A Quick Clarification On Head Voice & Falsetto

Head voice in males is, in traditional teaching, falsetto. This falsetto is, physiologically speaking, identical to what happens in a female head voice.

In modern thinking (most notably speech level singing) both men and women have head voices. This distinguishes falsetto and head voice in men.

Falsetto is where the vocal folds are set apart and just the ends of the folds vibrate. This allows air to escape and produces an airy sound - however, if you push a falsetto a bit, it will sound kind of Axl Rose-ish and shouldn't sound airy. This coordination can be achieved by both males and females.

A head voice doesn't allow the air to escape and mostly resonates throughout the entire head (until it gets really really light which approaches whistle voice/super head.) You should, in a loud head voice, be able to feel your whole head vibrating. In men, this is classed as falsetto for traditional teaching and head voice in more modern teaching.

There you have it! Simple!

Thanks for this explanation. I agree that the distinction between falsetto and head voice is primarily the airy-ness of the former. If you review the materials of SLS people--Brett Manning, for instance--you'll find that head voice sounds very similar to falsetto--less airy and more edgey, but not substantiually different. I like your reference to Axl, as the male head voice in my experience is distinguished by that sharp piercing sound that he regularly uses.

Now what about the Bee Gees? The Saturday Night Fever stuff is classic head voice in my opinion. This is actually a problem for me as my head voice--which I can now access easily--sounds to me like a bad imitation of Stayin' Alive. I have it, but it's not very usable, as the tone is piercing and a bit parodic.

Well, edginess and a 'piercing' quality can be achieved in both head and falsetto when the pharynx is constricted.

My uncle, he's got a falsetto teeth...