Lower Head Voice

[Joel72]

So I recently got The Four Pillars program. I've been working on the 5th sirens and I think I ran into a stump. I just can't seem to add any power to lower head voice around E4-F#4. Anything above that is fine. Is this a normal step to go through or am I doing something wrong?

[VideoHere]

what happens? are you letting too much air through?

[Jens]

just give it time, it builds your coordination and strength so it will come after a while. At start it usually is like that because of how the pillars exercises are formed, the E4-F4# is the bridge(switch) for most males.

It's natural to cutback at those notes at the start.

[Owen Korzec]

It's a normal step to go through. However it is important to train those notes from both angles, practice them in both chest and head (or M1 and M2) and work them toward each other, try to make each one sound and feel closer to the other. Then through that you will eventually get familiar with the right pitch range and vowels to bridge on depending on the intensity, for your own individual voice. I'm still figuring this stuff out myself but I would note that when it comes to singing, personally I have way more success singing E4-F#4 in chest voice and just incorporating heady qualities into it. It can make it harder to bridge smoothly than going into head really early but that's the only setback and for the time being it's better than singing those notes weak. However the lower the volume the earlier you need to bridge so if I am going for a gentle dynamic I will obviously sing that range in low head voice instead.

[ronws]

Patience. Give it time. Even Lunte, the author of 4 Pillars goes through evolutions and learning. And then shares what he has learned.

And so will you. It just takes time. How much time? Who knows? Who cares? Do you have a 300 date tour coming up? No? Okay, work through what you can, give it time, pay attention to what you are doing, things will improve.

The magic pill of singing? Never-ending study, effort, practice, concentration. And the greatest singers never considered themselves "finished."

[Joel72]

Bob: there is a little air, would that be fine while beginning the coordination or am I missing something?

Jens: when you refer to cutting back, are you referring to the lift up pull back technique?

Owen: Having a lower voice, F4 and F#4 are really difficult for me in M1. Over time, will getting those notes be easier? Would "dampen and release" be the recommended onset for this? I'm going to try what you suggested, it seems very promising.

Ron: that's a good point, seems like the common theme is time

[D.Starr]

Great exercise Dan gave me was to do a hooty Woo on a four note scale. Start really heady and hooty then as you descend blend into a hooty chest voice. Blend is the key word though. Don't clunk into it. I think Jessie from Singing Success has a great low head voice exercise. Look it up on Youtube.

Try and work this into your exercise.

Remember finesse.

[Owen Korzec]

Bob: there is a little air, would that be fine while beginning the coordination or am I missing something?

Jens: when you refer to cutting back, are you referring to the lift up pull back technique?

Owen: Having a lower voice, F4 and F#4 are really difficult for me in M1. Over time, will getting those notes be easier? Would "dampen and release" be the recommended onset for this? I'm going to try what you suggested, it seems very promising.

Ron: that's a good point, seems like the common theme is time

Yes they will get easier over time, if you train them in M1. At one point in time E4 was hard for me in M1, now I'm singing F#4's in M1 easily and consistently. Dampen and release, not necessarily. Attack and release is probably best but do it with a more gentle attack. They'll all work though.

You say you have a lower voice, how low are we talking? What is your lowest note?

However, if F4 and F#4 are easier in M2, train them in M2 more. But still train both. You want a good amount of overlap

[Joel72]

D.Starr: I'll look into that as well. But when you say blend, is that referring to 'Mixing'?

Owen: D2, possibly C#2 comfortably. Really? Attack and release? That's weird, I thought that was only for M2. Where should the emphasis be as I get there, twanging or extra breath support? F4 and beyond starts to get a bit belty, so I hope that's normal at first.

[Danielformica]

Just a brief overview of this thread I would like to help by giving an explanation of blend or mixing or how low a headvoice is.

Basically it's just varying degrees of closure and the edges of the cords vibrating(headier) or the depth of the cord(Chestier). There isn't a seperately entity like one is mix one chest one is falsetto one is whisper it just degrees of the cords themselves. For example it feels like you have more to stand on in chest then when you flip to falsetto it doesn't feel like you have anything and goto a whisper and its worse. So you need to keep it balanced from the bottom to the top(the hard part the mix, the middle, the blend etc) it just takes time and knowing that your not grinding to deep on the bottom and letting go or flipping to much as you go up, it's gradual so there is no auditory difference. And that's it in a quick nutshell. Find someone that really knows what they are doing and have them listen to your bottom notes and teach you how to have a consistent stream of air (support) as ascend so you don't lose it and crack.....

[Owen Korzec]

D.Starr: I'll look into that as well. But when you say blend, is that referring to 'Mixing'?

Owen: D2, possibly C#2 comfortably. Really? Attack and release? That's weird, I thought that was only for M2. Where should the emphasis be as I get there, twanging or extra breath support? F4 and beyond starts to get a bit belty, so I hope that's normal at first.

Okay so you really are a lower voice probably. It makes sense you'd bridge more around E4 then.

Maybe I shouldn't have said attack and release. I'm trying to remember what onsets I've used to train high M1, Maybe a simultaneous attack which is like halfway between wind and release and attack and release, there's no "h" but no glottal click either. But honestly, most of my practice in that area of the voice just came from singing songs.

The emphasis should be on balance. Now if something is definitely imbalanced and you've identified it you can put a specialized emphasis on something else to balance it out (essentially what the specialized onsets do) but other than that, the goal, I think, is to not have any extremes...to not have to twang or support extremely hard just to sing high notes but instead balance those qualities with everything else to get the sound you want. And that balance is found through practice. That being said I would err on the side of breath support being the bigger focus in that range, there's a great deal of that in the balance of components, in comparison to other ways of singing.

[Joel72]

Okay so you really are a lower voice probably. It makes sense you'd bridge more around E4 then.

Maybe I shouldn't have said attack and release. I'm trying to remember what onsets I've used to train high M1, Maybe a simultaneous attack which is like halfway between wind and release and attack and release, there's no "h" but no glottal click either. But honestly, most of my practice in that area of the voice just came from singing songs.

The emphasis should be on balance. Now if something is definitely imbalanced and you've identified it you can put a specialized emphasis on something else to balance it out (essentially what the specialized onsets do) but other than that, the goal, I think, is to not have any extremes...to not have to twang or support extremely hard just to sing high notes but instead balance those qualities with everything else to get the sound you want. And that balance is found through practice. That being said I would err on the side of breath support being the bigger focus in that range, there's a great deal of that in the balance of components, in comparison to other ways of singing.

Oh ok, I'll work on that. You seem to really know your stuff! Thanks!

Just a brief overview of this thread I would like to help by giving an explanation of blend or mixing or how low a headvoice is.

Basically it's just varying degrees of closure and the edges of the cords vibrating(headier) or the depth of the cord(Chestier). There isn't a seperately entity like one is mix one chest one is falsetto one is whisper it just degrees of the cords themselves. For example it feels like you have more to stand on in chest then when you flip to falsetto it doesn't feel like you have anything and goto a whisper and its worse. So you need to keep it balanced from the bottom to the top(the hard part the mix, the middle, the blend etc) it just takes time and knowing that your not grinding to deep on the bottom and letting go or flipping to much as you go up, it's gradual so there is no auditory difference. And that's it in a quick nutshell. Find someone that really knows what they are doing and have them listen to your bottom notes and teach you how to have a consistent stream of air (support) as ascend so you don't lose it and crack.....

Ya, I thought that was the case. So I had another post on this website about mixed voice because the "third register" thing didn't really make sense to me. Someone said that mixed voice is basically a 'trick' to gradually take off weight and slowly shift resonance. Does that sound about right? Because it makes a lot more sense than a third register, and seems similar to your description.

[Owen Korzec]

Yeah I think most singers including myself seem to agree there is no third register in the middle. Mixed voice is just a mixing of the two registers. On a siren you want a gradual blending from one to the other.

[Danielformica]

Real simply just start in a comfy chest range on a low volume which will help you not be so heavy on the bottom then go up the scale and stay the same volume but don't let go to falsetto. As time goes on you will get better and better. Simple exercise not the be all end all but simple to work with.

[jco5055]

I think wind and release onsets might be the best to add power to the lower head tones, especially if you use appogio/the open throat tongue position. I personally like it because the wind and release onsets give you a sense of where you should be placing the head/m2 notes at in terms of vocal tract, and then if you just try to add power you will be in head voice regardless, assuming you are doing them correctly.

I imagine you would naturally start having trouble adding much power, but the more you practice the stronger it'll get. I also like dampen & release and contract and release to build power. Not a huge fan of attack & release, only because I feel unless you are experienced or have had a lesson with Rob there's a good chance of hurting yourself with attack & release, because let's be honest the sensation is just of yelling basically.

[Joel72]

Hey guys, thanks for the help! It's greatly appreciated!