Head voice... What is that?
Head voice…. What is it? How do we use it? Is it effective? Why should we use this voice when we’re singing? Well there are more than a few opinions out there on this matter. Each opinion probably has some merit in some form or another. I’m not sure that I agree entirely with any one opinion but I definitely have opinions of my own on the matter. You can decide for yourself who you want to agree with based on your own singing experience but I'm happy to offer my viewpoint here.
I first heard the term head voice many years ago when I was playing guitar in a rock band and singing in a back up vocal capacity. We had decided at that time to purchase a series of taped lessons so we could learn to sing together as a band, and were getting the same kind of guidance. On the video component of the tapes, the vocal instructor said something like “weeeee” in a way a young child might when they’re playing. If you say it in this manner and put your hand on the top of your head, you should be able to feel the vibrations within your head, with your hand. Most singing teachers I’ve seen seem to contrast this effect by having you place your hand on your chest, and uttering something like “aaaaaa” or “mmmmmmm” where you will be able to feel your chest vibrate with your hand.
These two exercises are both good illustrations of where the voices come from, but for the life of me I’ve never been able to exactly figure out how they apply to real singing. The fact is that while you may be able to feel those vibrations in your chest or head with your hands, there are really only a limited number of frequencies that you can feel in this manner (…at least that’s what I observe). There’s often far more frequencies in a song, so how do they apply?
The “take away” thing to understand about these two exercises is that generally the lower register notes come from your chest voice and that the higher register stuff may come from your head. Not always though. From the perspective of actually singing, the thing to really pay attention to when you’re standing there going “weeeee” and holding your hand on your head is not necessarily the vibration in your head, but the way your throat feels when you achieve that vibration in your head. You should notice that while doing the exercise, you’re achieving the “weeee” sound with considerable ease, and no strain on your throat. If you try to hit that same not singing from your chest, chance are you won’t even be able to hit it.
I first heard the term head voice many years ago when I was playing guitar in a rock band and singing in a back up vocal capacity. We had decided at that time to purchase a series of taped lessons so we could learn to sing together as a band, and were getting the same kind of guidance. On the video component of the tapes, the vocal instructor said something like “weeeee” in a way a young child might when they’re playing. If you say it in this manner and put your hand on the top of your head, you should be able to feel the vibrations within your head, with your hand. Most singing teachers I’ve seen seem to contrast this effect by having you place your hand on your chest, and uttering something like “aaaaaa” or “mmmmmmm” where you will be able to feel your chest vibrate with your hand.
These two exercises are both good illustrations of where the voices come from, but for the life of me I’ve never been able to exactly figure out how they apply to real singing. The fact is that while you may be able to feel those vibrations in your chest or head with your hands, there are really only a limited number of frequencies that you can feel in this manner (…at least that’s what I observe). There’s often far more frequencies in a song, so how do they apply?
The “take away” thing to understand about these two exercises is that generally the lower register notes come from your chest voice and that the higher register stuff may come from your head. Not always though. From the perspective of actually singing, the thing to really pay attention to when you’re standing there going “weeeee” and holding your hand on your head is not necessarily the vibration in your head, but the way your throat feels when you achieve that vibration in your head. You should notice that while doing the exercise, you’re achieving the “weeee” sound with considerable ease, and no strain on your throat. If you try to hit that same not singing from your chest, chance are you won’t even be able to hit it.
I think that very often, that many singers aren’t utilizing their head voice properly to reach the high stuff, often confusing it with falsetto. This applies to “pro” singers too. I’m not talking about your favourites necessarily, but people that sing for a living, maybe even some vocal instructors. It’s possible to sing from your chest primarily as it’s you’re natural speaking range. You can increase the pitch of your singing from your chest and over time you may even be able to accomplish a fairly high chest voice. The problem with singing in this register all the time is two-fold. The first thing is that in order for you to sing higher notes, you need to sing progressively louder and louder, which can affect the dynamics of your performance, meaning that anytime you sing high notes you have to sing loudly. The second problem is that this increase in volume will cause your vocal chords/throat muscles, whatever terminology you want to use, to work much harder than they need to, and you risk damaging your throat in singing this way, especially if you sing a lot.
The head voice is the answer to all of your high register singing in my opinion. It has helped me to add a lot of range to my voice and has removed the strain of singing most of the higher stuff that I sing almost completely. On occasion I still fall into the bad habits of using my chest and throat to hit the high stuff but the head voice allows me to hit those notes all the time with no strain. That’s important to me because I play a lot of shows over the course of a year and I can’t risk hurting my voice. The truth is that singing this way has helped me to perform even when I’m sick. I don’t recommend performing this way but sometimes you just have to do it. I couldn’t do it without head voice.
I signed myself up for singing lessons from Brett Manning with his Singing Success Online course. While it is one of the more expensive courses he offers, I really got a lot out of it and am utilizing his methods today to the best of my abilities. He can show you in just a few minutes how the head voice works and how you can increase your range by an octave or more, however it does take a bit of time and practice to put his methods to use so that they’re second nature for all of your singing and performing needs. I would recommend check out any of his lessons to somebody that wants to learn quickly. You can check out his website to what else he offers, because he does have lessons for every budget, by clicking on the banner below.
The head voice is the answer to all of your high register singing in my opinion. It has helped me to add a lot of range to my voice and has removed the strain of singing most of the higher stuff that I sing almost completely. On occasion I still fall into the bad habits of using my chest and throat to hit the high stuff but the head voice allows me to hit those notes all the time with no strain. That’s important to me because I play a lot of shows over the course of a year and I can’t risk hurting my voice. The truth is that singing this way has helped me to perform even when I’m sick. I don’t recommend performing this way but sometimes you just have to do it. I couldn’t do it without head voice.
I signed myself up for singing lessons from Brett Manning with his Singing Success Online course. While it is one of the more expensive courses he offers, I really got a lot out of it and am utilizing his methods today to the best of my abilities. He can show you in just a few minutes how the head voice works and how you can increase your range by an octave or more, however it does take a bit of time and practice to put his methods to use so that they’re second nature for all of your singing and performing needs. I would recommend check out any of his lessons to somebody that wants to learn quickly. You can check out his website to what else he offers, because he does have lessons for every budget, by clicking on the banner below.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Brett is a pro and is the coach to many of your favourite singers so do check out his courses seriously, they're very well done and you will see results.
Click here to return to the top of this page or click here to return to the home page for more tips and info on singing and head voice, and other stuff related to learning how to sing. Thanks for your visit and good luck on your journey!
Click here to return to the top of this page or click here to return to the home page for more tips and info on singing and head voice, and other stuff related to learning how to sing. Thanks for your visit and good luck on your journey!