Getting rid of Falsetto

[D.Starr]

Getting sick of flipping into Falsetto and not having a developed head voice.

I TRY to workout my head voice everyday with Goo and Gee scales. The some Wee-Woh from low down to up high.

I've been doing this for a good 3 months and seen no development in my head voice. I know I shouldn't expect something straight away, but it usually doesn't take this long to develop something in my voice.

I've been trying the Mays on a 5 tone scale today and it does sound all nice and connected in my chest voice but as I approach the bridge my larynx shoots up, I try to dampen the larynx and it all falls apart. I have a pretty deep voice as well so lightening up just feels like I'm letting go to me and I let go and flip/grind into falsetto.

I really really hate falsetto and would like a nice head voice.

Trying to conquer the range from F4-A4 needs that nice light connected tone. I don't wish to go higher I really don't want those majorly high notes in my range or music. Would be nice to have them but I'm not chasing them, yet.

I recently entered 2 singing competitions. Open Mic UK which I passed and was scouted by a producer and I'm currently working on music with him as well as working towards the regional final I hope to win, which moves on to the grand final. Then I entered the Voice UK auditions. There were several rooms with 10 contestants in each. As many as 5 were move don to the next stage in some groups. Where as in my group of 10 I was the only one. They really like my voice, commented on a few strained notes at around G4. More over they liked my personality and said my voice is something they would like to work on. The call backs are in October so it was something I would like to try and conquer by then. I believe I can do it. I'm willing to work my butt off everyday. I just need the correct technique that works for me and I'll be up,up and away.

I think it could be the raised larynx and thinning out my voice. I practice edge connection but I break a lot. I persevere but you know what it's like hitting your head against a wall day after day.

Any ideas? Apologies for the long post.

[gno]

D - Sounds like you aren't practicing the right things. You're right you should be making much more progress. However this is a very tricky thing - everything is based on feeling. That's where a good teacher will probably be able to help. If you've used one already, and you're not progressing with that instructor, then try another, until you find someone. If you really want to get there fast I'd suggest a skype as soon as you can with someone. There are a lot of teachers to pick from.

Can you post a clip of where you are now - with the stuggle at G4? Maybe someone here can help from your clip.

[D.Starr]

That's the thing I really like my teacher we have a great connection. He understands my creatuve flair when it comes to singing. I like to rip a song down to its foundations,express its feeling,emphasize areas. He really helps in that area,but in terms of technique he believes we should just sing. He doesn't go into cry, edge, thinning out the vocals or anything. Plus he is very cheap. I dont have the cash to splash.

Its a little late in the UK for me to post a sound clip. Ill get right on it in the morning though

[gno]

He doesn't know how or doesn't think it important to expand your range. And short on cash - Ok I get it. In that case you should hunt youtube for Seth Riggs exercises. There are a lot - start working with 2 or 3 of the first ones - sing these every day. Just go as high as comfortable - pushing it ever so slightly at the top of your range and work your way back down. Just go to your top note once per day - do not push it. Just a tiny bit. Don't got into falsetto - and don't go higher than you feel comfortable with. Try to emulate the weight / heaviness of the tone. I found this the best way to thin the right amount - I emulated Tamplin's weight. And emulate the vowel too. The vowels track differently above E4.

[D.Starr]

I have singing for the stars by Seth. I go through that as well as Mastering the Mix by Brett. I do have Rob's Four Pillars but struggle on a lot f areas, so I thought I'd practice lightening my voice first then going for the heavy weights to add more depth to my voice. If that makes sense.

I had a skype lesson with Rob but I simply don't have the money to do these on a regular basis.

It's this balancing act of not making my voice too light and flipping or sounding falsetto-ish and not making it too chesty and pulling.

[ronws]

I didn't know how to respond to this thread so I let it be and then I read Geno's reply and it inspired me.

It's not that falsetto is bad or can never be used. But, most every guy flips into falsetto with no training. So, yeah, it's a good point to work on your range in full voice. I don't think of it as pushing chest or pulling up chest. I think of it as following the note. Seeing to it that each note is full and round, akin to Lilli Lehmann's great scale. She would practice once a day the great scale. From your lowest usable note to your highest usable note and back down again.

That ought to work anyone to a fine sense of being warm.

[chamcham]

I'm not sure if your problems can be fixed by October.

But anyway, I found some videos related to falsetto and head voice on Youtube.

Eric Arceneaux talks about mix voice and how to not have a disconnected head and falsetto voice.

Part 2 of this video can be found here: http://aapproach.com/free-lessons/high-notes/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGTQzcbv7Cs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_ZRJSj38eE

[Danielformica]

D Starr the reason you keep flipping is because youre most likely practicing so much falsetto and letting go with the goo and gees and not practicing the most important element of holding on. You don't hold on so tight that you pull but enough to have some real sound. Don't get louder as you ascend and don't flip. Practicing falsetto and letting go to the other musculature is good but once you have it you have to try to sing in your full voice with the feeling of falsetto.think it but keep it in full voice . It's real hard to learn this from everyone teling you this or that over the forum

[Jens]

Just make your falsetto strong and connected... Thats headvoice it's no magic thing super thing you need to find.

Just alot of Coaches who are afraid of the Word falsetto, cause that connects to something bad.

Work out your falsetten on above exercises and in time it's strong enough to be called headvoice... Was à big breakthrough when i viewed the voice thatway

[Danielformica]

That's interesting jens.. Cause when I finally figured out that no matter how much more I practiced falsetto it wasn't gonna turn into my full voice I had a huge breakthrough. Not that I don't practice falsetto but I practice it seperately from singing full voice exercises. But your still better looking than me

[gno]

Some teach head voice through falsetto - I didn't learn it that way so I cannot comment on that. Like Daniel, I could never find a way to turn falsetto into headvoice that would connect to chest. I can only recommend what I know worked for me, and that was chest to head (avoiding falsetto altogether).

Sounds like you have most of the programs out there except the one that worked for me: KTVA. However, if all those programs didn't work for you can't guaruntee KTVA would work either, but it is an excellent program. The first stage focuses on a very strong, belting, head voice. Then later, you learn how to lighten it up. It takes a while though. Not sure you could get there by October even if you start tomorrow.

[Adoney]

You should just try to make falsetto stronger, you'll get it.

[DDisNow]

I think the main issue may be for you as it was for me: Do you know what you're looking for? Do you know what the "middle-mix" voice even sounds like?

Sure, there are many videos about it and many written descriptions of connected head and chest voice and how to find it... but do you understand what it actually sounds like, will you recognize that you "found it" once you did?

I was just like you, reading forums, watching clips on YouTube etc, looking for that ever elusive mix voice and no matter the exercises I did or how hard I tried I just couldn't find it.

It wasn't until I took a voice lesson that my teacher told me, that I was using "mixed voice" seamlessly already, there was nothing to look for or figure out, and that's why I couldn't find it. I had been using it (one voice) and singing that way naturally and wasn't even aware of it.

The point is, it really helps to know what you're looking for and what it is that you're trying to accomplish, and most importantly what it's supposed to sound like.

If you've been working on it for 3 months and see no improvement, you must be doing something wrong, it's impossible not to improve at least a little bit with 3 months of hard work.

Good luck!

[Remylebeau]

Tony O'Hora has some great videos on this as well

[Jens]

Daniel, i completly agree but one of the main problems many singers gets when it comes to highnotes is the lack of falsetto training, not the oposite. What im meaning is the muscles dominant in falsetto training are extremly important, and all singers are diffrent.

You want a strong falsetto/head for a seamless voice. Ive been using the falsetto into fuller sounds, it's not the only way but it's certainly à way. And you should not by anymeans just train falsetto to get it into fuller sounds but rather

70-80 % fullvoiced 20-30% falsetto building(can even be as low as 10% of your complete training, around 5-10 minutes à day is enough)

I can hear in your voice youve got very strong falsetto muscles, if you built them or had them for free doesnt really matter. As they are certainly aiding you Well in your high singing specialy above high c.

Now i cant claim that im à Better Singer or know more aboutthe voice Than youdo ( but as stated i do look Better )

But this is My theory and how My voice responded.

I know many fullout tenors missing alot of their highend just because they didnt train those muscles

Whats your thoughts on this Daniel?

[Adoney]

Just try to blend falsetto and chest voice, it's that simple. I sing in a way that completely eliminates falsetto, though if I sing for a long time I will 'break' or 'crack' into a chest voice note above or below the one I already sing (without losing resonance, and I refer to this as a jump). But I highly doubt you want the same vocal style and I reccomend you just do what I said first, and figure it out on your own.

[D.Starr]

WOW thanks for the responses guys.

I do believe I have been practicing falsetto for a long long time and it just isn't going anywhere.

I'm not sure how to lean into head voice more rather than flipping into falsetto. As I go up the scale on say a goo it feels more connected the higher I go up, but when I come back down and try to blend with chest it's extremely airy and disconnects. Not only that, singing F4 and upwards lacks the heady qualities it requires.

[Sun]

I get where you are coming from, trying to sing into head voice if you can't already is like trying to flex a muscle you can't flex with your mind, how do you wiggle your ears if you can't wiggle your ears already?

It's possible that falsetto training will help your head voice greatly, but you can still access it today if you do things right. I did it by compressing falsetto until it flipped into full voice but it was a quite brutal method (came with lots of constrictions).

You could try adding the cry before you get to the hard notes and just don't let the voice flip, more cry sound and support.

Honestly I think it's different for everyone but it's about discovering new coordination which can be incredibly annoying to to.

[Danielformica]

I totally agree with you Jens.. I practiced and still practice falsetto seperately from my full voice for about 10-20 minutes a day. I do believe that's how I kept my voice in good shape all these yrs as well. What I was saying was that someone one of my teachers at one point told me falsetto was going to become my voice and it never did. I had to build my voice note by note bottom up at that point and that's when I finally got it. Now enough about that Jens what hair and skin products do you use?

[bigfoot]

D.Starr - If you want to start accessing head voice.. use the descending Octave sirens on the 'oo' and 'ee' vowels, using a really light, thin voice (no chest connection.. don't try to belt it out at all).. That's Frisell's method.. its easy to do, and over time, will build an enormous head voice. More importantly, it will get you to start understanding the musculature involved in head voice production..

I had a very similar problem.. coz I'd never sung a note in my head voice all my life.. till a year ago.. I used to find songs like 'Lightning Crashes', 'Losing My Religion' etc tough!! hahahahahah.. Can knock out some maiden now pretty easily.

hope this helps.. and Bob would know quite a bit about the frisell exercises!

Cheers

[D.Starr]

Hey guys thanks for all the feedback. I did a skype session with Daniel Formica. He gave me a few exercises to help me stay connected and told me that I was totally letting go,rather than riding it through and staying connected.

Did some ee-ah and kept the feeling in the roof of my mouth.

Did some mooms up a scale and some aw with my tongue out.

Finding it a little difficult to carry it through which is dissappointing as I was reaching a4 comfortably.

Looks like I was totally letting go and not carrying the tone all the way through. Something I will be trying to work on over the next few days.

He also told me to start loud and stay loud. Not too loud bit a comfortable volume.

I'll post some links later as Im currently at work messaging of my phone apologies for typos.

[VideoHere]

bigfoot is right. those frisell exercises will be a part of my workout forever. they are so, so, beneficial.

d, in addtion to all the other great advice, i would recommend you start to work on the link that helps you enormously with the connection from the lowest part of your range through the passaggio to highest part of your range.

(notice, i intentionally left out terms like chest to middle, to head, because i speak in terms of musculatures and resonance.)

the missing link you need to work on in my opinion based only on what you're telling us is the pharyngeal "musculature."

that's an area that often overlooked and needs a lot of work to strenghten.

now, i know a lot of folks won't agree with me, but i advocate working the voice as high as possble with no holding back, and no lightening up anything.

sing ordinary scales on may's and nay's strong and loud don't focus on lightening up but adding support as you ascend. go as high as possible...do not let up on the gas but don't get louder as you go higher.

lean into it...don't be afraid to lean and cry into that sound!!

[ronws]

That's interesting jens..

But your still better looking than me

True, Jens is better looking than a lot of us.

Of course, it doesn't take a lot to look better than I look. Even my dog is prettier than I am. Even though his name on his papers is Shadow, my nickname for him is Pretty Boy.

And Snejk, if you have ever seen his pic, is just offensively handsome.

:lol:

[D.Starr]

bigfoot is right. those frisell exercises will be a part of my workout forever. they are so, so, beneficial.

d, in addtion to all the other great advice, i would recommend you start to work on the link that helps you enormously with the connection from the lowest part of your range through the passaggio to highest part of your range.

(notice, i intentionally left out terms like chest to middle, to head, because i speak in terms of musculatures and resonance.)

the missing link you need to work on in my opinion based only on what you're telling us is the pharyngeal "musculature."

that's an area that often overlooked and needs a lot of work to strenghten.

now, i know a lot of folks won't agree with me, but i advocate working the voice as high as possble with no holding back, and no lightening up anything.

sing ordinary scales on may's and nay's strong and loud don't focus on lightening up but adding support as you ascend. go as high as possible...do not let up on the gas but don't get louder as you go higher.

lean into it...don't be afraid to lean and cry into that sound!!

I find the pharyngeal area very hard. I squeeze a lot, crack a lot and get nowhere. It's frustrating. I can't get anywhere with the nays. Not enough whine and I flip, too much and I crack the hell up.

I understand there has to be some pharyngeal resonance on those higher notes. It makes sense.

I think I'm also afraid and don't FULLY understand how to lean in on the voice. I naturally cry in my upper range but I think at times I over do it and then because I'm afraid to crack and choke I hold off and end up flipping.

[VideoHere]

it's next to impossible to explain in words..but what if you simply tried singing the nay's without doing any flipping, just sing the word "nay" on an ascending scale without trying to do anything..just run up the scale till you can't produce the next note. don't manipulate anything...support the voice and just sing...

don't lighten, don't transcend, don't push, don't get louder as you go higher....just sing strongly.....just see how far you can sing the word "nay" before difficulty sets in.....it's not an exercise that needs to be taken very high.

but sing it strong....onset strong....stay strong...do not push, with conviction, like a gospel singer would. let me know.