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Want to sing high notes well? Then you have probably heard from a vocal instructor or fellow singer tell you that you need to use your "head voice." But what exactly is a head voice?
As you probably know, your larynx produces all your singing tones. However, the larynx is actually composed of several muscles, two of which regulate pitch - the thryroartenoid (TA) and cricothyroid (CT). The cricothyroid (which I will refer to as the CT muscle for brevity) is predominately responsible for higher pitches. So what is a head voice? Our larynx produces pitches in registers. A register is simply a group of pitches that are produced in a similar way anatomically. So your chest voice pitches (low sounds) are produced one way, and your head voice pitches (high tones) are produced in another way. As you ascend in pitch, your TA and CT muscles slowly trade responsibility for producing pitches. Your lowest pitches are almost exclusively TA-dominant. As you ascend, both muscles become engaged. Once your CT becomes dominant, we refer to those pitches as your head voice. But how does the CT became the dominant muscle and start your "head voice?" At the bottom of your larynx sits your cricoid cartilage, which makes up part of your CT muscle. When you start to sing higher pitches, the cricoid tilts to stretch your vocal cords, making them longer, thinner and stiffer. These more taut vocal folds are able to produce higher pitches when combined with more air pressure. After some time, the TA muscle becomes passive as you hit the extreme high notes of your range. Viola! You have your head voice thanks to the cricoid! Now go impress your friends with your anatomy lesson! DWS Most singers understand that you need to be good at breathing to be a strong singer, and many have even heard the advice "breathe from your diaphragm!" In voice lessons, I often have to clear up misconceptions about breathing, so here's a very basic anatomy of how you breathe as a singer.
First, it's very important to understand that your lungs are PASSIVE organs. They don't suck in the air or somehow contribute to getting air inside your body. What causes your lungs to fill up is when your brain tells your rib cage to expand outward and your diaphragm to move downward. This movement creates a vacuum in your body, and the old saying that "nature abhors a vacuum" is quite true in this context. Air rushes into your body and expands your lungs in order to fill the vacuum generated by the movement by your rib cage and diaphragm. "Breathe from your diaphragm" is a very useful cliche for teaching but is not actually what occurs on an anatomical level. Your diaphragm doesn't take in any air but its movement pushes many other organs outward (your stomach and intestines). This is a great way to feel a good breath because your lower belly button should move outward every time you take a breath. If that area is sucked in or tight when you breathe, you will have difficulties singing long phrases or high notes. All the above is about getting a good breath. The second is how you MANAGE IT. When you sing, your vocal folds control how pressurized the air is when you release it for a pitch. Very loose vocal folds result in a breathy sound; the opposite creates a strident tone or harsh onset. The goal, then, is a balance, like a guitar strings are taut without snapping. This isn't something you can control physically; just try telling your vocal folds to relax! But through a variety of vocal exercises I use with my singers, I can train my students to understand when the vocal tone produced is balanced and manages their airflow well. It is a VERY tricky and long process, but understanding how to manage your air is critical to effective singing. Finally, effective breathing for singing isn't just about sustaining a long phrase or creating a pretty tone. Effective breathing also determines your vocal range. A singer with strong breathing technique will be able to sing much higher than a singer with poor breathing technique due to how the diaphragm is connected to your larynx. When your diaphragm descends for breathing, it has the wonderful side-effect of lowering and stabilizing your larynx, which enables you to sing high notes. A diaphragm that does not descend fully will prevent you from singing to the extremes of your vocal range. DWS |
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