Hey Timo, very nice video again! Love your anatomic and simplified approach! Some thoughts though: as of my understanding, what you called whistle i think is more flageolet (tiny sound similar to head and falsetto), and whistle register is even above that and you literally whistle through the vocal chords. Also, never say never, falsetto and the vocal break can actually help in developing techniques like fry screaming and false vocal folds distortion, so telling people to strictly avoid these is pedagogically dangerous in my opinion. the voice is capable of a lot of sounds, and one should just learn to control all the aspects of the voice, of course while still being aware that some techniques are more demanding than others, same as a marathon and sprints are more demanding as walking. but that doesn’t mean we should just stop doing those high intensity activities, but do them in a balanced and healthy manner :) Also, regarding mix, i think if you pull the larynx, that would lead more to “pulled chest”/belt, and mixing is actually easier with an open throat/balanced or low larynx. by the way, one trick to find “mixed voice” is to start in falsetto and add vocal fry. the voice has so many dimensions and is such a complex instrument, and strictly avoiding certain types of coordinations in my opinion is wrong. though starting with a low larynx and open throat is certainly a very good starting point! Ah yeah and there’s another register/technique called subharmonics, which is awesome!! maybe something to include in your fry video if its not out yet ;)
Hi there, I have made a video about Falsetto and why you shouldn't use it in my opinion. Feel free to check it out here: th-cam.com/video/Ac9l51edyBc/w-d-xo.html Same goes for mix voice here the link to the video: th-cam.com/video/eyZak06zmGA/w-d-xo.html
Just found you channel and watched everything. I find your anatomy based approach very informative and I've learned a lot from it. So thank you so much for putting this out. I would like to ask if you know about CVT and what your thoughts are on that as it is another approach that is also based on the anatomy and muscle approach. It would be interesting to hear about that. In the Falsetto/Head Voice video I wouldlike to have more vocal examples to demonstrate what it sounds like .
Awesome, thank you! 🙏 I don't really have an opinion about CVT because I have never used it myself. I remember that I was reading through the book a very long time ago but I can't really remember that much.
1:51 Exaaaactly! I was never getting the idea when teachers told me my chest voice was my usual and natural speaking voice, but I always thought I speak with my head voice and in a moderately low tones, so, when I speak, my voice sounds airy, maybe, I think, cause I use to speak at so much lower tones (and volume) than my confortable register at singing, and I think (again just suppose) that to sound more clearly and powerful in my speaking voice (which is a head voice, as I said) I should go upper tones and no, sorry, I'm not used to that and that's not me 😅 In the other hand, I tried to sound clearly, powerful and less airy with my head speaking voice in that lower speaking tones I'm used to (those lower than my confortable singing register), and I ended up feeling my vocal chords hurt 🤕 I never tried that again and I will not till I have a proper technique to speak more clearly too, I mean (and I always thought that too) with that kinda twang you mentioned. I'm surprised how your content resonates a lot with many experiences I had and my teachers seemed not to fully understand. Because yeah, they never gave me a chance when I said that I believed and felt I use my head voice to speak 😔 so, I couldn't never really find my chest voice.
It’s pretty common that people speak in head voice. Sometimes speaking on a note that is too high or low for your speaking voice can cause trouble like this. I could imagine that you could benefit from training your arytenoid cartilages to get a better vocal cord closure. I will make a video about this soon. I’m actually demonstrating the the click sound with the arytenoid cartilages in my latest video: th-cam.com/video/2e2iwqxKNgY/w-d-xo.html at around 03:58 but don’t go into details there. Maybe that helps 🙌🏻😊
Your take on vocal register is interesting! I often think that the real problem with mixed voice is that we don't really know when or how to shift the vocal register properly. Especially in songs that involves the upper range limit of our chest voices. This everchanging tone color from chest to head to chest again is what people may refer as the breaking point
I sing Indian Bollywood songs on karaoke. I have hard time switching my voice on register, from stomach to chest to head voice to falsetto. My voice doesn't sound good when I sing in head voice or falsetto. I need guru
Hi I really like your videos and how you approach vocal technique. Are there any exercises you could recommend on building my chest voice so I could “mix” but in the way you described it, like a thinner higher chest voice.
Thank you! 🙌 I will probably make a video about it at some point. But always make sure that your head voice is stronger than your chest voice. The Cricothyroid muscle that stretches your vocal cords to increase pitch has to overpower the chest voice muscle (Thyroarytenoid pars externa), otherwise you could potentially loose range. The best place to get started with chest voice is training the CT muscle (head voice). 😀
@@timoparker Thank you, I was asking because I have this tricky thing going on where I don’t have a break, except the thing is when I go higher in chest voice it will transition to head voice without a break but it sounds too heady and I’m not sure how to add a more chesty sound to it 😅
You're good at presenting info! ...but think you would get more traction and credibility if you posted some videos of your singing (preferably the different styles you would teach), so people can put the advice in context
Hi Max, Thanks for sharing your clarification. The shortening of the vocal cords can gradually increase with higher pitch. You can shorten the vocal cords by immobilising parts of them, so that you can make the smaller mass vibrate faster and by doing so, increasing pitch. This happens as soon as your voice breaks and there is a drastic sound change noticeable in your voice. If you would still use the full length of the vocal cords, this drastic sound change wouldn’t happen. Most of the times, Falsetto (the shortening of the vocal cords) is used by someone to “rescue” the sound. Because, if you haven’t trained your head voice enough yet, the vocal cords will get so thin on a higher pitch, that they don’t create an audible note anymore. That is because the vocal cords are not able to make proper contact anymore. And at this point, we can be tempted to clip the vocal cords off and by doing so, forcing a connection for a more audible note. But with consistent training, you can achieve a full sound on higher notes (with head voice and chest voice) by using the full length of your vocal cords. Once we start using the mechanism of Falsetto, one is able to increase the shortening of their vocal cords. It is a fluent action that can be divided into a maximum of 7 parts. Every individual will have a different amount of shortening points in the voice. Sometimes it’s just 2, other times up to 7. I'm also talking about it a lot on this channel especially in these two videos: 1. th-cam.com/video/Ac9l51edyBc/w-d-xo.html 2. th-cam.com/video/IfMdWZ7C40g/w-d-xo.html Every time we shorten the vocal cords, the sound gets thinner, brighter and smaller sounding. The first time it happens, is in the breaking point of the voice and on the way up to your highest note, you can shorten the vocal cords increasingly more. In Falsetto, you are also not able to do a crescendo or change seamlessly between head voice and chest voice, since in these two voices you require a vibration with the full vocal cords. Hence, the sound is much fuller and more flexible in dynamics. Whistle register uses the same mechanism as Falsetto. The only difference is that in whistle register, you are using the shorting of the vocal cords to a maximum. It would be interesting for me to know, how you understand Falsetto and how you clearly differentiate between Head Voice and Falsetto.
@@timoparker Thank you sir. It will take me some time to disect your comment, but to answer your question, the distinction between head voice and falsetto would be how tightly the chords close. Falsetto has little to no Thyroarytenoid (TA) or Lateral Cricoarytenoid (LCA) muscle contraction whereas head voice does. The flip in the voice is the audible result of these muscles relaxing from the laryngeal production, we recognize it as a flip or break in the voice. The shortening of the chords, once known as "zipping", does not appear to be scientifically accurate according to many scientists that have used better vocal fold camera technology in recent years to study the data of vocal chord behavior in different registers. And actually when this concept was popular, many people believed that the "zipping" caused smooth singing with no breaks or flips, which is the opposite of what you have described. The shortening concept was used more often before we had reliable camera technology to clearly see the chords functioning in the throat. Vocal folds are more like elastic bands they lengthen and increase in tension as we raise pitch. The amount of inferior fold mass that produces the tone based around the presence or lack of TA muscle contraction is the difference between head voice and falsetto. The only register where this concept seems to be somewhat true is whistle voice where the Cricothyroid muscle has maximum contraction for stretched vocal folds and vibration seems to occur only on the anterior side of the chords as opposed to vibration across the full length.
I think I almost understand what you mean, although not sure if you are referring to the engagement of the Thyroaryteonid pars externa or pars interna. Quoting from your previous comment : “Falsetto has little to no Thyroarytenoid (TA) or Lateral Cricoarytenoid (LCA) muscle contraction whereas head voice does. The flip in the voice is the audible result of these muscles relaxing from the laryngeal production, we recognize it as a flip or break in the voice.” That would mean that we always have an audible break in the voice, even if we are relaxing the muscles that are involved for a tight vocal cord closure. But this is not the case. It is possible to sing without an audible break in the voice with or without tight closure of the vocal cords. You can also change between these two adjustments fluently and no break will occur in the voice. In head voice, the vocal cords can either vibrate without making proper contact witch each other or with full closure. I’m planning to make a video about this topic soon, where I will be able to show it. Thank you for the exchange I really appreciate it! 😀
@@timoparker Yes no problem! And yes, you can relax these muscles in a gentler way which makes a flip less obvious sounding to the ear, however, to my knowledge, that doesn't prove that that is a result of a "zipping" phenomenon, mainly because that is not what seems to be the case with vocal fold camera technology. And, as I said before, most people at one time revolved their teaching around this "zipping" concept to describe what the chords do when we DON'T flip into falsetto, but rather maintain a smooth connection from Chest to Head voice.
Ohhh and yeah, upload that belting technique please! 🙏
Will do! ☺️
I feel like few people out there actually know what they are talking about and you sir are one of them🙌 please make a video on belting!!
Thank you very much! 🙌 I will put it on my list 😀
I totally agree!!!
Hey Timo, very nice video again! Love your anatomic and simplified approach! Some thoughts though: as of my understanding, what you called whistle i think is more flageolet (tiny sound similar to head and falsetto), and whistle register is even above that and you literally whistle through the vocal chords. Also, never say never, falsetto and the vocal break can actually help in developing techniques like fry screaming and false vocal folds distortion, so telling people to strictly avoid these is pedagogically dangerous in my opinion. the voice is capable of a lot of sounds, and one should just learn to control all the aspects of the voice, of course while still being aware that some techniques are more demanding than others, same as a marathon and sprints are more demanding as walking. but that doesn’t mean we should just stop doing those high intensity activities, but do them in a balanced and healthy manner :) Also, regarding mix, i think if you pull the larynx, that would lead more to “pulled chest”/belt, and mixing is actually easier with an open throat/balanced or low larynx. by the way, one trick to find “mixed voice” is to start in falsetto and add vocal fry. the voice has so many dimensions and is such a complex instrument, and strictly avoiding certain types of coordinations in my opinion is wrong. though starting with a low larynx and open throat is certainly a very good starting point! Ah yeah and there’s another register/technique called subharmonics, which is awesome!! maybe something to
include in your fry video if its not out yet ;)
Hi there, I have made a video about Falsetto and why you shouldn't use it in my opinion. Feel free to check it out here: th-cam.com/video/Ac9l51edyBc/w-d-xo.html
Same goes for mix voice here the link to the video:
th-cam.com/video/eyZak06zmGA/w-d-xo.html
I like your model. I've always thought of "mix voice" as this needlessly vague concept that was really just describing the upper limits of chest.
Thank you ! I totally agree 😀
a video about belting will be nice my friend...
consider it done! 🙌
Agreed
Just found you channel and watched everything. I find your anatomy based approach very informative and I've learned a lot from it. So thank you so much for putting this out.
I would like to ask if you know about CVT and what your thoughts are on that as it is another approach that is also based on the anatomy and muscle approach. It would be interesting to hear about that.
In the Falsetto/Head Voice video I wouldlike to have more vocal examples to demonstrate what it sounds like .
Awesome, thank you! 🙏
I don't really have an opinion about CVT because I have never used it myself. I remember that I was reading through the book a very long time ago but I can't really remember that much.
1:51 Exaaaactly! I was never getting the idea when teachers told me my chest voice was my usual and natural speaking voice, but I always thought I speak with my head voice and in a moderately low tones, so, when I speak, my voice sounds airy, maybe, I think, cause I use to speak at so much lower tones (and volume) than my confortable register at singing, and I think (again just suppose) that to sound more clearly and powerful in my speaking voice (which is a head voice, as I said) I should go upper tones and no, sorry, I'm not used to that and that's not me 😅
In the other hand, I tried to sound clearly, powerful and less airy with my head speaking voice in that lower speaking tones I'm used to (those lower than my confortable singing register), and I ended up feeling my vocal chords hurt 🤕 I never tried that again and I will not till I have a proper technique to speak more clearly too, I mean (and I always thought that too) with that kinda twang you mentioned.
I'm surprised how your content resonates a lot with many experiences I had and my teachers seemed not to fully understand.
Because yeah, they never gave me a chance when I said that I believed and felt I use my head voice to speak 😔 so, I couldn't never really find my chest voice.
It’s pretty common that people speak in head voice. Sometimes speaking on a note that is too high or low for your speaking voice can cause trouble like this. I could imagine that you could benefit from training your arytenoid cartilages to get a better vocal cord closure. I will make a video about this soon. I’m actually demonstrating the the click sound with the arytenoid cartilages in my latest video: th-cam.com/video/2e2iwqxKNgY/w-d-xo.html at around 03:58 but don’t go into details there. Maybe that helps 🙌🏻😊
@@timoparker thank you so much! 🙂 I'll do!!!
Your take on vocal register is interesting!
I often think that the real problem with mixed voice is that we don't really know when or how to shift the vocal register properly.
Especially in songs that involves the upper range limit of our chest voices. This everchanging tone color from chest to head to chest again is what people may refer as the breaking point
Thank you! 🙏 It can be really confusing since there are so many different definitions and opinions out there.
I sing Indian Bollywood songs on karaoke. I have hard time switching my voice on register, from stomach to chest to head voice to falsetto. My voice doesn't sound good when I sing in head voice or falsetto. I need guru
Hi I really like your videos and how you approach vocal technique. Are there any exercises you could recommend on building my chest voice so I could “mix” but in the way you described it, like a thinner higher chest voice.
Thank you! 🙌 I will probably make a video about it at some point. But always make sure that your head voice is stronger than your chest voice. The Cricothyroid muscle that stretches your vocal cords to increase pitch has to overpower the chest voice muscle (Thyroarytenoid pars externa), otherwise you could potentially loose range. The best place to get started with chest voice is training the CT muscle (head voice). 😀
@@timoparker Thank you, I was asking because I have this tricky thing going on where I don’t have a break, except the thing is when I go higher in chest voice it will transition to head voice without a break but it sounds too heady and I’m not sure how to add a more chesty sound to it 😅
@@lilraccoon2692 I see. I will make another video about chest voice and I will keep your point in mind and try to address it! 😊
@@timoparker Thanks xD
You're good at presenting info!
...but think you would get more traction and credibility if you posted some videos of your singing (preferably the different styles you would teach), so people can put the advice in context
Thank you, that’s a great idea! 🙌🏻😊
Agreed! The little I’ve heard… you have a beautiful voice. Would love to hear more
@@heathers.9679 thank you so much ! 🙌🏻😊
That description of Falsetto is inaccurate. That is Whistle Voice. All registers use the full chord length to vibrate other than whistle voice.
Hi Max,
Thanks for sharing your clarification.
The shortening of the vocal cords can gradually increase with higher pitch. You can shorten the vocal cords by immobilising parts of them, so that you can make the smaller mass vibrate faster and by doing so, increasing pitch.
This happens as soon as your voice breaks and there is a drastic sound change noticeable in your voice. If you would still use the full length of the vocal cords, this drastic sound change wouldn’t happen.
Most of the times, Falsetto (the shortening of the vocal cords) is used by someone to “rescue” the sound. Because, if you haven’t trained your head voice enough yet, the vocal cords will get so thin on a higher pitch, that they don’t create an audible note anymore. That is because the vocal cords are not able to make proper contact anymore. And at this point, we can be tempted to clip the vocal cords off and by doing so, forcing a connection for a more audible note.
But with consistent training, you can achieve a full sound on higher notes (with head voice and chest voice) by using the full length of your vocal cords.
Once we start using the mechanism of Falsetto, one is able to increase the shortening of their vocal cords. It is a fluent action that can be divided into a maximum of 7 parts. Every individual will have a different amount of shortening points in the voice. Sometimes it’s just 2, other times up to 7.
I'm also talking about it a lot on this channel especially in these two videos:
1. th-cam.com/video/Ac9l51edyBc/w-d-xo.html
2. th-cam.com/video/IfMdWZ7C40g/w-d-xo.html
Every time we shorten the vocal cords, the sound gets thinner, brighter and smaller sounding.
The first time it happens, is in the breaking point of the voice and on the way up to your highest note, you can shorten the vocal cords increasingly more.
In Falsetto, you are also not able to do a crescendo or change seamlessly between head voice and chest voice, since in these two voices you require a vibration with the full vocal cords. Hence, the sound is much fuller and more flexible in dynamics.
Whistle register uses the same mechanism as Falsetto. The only difference is that in whistle register, you are using the shorting of the vocal cords to a maximum.
It would be interesting for me to know, how you understand Falsetto and how you clearly differentiate between Head Voice and Falsetto.
@@timoparker Thank you sir. It will take me some time to disect your comment, but to answer your question, the distinction between head voice and falsetto would be how tightly the chords close. Falsetto has little to no Thyroarytenoid (TA) or Lateral Cricoarytenoid (LCA) muscle contraction whereas head voice does. The flip in the voice is the audible result of these muscles relaxing from the laryngeal production, we recognize it as a flip or break in the voice. The shortening of the chords, once known as "zipping", does not appear to be scientifically accurate according to many scientists that have used better vocal fold camera technology in recent years to study the data of vocal chord behavior in different registers. And actually when this concept was popular, many people believed that the "zipping" caused smooth singing with no breaks or flips, which is the opposite of what you have described. The shortening concept was used more often before we had reliable camera technology to clearly see the chords functioning in the throat. Vocal folds are more like elastic bands they lengthen and increase in tension as we raise pitch. The amount of inferior fold mass that produces the tone based around the presence or lack of TA muscle contraction is the difference between head voice and falsetto.
The only register where this concept seems to be somewhat true is whistle voice where the Cricothyroid muscle has maximum contraction for stretched vocal folds and vibration seems to occur only on the anterior side of the chords as opposed to vibration across the full length.
I think I almost understand what you mean, although not sure if you are referring to the engagement of the Thyroaryteonid pars externa or pars interna.
Quoting from your previous comment : “Falsetto has little to no Thyroarytenoid (TA) or Lateral Cricoarytenoid (LCA) muscle contraction whereas head voice does. The flip in the voice is the audible result of these muscles relaxing from the laryngeal production, we recognize it as a flip or break in the voice.”
That would mean that we always have an audible break in the voice, even if we are relaxing the muscles that are involved for a tight vocal cord closure. But this is not the case. It is possible to sing without an audible break in the voice with or without tight closure of the vocal cords. You can also change between these two adjustments fluently and no break will occur in the voice.
In head voice, the vocal cords can either vibrate without making proper contact witch each other or with full closure.
I’m planning to make a video about this topic soon, where I will be able to show it.
Thank you for the exchange I really appreciate it! 😀
@@timoparker Yes no problem!
And yes, you can relax these muscles in a gentler way which makes a flip less obvious sounding to the ear, however, to my knowledge, that doesn't prove that that is a result of a "zipping" phenomenon, mainly because that is not what seems to be the case with vocal fold camera technology. And, as I said before, most people at one time revolved their teaching around this "zipping" concept to describe what the chords do when we DON'T flip into falsetto, but rather maintain a smooth connection from Chest to Head voice.