Feedback on sliders to build head voice
ClearwaterBeach53
3.0 Streaming Posts: 10
First time posting a recording of me doing an exercise. I've been taking Ken's course 3.0 for about 2 years, with some time off here and there after damaging my voice by pushing things too far. But I usually practice 5 days a week for about an hour, trying to do a nice mixture of head and chest practice. I took this up as a challenge for myself at the age of 52 to see if I could sing like the guys who have been my favorites going back 40 years: Joe Elliott, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio, etc.
My chest voice has come along pretty nicely. No complaints. I can hit C#5 when I'm all warmed up. And I have pretty good endurance although my tone and pitch are still works in progress.
But head voice is another story. I seem to have maxed out at about F#5 for EE/OO. And E5 for AA/AH. But this is a bit irrelevant because I can't seem to access head voice that well for singing anyway. Plus, I'm not sure my head voice technique has progressed that much anyway as far as being clean. It's like I can sing songs in head voice. I can sing songs in head voice (although it doesn't sound that great). But I can't do the combo.
So, I'm going back to basics a bit by doing sliders but only up to C5, which should be like nothing for head voice. I'm trying to be patient with it but at this point I feel like I won't develop a good reliable, high quality head voice until I'm 65.
Looking for insight, suggestions and critique by posting the recording.
https://soundcloud.com/edward-dentzel/slidersmarch112025/s-TdEfzRq0xcI?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing&si=3f2ef740a8f541f991eea2f46e39b7db
My chest voice has come along pretty nicely. No complaints. I can hit C#5 when I'm all warmed up. And I have pretty good endurance although my tone and pitch are still works in progress.
But head voice is another story. I seem to have maxed out at about F#5 for EE/OO. And E5 for AA/AH. But this is a bit irrelevant because I can't seem to access head voice that well for singing anyway. Plus, I'm not sure my head voice technique has progressed that much anyway as far as being clean. It's like I can sing songs in head voice. I can sing songs in head voice (although it doesn't sound that great). But I can't do the combo.
So, I'm going back to basics a bit by doing sliders but only up to C5, which should be like nothing for head voice. I'm trying to be patient with it but at this point I feel like I won't develop a good reliable, high quality head voice until I'm 65.
Looking for insight, suggestions and critique by posting the recording.
https://soundcloud.com/edward-dentzel/slidersmarch112025/s-TdEfzRq0xcI?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing&si=3f2ef740a8f541f991eea2f46e39b7db
Comments
In the first 30-seconds you are singing the silders passively. It's as if you've worked on your chest and head to the extent that they should now connect themselves in the exercise. That is not the case. You have the ingredients to create the mix but still must actively perform the mix.
Connecting chest and head with octave sliders is not a passive exercise. They are among the most demanding exercises in the course and Ken has put vol. 5 last, for good reasons.
Let's say you've developed your chest voice and head voice well and thoroughly over some years. Even then we have to be actively thinking and adjusting pitch, volume, and intensity in the sliders. One of the many things I enjoy about the course is that Ken has left some of his "carbunkles" in the recordings. They are rare, but even with Ken you can hear what happens when he loses the mental connection to the tone he's after for the exercise.
In the first 30 seconds, you're not optimally setup in chest prior to attempting the bridge. A better vowel, more ping, and a more open-throated posture must be in place from the beginning and then maintained all throughout.
In general, there are times when your connection is very smooth which seems to happen when you are bridging higher in chest. Are you being more intentional on those or are you forced to be more intentional just to get to that higher chest note which in turn makes the bridge more smooth?
Regarding your head voice development, focus on building strength and ease on every vowel from D5 down to as low as you can go in head only. Every other day when you do head exercises, try to stretch and only touch very briefly beyond your current max. On most days, you'll merely be touching on your current max (or just below) but that keeps your head in shape. Then, occasionally, you'll be able to very briefly go a bit higher. On those days, hit that note maybe three times and try to back off on the air when you do. Then quit for the day and warm down. This is the long process of stretching head voice.
Regarding your comment about C5 in head being "nothing" it's unwise to think everything is smooth sailing because you're in head. Somewhere in the area of B4 to D5 it's time for me to be aware of vowel mods (yes, even in head voice only.) Where that may be for you, I don't know, but it's a phenomenon to bear in mind so you're not splatting head voice while trying to stretch it. You should be closer to an OOh vowel at the top of head voice.
https://soundcloud.com/user-263378844/mv-sliders-6-30-23?si=fe40a485d55a4becbb671276a5a5a6f4&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
I will certainly take your insights and try to put them to good use. The entire topic is probably a subset of a bigger issue about actually singing in head voice--if only for purposes of trying to gauge my progression. For example, in head voice, no matter if the vowel is EE/AH/AA/OO at like C5 which isn't very high, I can get a pretty clean crisp sound. Not perfect. Not at Ken Tamplin level. But certainly something that is far from an airy, stereotypical falsetto.
However, if I try to sing a song in head voice where the range is around that C5 area and I'm not going into chest voice on the lower notes at all just to keep it simple, my voice sounds so airy it is as if I've never done one head voice exercise. Whereas, this is not the case with the chest voice--chest voice "song singing" sounds like chest voice exercises: very strong.
What am I not getting about the head voice exercises to head voice "song singing" transition?
An example of singing in strengthened head voice is Philip Bailey:
An example of singing in mixed voice is Ken singing "I've got the music in me":
He's belting in mixed here but i wanted the example to be extreme for you. Anything past F#4 or G4 is a belted mix.
Perhaps you could already sing a version of Bailey's easy lover in your strenthened head voice? Whereas the second song requires years of building that strengthened mix.
Whereas I can somewhat easily sing the second song, except for the high screams. The verses and the chorus--no problem at all. Is it professionally good? No. Is it karaoke good? Yes.
Less extreme would be imitating "the falsetto singers." The Stylistics specialized
singing in a developed falsetto or head voice.
"People Make the World Go Round"
Singing a song in only head voice:
How To Sing 3.0 - Volume 4 / Categories / Days 1 Through 11 / 15. Song Applications
https://join.kentamplinvocalacademy.com/products/how-to-sing-3-0-volume-4/categories/2148276966/posts/2150115460
Listen closely to Ken's closing comments on Vol. 4. After you've developed head voice, you're fusing with the vol 5 mixed voice exercises and then going back and forth between vol 3 and vol 5.
Closing Comments
https://join.kentamplinvocalacademy.com/products/how-to-sing-3-0-volume-4/categories/2148276966/posts/2150115461
Great advice from @Terence as always!
Remember the moderators are here to moderate. It would be brilliant if you could pitch in on answering others’ posts as well.
If we had 10 active posters, I reckon things could grow quickly!
I only glanced through other comments, but what's lacking is enough space in the jaw, larynx from rising, and vowel placement.
The voice is still flipping to head. I would do these excerises quieter. "Only sing as loud as you can connect" as Ken would say.
The vowel is changing more than it needs to. A video showing your mouth helps.
Ultimately, the fundamentals are lacking here. Going back to a bright powerful LAH AH is essential.
Keep up the good work!