Jump to content

Head Voice Confusion

Rate this topic


Elizax

Recommended Posts

Hi, I have a problem with my head voice in that it is very quiet.

I was wondering if head voice is still in your speaking voice, or the kind of whispering voice you dip into for falsetto.

Sorry if it makes no sense, but I need an answer so I can move forward in my singing and I have no idea how to put it any other way.

Thanks :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I have a problem with my head voice in that it is very quiet.

I was wondering if head voice is still in your speaking voice, or the kind of whispering voice you dip into for falsetto.

Sorry if it makes no sense, but I need an answer so I can move forward in my singing and I have no idea how to put it any other way.

Thanks :)

No it is generally not in your speaking voice except when you hear someone speak and their voice goes kinda high and light for emphasis (often in a kind of "that's ridiculous" context) or how some women speak when their voice goes high like when they're excited but not shouting their voice just gets higher and more feminine. More examples of head voice are people talking to their pets or to a baby. A whimper would also be in head voice.

That's how it starts pretty quiet not a murmur but maybe slightly below speech volume and then you train to make it louder. Eventually it will become almost as loud as your upper chest voice.

It's perfectly possible to function in society without head voice so you may have never used it but you will hear it in others when their voice sounds lighter but not a girly airy falsetto.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No it is generally not in your speaking voice except when you hear someone speak and their voice goes kinda high and light for emphasis (often in a kind of "that's ridiculous" context) or how some women speak when their voice goes high like when they're excited but not shouting their voice just gets higher and more feminine. More examples of head voice are people talking to their pets or to a baby. A whimper would also be in head voice.

That's how it starts pretty quiet not a murmur but maybe slightly below speech volume and then you train to make it louder. Eventually it will become almost as loud as your upper chest voice.

It's perfectly possible to function in society without head voice so you may have never used it but you will hear it in others when their voice sounds lighter but not a girly airy falsetto.

Oh great, Thankyou! I completely understand :)

Like an 'eek' kind of excited sound? I know chest voice is the speaking voice, I just needed that clearing up. I always wondered how singers went so high without strain.

Doing the noises and trying to sing after finding it is also hard because my head voice is very quiet and weak and sometimes I'm not sure if I'm slipping into falsetto.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure about eek...it's possible to do that with flageolet or reinforced falsetto or pure M2 or whatever the heck you call it.

In my experience, the best possible way to find head voice, and be 100% certain you have found the right configuration to train, is through this.

The key is, if you can bridge the configuration with chest voice, you have something that you can eventually mold together with chest voice into one voice with a lot of flexibility, rather than having no choice but to abruptly switch to a different voice. And this lecture is not only great for teaching bridging but it also ensures that where you end up at the top is a solid foundation to train head voice and be able to add more beef and chest musculature to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for linking that, Owen. I had seen this before and still found new things to understand since the last time.

First off, props to Robert for sneaking in a Quantum Mechanics reference (the singularity.) Not many people could do that and make it seem conversational.

Anyway, as he points out, and is probably lost on most is that the falsetto action in this exercise is not permanent, though you can use falsetto at times for effect. However, many are so religiously against falsetto that they overlook its beneficial uses. And I expect further disagreement on that. Such is life.

Anyway, this use of falsetto at first is to teach coordination. You will not always sing the way this sounds. It is to get you from one place to another.

And, in the process he is talking about, reminds me of my favorite quote from Graham Hewitt, who's book I first read in 1988. "If you can sing it soft, you can sing it loud." As in, the falsetto allows you the room to bridge, and later, you learn to lean that falsetto into "full voice." And this was one of the first things that attracted me to 4 Pillars when I first came here. Granted, it's a bottom up approach, compared to Anthony Frisell, but still, it gets in your mind that you need to get into head voice as soon as possible. Otherwise, like he said so well, you will fall back to the shouting mode, which does have limited range and dynamics, always has, always will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TVS isn't bottom up...maybe in terms of much of the training content literally ascending, but Rob makes a point that the techniques involved in great healthy singing are almost always "top-down" in the sense that, borrowing a term from Phil here, you are never pushing up against a ceiling of your range. Instead you are slightly pulling down configurations that can go higher than you are singing them, so you are comfortable and in control of the pitch, which are just two elements among the many benefits of top-down phonation.

Admittedly I only know that was a big thing in pillars 2.0...nowadays I think Rob's techniques for "bridging with more M1 musculature" are more middle of the line. They are not so top-down that they are "safe" (I mean the negative connotation of safe here) but not so bottom-up that they are unhealthy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still on spoken voice, with different adjustments of resonance and support resulting in a reduction of effort, also known as light mechanism. Some things on spoken voice may or not be close to it. Despite of that, to be useful for a production with quality training is necessary.

Its perfectly normal to have trouble with it. Can be developed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Owen, I will start practicing that. Really helpful!

Should I be feeling any vibrations in the chest what so ever in head voice?

Depends on the pitch but you should in fact ignore all vibrations in the chest. They don't mean anything except you are singing a lower pitch. It is a myth that chest voice resonates in the chest. Both registers resonate in the pharynx and the difference between them is due to differences in the configuration of the larynx and pharynx.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just wondering if there's any head voice in this?

I know it sounds messy but I was playing around with the song and trying to find head voice over falsetto.

Thanks.

Eta: a bit of a clearer version, I'm singing the higher notes and I presumed this voice is either head or falsetto because its what my chest voice breaks off into when I've hit the highest note in my chest.

http://www.smule.com/p/31926714_10570338

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's harder for me to tell the difference in a female voice since I'm a male and not a vocal teacher, but it seems like you have found a foundation that you can build head voice from. Right now it's airy so it might be better defined as falsetto, but it sounds like you'll be able to train to get some more power into it if you want to. Like I said before if you could get that lift up pull back maneuver to work with it then you know you are on the right track.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, higher melody in the harmony is head voice. The lower melody is "chest voice."

Unless a decisive break between the two is desired for artistic reasons, most singer training is in "blurring the lines" between the two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your higher voice is head voice/falsetto. This sounds really cool by the way, you should definitely develop this idea. I guess you are trying to find a stronger, more belty head voice tone? I would suggest that the tone you have in this song suits it perfectly for this song, i like :D

Thankyou! :)

Yes, I'm trying to strengthen it as it does seem quite quiet and weak for now, and I've also just started learning about mixed voice. I've been told to strengthen head voice before attempting it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...