Falsetto/head

oscar17

Hi
I really worry that I’ve lost falsetto for good.
Straining at the top . Now I have only a whisper falsetto/ whistle
Any advice how to get it back?

HuduVudu

Any idea on how you lost it?

oscar17

I am a light tenor. Over 2 years ago I had been singing a lot of top A’s and generally trying to sing high notes without using falsetto girlie voice . Shortly after When my teacher told me to use falsetto during an exercise I realised that I couldn’t. Previously I had a Good falsetto so it was useful in quiet songs to sing the Bb sweetly. Now I can only sing those high notes with volume. When I try to flip into falsetto I get either nothing at all or an unreliable whistle sound.

IraR

I've found my falsetto-range gradually recovering. While I'm no expert, and it might be something is really permanently wrong that you have checked out by a real expert, I would say to keep your hopes up as best you can. Above all, keep singing in your lower registers at lower volumes.Try to avoid over-singing at all costs. It's possible that you have been "pushing" too much. You also may have developed some bad singing habits that may take some time to break. And Ken occasionally says that certain styles of singing will, over time, "inhibit range," legitimate and otherwise healthy as those styles may be (although Ken doesn't advocate them for singers who want to retain "runner's body" versatility). Experiment a little, also, in your "non-existent" falsetto register, with whatever "hooty" sounds there might be there, but make sure you cut back the air and the volume as much as you can. You may be trying to give too much air in that falsetto register, at least for now. Cut the air back to a bare minimum, as if holding your breath, and you may find you actually have more sound there, however counter-intuitive it may seem. Indeed, I experimented first in the falsetto with more quiet "squeaky" sounds, which took less air than "hoots," in order to cut back the amount of air I was using. t will take time, but you may gradually learn how to get volume through resonance and support, rather than through "pushing." Can you get a bit of falsetto tone higher up, with little air? Play around with it, and don't lose hope. Others of us have been there. But you may have to skip the upper notes of Ken's scale exercises for now. Perhaps don't do "pulling chest" for now, and work on singing the exercises as lightly as you can. All of this is a blow to our fragile tenor egos, but I've been through some of this and you've got me and others here as company! I've just had to pull my entire technique apart and act as though I'm starting from scratch. It slowly seems to work.

oscar17

Thanks for the comments which I can explore. Very helpful.Occasionally I get it when fiddling around . Keeping out of falsetto on purpose for so long and singing high might mean I have lost the knack . I have Ken’s course now . Your advice on not going for the high notes in his scales is good. He goes way past my top notes . I don’t know how he does it, it’s quite frightening!

doc_ramadani

Hi @oscar17,

@IraR already gave you golden tipps. I have a question: did this happen all at a sudden (overnight) or was it a longer process? - I guess it was a longer process. Your vocal chords might have become swollen. If this happened try to sing very lightly with as less air as possible for a longer time to give you body the time to reverse this change.

Doc

oscar17

Cheers for the feedback.
To answer your question Doc, I didn’t notice because Over a long period I was staying away from falsetto and then when I did need it is was gone. I am in a male voice choir and we hadn’t sung anything quiet above ‘A ‘ for quite a long time . I had been able to belt out the high notes for the repertoire we were singing with good success . Recently we have returned to a few softer songs with Bb and the lads use falsetto. I have to drop out on those notes now which is very distressing and I now fear some of the repertoire . I was an ever present for small group singing at small venues like Retirement homes , hospitals etc , charity stuff but now I have to worry who else is attending because I can no longer falsetto those Bb/A’s without volume. I’m hoping that Ken’s course will help me get those high notes without flipping into falsetto.
Cheers

doc_ramadani

Hi @oscar17,

I am sure this course will bring it back. But I would really focus on singing in a light configuration. Do prevent singing too loud. Let resonance do the job.

Doc

oscar17

Thanks again Doc.
I feel better having read the comments.
Singing is a big part of my life and this problem is quite depressing so your advice is very welcome.
Cheers

oscar17

Thanks to IraR. By the way I don’t understand the meaning of ‘ pulling chest ‘.
Cheers

Gaston_Jauregui

@oscar17 what you are experiencing on your head is common, try not to over sing when you pull chest.

When you do the headvoice program work on the brightest vowel you can possibly do, again, dont over sing in your head voice either , if you can make an "Uh" or and "EE" (those are the ones you might be able to work at first because those are small vowels), start on them and then try another until little by little you bring the brightness back on all of them dont over do it, once you are capable of doing a bright Ah in falsetto /head voice youll be capable of do probably all of them, but dont rush, make sure you are not rasping or shouting, if you find yourself doing it in some part of the work out, stop, and work on the part of the range that is brighter only until litlle by lttle you take your voice up and/or down until you match the brightness and clearness, then change the vowel if possible and so on, it will take time so dont rush on that, and always work on your chest voice the next day or same day if you can do both

hope this helps

PS if anyone reads this and doesnt have this same problem, just follow the KTVA program, this is only if you have this type of problems, where you dont have any head voice at all