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Falsetto or head voice


gogoriviera

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I am still struggling with head voice and falsetto. I am singing a Journey song taken down to C "Dont Stop..." originally in E. This leaves me banging around in my break area- some notes it seems like I can "hit" in either a falsetto- easy or full voice "pushing " seems like if I dont push - I get that weak falsetto sound. This is confusing??

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Sounds like you need to learn a bit more on how to get your head voice more powerful without straining or pushing from your stomach.

Have you been working on your bridge? and getting a blend between the head voice and chest voice? What your trying to work towards is a mix between the two voices so that your not pulling your chest voice too high and straining. Keep practicing scales until all the notes are the same volume. you may need to lower the volume on the lower notes to begin with.

When working with your head voice, try to feel the resonance in you face (higher up the higher the notes go) This helped me get a more powerful head voice as it's always been something i've struggled with.

You may already know this but keep practicing, it will come. How about putting the song in a key that suits you?

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It is VERY elusive. Don't give up. Keep practising, reading and listening to what you can, and of course lessons from a good vocal instructor are so valuable. The "break" or "passagio" is the most common problem for singers so you are not alone.

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Robert Lunte says that there is no such thing as a "Blended" voice- it is either chest or head voice. I guess I could take the song down another key but some songs just sound "dorky" to low. I feel like I want to be able to sing in my head voice- it is just very illusive to me so far. Thanks for the response!

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Robert Lunte says that there is no such thing as a "Blended" voice- it is either chest or head voice. I guess I could take the song down another key but some songs just sound "dorky" to low. I feel like I want to be able to sing in my head voice- it is just very illusive to me so far. Thanks for the response!

you have to develop and learn. it won't come overnight. journey songs are very difficult.

you want to run the indi 500, without learning how to run the car.

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As far as I can tell, while music theory knowledge and the good ear that accompanies being an experienced musician can never hurt, they are not really that helpful in learning how to sing! The voice is totally unlike anything else I've ever learned to play... there's no "instrument" outside of yourself to look at/touch/figure out... it's all internal. Robert calls singing an "athletic" endeavor and that makes total sense.

To me it's a total head game of doing all the right exercises to get my breath/tongue/jaw aligned just right and then not think about anything! Leave it alone!

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I hear ya! I have been singing for many years but never really studied. I have played piano since age 5 - I am hoping my experience will make things easier but I know from experience you have to keep at it.

only in the last two years or so have i seriously trained the voice. i got past, well past, utter incapabilities. it's the coordinations and finesse you need to get to navigate the passagio.

you cannot force it.

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I am still struggling with head voice and falsetto. I am singing a Journey song taken down to C "Dont Stop..." originally in E. This leaves me banging around in my break area- some notes it seems like I can "hit" in either a falsetto- easy or full voice "pushing " seems like if I dont push - I get that weak falsetto sound. This is confusing??

I've had similar problems on that song. So, I cheated. I raised the song one whole step higher and got rid of the "problem." I know that's lazy, but sometimes I think a particular passage is difficult because of the vowels and words. That's why Frisell's program spends so much time ironing out the passaggio on different vowels.

It's not in my regular set or a song that I feel I must do to feel "complete." I just wanted to sing it for a lark.

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I am still struggling with head voice and falsetto. I am singing a Journey song taken down to C "Dont Stop..." originally in E. This leaves me banging around in my break area- some notes it seems like I can "hit" in either a falsetto- easy or full voice "pushing " seems like if I dont push - I get that weak falsetto sound. This is confusing??

Howdy fellow beginner. I feel exactly the same way you do. In fact i consider myself a lot worse off than everyone else because i have such an unnaturally dry throat (which im thinking now is probably because of my allergies). So a lot of the time i cant even make a falsetto sound, let alone a twangy, full head voice sound. And when i do practice head goice, it will always get pretty breathy/airy after a while.

I also got four pillars a few days ago and im trying the twang compression "quacking" technique to try to refine my head voice. Im wondering if you're doing the same? If so, how long have you been trying to use it? And for those experienced vocalists who have practiced twang in head voice, how long before you could consistently get a decent (non-windy/non-dry sounding) head voice?

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rfcorange,

rectify the cause of your dryness. you need internally hydrated, moist, pliable, flexible, vocal folds to sing.

are you using antihistimines? they'll dry you out. drinking a least a half gal. of water? you may need more water to compensate for the meds., if you use them for your allergies.

get that nailed down, because singing dry will impair your progress and can contribute to vocal damage.

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Bob (can i call you bob, everyone else seems to haha)

Im actually having immunotherapy/desensitisation which is where the dr injects me with whatever im allergic to (dust mites) every month. I dont believe its antihistamines, though i will keep that in mind and avoid antihistamines in future.

I am trying to drink a lot more water nowadays, i never used to as a kid. I was one of those kids who would drink a lot of soft drink instead of water. (come to think of it, im surprised im not diabetic). Do you think that would affect my dryness now? Im 21 now.

These days i pretty much only drink water and hardly touch dairy/soft drinks.

Do you have Any other tips on how to moisten my throat?

Thanks a lot in advance!

By the way, you can call me gary :)

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jonpaul - that's not falsetto at all - no breathy, flutey sound. He is not using only the very edges of his folds. The tone is very uniform from F3 to G4 - I'd say he has that nice "single register" type voice where the CT is very active and balanced throughout his entire range. That's the kind of thing that Frisel promotes, and what a lot of accomplished tenors have acheived. I doubt he had to develop that all that much. I think he is one of those tenors that has had that all his life.

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gogorivera - that's a tough song. You've transposed it down to C. I bet you are having issues with E4 and G4? That is normal for someone that hasn't learned to bridge yet. As others have said - this is going to take time and training. You are going to have to learn how to modify vowels, otherwise your body will fight you.

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jonpaul - that's not falsetto at all - no breathy, flutey sound. He is not using only the very edges of his folds. The tone is very uniform from F3 to G4 - I'd say he has that nice "single register" type voice where the CT is very active and balanced throughout his entire range. That's the kind of thing that Frisel promotes, and what a lot of accomplished tenors have acheived. I doubt he had to develop that all that much. I think he is one of those tenors that has had that all his life.

Now I'm confused. Are you referring to that Paul Simon youtube clip of mine? In that case, I wasn't saying that he was singing in falsetto. I know he isn't. I was just saying that all this "can I call you ...?" talking here reminded me of that Paul Simon song, lol.

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Bob (can i call you bob, everyone else seems to haha)

Im actually having immunotherapy/desensitisation which is where the dr injects me with whatever im allergic to (dust mites) every month. I dont believe its antihistamines, though i will keep that in mind and avoid antihistamines in future.

I am trying to drink a lot more water nowadays, i never used to as a kid. I was one of those kids who would drink a lot of soft drink instead of water. (come to think of it, im surprised im not diabetic). Do you think that would affect my dryness now? Im 21 now.

These days i pretty much only drink water and hardly touch dairy/soft drinks.

Do you have Any other tips on how to moisten my throat?

Thanks a lot in advance!

By the way, you can call me gary :)

hi gary, sure. please call me bob.

we need to be clear here, your dryness is in only your throat, or do you have a dry feeling of scatchiness in the voice box?

but here's what i would do before anything else...hydrate the body from within.

as you know, you cannot wet down the vocal folds via drinking directly.

get on the right track:

get rid of anything you can that dries out the body. soda, coffee, certain meds. (if you can) salty snacks, etc.

now start with drinking water, minimum, 1/2 gal. (or more) each and every day.

if you can buy a personal steamer, $40-$45 bucks or so...the only model you need a mabis brand steamer.

i inhale steam at least once a day for 5-10 minutes a day. shoot for 2. it helped immensely with my polyp.

in my opinion, that's all you need to do. eat healthy, get enough sleep (real important) . don't buy into the sprays or pills..just consistently find ways to stay hydrated. avoid dry places.

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hi gary, sure. please call me bob.

we need to be clear here, your dryness is in only your throat, or do you have a dry feeling of scatchiness in the voice box?

but here's what i would do before anything else...hydrate the body from within.

as you know, you cannot wet down the vocal folds via drinking directly.

get on the right track:

get rid of anything you can that dries out the body. soda, coffee, certain meds. (if you can) salty snacks, etc.

now start with drinking water, minimum, 1/2 gal. (or more) each and every day.

if you can buy a personal steamer, $40-$45 bucks or so...the only model you need a mabis brand steamer.

i inhale steam at least once a day for 5-10 minutes a day. shoot for 2. it helped immensely with my polyp.

in my opinion, that's all you need to do. eat healthy, get enough sleep (real important) . don't buy into the sprays or pills..just consistently find ways to stay hydrated. avoid dry places.

Bob,

I dont have any sort of scratchiness anywhere, it's just a dry throat.

i didnt know about the "hydrate body from within" thing. (though i have heard that the throat is the first part of the body to get thirsty, ie last part of the body to get hydrated). so am i right in understanding that i should maintain a certain amount (by drinking a lot, etc) of water until my throat can stay hydrated? in which case, it would be like saying that the the amount of hydration the throat has really depends on the amount of water drank in the previous period (maybe a few hours, or a day before), rather than the current period.

because this whole time ive been thinking that drinking water should "immediately" hydrate the voice, since it's directly contacting it when i drink.

oh yeah and about the dry places thing, I live in Melbourne, Australia, which is a pretty dry city :\

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yeah, i got promoted!!! lol!!!

gary, simple rule...very simple...drink enough plain water to pee virtually clear. infortunately, you'll be peeing a little more frequently, but that and adaquate rest can have an amazing effect on your singing.

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