Headvoice vs. Whistle Voice

[babystar]

Hello everybody!

No Wonder Mariah Carey is one of my biggest inspirations for my singing and also my music! Still, I want you to know that I'm not copying her, but I want to learn to sing beautiful in my whistle register!

I always practice a few times a day, and I always end up in forcing the high notes. I can sing up to an A6 (but forced and I can just hit the notes for 0.5 sec). The highest note that I can do a beautiful vibrato on is E6.

What I realized tho is that I sing in my HEADVOICE and not whistle voice. I can sing headvoice up to a F6, sometimes even a G6! But when I go higher I really look awful and tensed and it just looks like I'm some kind of wannabe trying to sing whistle haha. It also feels like the throat muscles gets activated and I get a horrible swallowing feeling.

Once when I was hoarse, I could easily hit a B6. That feeling I had, whoa.. even if I was hoarse I fell in love with that feeling. It was just a beautiful whistle sound without any support and I didn't dare to go higher 'cause I was hoarse! Tho when I wanted to sing from E5-C6 I was breathy and it sounded really crap!

I'm happy that I have a good headvoice but I really wanna learn how to whistle with the right technique without tensing in my throat 'cause when I watched Minnie Riperton's "Loving you".

... I just fall in love with the whistle sound.

I hope someone can help me.

Thank you so much!

/ Claudia

[Steven Fraser]

babystar: Though 'whistle voice' is really a misnomer, the key to it is picking a 'weightless' registration (no push whatsoever) and matching that with a bit of vocal tract tuning so that the fundamental of the sung note sits just under, or right on, a vocal resonance. When you first get to it, it feels _very_ teeny, almost disembodied, and definitely not with any sense of air pressure.

I've read some speculation recently that the proficient female whistle voice singers are tuning the 3rd resonance (associated with Format F3) to the fundamental or to the 2nd harmonic. It makes sense to me.

However, if you want to begin to experience this, practice some very soft, easily done, but _clear_ slides on UH or OH from the bottom of your range, to the top. These slides will help you discover the registration adjustment so that you can explore the sensations of the very high voice without strangling yourself.

Once you are comfortable phonating up above G6 without resonance matching, then you can play around with some particular vowels and find out which ones work ok, and which ones not so well.

Keep us in the loop as to what you discover.

[Robert Lunte]

Very interesting... I want to get back to this when I have some more time... this topic Rocks... thanks for getting on it Steve!

[babystar]

Thank you Steven Fraser!

I'm thankful for your answer and today I tried your exercises.

I did like fifths slides on "OH" and started from C5-G5, C#5-G#6 and so on.. I sung the note and tried to have a quite smooth tone. When I got higher up to C6, I tried to focus on not putting any air at all and just sqeakout the tone. I found it very hard and I could just do it up to D6 without strangling and I could also put vibrato on it.

This is not the first time that somebody says I should practice sirens or slides (Don't know if it's the same). Although I'm a bit insecure of how to do it. I know what slide is, but should I do it with a very low volume, like without that the tone breaks, ofocurse? Is that what you mean by soft, so I could recognize the whistle technique a bit better? DO you mean the vowels "Uh" like hungry and "Oh" like woman?

I wonder what kind of slide exercises I could do or other whistle exercises I could do so I could experiment a bit more. Tho slides seems to be the best exercise imo! Should I do fifths, octaves, arpeggios?

Some singers says it's very easy to sing whistle and it makes me sad why I can't do it Could it be that I did practice my headvoice so strong that it's hard to maintain whistle immediately?

I hope you can help me! Sorry for my english and I really appreciate for your help! THank you!

/ Claudia

[Steven Fraser]

Babystar: Uh as in Up, Oh as in phone.

A slide is another name for a glissando.... where the voice produces ascending or descending frequencies without landing on any particular one deliberately. If an upward slide is immediately followed (without breathing) by a downward slide, that is a siren.

The reason that sirens are excellent generally is that the laryngeal musculature is continually making tiny adjustments in registration and adduction, and this is especially obvious when working coordination with low-levels of breath energy. If done softly, the singer reduces the amount of flex in the muscles, and they coordinate more easily. The insistence on 'clear' tone encourages the adduction to increase just slightly as the frequency goes up, which maintains tone quality. On the way down, the adduction must loosen just slightly to compensate.

Truly, it takes some practice to do this... as most of the time we do not sing this softly, nor try to keep a clear soft tone over a wide frequency range. HOWEVER, doing it, and having a break appear, shows the places in the range where the technique can be improved, and almost always the problem is that a registration/adduction combination has been taken too high, or too low. Doing this siren helps you find those places and re-work them (by trial and error) until you discover just how to be thinking in those problem pitch areas.

At a different volume level, this is actually what is going on when folks are learning how to 'bridge'. A 'passaggio' is a place in the voice where these adjustments must be made, or the singer cannot continue without strain and damage.

You certainly are free to use intervals once you have proven to yourself that you can produce the pitches. Skips are excellent, for example, upward and downward skips of the 5th, with care that both notes happen effortlessly, will build the skill.

Be patient. I do these kinds of exercises every day (as kind of my morning vocal 'stretch') and always the time between 8 and 10 am they are harder due to fluid build-up in the vocal muscles from sleep. After about 11:00 am (being up 3-4 hours) this issue goes away on its own. So, I think you will find your first successes in this after noon and early evening. Once you can do it well then, take it earlier in the day and see what adjustments you need to make so that you get the same consistency.

I find in my own use of whistle that when I get it just right, all I have to do is kind of 'fling' my mental image of the note up way high... and my voice will follow it. That's how I personally get up to the soprano C6. So, If I (as a baritone) can do it, I have every confidence that you will encounter success soon. Just be a bit patient. As long as you do it softly, clearly and effortlessly.... good things will happen.

You mentioned that you have vibrato on the D6. Cool. Be gentle.

I hope this helps,

[babystar]

Thank you so much, Steven Fraser!

I can only say WOW! What an amazing description that you wrote to me! I'm totally impressed and I'm very thankful that you explain so much! My teacher would NEVER explain this much to me, because she doesn't know, I GUESS! Thank you so much!!

I'm gonna try out what you just explained and I will keep on updating how much I develop! I think your suggestions of exercises are very interesting!

I'm gonna rest for two days now, So I start on monday to sing again because I oversang myself this week. Mostly, because I tried to practice whistle register haha, but I pushed in my headvoice instead, which seemed to be very bad 'cause yesterday I couldn't sing low notes as I usually can do.

Now I also know the difference between Siren and Slides and I'm very thankful for that! My english isn't the best, so I better ask instead of being confused or insecure about some words that I don't understand!

Once again! THank you and I'll be here to update how it goes

[kelewele]

Here is a video of me singing INSIDE MY LOVE by Minnie Ripperton. I am using the "whistle tone" technique. After the reading this discussion, I tried sliding into those tones. But, it's not something I can do so easily. I can sing those pitches because I HEAR them first. But I can't slide into them. Look up Betty Wright for more examples to listen to. I will try to analyze my technique for singing those tones. And I will comment on them later. K

[Steven Fraser]

Here is a video of me singing INSIDE MY LOVE by Minnie Ripperton. I am using the "whistle tone" technique. After the reading this discussion, I tried sliding into those tones. But, it's not something I can do so easily. I can sing those pitches because I HEAR them first. But I can't slide into them. Look up Betty Wright for more examples to listen to. I will try to analyze my technique for singing those tones. And I will comment on them later. K

kelewele: Thanks for posting that.

I ran the song through my spectragraphic software, and he top note you sang in the lick at the end was 1437 Hz, which is between F6 and F#6.

What makes this sound like a whistle note is that the spectrum is very pure. The fundamental is the only harmonic that has appreciable energy.

Watching you sing this, I have an idea that you are thinking a specific vowel up there, and smiling 'just right' to make the note work. Which vowel are you thinking for the top note? I am sure the female singers following this thread will be interested.

[babystar]

hey kelewele,

I watched your clip I think you're really amazing!

I also think it's very hard to do those slides.. I'm on my second day now practising it I reached an E6 with vibrato I reach them better when I slide, but when I try to just directly sing the note my throat gets strained immediately. But sometimes I make it good (I think) and I even end up singing a whole step higher than what I wanted to so I guess I just have to continue practising.

While practising whistle feels like I can practice my breathing control too! That's just how it feels!

I agree with Steven Fraser, I also sure there are more women who are interested in whistle register.

[Steven Fraser]

I also think it's very hard to do those slides.. I'm on my second day now practising it I reached an E6 with vibrato I reach them better when I slide, but when I try to just directly sing the note my throat gets strained immediately. But sometimes I make it good (I think) and I even end up singing a whole step higher than what I wanted to so I guess I just have to continue practising.

While practising whistle feels like I can practice my breathing control too! That's just how it feels!

babystar: while the slides seem 'hard' at the moment, they will yield to the consistent attention that you are giving them. Its mostly because by asking for clear, soft, effortless slides almost _all_ of the practiced vocal reflexes are disengaged, and you are learning to balance your vocal efforts much more subtly.

I am glad to hear that the slides are beginning to work for you. It indicates progress.

You mention that you experience strain when you just 'go for' the top notes sometimes. Here is an exercise, an extension of the slides, that you can use to begin to address that issue:

When you do a slide upward to a note, let your jaw drop some, if it ends up clear and effortless, breathe in and re-start (onset) the note you have been singing. Go for the same feeling after the breath as you had before it. The skill is to onset the note with the same level of vocal coordination (breath, adduction, registration) that you had at the top of the slide.

When you get to the point that you can do 1 of these onsets at the top of a slide, do 2 onsets (i.e., sliiiiiiide, onset, onset), and as you are able to do a certain number of onsets well, then add more. This approach should help you re-conceptualize the onset of a note in whistle, using the slide as a 'ramp up' :-) Eventually, you will no longer need the slide for an assist once you are warmed up.

You mention that the slides are helping your breathing control. Very important observation. :-)

FYI, within a few weeks you will feel so comfortable up top that you will be ready to begin selecting just the right vowel and jaw position to use to get the best sound for each whistle note. As a reference, In the range from D6 to G6, the fundamental (note you are singing) is in the range that is covered by the 2nd vowel resonance. As you saw in kelewele's demo, you can make adjustments of vowel and jaw position to make those top notes quite powerful and effective. What is also going to happen is that they will be _EASIER_ to do, and will be much less likely to strain when you add volume.

Since each voice is different, it will take some experimentation for you to determine which vowels sound the best up there... the vowel will be a different shade for each note. When we get to that point, I will offer some suggestions to get you started.

On second thought, here is a video on youtube of the soprano Mado Robin, singing an aria which goes to the Bb above soprano High C at the end. Watch the whole thing, and I think you will notice that she varies her jaw drop and lip positions significantly, depending on the note. What is less obvious is that she is letting her larynx rise without rigidity. All of those actions change the vowel resonances, and she has discovered exactly what she needs to do to get the best resonance on all of them. Specificially, the jaw drop, larynx height and 'wide' mouth opening are helpful to get the right resonance adjustment in the very high range.

Enjoy

[babystar]

Steven Fraser,

I'm thankful for even more help and it made me clear now. I'm gonna do those onset excerises too! I'm pretty happy that now I do learn whislte in the right way. I will try out vowels too later when I can sing around G6 like very relaxed.

So basicly, the higher I sing in the whistle range, the less air I have to add?

That clip just blew me away haha! I'm impressed. I realize I'm gonna experiment a lot with control now, it's gonna be fun!

I will try to record when I whistle and upload it later here to show you how it sounds!

Once again, I'm thankful for your help and it means a lot to me. :)

[Steven Fraser]

Steven Fraser,

So basicaly, the higher I sing in the whistle range, the less air I have to add?

babystar: that is likely to be true, but IMO this is something that you discover, rather than a 'rule'. Its been my experience that 'rules' will be over-done in the attempt, so for things as subtle as learning whistle voice, I don't like to go there.

The method I have recommended is more like an exploration of how your voice works, and what it feels like (to you) to do. Your brain and your body are collaborating in a new way. Once you have established the familiarity and comfort level with the approach, you can build upon that experience. In essence, you learn what your own technique will be... you teach yourself.

Glad to hear of your progress. I thought you'd like seeing what a pro singer looks like maneuvering in the highest ranges, in what is clearly not just whistle tone quality.

[babystar]

Steven Fraser,

I see. I understand everything now and I will try out to explore it it's gonna be a cool journey to discover the whistle now.

I've been practising headvoice for a few days now and doin' slides and sirens through my headvoice and tryin' to do that the same in my whistle. Now that I try to sing more comfortable and resonating my headvoice is getting "weaker" and I can only sing beautiful up to A5. When I sing higher, I must push my headvoice, which I rather let it be. Is this usual after being pushing my headvoice and whislte voice before instead of SINGING it? That I like learned my musclememory the wrong thing and now I have to learn it the right thing which takes a while I guess?

I hope you understand my question. Even if I support my notes a lot above A5, the notes disappear or like I must push them which causes constriction. Basicly.. what should I do if I'm very tired the higher I sing in my headvoice and whistle? Rest or continue singing but just up to where I feel comfortable?

I thougght the clip was interesting! it made me impressed. But I better not look at her face when she does that high Bb6 note, cause if I do the same I end up singing with constriction haha I want to learn whistle so bad but I take it easy.

I'm thankful for help!

[Steven Fraser]

I've been practising headvoice for a few days now and doin' slides and sirens through my headvoice and tryin' to do that the same in my whistle. Now that I try to sing more comfortable and resonating my headvoice is getting "weaker" and I can only sing beautiful up to A5. When I sing higher, I must push my headvoice, which I rather let it be. Is this usual after being pushing my headvoice and whislte voice before instead of SINGING it? That I like learned my musclememory the wrong thing and now I have to learn it the right thing which takes a while I guess?

I hope you understand my question. Even if I support my notes a lot above A5, the notes disappear or like I must push them which causes constriction. Basicly.. what should I do if I'm very tired the higher I sing in my headvoice and whistle? Rest or continue singing but just up to where I feel comfortable?

I thougght the clip was interesting! it made me impressed. But I better not look at her face when she does that high Bb6 note, cause if I do the same I end up singing with constriction haha I want to learn whistle so bad but I take it easy.

babystar: Some cautions: do not go into whistle too low. While you _can_ do it, (that is, sing in whistle in the area above A5) you have a full voice there too. Use it. let the jaw drop as you ascend, and don't be afraid to think a loud thought. That full-voiced, head voice technique will work up to D5 - F or G5, depending on how high a soprano you are. All you need to do is keep from pushing air up under it. Sing it with confidence, and let the upper notes expand. When you get to the top F5 or G5, you will have a well-dropped jaw, and fairly wide embouchure. Just deal with it :-)

If you are tired: rest. A 10 minute break every 1/2 hour of singing will be very beneficial. Just drink some water, and don't talk for a few minutes. Makes a big difference when you resume.

If you want some other data points, check out the aria 'Je suis titania' on youtube. its been recorded lots of times, by very famous singers in in the last 50 years. WATCH THEIR MOUTHS. None of the professional performers sing the high notes in whistle. They sing them in head. You can tell by watching.... she who sings it with a well-dropped jaw and a wide (side-to-side) mouth opening is picking exactly the right configuration to get lots of resonance. If they do not do this... they strangle. So, _you_ do it too :-)

I hope this helps.

[babystar]

Steven Fraser,

thank you so much again for your advice! Very interesting! So I should basicly sing with my fullvoice as high as possible with comfort and then at one point I must use the whistle? Or more like, where I kinda start to push my voice, is that where I have to activate my whistle? For example, usually when I sing up to C6-D6 I sing with headvoice and than when I sing higher I started to push my voice to reach the notes, but is that where I have to start to whistle? I hope you understand what I mean.

Yeah I think I forget to open my mouth! Thank you for reminding me!

Wow, so actually, singing above C6 and higher doen't mean you have to sing whistle voice? But there's one point where they get into the whistle, but I guess that's individually.

Are there any differences between contemporary singers whistle (Mariah Carey, Shanice, Minnie Ripterton's) to opera singers whistle or it's the same for both categories?

I'm very thankful that you answer my questions and that you even have time to answer.

/ Claudia

[Steven Fraser]

So I should basically sing with my fullvoice as high as possible with comfort and then at one point I must use the whistle? Or more like, where I kinda start to push my voice, is that where I have to activate my whistle?

babystar: that's a pretty good way of putting it. Until you have found the real top of your head voice, I think its reasonable to use it as far as it goes comfortably.

For example, usually when I sing up to C6-D6 I sing with headvoice and than when I sing higher I started to push my voice to reach the notes, but is that where I have to start to whistle? I hope you understand what I mean.

Yeah I think I forget to open my mouth! Thank you for reminding me!

For head voice to work resonantly, you need to let the vocal tract adjustments occur. Letting the jaw drop and the embouchure (mouth opening) spread a bit (like a smile with your jaw dropped) is one of the very most common ways of accomplishing this. However, the two maneuvers only work to a point.

Wow, so actually, singing above C6 and higher doen't mean you have to sing whistle voice? But there's one point where they get into the whistle, but I guess that's individually.

Correct. Most sopranos can sing to Eb, F or G before having to go into whistle. Others can go even higher in head, as in the recording I posted.

Are there any differences between contemporary singers whistle (Mariah Carey, Shanice, Minnie Ripterton's) to opera singers whistle or it's the same for both categories?

Most Opera singers do not use whistle voice in performance, its just not loud enough on the stage, and no composers wrote for it. However, the technique is the same as by the singers you mention. Many singers use it as a training tool, especially as a way to have a sense that the top range is easily accessible.

[TeachYourselfSinging]

Hi Singers,

Always made more sense to me to look at the voice as having one register. Especially so since singers and singing teachers can not agree on what a register is, how many the voice has, what to call them and how to develop and use them.

Happy Singing

Timothy Kelly

www.TeachYourselfSinging.com

[joshual]

Could you devellop please?:)

[Jens]

Then pleas kelly can you please sing up to C7 with a oneregistersound and i will be deply impressed ;)

[Steven Fraser]

Hi Singers,

Always made more sense to me to look at the voice as having one register. Especially so since singers and singing teachers can not agree on what a register is, how many the voice has, what to call them and how to develop and use them.

Timothy: I am going to start a thread called 'How many registers does a voice have?' so that this topic can get aired apart from this discussion, which is about developing whistle voice. I hope you'll join the discussion.

[VideoHere]

babystar: while the slides seem 'hard' at the moment, they will yield to the consistent attention that you are giving them. Its mostly because by asking for clear, soft, effortless slides almost _all_ of the practiced vocal reflexes are disengaged, and you are learning to balance your vocal efforts much more subtly.

I am glad to hear that the slides are beginning to work for you. It indicates progress.

You mention that you experience strain when you just 'go for' the top notes sometimes. Here is an exercise, an extension of the slides, that you can use to begin to address that issue:

When you do a slide upward to a note, let your jaw drop some, if it ends up clear and effortless, breathe in and re-start (onset) the note you have been singing. Go for the same feeling after the breath as you had before it. The skill is to onset the note with the same level of vocal coordination (breath, adduction, registration) that you had at the top of the slide.

When you get to the point that you can do 1 of these onsets at the top of a slide, do 2 onsets (i.e., sliiiiiiide, onset, onset), and as you are able to do a certain number of onsets well, then add more. This approach should help you re-conceptualize the onset of a note in whistle, using the slide as a 'ramp up' :-) Eventually, you will no longer need the slide for an assist once you are warmed up.

You mention that the slides are helping your breathing control. Very important observation. :-)

FYI, within a few weeks you will feel so comfortable up top that you will be ready to begin selecting just the right vowel and jaw position to use to get the best sound for each whistle note. As a reference, In the range from D6 to G6, the fundamental (note you are singing) is in the range that is covered by the 2nd vowel resonance. As you saw in kelewele's demo, you can make adjustments of vowel and jaw position to make those top notes quite powerful and effective. What is also going to happen is that they will be _EASIER_ to do, and will be much less likely to strain when you add volume.

Since each voice is different, it will take some experimentation for you to determine which vowels sound the best up there... the vowel will be a different shade for each note. When we get to that point, I will offer some suggestions to get you started.

On second thought, here is a video on youtube of the soprano Mado Robin, singing an aria which goes to the Bb above soprano High C at the end. Watch the whole thing, and I think you will notice that she varies her jaw drop and lip positions significantly, depending on the note. What is less obvious is that she is letting her larynx rise without rigidity. All of those actions change the vowel resonances, and she has discovered exactly what she needs to do to get the best resonance on all of them. Specificially, the jaw drop, larynx height and 'wide' mouth opening are helpful to get the right resonance adjustment in the very high range.

Enjoy

steve, could you please tell me how to post the whole you tube video screen and all as above? i know how to post a link, but i'd like to post a video including the screen as it appears on y.t. thanks

[Steven Fraser]

steve, could you please tell me how to post the whole you tube video screen and all as above? i know how to post a link, but i'd like to post a video including the screen as it appears on y.t. thanks

Sure,

There is a bar of tools above the smiley faces. First, go to youtube and find the video you want. In the URL bar of your browser will be some text for the video. Hold down your mouse button, and slide the mouse across the text to select it. Copy it (in windows, Ctrl-C) or Edit/Copy) and then bring the cursor back into TMV.

Click on the button that says YouTube. You will get a pair of bracketed words that look like youtube and /youtube.

Paste your URL between them. To see if you succeeded, click on the preview button at the bottom of the screen. If you were successful, you will be able to see the first frame of the video, and can even start it and watch it run.

When its perfect, Submit.

Hope this helps.

[babystar]

Steven Fraser,

I'm here to say thank you to you that I found the reason why I have it hard to reach higher notes, it's mostly because I'm not relaxed with my jaw and lips and i never opened my mouth enough. Your answers to my questions and other facts were VERY useful and it helped me to improve my other singing techniques. Right now I just have to practice so I can be relaxed while singing and I realized if I eat chocolate or drink any milkproduct it's very bad for the voice. I can't sing without clearing the voice all the time and then the vocal cords get very tired. Right now I'm in Switzerland I just can't stay away from the chocolate.

Although I'm very thankful for all the help and I'll be here for updates how it's goin' and share my experience too!

According to how many registers a voice have is I think registers can be called as different techniques to use your one and only voice in many different ways? I mean. You can sing Curing pretty your whole vocal range but at one point the voice can't manage it and then you have to use another technique. Maybe it's hard to sing curbing up to A6, and then you must change technique and use "headvoice/whistle" whatever you wanna call it, but it you can also sing headvoice from D6 so there's kinda no limits but ever individual's own voice has its limit so just learn the different sound techniques and qualities. Maybe you don't understand me I just had an carpirinhia haha

best regards// CLAUDIA!

[VideoHere]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnHmmQS5um4

this guy is from the little river band (last vocalist).

starting at 6:55 steve and all the pro's can you describe how he is acheiving such a powerful sound?

is that belting?

[Steven Fraser]

VIDEOHERE: I'll put this question in a new topic. I've got an answer ready to post, but want to keep this thread one focussed on whistle voice.