Beginner question: How do you find your range?

[Frank Prince]

What's too high and too low? I have read about head voice and chest voice and all that, but I was trying to hear it in my singing and I don't really get it.

 

[Sunsetcarcrash]

If you are doing everything correctly, When you are singing higher, slightly pinch the bridge of your nose... you should feel it vibrating... When you sing lower, put your hand on your chest... you should feel it vibrating... You just get more power on low notes if you focus on singing through your chest voice, and power on high notes if its your head voice... hope this helps... message if you have any questions...

[micwalt]

The head voice is a very difficult thing to find--and even more difficult to describe to someone else.

But when you find it, you can sing like Lou Gramm until the cows come home.

[Bajazz]

I can suggest you to take up a SLS method, such as Brett Mannings "Singing for the stars" Beware to not go up in falsetto, then you'll find your headvoice.

 

For more heavy stuff, study Jaimie Vendera.

[Verence]

What's the difference between "Head voice" and ""Falsetto"?

[Bajazz]

I'm sorry, I'm using the terms a bit vague here....

 

Falsetto is the whimpy tones sung as in Bee Gees "Staying alive", while headvoice is a term used to describe the high notes. Those that resonates in your head.

 

So when you sing falsetto notes that resonates high, you are in the headvoice area. Another way to sing in headvoice is using the full voice, as done by Bruce Dickinson and Jonnie James Dio.

[micwalt]

 

What's the difference between "Head voice" and ""Falsetto"?

 

I found this--pretty good explanation.

http://www.become-a-singing-master.com/head-voice-and-falsetto.html

"One of the most common questions that we get at Singing Success is some version of this:

 

'Isn't 'head voice' the same as 'falsetto'?'

 

If you've ever wondered that, you'll want to read this 'vocal tips' issue.

 

Here's the short answer: Head voice and falsetto are not the same, but so many people (including MANY vocal teachers) think they are the same that the terms have become confused and are commonly used interchangably. BUT THEY SHOULDN'T BE."

 

"Falsetto means literally 'false voice.' To identify whether the sound you are making is falsetto or not, listen for a very 'airy' sound. If up high, your tone changes from firm and clear to airy, that's falsetto.

 

The reason falsetto has an airy tone is because of how it's produced by the vocal cords. In falsetto, the tiny vocal folds are coming close enough to one another to cause the edges to vibrate as the air flows between them, but they are not making contact with one another.

 

The airy sound comes from all the air that escapes through the space left between the cords."

 

"A singer's normal speaking voice, when sustained in a single note is referred to as 'chest voice.' Put your hand on your chest and say the word 'at.'

 

Now make the 'aaa' last a long time--'aaaaaaaaaaat'

 

You'll feel the vibration in the chest. So 'chest voice' is a reference to the dominant resonance cavity -in this case, the chest.

 

In Chest Voice the vocal cords come together with a good firm seal and vibrate along their entire length as the air flows between them. This is the lower part of your vocal range.

 

As the singer climbs into higher notes, the cords begin to tighten (like a guitar string when you turn the tuner peg). At some point, the cords reach a crisis-- they can only stretch so tight before they risk damage.

 

If the singer tries to keep this chest voice going ever higher, the cords will preserve themselves by suddenly breaking apart, dumping the extreme tension, and producing the next higher note via 'falsetto.'

 

Since vocal cords are made of muscle, they can do things a guitar string could never do.

 

In this case, in addition to breaking apart to relieve the pressure from the lungs, they actually change their thickness (they thin themselves out--the equivalent to changing to a thinner guitar string in middle of a song to reach a higher note!)

 

The problem is that the tone goes from firm and rich (chest voice) to something thin and airy and light (falsetto) in the space of only one note. This is fine as a sound effect, but it is the cause of much frustration for singers everywhere. We all wish we could just reach one or two notes higher with that rich, firm chesty tone! But alas.

 

But there is great news! There are simple exercises that can cause the singer to release the tension and NOT go into falsetto in these higher notes.

 

A singer can eventually 'FADE' from chest voice into a firm upper range called 'head voice.' "

 

"The term 'head voice' refers to the fact that on higher notes, the tone begins to resonate more in the small spaces of the head (nasal and sinus cavities). "

"They are doing something VERY different between falsetto and head voice.

 

In head voice, the cords remain in contact with one another. This makes a huge difference in tone between falsetto and head voice. The head voice sounds clear and 'clean' without the excess 'airy' sound, because there is no escaping excess air.

 

In the male singer, the chest voice 'crisis point' is around the notes E, F, F-sharp, or G above middle C. In the female, it's at A-flat, A, B-flat, or B above middle C. (Incidentally, the female FIRST crisis point is the male SECOND crisis point). If the singer has learned how to 'FADE' into the next register (head voice), there will be no breaking apart of the cords for self-preservation. They do something wonderful---

 

They first thin out (like falsetto) but they stay together as they thin.

 

Eventually, up toward the very highest notes, they not only thin out, they partially 'ZIP UP' like a guitar string being 'fretted.' This all has the effect of keeping the tone clear (because the cords stay in good contact with one another) AND, more importantly, the cords are not required to tense ever tighter to reach higher notes!

 

This is huge!

 

The cords are designed to close themselves off on higher notes so that they don't have to be stretched to the point of injury to reach those notes.

 

Head voice is a beautiful, clear sound, rather than the airy falsetto sound."