This weeks blog is going to be a little bit more abstract. I’ll be attempting to explain by understanding of the difference between “head voice” and falsetto.
First of all, I should probably add a disclaimer that these concepts are something that a lot of vocalists and vocal teachers disagree on, so nothing I have to say about this is necessarily factual, but rather my experience with the feelings that these different registers and vocal modes provide, how to access them, etc. I also don’t know much about the female voice, and while the vocal cords are physiologically the same (albeit smaller and tighter), I don’t want to assume everything works the exact same way, and so let’s just say this only applies to males.
The first and most important distinction to make between head voice and falsetto is that while they aren’t the same thing, they are related. The relation is that head voice most often refers simply to any notes that are resonating primarily within the space of the head, mouth, and nose. Falsetto falls under this category, meaning that while falsetto is a sort of head voice, head voice is not necessarily falsetto. Head voice can encompass other sounds. I personally can only do two things with my head voice, so that’s all I can talk about.
The first head voice configuration I can discuss is what I just mentioned: falsetto. Falsetto is basically the sound we think of whenever we think of a guy doing an impression of a female, or Elmo, or some other character with a high voice. It sounds airy and weak, but is higher in pitch than the male’s chest (speaking) voice. When singing in falsetto, the vocal cords are entirely open as air travels through them; there is no connection between the two cords, which creates a very audible airiness to the sound as air is pushed between them. If you aren’t sure whether or not you’re in falsetto, the best way to tell is to gradually sing lower and lower, and if you’re voice eventually cracks (probably somewhere around Middle C, but this will vary from person to person) and reverts to a normal chest voice sound, then it was falsetto.
However, a configuration in the head voice that actually connects back into the chest voice can also be achieved. This is a bit harder to access as the feelings and sounds are not as distinctive as those associated with falsetto. The muscles used in this configuration also tend to be weaker as it’s not really a voice that is
intuitive to use to someone who isn’t purposely trying to do so, and so a lot of practice must be done before it’s really a viable singing option. However, once you become more comfortable with it, it’s much more versatile than falsetto because while it can sound softer and pretty like a trained falsetto, it can also be loud and sound similar to the chest voice. This is mainly used in rock, where the sound of a strained, high chest voice is desired.
I still haven’t got to a point where I’m completely comfortable with this voice, however, I can still use it with some application (specifically softer, prettier and more feminine sounding high notes). I had a lot of trouble figuring out what this voice actually was or whether or not I was in it, but eventually I figured it out. For those of you who aren’t really sure whether or not you are singing in head voice, this is my best advice:
Try belting in chest voice, and see how high you can go. For most guys, the limit will probably be around a G or an A above middle C, but maybe even lower. Once you’ve found this note, go up a whole step, and try and sing the note very softly (so if you had to stop belting around a G, use an A). If you can get a quiet but fully resonating sound, then you’ve found head voice. If you think it might be falsetto, try and go to lower notes and see if it cracks. If it’s falsetto, it should’t crack (although the transition back to chest voice might not be smooth). If this is a connected head voice configuration, then congratulations. Try and keep going higher until you can’t get the notes to resonate any more. You probably will find that you don’t have a lot of head voice notes because this part of the voice is weak and untrained, but if you keep singing like this you’ll learn to access higher and higher notes.
Unfortunately I don’t have more advice than this, however, there are tons of resources on the internet. While none of them actually helped me, everyones’ voice is different, so they are still worth viewing.
Thanks for reading.