How Can a Singer Access the Head Voice?
What exactly does the head voice mean for a singer? It is a delicately high sound in a woman’s singing voice and a falsetto (high sound) for a man’s singing voice, and seems to reverberate with the sinus cavities of the nose. A singer should build up enough vocal skills so that it will be easier to transition between chest voice and head voice, where the notes are higher.
Again, the highest notes of a the singer’s range is named the head voice. Many times singers will experience a buzzing or vibrating sensation while trying to reach the head voice. A good way to practice reaching the head voice is to practice singing various scales starting from low to high, with the goal of a good transition.
When the singer embarks on trying to use the head voice there can be the transition period called the Passagio. This can occur between the register of notes from the chest voice or head voice, basically from middle to high notes of the vocal range. The pure head register can begin all through the middle register more so after the passagio—which will become more pronounced and the singing will feel very differently.
Breath is not resisted because there are fewer folds to deal with. The head voice surfaces when the glottis is partially open. After awhile, most singers will get accustomed to the transition of using the chest and the head voice with ease so that it sounds very natural.
When a singer sings lower pitches it is usually done with the chest voice, and the higher notes which are about an octave higher will be done with the head voice. Most singers know that if you feel your chest vibrate while you sing it is done with the chest voice. You may also be aware of the vibration in the throat area and in the chest. The current accepted technique for singers to sing in the chest voice is to experience in the chest area.
It can take time and practice to develop the correct head voice, and like all singing at the beginning it will also take a lot of patience. When being taught to sing from the head voice, most people will be asked to sing an octave above the note they sang for the chest voice. Again with proper coaching they will be taught the proper breathing technique.
If you practiced learning the head voice accurately, there should be slight or no tremor in the throat area. Most of the time, it can be fairly tricky for someone to identify a tremor when singing with the head voice. Keep in mind that you can position your hand on the forehead to feel some shaking or tremor.
At the beginning of voice training, some inexperienced singers are labeled with a temporary voice classification. There are some who worry and think they are an alto because they can’t sing high, this may simply be a problem with the head voice. Once there is a focus on the problem with solid training, it is possible to discover that a singer is in actual fact a soprano.
