Tips for relaxing to hit higher notes/transition to head voice?

MarkHMusic

I know this has been addressed numerous times, but I'm looking for input from others on this based on personal experiences. Personally, when I practice I find the easiest way to get to the higher notes is to "shrink" the sound and not push so hard( i.e. from belting in chest voice) , I suppose this is the transition into head voice Ken talks about... am I correct on that? I have a much easier time going full falsetto and hitting higher notes than I do singing in chest voice and getting up to a higher note fluidly that I need to be in head voice to hit. If that all makes sense, looking for some tips and tricks on what you all do to get to those notes? Thanks in advance!

Klaus_T

hi Mark, first of, shrinking the sound is a good idea. it is normal that you don't have that much range upwards in chest voice. for belting, you need to have a strong chest voice. by training, you can extend your chest range upwards and fuse the registers. you can have one long note that sounds the same whereever you go. in untrained singers, there are noticeable breaks in the way the voice sounds depending on where you are in the range.

there are different things that are used or done to achieve expanding chest range:

regular training for building muscle and muscle memory, employing vowel mods (to shrink the sound), employing support to regulate airflow, etc

it is a complex subject, but one thing that you could start to look at: you know when Whitney Houston sings the words "I Will Always Love You", note how the vowels sound. Note how for example the "I" is and "AH", really.

it is not really a trick because you need to sing near-daily for years to really "get it" and make it second nature.

but you can of course also apply this to songs you cover now. listen carefully how the original singers do it. the vowel mods "trick" the listener into thinking it was one letter when in fact it was another one. the idea is to regulate the pressure in the throat with the ideal setting for each note

i noticed you can recently find isolated vocal tracks on youtube for bands you like. also, Ken's series with the isolated tracks is pretty cool too for how the voice sounds on its own. which is a huge help when you try to figure out how "they" did it