Do Singers Have to Use 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.
The higher part of the vocal range is often called the head voice. When you sing at this level, the singer will feel the vibration in their head. This is felt by most singers above the roof of their mouth just behind the vocal cavity like tingling feeling in their throat.
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.
If a singer uses the chest voice, the lower notes are sung and the head voice will be the higher notes that are sung. If you place your hand on your chest when you sing with the chest, the vibration will be felt in the throat and the chest. But the right way for singers to sing the chest voice is to purely experience the vibration in the chest area.
With perseverance and patience the head voice can grow. Most singers will attempt to sing an octave higher than a pitch in the chest voice to reach the head voice. With the correct breathing method the head voice can develop successfully.
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.
If you are taking voice lessons as a beginner, you may be classified in a temporary voice category that may not really describe your voice. Some singers think that since they can’t sing the high pitches they may be an alto, for example. But in truth, they may not have studied the correct method to reach the head voice, so that after they do learn the head voice, they may be eventually classified as a soprano.
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