Hi Sean,

Have you read the following?
http://www.vocalist.org.uk/falsetto.html
http://www.vocalist.org.uk/accessing_head_voice.html

Hope this helps
Tracey
Vocalist Webmistress

Hey here is a thought,
First off draw a very deep breath and then slowly and softly hold a note in your higher register (head voice) now close your eyes rather thatn allowing your chin to point upward envision your self high atop the note as if it where a mountain top (sounds stupid but it works) now see yourself looking down upon the note and now as you draw another breath hold that image in your head increase the amount of air in your note then slowly start to push the note and increase the volume...it will begin to clear itself as long as you see yourself above it(assuming that you open your pallet and breathe proper and dont allow yourself to straign, but remember the more power the regular voice carries the stronger the head voice will become over time!) good luck

thanx guys, just read ur messages, been busy for awhile. ill give that a try, sounds very interesting. thanx again, get back to yas.

Hi

In my experience, it is perfectly possible to help people access their upper register full voice, which is what I think you mean by your head voice, by using falsetto. The falsetto voice is characterised by the ease with which it can be produced, and it can give a singer confidence that he or she can actually access those notes.

When you sing in falsetto, the vocal folds are raised up at the back - they are attached inside your larynx from front to back across the airway, and the back attachments are very mobile, opening when you breath etc. This raised position means that the folds themselves are not actually vibrating, it's the skin over them that is making the sound, and this voice quality needs a lot of air to make it work.

In contrast, with a full voice sound at the top, the folds are vibrating and they are horizontal, and in order to get the high pitch the top part of the larynx itself tilts forwards so the folds lengthen. You can feel this lengthening happening if you cry or miaou like a cat or whine like a 6 year old. There is a sense of something turning in your throat, of intensity. That's the movement that will lengthen the folds and allow you to sing up high in full voice, not necessarily loud voice, but with the folds vibrating, not just their cover.

There is a very good book called 'Singing and the Actor' which explains things very clearly, and there is a lot of information about how the larynx works on the net.

so what exactly do u mean? i need to practise singing in my full voice to lengthen the muscles? thanx for the help btw.

Sean,

Falsetto is a production of the voice, not related to head voice. Their is a glottal *****, or opening, in the cords when singing in a falsetto production that does not facilitate connected singing, or singing with any dynamic contrast. There is not way to build your falsetto or have it be trained into a head voice. They are two different ways of making pitches and when one transfers from one to the other, you will always here a break or flip.

So, since your voice is very tight, and squeaky up there, that let's us know that your larynx is riding high, and that things are squeezing off. Try sliding through this range on a mm sound, slightly whiny, or creaky, but not squeezed. You can slide through the tones smoothly, or slightly separated. This will slowly show your folds how to adjust correctly for the pitch, while adducting correctly for the onset. From their open up to a mum sound, still returning quickly to the mm each time. Move around, bend, dance, do anything to not push from your abdominals or tense from your neck, never allowing the volume to increase as you go higher, or decrease as you go lower. The tone should remain the same regardless of where you are singing.

Hope this is helpful.
Mary Beth F.

Hi Mary Beth and Sean

It's true that falsetto and full voice are not the same for the reasons we have given. I do find though that working with falsetto voice can give students confidence that they can make tone on higher pitches. It's not an end product but a means of dealing with the whole person as well as the voice.

You do get a flip when you change from falsetto to full voice, and this helps students to identify what they are doing with their upper register.

Sometimes the upper register is squeaky because the larynx posture of the singer is still horizontal, and there hasn't been any thyroid tilt, or far too little. It's hard to make a judgement without hearing Sean sing but it is interesting talking about it.

Regards
Agnes

im so confused lol. these are all great ideas but putting them into practise is extremely difficult because ive completely lost my starting point for head voice and have no idea how to get into it anymore lol. I'm getting there (i know this sounds contradictory) but its really frustrating.

Dear Sean

This problem needs the help of a teacher, and it would be a good idea for you to work with someone on your singing. I can offer you ideas but one of the things that someone said at the last conference but one that I went to, was that if there is a simple solution to a complex problem, it's probably wrong, and I think that's probably true.

You need another pair of ears to help you. There are lots of teachers registered here an on other websites.

Good luck and don't stop trying
Agnex