Vocal Advice

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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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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