Members G-A-Nator Posted July 15, 2011 Members Share Posted July 15, 2011 Hey guys (and gals)! I personally love to start wars and arguments on forums and discussions! Anyway, I wanted to talk about a very touchy subject...the "Mixed Voice". Different people have different opinions on this, so called, middle register. I want to express my opinions on this matter based on what I've read and have experience with. I, personally, do not believe in mixed voice in the context of blending chest and head together to create a more powerful tone. I, honestly, think it would be impossible. The reason I say that is: If you cannot hit a certain note in your chest voice but, you can sing it in your head voice easily, guess what, you will not be able to "blend" in your chest to hit that note! Your chest voice has a very strict limit and once you reach that point of break in your chest voice...You're done! No mo' chest voice for you! When people sing in thier "mix", they are really just singing with good tonal placement.When you sing with good placement, you can go into your "head" register without a break and keep that full' powerfull tone. But yo cannot blend chest and head IMHO. Now...I do believe in mixed voice in the context that Clay Aiken is using in this beautiful version of "Mary Did You Know" What I mean by this type of mixed voice is he is goin from full voice to falsetto seamlessly...THAT IS WHAT I CALL MIXED VOICE! You can only sing out of one register at a time so singing half in your chest and half in your head is impossibel! IMO at least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DukeOfBoom Posted July 15, 2011 Members Share Posted July 15, 2011 yeah, i think you're right, but i dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members staticsound Posted July 15, 2011 Members Share Posted July 15, 2011 I agree 100%. You can't blend registers IMO...there are ways off beefing up head voice, and I think that's where this whole mixed voice started? I like this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members G-A-Nator Posted July 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 16, 2011 I agree 100%. You can't blend registers IMO...there are ways off beefing up head voice, and I think that's where this whole mixed voice started? I like this thread Btw...thanks for the thumbs up! I think new teachers who are so determined to want to create a new technique will just change the name of an old one to freshen it up..."mixed/middle voice" makes no since to me but if a singer needs to think that they are singing half in their head on that high note then let em is what I say! Anything to stop them from straining and losing their voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted July 16, 2011 Moderators Share Posted July 16, 2011 I agree 100%. You can't blend registers IMO...there are ways off beefing up head voice, and I think that's where this whole mixed voice started? I like this thread Hmm.. lately I've been training my passagio much more. Just wondering how are you guys personal experience is. So for you, are you saying that G4 and up are all head voice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted July 16, 2011 Moderators Share Posted July 16, 2011 Btw...thanks for the thumbs up! I think new teachers who are so determined to want to create a new technique will just change the name of an old one to freshen it up..."mixed/middle voice" makes no since to me but if a singer needs to think that they are singing half in their head on that high note then let em is what I say! Anything to stop them from straining and losing their voice. I don't think there's a clear-cut answer on how the voice is produced, since everyone is different. My teacher mentioned that everyone's resonance will feel different because everyone's face, sinuses, etc. are build differently. I also think that mixing is a vague term, but generally it means using head and chest voice functions at the same time. For me it feels like every note has some head voice in it. It might vary for everyone's voice I think. Some voice types need more head voice, some don't. It varies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members staticsound Posted July 16, 2011 Members Share Posted July 16, 2011 Hmm.. lately I've been training my passagio much more. Just wondering how are you guys personal experience is. So for you, are you saying that G4 and up are all head voice? Yeah, I would say for me G4 and up are head voice. It's weird, depending on the song, the G4 can take on a different tone that doesn't entirely sound like head voice?...some songs I can make it sound thicker, idk, maybe it's the whole covering thing? As far as the passagio, that's a weird area...where an almost "mixed" sound comes out if I don't belt out an F4. Not quite chesty, but not heady either. This whole thing confuses me, so I try not to think about it and just do it...lol.Once again, maybe it's the whole covering thing, the F4 could quite possibly be in head voice, but with the placement and a dumped larynx it just sounds chestier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators davie Posted July 16, 2011 Moderators Share Posted July 16, 2011 Yeah, I would say for me G4 and up are head voice. It's weird, depending on the song, the G4 can take on a different tone that doesn't entirely sound like head voice?...some songs I can make it sound thicker, idk, maybe it's the whole covering thing? As far as the passagio, that's a weird area...where an almost "mixed" sound comes out if I don't belt out an F4. Not quite chesty, but not heady either. This whole thing confuses me, so I try not to think about it and just do it...lol. Once again, maybe it's the whole covering thing, the F4 could quite possibly be in head voice, but with the placement and a dumped larynx it just sounds chestier? F4 is probably the highest note I can belt. My F#4 and G4 are in some sorta "mix", they feel somewhat "floating". Now I'm trying to stabilize my G#4, once its stable the A4 is suppose to come in easier. My voice tends to crack at A4 half of the time . But I think its expected, my teacher said that G# and A are like a "light-year difference". lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members staticsound Posted July 16, 2011 Members Share Posted July 16, 2011 Your teachers right. There's a hell of a difference between G4 and for me it's A#4. After that everything becomes really easy. The head voice just opens up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Consume Posted July 19, 2011 Members Share Posted July 19, 2011 I would have to disagree because all "chest voice" is, is chest resonance, people carry chest voice up into head voice all the time, so it is simply head voice, with a slight amount of chest resonance to add body to it, as you go higher, you begin releasing the chest resonance. Jaime Vendera has stated that you can even learn to drop your resonance lower than chest voice, and get your entire torso ringing for extremely low notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Consume Posted July 19, 2011 Members Share Posted July 19, 2011 I don't think there's a clear-cut answer on how the voice is produced, since everyone is different. My teacher mentioned that everyone's resonance will feel different because everyone's face, sinuses, etc. are build differently. I also think that mixing is a vague term, but generally it means using head and chest voice functions at the same time. For me it feels like every note has some head voice in it. It might vary for everyone's voice I think. Some voice types need more head voice, some don't. It varies. Davie, I am with you. I always feel my head vibrating when I sing - I think that what is commonly called the "mixed voice" is just the process of slowly letting go of the chest resonance so that we don't try to carry the weight up as we thin out the voice to hit highs, rather than just completely dropping the chest voice and going completely to head voice. The entire concept of a "mixed voice" is so that your voice sounds more natural as it goes higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Masklin Posted July 19, 2011 Members Share Posted July 19, 2011 You're using undefined terms, so I suggest stop patting each other on your backs, and just do whatever sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Consume Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 You're using undefined terms, so I suggest stop patting each other on your backs, and just do whatever sounds good. Chest Voice: The range of the voice that most people speak in - which generally appears below the Passagio, resonance for this range takes place in the chest. Head Voice: The range of the voice that lives above the Passagio in which resonance takes place within the head. How are those for definitions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Masklin Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 Those are terrible definitions. But don't take offence. My post was aimed primarily at the posters before you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jersey Jack Posted July 20, 2011 Members Share Posted July 20, 2011 You're using undefined terms, so I suggest stop patting each other on your backs, and just do whatever sounds good. This ^^^ Terms like head voice and chest voice are simply creative ways of describing vocal articulations--i.e., positions of the larynx/cords. Because we normally can't control these muscles, vocal teachers use such descriptive phrases to try to guide their students. The problem with this discussion is that everyone seems to be treating these voices as real, as distinct voices with definable boundries that are somehow inherent in the human voice. Not so. There can indeed be a mixed voice for several reasons: 1. It's possible to have more than two vocal articulations; fry, falsetto, and some say whistle voices also exist, as does that voice used by Tibetan monks--throat singing (?). Why not something in between chest and head? Since we're talking only about positions of the larynx, there could be three, four, or more voices in this range. 2. The holy grail of mixed voice is simply the search for an articulation that would cover over the flip that occurs when chest yields to head. It's like a beltway, a road that circles the city rather than taking cars into a congested downtown. For the record, most people try to develop mixed voice by bringing head voice down into the area below G4 and then trying to add some bottom resonance to the sound. The Point: Mixed voice is not something already existing, that you discover; rather, it is a way of positioning the cords that you develop through guided practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted July 23, 2011 Members Share Posted July 23, 2011 F4 is probably the highest note I can belt. My F#4 and G4 are in some sorta "mix", they feel somewhat "floating". Now I'm trying to stabilize my G#4, once its stable the A4 is suppose to come in easier. My voice tends to crack at A4 half of the time . But I think its expected, my teacher said that G# and A are like a "light-year difference". lol For me it depends on the vowel (G#4, A4) even if I'm warmed up I hate having to practice finding a shape for ONE note Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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