subject: Singing Instruction - What The Heck Are [print this page] If you keep hearing about the "chest voice", the "head voice" and the "falsetto", and have no idea what these terms mean, read on. Understanding these different parts of your singing voice, and learning to use them are vitally important to the success of your singing.
If you start singing an "ah" on the lowest note you can hit, and slide up-up-up until you are straining and sounding like you're having to yell, you've probably just used your chest voice. For most of us, this part of our voice is the easiest to sing. It's where our speaking voice is located. The problem is: most songs have notes in them which are too high for the chest register (voice) to produce.
On a guitar there are 5 strings, starting with a big fat one for low notes, getting progressively thinner. The thinner the string the higher it can play. (Imagine the shape of a harp). The problem with the human vocal instrument is that there is only one "string," and that is the opening between the two vibrating vocal cords. That's where the sound is made.
So, if we only have 1 "string" instead of 5 how can we produce all the different low and high notes needed to sing songs? Obviously, the cords have to thin and shorten to sing higher, and lengthen and fatten to sing lower. It's an amazing process, and I go into this in depth in my "Singer's Bible". But for now let's just understand that the vocal cords constantly change shape and distance from each other as they work, changing the width and length of the opening between them where the sound is actually made.
In order to accomplish this the cords have to change the way they vibrate. Each of these changes is called a "register", and allows us to sing higher or lower The lowest adjustment (register) is called the "vocal fry" and the vocal cords are wide open and loosely flap against each other to produce a growling sound which has little practical use except as an effect or in the style of singing called "grunge".
The second adjustment (register) handles a wide range of notes from low to high, and is called the "chest voice." But there is a limit as to how high we can sing using this adjustment, so the cords have to re-adjust themselves to go higher. This next adjustment-register is called the "head voice", and like the thin top string of the guitar, can take us way up to the very high notes of a song.
The "falsetto" register is usually lighter and has less volume, and is used more often by male singers, while the "whistle" register is used more often by female singers. This register produces very high, thin notes which fall in the whistling range of pitches. (Think Mariah Carey singing at the very top of her range)
