A common question my students often ask when they're singing, is "Is that head voice or
is that falsetto?" Inside this video, I'll show you the difference between falsetto and
head voice so you'll know how to sing with both to choose the best for your songs. Hi,
I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power to Sing. The definitions of falsetto and head voice often
disagree. I define them based on the condition of the vocal cords. Are the vocal cords
connected or disconnected? When your vocal cords are disconnected, you are in falsetto.
Here's a slow-motion video found on Youtube of the vocal cords disconnecting. This is
a scope of voice artist Mal Webb from the UK. In this video he's making some unusual
sounds. -eeeeeeeeeeee- You can see and hear the vocal cords suddenly breaking apart.
This is falsetto. While in falsetto, you can see the edges of the vocal cords are barely
touching as they open and close. With falsetto a lot of air passes through the cords. -ahhhhh-
Because they're in falsetto, there's little to no resistance to the air pressure from
the lungs. You can sing high very easily in falsetto. -ahhhhhhhh- You can also bring the
falsetto voice down quite low like this. -ahhhhhhh- Some singers can bring falsetto all the way
down to where you would normally sing in chest voice. Falsetto will not blend into the chest
voice. In order to get back into the chest voice, the vocal cords have to reconnect.
This usually involves a 'break' type feeling back into a connection. - ahhhhhh- For men
singing in falsetto there's a significant loss of the lower overtones of the chest voice.
I compare it to my Minney Mouse voice. Hello Hello. My name is Minney Mouse. For women,
there is a loss of the lower chest overtones in falsetto voice as well. This can result
in a breathy, airy tone quality. Also, if I try to lean into my falsetto by increasing
the volume and air there is little to no resistance. In fact, it seems to blow the cords further
apart. -ahhhhhhh- Finally, there is some opinion that years of singing primarily in falsetto
is a leading cause of the 'vocal wobble' as you get older. Because the vocal cords have
lost their ability to adduct firmly. How can you tell if you are in falsetto and not head
voice when you're singing on high pitches? If you can descend the scale and sing into
your chest voice without reconnecting, then you are in head voice. -ahhhhhhh- If you can
sing down the scale into chest voice and you have to reconnect, you are in falsetto, because
falsetto will not blend into the chest voice. -ahhhhhh- Some singers can disconnect into
falsetto on high pitches. If you can disconnect or flip, then you were in head voice. That
is, your cords were connected. I can't do that after a certain pitch, so that doesn't
work as a test for me on higher notes. It might work for you. How to sing in head voice.
When your vocal cords are connected you are either in chest voice or head voice. Your
lower pitches are your chest voice and the higher pitches are your head voice. Confusion
between falsetto and head voice often occurs when we are singing the higher pitches. This
is because on the higher pitches the resonance for both falsetto and head voice vibrates
in our heads. -ahhhhh- Falsetto -ahhhhh- Head voice Both resonating in the same place, the
head. The difference is with head voice the resonance is made with connected vocal cords.
In contrast, the resonance created by falsetto is made with disconnected vocal cords. Both
resonate in the head cavities. But the vocal cords are different. Whether connected or
disconnected vocal cords, on higher pitches, they both resonate in the same place. In head
voice the vocal cords vibrate in a deeper fashion. That means they're opening and closing
more firmly from bottom to top. This is true even more in chest voice. In head voice you
can control the amount of air that is being resisted by the vocal cords. You can be resisting
very little air. -ahhhhhhh- I'll add a little more resistance to that. -ahhhhh- If I were
in falsetto, it's a little harder. -ahhhhhhh- It kind of blows the cords apart. -ahhhhhh-
With my head voice I can get a little more purchase with my vocal cords. Because your
vocal cords are connected you can easily add more resistance to air by closing your
vocal cords more firmly. You can learn to sing just as high in head voice as you can
in falsetto. But with head voice you can get more intensity. Also, present in your head
voice are the added chest voice overtones that are absent with falsetto. Head voice,
at higher volumes, gives your voice a special power, intensity and richness that is difficult
to produce with falsetto. I'll do it in falsetto. -ahhhhh- falsetto -ahhhhhhhh- head voice.
Head voice blends smoothly into the chest voice without having to reconnect. There is
no 'clunk' into chest voice because the cords do not have to reconnect. -ahhhhhhhh- So that
was falsetto because I couldn't blend back into my chest. -ahhhhhhh- That was head voice
because I could get back down into chest voice without having to reconnect. Singing well
in a balanced head voice will maintain the health and youthfulness of your voice because
the vocal cords have maintained their conditioning. Just like physical exercise promotes good
health. Which is better? Head voice or falsetto? In my opinion, head voice is more useful because
it gives the voice more vibrance, control and power. I believe it may be easier to control
air flow because the more firmly adducted cords do not allow as much air to escape.
Head voice is more useful because it blends into the chest voice smoothly. The separation
of the vocal cords makes falsetto easier to sing high notes and lends itself to song
styling. If you choose falsetto for an occasional style choice, I think it's great. If you have
to sing falsetto because you can't sing in head voice, you are limiting yourself as a
singer. If you flip or break into falsetto as you're singing through the middle and into
your higher notes; or if you sing in falsetto throughout your range, your vocal type is
likely flip-falsetto. Do you know your vocal type? I don't mean whether you are soprano,
alto, tenor or bass. Your vocal type is what you tend to do when you sing. Visit PowerToSing.com
and take the vocal test which I call the Power Test. Take the quiz and discover your vocal
type immediately. Visit the Knowledge Center and learn about your vocal type and download
the exercises designed for you. This will help you progress faster with your voice.
I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and
power. I'll see you inside the next video.