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falsetto questions


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i recently got into singing after being given a copy of pet sounds by the beach boys

 

 

 

[YOUTUBE]DcFDaDZbc3Y[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

now i really love this song... but i can't sing it... this is the first song that i really like that i can't sing at all

 

 

that high note at 3 seconds in.... is that falsetto or his normal voice....im pretty sure where he goes "we both could say" that's falsetto right?

 

 

also after that where he goes heartbeat at 0:46---- how does he sustain that for so long? i can't do it all

 

 

[YOUTUBE]3QCZ_bv9aLc[/YOUTUBE]

 

and then hear... the verses i can sing the first part alright but if i try to sing the second part of the verse it sounds lot quieter and pathetic.....it is in pitch though

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I'm pretty sure it's just a very nice, heavy, full-sounding/blended falsetto on the highest notes. Either way, no one's going to care if you time it right and just use falsetto on those parts of the phrasing, but I'm pretty sure it's a very fine falsetto.

 

Someone else could validate it for me, I'm not an expert on this, but soft head voice and falsetto generally sound the same, and so if a singer has a weak soft head voice but a nice falsetto and a nice strong belting head voice, the falsetto could work just as well as a substitute for soft head voice.

 

Could you post a recording of yourself, by the way? I only got a link to another beach boys song instead of the one you were talking about.

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those light high notes sound quite 'full' sounding. i think those notes were sung using mainly head voice with a speck of hint of chest voice mixed in. Judging from his singing, he's probably a light tenor? since tenors mainly sing using head voice for their high range. And since they say that tenors have strong head voices, but weak falsettos, usually. It's usually bass/baritones that have strong sounding falsettos, this is why a good amount of countertenors are actually basses/baritones.

 

So the first high note.. i'm guessing.. a G# above E natural?. is probably head voice. whereas the other high note later in the song (@1:13, B before high C) is probably falsetto, from the sound of it.

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those light high notes sound quite 'full' sounding. i think those notes were sung using mainly head voice with a speck of hint of chest voice mixed in. Judging from his singing, he's probably a light tenor? since tenors mainly sing using head voice for their high range. And since they say that tenors have strong head voices, but weak falsettos, usually. It's usually bass/baritones that have strong sounding falsettos, this is why a good amount of countertenors are actually basses/baritones.


So the first high note.. i'm guessing.. a G# above E natural?. is probably head voice. whereas the other high note later in the song (@1:13, B before high C) is probably falsetto, from the sound of it.

 

 

how do i access my head voice?

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Judging from his singing, he's probably a light tenor? since tenors mainly sing using head voice for their high range. And since they say that tenors have strong head voices, but weak falsettos, usually. It's usually bass/baritones that have strong sounding falsettos, this is why a good amount of countertenors are actually basses/baritones.

 

 

Huh, really? So is it possible to have a strong head voice but have no volume control? I can't sing my highest head notes in such a soft way as your typical tenor would.

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Huh, really? So is it possible to have a strong head voice but have no volume control? I can't sing my highest head notes in such a soft way as your typical tenor would.

 

The thing you have to remember is that these studio recordings, they're been mixed and mastered. You can't really be certain, unless you listen to a live recording. Some parts of the vocals could be enhanced by things like compression and etc..

 

I'm not an expert or whatever or anything. If you have a strong/loud sounding upper range, but don't have any control over softer dynamics, then you're probably belting out and forcing chest voice. If this is the case, then by continuing to force chest voice, you may cause your voice registers to be 'misaligned' and also will fatigue easily (may be even harmful :facepalm:). I've been guilty of this in the past, I know.

 

For what Carmen is asking, in order to 'access' head voice you have to have all the fundamentals down first (breath control, posture, correct production of sound, etc.). For myself I can do some sort of 'whistle' voice register, which have no idea whether it is head voice or falsetto. I haven't had a teacher in a long time to help with it. There's exercises to help develop the head voice, but they haven't been effective for me yet. An important to know is if you want to have a well-balanced voice, you can't keep on focusing on only head voice, or only chest voice. The best thing to do is to know both and once you do, you focusing on your middle voice which blends the two together.

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I just had a listen. i'm not really sure if its head voice or falsetto. The way that each singer's voice sounds and way they sing can vary a lot.

 

I think the main difference between head voice and falsetto is that head voice has the ability to project, falsetto can't really project, I don't think. And if I can remember properly, the way the vocal cords are engaged differently between the two as well.

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I've been down this road trying to make sense of what head voice and falsetto actually are.

 

My conclusion was that people are not in consensus and there are no scientific studies that can help, so you're quite screwed.

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yep, there isn't really a consensus. i took years of lessons from a guy who was into speech-level singing and he said that head voice and falsetto were totally different things but covered the same range, and that using falsetto was improper technique. now i'm taking lessons from a very experienced classically trained lady who directs an opera and she completely contradicts most things he taught me. however, in just three weeks i've gotten probably more benefit from her than i did from the other guy in years..

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You make it louder by pushing more air (in most cases a bad solution)

 

or by finding resonance cavities in your head. (always a good solution)

 

The first one is quite simple, the second one isn't I'm afraid.

 

Try imitating the sound of this guy when he increases the falsetto volume, it could help you finding resonance:

 

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=104447940

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i recently got into singing after being given a copy of pet sounds by the beach boys


now i really love this song... but i can't sing it... this is the first song that i really like that i can't sing at all



that high note at 3 seconds in.... is that falsetto or his normal voice....im pretty sure where he goes "we both could say" that's falsetto right?



also after that where he goes heartbeat at 0:46---- how does he sustain that for so long? i can't do it all


and then hear... the verses i can sing the first part alright but if i try to sing the second part of the verse it sounds lot quieter and pathetic.....it is in pitch though

 

 

He has a great ability to switch from chest to head to falsetto - takes a strong singer to do so. We occasionally get the Beach Boys palying at the local ball park after the games...

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