How to Strengthen Your Head Voice?

Singing is a talent, which we can develop through thorough practice and dedication. A wise singer identifies his strengths and strengthens it and he will recognize his weaknesses and will improve it through daily practice and training. There are different vocal ranges a person is comfortable with. It is different for each individual but through gradual but consistent practice, one can train their voice to any vocal range or vocal register. Voice pedagogy divides both male and female voices to 3 different registers. Chest register, head register are common for everyone but there is falsetto register for male voice and middle register for female voices.

What is Head Voice?

The easiest way to understand what head voice is to understand how it is sung. The head voice is when a person sings in the upper range and they will be able to hear the sound high in the head. When you sing the head voice, the sensation is felt in the head rather than in the chest. It has less power than a chest voice and has a sweeter tone to it. Experts believe that head voice is more a vocal resonance than a vocal register.

Difference Between Head Voice and Chest Voice

The chest voice is warmer, thicker, and lower tones. We usually speak in a chest voice. When we talk if we touch our chest, we can feel the vibration. Though all sounds are produced from the chest, the singer when singing high notes feels a vibration in their head thus it is called the head voice. Head voice can be more sweet, thin, and higher tones. Most musicians are successful in singing beautifully by mixing head voice and chest voice, which is our mixed voice. Using chest voice and head voice whenever necessary and switching back and forth needs precision and training.

Benefits of Mixed Voice

The goal of a musician is to switch between his or her head voice and chest voice and that is called a mixed voice. Navigating between head and chest voices gives a uniqueness to our sound and singing. It would not strain your vocal cords. Creating a signature of your own with a mixed voice can give you a leap as a professional musician. As singing is a skill one can develop with training, a mixed voice is no overnight trick. It needs practice and solid training. Daily lessons and proper relaxation will do the trick.

Difference Between Head Voice and Falsetto

The idea of head voice and falsetto confuses people, as they both sound very similar to each other. They are different from each other. The difference comes from the use of vocal cords. While singing a head voice the vocal cords stay closed bringing power and depth to the voice. Whereas, in falsetto, the vocal cords move apart slightly giving an airy quality to it. It is healthier to sing in head voice than falsetto through falsetto brings a different style to a person’s singing.
Let us see how to strengthen our head voice.

Tips to Strengthen Our Head Voice

FIND YOUR HEAD VOICE

To find your head voice, pick a high pitch. We need to hum it or whimper it. Choose a close vowel – vowels like ‘e’ or ‘o’ can be chosen sounding “eeee” or “oooo.” You will sound like a high-pitched owl. Pick a quiet volume – Do not force the sound but use a gentler volume to find your head voice. Having a good understanding between falsetto and head voice will avoid the simple mistake of confusing between the two. Approaching a music teacher will help a lot in distinguishing both and refining our head voice.

VOCAL EXERCISES

Vocal exercises for singing is a general rule. Do lots of breathing exercises and warm up your vocal cords to keep your vocal cords and voice healthy. Once you have found your head voice, it can be refined by doing vocal exercises regularly. Never push the voice as you reach higher notes but try to allow your voice to slide into the higher notes. Doing lip trills will be a very good way, to begin with. Then adding some arpeggios to it will be a good form of exercise for practicing head voice. Doing some vocal sirens will also help with head voice. The vocal sirens can help you smoothen the breaks and can connect different areas of voice. We can start practicing sirens with a simple ‘oh’ syllable at the lowest note and then slide the way up to the highest note of your comfort. Then repeat it in descending order too. One needs to be relaxed and not put any overt strain to achieve the notes.

LISTENING TO THE MASTERS

Listening to top musicians who use head voice very often in their singing and has mastered the skill to transition from head voice to chest voice. Musicians like Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Brendon Urie uses head voice very frequently. Making a note of how these singers modulate their sounds while transitioning can be really helpful to master head voice and its appropriate usage.

HAVING A COACH

To train under the guidance of professional music teaching will be of great value addition. He or she might be really experienced and will be able to guide you to overcome limitations and excel in different vocal registers or resonances.

STAYING HEALTHY

Using head voices can be really straining and one should give rest to vocal cords before and after a performance or vocal exercising. Staying well-hydrated and eating a healthy diet should be part of your lifestyle. Avoid cold, spicy, sour foods, which can irritate your vocal folds. Eating a lot of dairy products like milk, cheese, ice-cream can secrete a lot of mucus and it would be highly recommended to cut short on those products too.

Exploring new limits and readiness to learn new ideas is the character of a successful musician. If there is a passion for music and an open mind to go through the process of learning, every singer will be able to strengthen your head voice.