How to find my head voice?

After doing some research, I found out that I was actually using falsetto, and I basically don't even use my head voice, and after trying I realized I don't think I can reach it either. I just pull my chest voice up and go to falsetto when it gets to high, or transpose lower. Any bright ideas? Perhaps some sounds that instinctively use head voice, if I felt it, I'm sure I could reproduce it later.

Hi There, My advise for you is to take singing lesson, look for a competent teacher that will teach you in using your head voice. It is really better that there are someone who teaches you on how to do it. Just always remember that singing takes time to master and you cant make it in just a blink of an eye. Goodluck!

kevin richards has some good falsetto vs head voice vids on youtube

Thanks for the vid, but I already do know the difference between the two, I just cannot physically PRODUCE head voice AT ALL. I have no bloody idea how to access it.

Oh, by the way, I think I may have used it once, I was doing a nay-nay exercise that was supposed to take strain off of voice or something, and I reached this very high voice that was definitely not falsetto, but not sure if it was head because I hear a lot about the " vocal break ", and I could smoothly descend back to my lowest note in chest voice.

Hunt aorund on Youtube or where ever for a lesson on using vocal fry to access your head voice. Head voice is something I could never figure out until I accidentally found it while pissing about with vocal fry noises (great for driving people nuts ). Which was quite annoying, because afterwards I found a whole bunch of references to using vocal fry for this. If only I'd known to look earlier...

Hunt aorund on Youtube or where ever for a lesson on using vocal fry to access your head voice. Head voice is something I could never figure out until I accidentally found it while pissing about with vocal fry noises (great for driving people nuts ). Which was quite annoying, because afterwards I found a whole bunch of references to using vocal fry for this. If only I'd known to look earlier...

You got any links please?

Head voice is tricky, no one really knows what it is. Personally I'd say it's a falsetto made more chest voice-like, with full resonance and all of that.

Also, there's little or no point in searching for head voice or mix voice until you master your chest voice, in my opinion. Primarily because chest is the easiest voice to sing in while maintaining resonance.

If you do lip rolls correctly, you're going into head voice. Just go up your range and hold the highest note. That should give you an idea of what it feels like. You should feel the note "buzz" in your head. Also you can try the vocal fry post. That should work as well. Whatever note you start to hit falsetto on, start with a vocal fry sound and try to hit the note. The point of that being that it's supposed to keep your chords somewhat closed to produce a pure head tone and not slip into falsetto...or something to that effect, lol. Good luck man

I have nothing more to offer, as I naturally seem to ONLY use head voice and don't know how to access my MIXED voice or strong chest voice. *groan*

But I do find it hard to make the jump from being able to access various registers or types of voices or vocal sounds in exercises to actual SONGS. It's frustrating.

Could anyone link any of those vocal fry to access head voice lessons? Can't seem to find any.

After trying a bit, I managed to find a sound that seems to resonate in my very ears, very loud, very high compared to my normal voice ( high as in placement, not pitch ) but it still feels absolutely like chest and I can't stretch it much higher.

At work, so I can't really go hunting for videos or anything at the moment.

But basically you slide up in a vocal fry sound. Vocal fry by its nature will keep your throat bits relaxed and will stop you from shifting into falsetto. So basically start off by getting comfortable making vocal fry sounds in your chest range, then slide it up above your comfortable chest range. Once you're comfortable making the higher sounds, you basically remove the fry part from the sound (can't explain how to do that, but it feels like a simple thing to do for me :idk) to be left with a very light head voice sound. The feeling should be quite different to chest voice, and at this kinda of low level the resonance is probably going to feel quite precise in where it's located. It should be a very light sound, using very little air, and without any of the tension you get from pulling chest voice.

From there you'll work on expanding the sound to make your whole range sound more consistent.

Both vocal fry and lip rolls don't seem to work, I just break into my falsetto eventually. Another question... Can you hit the same notes in chest and head, or do they each hold their own exclusive range?

Fry never worked for me either, lip rolls were a negative too. The nay-nay technique worked for me but I think it might have contributed to my problems with my rising larynx because the whiny nay sound lifts your larynx.

They over lap on some notes in the middle, but generally head voice takes the higher notes and chest voice takes the lower ones.

This is the only way I know how to describe how I create my head voice:

Bro, have you seen the video?

This video:

http://webinarsmeetings.com/singingworkshop/video.html

I think he describes to the T how people have issues

with using the wrong technique to achieve a specific sound.

Great picture above except I would aim a little higher as not to place the voice in the nose as opposed to in the mask which is where you really want it. If lip bubbles don't work, roll an Italian "R", "V" or sing on "L" (leave the tongue up against the upper teeth) and you should strongly feel the vibration of your voice up there in the sinus cavities, your resonance chamber. Hopefully that can help you finding your head voice.

Another great exercise is pitching above the pencil from Melissa Cross' The Zen of Screaming. Put a pencil horizontal in your mouth. Imagine that you are pitching your voice above it when you sing. Try it on "Hey" for example.

I think my throat is pretty much ok by now, I'll be posting some clips during the next week which I hope can help to determine if my terminology is faulty, or I truly cannot touch my head voice at all.

Thanks for all the replies, gonna try using all of the advice given, though I'm not sure how much it'll help. The picture was a bit confusing, what am I supposed to tighten and how? And as for sending the tone higher, I'm not sure how to do that ,or to send it to the mask for that matter, but I'll keep trying. Been doing tons of research lately and I've become aware of so many new concepts and it'll take a while to adapt, and I'm light years away from using these stuff in actual singing. Thanks for all the replies again, and sorry if this is the millionth time someone's asked " Am I singing in my head voice plz help 1!!'!!'?!'1 ", just haven't seen this topic covered properly anywhere I looked for, nor have I found any definite answers to the head voice, except that it's supposed to resonate higher than the chest.

Tighten up from the root of your tongue, down to the muscle behind your adam's apple. Not real tight...just a squeeze.

I keep air out of my sinus when using this technique.

It is easy to take the sound higher into the sinus, and that's another aspect that can take some work to avoid.

You have to learn to "bypass" that sinus opening to the throat by closing it off, and letting the voice resonate along the top of the palatte.

At least I think that's how I do it...it is very hard to describe, obviously.

I don't really remember how I first made head voice work, but I do remember that I was singing along with some Yes (I think it was "Heart of the Sunrise"), and it just kind of "appeared".

Ok, now I'm even more confused. How deep is the root of my tongue exactly? Does my whole tongue move when I squeeze the root?

I would get the root of your tongue is located along the back of your lower jaw. When you give the squeeze, it can go all the way to your vocal folds, depending on how high in pitch and how loud in volume you are pushing the head voice.

You still have movement of your tongue (in the mouth) so you can enunciate.

Sorry if I am confusing you more. I wish I could describe the technique better.

Bah, it's just hard to visualize if I can't feel it myself. Do you know any good examples of vocal exercises that focus on different muscles, so I could start to differentiate them?

Personally, I would NOT tighten any part of your throat or tongue. That is a big no-no from my experience but if it works for you, sure go ahead

Singing has to come from a natural and comfortable place. For example, words like "Hi! How are you?" "Mama mia!" "Good job!" said with enthusiasm will bring your voice up there in the mask naturally and help you hear and feel what the correct placement is. Then rely on your ears and senstations to reproduce that sound into your singing. There is no tightening required when you speak therefore there should be no tightening required when you sing.

Personally, I would NOT tighten any part of your throat or tongue. That is a big no-no from my experience but if it works for you, sure go ahead Singing has to come from a natural and comfortable place. For example, words like "Hi! How are you?" "Mama mia!" "Good job!" said with enthusiasm will bring your voice up there in the mask naturally and help you hear and feel what the correct placement is. Then rely on your ears and senstations to reproduce that sound into your singing. There is no tightening required when you speak therefore there should be no tightening required when you sing.

Maybe "tightening" is the wrong word, and "flexing" would be a better choice? All I know is there is a slight movement I do in that area when I go into head voice, and it involved the strengthening of that area to pull off consistently. Part of the movement I make in that area also make it easier to shut off the sinus opening at the throat, allowing the voice and air to "glide over" that hole. After a good bit of practice I was able to add some serious fry to the technique, but that is hard on my vocal chords so I don't do it often.

Guys, I think I'm gonna start from scratch. I seem to modify my voice a lot when I sing, I need to work a ton on relaxing first, and when I can handle at least an octave of proper, consistent STRAIN FREE chest voice, then I might considering continuing my search for the head.