeks 13-16,

a) Read aloud for 15-minutes early in the day … be sure that it is interesting and that you find yourself becoming EXPRESSIVE … reading in a communicative manner.

b) It’s at this point that you should locate and join a well established community, church or synagogue choir that rehearses at least once a week.  Don’t be surprised if your voice feels tired after those first two or three rehearsals.

c) Vocalize for 20 minutes now on your warm ups, and begin to explore the parameters of your range again, as well as start using vocal exercises that demand some power and flexibility … say in your last 5 minutes of the 20-minute warm up.  Also, “play” with your voice … make animal sounds and sirens, and coos … and see what its capabilities are.

By month 5, you should feel weird if you have not used your voice for a day.  Let the daily routine of reading aloud early in the day and singing later in the day be just that … a natural routine.  During this month, begin to resurrect one or two of the favorite songs you once learned for performances earlier … three or four years ago.  By now, you may well find that your voice has MORE capabilities than it did 3 years ago … and you may well be “itching” to find a reliable voice teacher with whom to study.  Work up two or three songs to the best of your ability so that during your first “audition” lesson, you can present to your teacher a fair representation of your current abilities.  Be sure that you have found a trustworthy voice teacher.

Lacey, you will likely face two dangers in this process of “returning to singing.”  The first will be attempting to do too much, too fast … getting yourself hoarse … and very discouraged.  The second danger will be to not make your “return journey” a routine.  This has to become a daily activity, something you enjoy, and something you get used to again.  A once-in-a-while practice marathon will only result in disappointment and discouragement.

Do I think you can regain what was lost?  Yes.  Start slow, then make it part of your daily lifestyle … you’ll be so glad to be singing again!

My suggested “regimen” is just that … something you CAN do, starting slowly (like an exercise program).  You should not think of my time line as something set in stone.  If you find that you can progress faster EASILY … then do what you are comfortable doing.  Likewise, if your voice and body indicate that you need longer, then take longer on each stage.  Remember, you’re returning to a life style and an art form you love.

Best wishes.

Today in chorus people sang their all-state songs in front of the class.  Their voices would be airy and crack when transitioning into their head voice. The chorus teacher said that it’s their vocal break. I haven’t really heard my voice do that. To me it sounds clear throughout my range even if my middle register can be a little breathy when I don’t support. My voice teacher says I have pretty high vocal breaks and my tone changes somewhere right before the high A but if that’s true it’s so subtle.  Is this a bad thing or a good thing? Does it mean most of my voice is my chest voice? Or, is my head voice strong? Do I have more support than most people my age (I’m 16)?  All the other sopranos and even the altos have a break kind of high that makes them breathy or flat and my second break I guess is higher than theirs and makes my voice brighter.  Is this normal?

ANSWER: Great observation about the “breaks” in other young voices.

While some singers have a manifestly obvious ‘break’ (sometimes also known as “lift” or “passaggio” or “transition point”) that makes sound almost resemble a yodel (depending where in the range it occurs), if those same young singers pursue singing as a career studying voice with a teacher, their aim is going to be learn to “smooth” those areas over so that the range sounds seamless (without breaks of any kind).  As you have noted about yourself, not everyone feels these breaks … and that is a great blessing, because it means that you don’t have to worry about the color of your tone suddenly changing, or have to spend months and years learning how to even out the tone between areas of your vocal range.  So, REJOICE … you’re miles ahead of folk who experience breaks and you won’t have that hurdle to worry about.

Singing “seamlessly” doesn’t mean that you are singing predominantly in “chest” or “head”, but rather that as you sing from high to low your voice is negotiating all the range in a way that “mixes” those feelings at the appropriate times so that no break exists, or is perceptible.
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I remember that it didn’t hurt or anything it just took me lots of focus like it was required a lot of factors to make it work.  I wanted to ask you for tips about the whistle register, like how my throat should be like….for me to improve on this.  If possible would you mind giving me some warming up exercises??

Answer: You are at an age when puberty has produced most of its physical changes in a young woman.  Therefore, the fact that you have found the whistle register may be an indication of a future facility as a soprano – although your final classification is not something that should concern you at the moment.

By the way, in the literature the “whistle register” is also identified as flageolet, piccolo, flute or bell register.

As the top-most notes available in the human voice, the vocal muscles are pulled to their longest and thinnest position.  The sound is thin, small and whistle-like.  At sixteen you probably need to be careful not to overdo with exercises in this area of your voice.  The percentage of time spent as you sing, should be a very small one in the whistle register.

If you will close one of your hands into a fist and imagine that it is your favorite kind of apple, imagine now that you are going to fit the entire fruit into your mouth.  Well of course it can’t be done, however, as you make the attempt, you will experience the stretching of your mouth and lips to their widest possible aperture.  So, be aware that this kind of openness will help facilitate more freedom in this area of your range.

Now let’s do a couple of exercises that will help hear and feel how these high notes should be.  Imitate some light, high, laughter.  It may sound like “tittering” or it may feel as you laugh hilariously.  Get some of your girl friends to join you in this,  encouraging each other on to cast aside inhibitions and feel utterly abandoned in the laughter.

Another more musical exercise is this: once you have completed a normal vocal warm up, do some extension exercises on a 1-3-5-3-1 pattern on an open vowel (ah).  This should be fast moving – not slow.  You can experiment with singing this pattern legato or staccato to see which works best for you.  Sing this exercise beginning an octave above middle C and ascend by half-steps.  You may find that when your beginning note is F that your top note (5) will take on a shrill light sound.  The higher you ascend, the more notes in the exercise will sound this way.  Don’t worry if you have trouble tuning the highest notes perfectly at this time.  Do this exercise with a keyboard so that you can see where your highest notes are.  You should soon (in a few months) be able to vocalize up to G above high C – and higher if you are truly a light soprano.  Once you get to your boundary – return by half-steps to your lower range again.  Remember to sing this exercise with some abandon – not with careful, slow “control”.  This will begin the process of you learning how to negotiate the whistle register.

Again, just a reminder, don’t spend very much time up there.  Vocalize up there for four or five minutes every day doing these kinds of exercises, and be done.

If you find that you have increased facility in this, you can be certain that your choir director will have some specific notes that you (alone?) will be asked to sing on some pieces.  If you find that your discovery becomes fraught with tension, then stop making the attempt … and allow your voice to develop without it for a while.

Best wishes.

PS. By the way I have another blog post on warming up the voice.

Answer: Are you serious?

Let me try and help you.  “Falsetto” is the range of notes that generally lies above your normal “clear singing voice.”  This area of the range also partly overlaps some of your higher clear tones.  A baritone can generally attain falsetto around middle C or D (just above) and then vocalizing higher.

Rather than straining to make loud sound, this sound (falsetto) is fluty and somewhat breathy and should be able to be performed easily without strain.  You need to know that you may only have notes in one octave or less in this area of the voice produced this way.  The lower the note is sung in falsetto the softer it will be too – and vice versa – there’s not a whole lot of dynamic control or variation possible.

If you are not used to using your voice in falsetto, let me suggest that you try a couple of things:

1) try imitating what you think an owl sounds like “hooo–hooo” starting on a note well above your normal vocal range and sliding downward.   Those high light fluty sounds are more than likely in falsetto.

2) If you’ve ever heard anyone yodel, imitate a yodel – “oh-dah-lay-eee-o.” The “eee-o” at the end just needs to jump up to a high light fluty sound, falsetto.

3) Try vocalizing on an ascending scale, but instead of getting louder as you ascend allow the sound to get softer and lighter.  My guess is that you’ll feel where the voice seems to “flip” from regular tone to the light airy sound on the higher notes.  This is falsetto.

If you find that you have to “work hard” to get falsetto – then stop.  Your vocal production may be too tension-filled for you to experience falsetto at this time.  Vocal teachers sometimes incorporate exercises in falsetto to help a baritone who is learning to sing high notes for the first time, when regular clear tones aren’t available up there yet. In this way his vocal training may be advanced.  Falsetto should be produced easily, not with difficulty.
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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.
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