Increasing range/developing a usable head voice... tips/tricks?

Like all singers, I suppose, i want to stretch my range, and I've run into some significant difficulty currently regarding my head voice... I can sing in my chest voice easily up to a G#4, and can usually hit a Bb4 when warmed up properly. (Sorry, I'm a little iffy on the notation, I hope this is right).

This is where the problem arises. I have no head voice for about a full step, and then around a high C it comes in strong, but the tone is weird. I sound like a small child singing in head voice, and I can't stand it!

So, for those of you with awesome, full head voices, please impart to me your wisdom.

Thanks

I read a bunch of books, bought CD's DVD's and vocal methods with excercises etc...

But bottom line is that when I "Just did it!" it finally got there. I stayed with it, I let it sound strange and whimpy, and finally nailed it. But I have to use it to not loose it. It's like a weak muscle who never got used. You build it but slowly. Don't strain. Let it sound strange, but NOT strain!

I later found the books, CDs etc describe what I did corre correctly, and probably it would go faster if I did it correctly from the start, but doing nothing is worse.

Thanks for the reply, Bajazz!

I guess I'll just have to plug along with it then.

Any books in particular you would recommend?

Books and cassette tapes will only get you so far.

If you really want to improve then you should take some voice lessons, especially if you're serious about singing.

I actually took some for about a year, but it was in a classical style and I didn't like the way it was making my voice sound, I felt like my tone was really hollow, inexpressive. But that did teach me basic breath support fundamentals, vowel sounds, etc.

I'm looking for a more modern approach I suppose, and all the teachers I've had contact with don't really provide that...

Using a classical technique doesn't necessarily make you sound like an opera singer. If the technique is good then you should be able to sing any style of music. Singers like Celine Dion and Myles Kennedy use classically-based techniques and they're some of the most expressive singers out there.

True... I probably just wasn't utilizing it well. Ah well I can't afford lessons currently, gotta pay for school and things like, you know, food.

But maybe after I get that paid off I'll start lessons again, in the meantime, books, cassettes and experimentation seem to be the way to go.

Is Brett Manning's system any good?

I don't really want to drop that kind of money, there seem to be a lot of good alternatives out there, but I've heard that Singing Success can do pretty good work as far as range goes.

I have worked with Brett Mannings system for a long time, and while it is fine for the easier, pop stuff, it doesn't quite hold up for louder stuff. At least not in my experience. Brett Mannings system is a forget-about-support-and-relax-method, or better known as SLS - Speech Level Singing. It might be a good introduction to head voice, and helps with increasing your range. But for getting power and volume you NEED to support, and that's where Jaime Vendera can help. His method is more suited for rock and louder/heavier stuff.

That said: I still stick to my first reply and advice you to start your journey towards headvoice by clearing time for as much singing as you possible can. You'd might start with just an hour daily, but add up quickly. If you can go up to 10 hours singing a day, the better! You don't need to sing that long everyday to keep your voice in shape, but to establish a tecnique, you need to spend hundreds of hours to get there, and from there you need much less time to maintain it.

If you get "Singing success" or "Raise your voice" use it as a addon and guidance in your singing, not replacement.

I also had vocal lessons and my impression is that they all just say: "OK, this is your range, stick with it." I've proven them all wrong and glad I didn't listen!