This is obviously a technique that you don't understand, or that you understand under a different name. The idea of mix voice is to put your voice into a head voice position, but still allow it to sound like a full voice by utilizing support and placement. The concept has been around for a very long time, particularly during the bel canto era in opera, even before it was brought into popular music singing. The Italian school refers to it as Voce Faringea, the French Voix Mixte. Many GREAT singers of many genres utilize this technique. The adding pressure that you've read about is all to do with utilizing support to make the shift seamlessly.
This information is so unorthodox and interesting thanks for your efforts Timo! As a singer who learned everything I know from vocal coaches in the rock genre I find it extremely contradictive which arises a few questions if I may: 1) What's your opinion then on pharyngeal/twang/singing in the mask as a way to strengthen your middle notes which are the bread and butter for rock singing? E4 - A4 etc.. 2) Is it actually possible to attain the power that's required in this area of your range using your technique? (Strengthening the CT muscles in a low larynx positions) cause for me in this type of sound I enter my head voice way earlier than I'm using to while adding more cry and nasal resonance to the sound. 3) It would be very interesting to hear your thoughts about compression which is also something I attain by thinning my chest voice close to the breaking point (twang).. I know it's a different genre and in classical singing you might not want to pursue these powerful chesty middle notes as you can get your head voice quite powerful there.. but for others who sing rock? Thanks again for putting such an interesting standpoint.
Hi there! Thanks for your great questions 😀 1. Not really sure what you mean with pharyngeal/twang/singing. But I can say that the pharyngeal muscles can help you to keep the thyroid cartilage in a lower position, but the result is that you sound “froggy”. In most cases it is harmless to use these muscles until your sternothyroid (yawning) muscle is strong enough to keep the thyroid cartilage in a lower position. Using these muscles is just a temporary extra insurance that your thyroid cartilage is not creeping up all the way, which can be helpful in the beginning. 2. Yes it is possible. It is just much harder to keep the vocal cords contracted with a low positioned thyroid cartilage and it takes a lot of time and training in order to be able to do that. Also your CT muscle must be strong enough to pull the vocal cords to the right pitch while they are contracted. That’s why it is so important to train your head voice a bit more than your chest voice, so that you are making sure that the CT is always a bit stronger than the contraction of the vocal cord itself. I’m talking about it in this video (th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html) 3. If you are able to keep the vocal cords away from the false vocal cords and they are not rubbing against each other it COULD be ok. It has to be practised and used with caution and I also would not spent too much time practising it every day. Because compression will not help you to to grow your instrument and if used excessively can cause a series of problems. Hope this helps 🙌
Nooooo! It seem to be easier to know how " big bang" was built than reach high notes, good resonance etc etc For thousand years😅I was told to use mid voice...but only one think I was sure that " extreme high voice" as Dimash will not follow " tradicional singing technique; it is a " mistery";
I totally understand where you are coming from! I think it is not very complicated or difficult to understand but rather confusing because you can find very contrary explanations about the same topic. 🙌
God! Dear Timo Parker, thank you. Yes, I fed up with the same exercices once and again; I don't need " botox" in my lips ( lip trills)😅 and all kind without results. Now I understand that first " train muscles"; then exercices; I'm opera student; I also " work" on baroque music; messa di voce, constanza, cabatina, trills and...falsetto; any advice to get a " floating" voice, do iI explain correctly, thanks in advance. I admit I see progress in my voice, thanks in advance.
That‘s great to hear that you see progress! For me the floating sensation sets in when you stop using air pressure as a way to increase pitch. I remember everything seemed to feel easier and lighter as soon as I made the change. ☀️
One other thought: even though we are built the same physiologically, some voices can do amazing things, even without vocal training. Whitney Houston is a good example but there are many more. I, at 81 was a baritone, but now cannot sing high, so I am now more of a bass baritone. I trained classically and have gone through a period of about 5 years with voice problems. I am working now with a doctor who teams up with a speech pathologist who himself (the speech pathologist) is a Broadway singer and actor with great voice production. The best baritone voices that I like now are German singing classical music. There are many who seem to have that seamless extension throughout all of their voices. Please comment.
There are definitely some people out there, that are amazing singers without any vocal training, but this is more an exception. The problem that is common for some classical baritones/basses is, that they don't train their head voice enough. They are using dominantly chest voice and neglecting to train a muscle called cricothyroid pars oblique (short form CT muscle). Because of that, the vocal cords can't stretch enough to reach higher notes. I'm talking about this topic in this video: th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html
You're debunking so many wrong ideas man!!! I'm loving your channel! I think that, if I'm not wrong about this topic, you will speak one day about that myth around the "hold or push very tight with your abs" or "open your mouth at least one inch". 🤷♀️ You'll tell if I'm right. Thank you so much. Obviously subscribed!
Can you please answer this question? Is it not the actual "type of sound" that you make, that makes the difference when any human voice (male or female) is let's say bridging the gap (some call it passaggio (scientists say modal to loft) is making the transition. Is this not what you yourself do? My question again, is this not what you have to do: make the type of sound that can teach us to make a seamless transition from low to high. Thank you in advance for addressing my question. I hope I have made it clear.
Hi there, I'm not singing/working with a breaking point, because if you train the right muscles in your larynx you can get rid of it, but it takes patience and training. You can hear me demonstrating the seamless transition in this video: th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html I also have a playlist about "basic voice anatomy" where I talk about this topic in more depth: www.youtube.com/@timoparker/playlists
I'm wondering what the answer to jamesalexanderholland issue is though. Like him I have a limit around f# at the moment in terms of a useable voice (apart from a strong high head voice as well). I would say though that starting around A (below middle c) the tone of my voice DOES shift from being just chest voice because I have changed the placement - isn't this what mixed voice is (?) and there are higher harmonics in there. My issue is though how does getting rid of the break point IN ITSELF enable me to sing higher notes. It seems with practice you can get your voice to transition from headvoice to mix (as I described it) without hearing a sudden flip but this doesn't mean I suddenly have higher range in what I have described as mixed voice, it just means I still have an overlap between mixed sound and ever weaker sounding headvoice (as it comes lower). So what does the practice of removing the flip from one to the other achieve? In other words I seem to be missing something in my understanding and practice. Thanks
Hi there, if you have a breaking point in your voice you are changing the way you use your vocal cords. Before the breaking point the vocal cords vibrate in their full length which could be in head voice or chest voice (will link below what my definition of these two is) and after your breaking point the length of the vibrating vocal cords shortens. I call this mechanism falsetto. When you are using this mechanism (falsetto) you are not training the right muscle (cricothyroid muscle) which stretches the vocal cords and using falsetto is also not healthy to your voice. That's why it is important to get rid of the breaking point and therefore stop using falsetto, so your muscles can taker over when you sing. I go into detail in the videos linked below. Using falsetto and having a breaking point is one of the main reasons for most people why they are not able to expand their vocal range. I will link videos about this topic below. If your voice is getting thinner (shifts in sound) in chest voice or head voice, it is most likely due to a raising thyroid cartilage in a narrow position. For me it has nothing to do with mixing registers. I have a video linked below where I talk about the width of the thyroid cartilage. breaking point/falsetto: th-cam.com/video/IfMdWZ7C40g/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/Ac9l51edyBc/w-d-xo.html narrow and wide thyroid cartilage: th-cam.com/video/1IKm9R7hjZ4/w-d-xo.html difference between head voice and chest voice: th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html expanding vocal range: th-cam.com/video/Dal7Sj1Vnh0/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/KWe5J-UBxhg/w-d-xo.html I'm also talking about registers and mix voice in this video: th-cam.com/video/Y1si9gjvJdQ/w-d-xo.html Hope that helps! :)
I personally do not think that Mix is a real thing. I feel like it’s a new age gimmick. I’ve been trying for mix for over 20 years but, in spite of spending 1000’s of dollars on courses and lessons, I have found only chest register and a supported falsetto. My chest voice was never useable beyond G4/G#4 and the supported falsetto allows me to go pretty high but it requires me to pull falsetto down very far which deprives me of power, resonance, endurance and closed vocal chords. In summation, I do not think that mix is an actual registration. It’s something, like weight loss pills, that is being marketed to millions of aspiring singers who, like me, have naturally limited vocal ranges and desperately want to sing higher.
Hi there, thank you so much for sharing your story. I totally agree with you! Mix voice doesn't make any sense anatomically speaking since your vocal cords (to be precise the thyroaytenoid pars externa muscle) are either contracted or they aren't. If they are contracted it's chest voice and if not, it's head voice. I'm talking about this topic towards the end of this video: th-cam.com/video/Y1si9gjvJdQ/w-d-xo.html I believe that everyone can increase their range dramatically, if you train the right muscles with patience and persistence. (Check out my playlist: www.youtube.com/@timoparker/playlists) Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there and without a little guidance in the beginning it is really hard. I was lucky enough to be at the right time in the right place and learned from incredible mentors. That's why I want to share this knowledge with you all, so you have the same chance that I had. Understanding vocal anatomy is the first step and that is often overlooked!
Complete misinformation. No one can or should sing their highest notes in M1, and high M1 is certainly not what most people think of as “chest voice” anyway. Increased subglottic pressure is fine and normal for certain coordinations, and is not necessarily dangerous - although I can see the argument that it’s best not to rely on it. Mixed voice is definitely a thing, and when you get into the high range with voce faringea it is indeed distinct at the vocal cord level and in terms of vocal tract shaping from both conventional chest voice and conventional head voice. You clearly have some knowledge of the voice, but claiming things like “there’s no break” is just ridiculous and counterproductive for the majority of people. Plus, many singers use “disconnected” singing as the default in the high range, and it’s often more beautiful and natural sounding (classical sopranos, for example). Presenting a narrow view of the voice as fact is never helpful.
![CAMPปลิ้น | EP.82[2/2] เมาท์มอยกับ 3 สาวเพื่อนซี้ ที่พร้อมขยี้พ่อหมีได้ทุกเมื่อ](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Wwn7WnylNtQ/mqdefault.jpg)
This is obviously a technique that you don't understand, or that you understand under a different name. The idea of mix voice is to put your voice into a head voice position, but still allow it to sound like a full voice by utilizing support and placement. The concept has been around for a very long time, particularly during the bel canto era in opera, even before it was brought into popular music singing. The Italian school refers to it as Voce Faringea, the French Voix Mixte. Many GREAT singers of many genres utilize this technique. The adding pressure that you've read about is all to do with utilizing support to make the shift seamlessly.
This information is so unorthodox and interesting thanks for your efforts Timo!
As a singer who learned everything I know from vocal coaches in the rock genre I find it extremely contradictive which arises a few questions if I may:
1) What's your opinion then on pharyngeal/twang/singing in the mask as a way to strengthen your middle notes which are the bread and butter for rock singing? E4 - A4 etc..
2) Is it actually possible to attain the power that's required in this area of your range using your technique? (Strengthening the CT muscles in a low larynx positions) cause for me in this type of sound I enter my head voice way earlier than I'm using to while adding more cry and nasal resonance to the sound.
3) It would be very interesting to hear your thoughts about compression which is also something I attain by thinning my chest voice close to the breaking point (twang).. I know it's a different genre and in classical singing you might not want to pursue these powerful chesty middle notes as you can get your head voice quite powerful there.. but for others who sing rock?
Thanks again for putting such an interesting standpoint.
Hi there! Thanks for your great questions 😀
1. Not really sure what you mean with pharyngeal/twang/singing. But I can say that the pharyngeal muscles can help you to keep the thyroid cartilage in a lower position, but the result is that you sound “froggy”. In most cases it is harmless to use these muscles until your sternothyroid (yawning) muscle is strong enough to keep the thyroid cartilage in a lower position. Using these muscles is just a temporary extra insurance that your thyroid cartilage is not creeping up all the way, which can be helpful in the beginning.
2. Yes it is possible. It is just much harder to keep the vocal cords contracted with a low positioned thyroid cartilage and it takes a lot of time and training in order to be able to do that. Also your CT muscle must be strong enough to pull the vocal cords to the right pitch while they are contracted. That’s why it is so important to train your head voice a bit more than your chest voice, so that you are making sure that the CT is always a bit stronger than the contraction of the vocal cord itself. I’m talking about it in this video (th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html)
3. If you are able to keep the vocal cords away from the false vocal cords and they are not rubbing against each other it COULD be ok. It has to be practised and used with caution and I also would not spent too much time practising it every day. Because compression will not help you to to grow your instrument and if used excessively can cause a series of problems.
Hope this helps 🙌
Thank you again Timo. P.x
You are welcome! Hope it helped you 🙌🏻😊
Nooooo! It seem to be easier to know how " big bang" was built than reach high notes, good resonance etc etc
For thousand years😅I was told to use mid voice...but only one think I was sure that " extreme high voice" as Dimash will not follow " tradicional singing technique; it is a " mistery";
I totally understand where you are coming from! I think it is not very complicated or difficult to understand but rather confusing because you can find very contrary explanations about the same topic. 🙌
I just loooved the little pic with the head voice encompassing the chest voice like the egg white the egg yolk! 😍
Thank you! I call it “Avocado System” 🥑😊
God! Dear Timo Parker, thank you.
Yes, I fed up with the same exercices once and again; I don't need " botox" in my lips ( lip trills)😅 and all kind without results.
Now I understand that first " train muscles"; then exercices; I'm opera student; I also " work" on baroque music; messa di voce, constanza, cabatina, trills and...falsetto; any advice to get a " floating" voice, do iI explain correctly, thanks in advance.
I admit I see progress in my voice, thanks in advance.
That‘s great to hear that you see progress!
For me the floating sensation sets in when you stop using air pressure as a way to increase pitch. I remember everything seemed to feel easier and lighter as soon as I made the change. ☀️
This was good. Thx
Thank you! 🙌
One other thought: even though we are built the same physiologically, some voices can do amazing things, even without vocal training. Whitney Houston is a good example but there are many more. I, at 81 was a baritone, but now cannot sing high, so I am now more of a bass baritone. I trained classically and have gone through a period of about 5 years with voice problems. I am working now with a doctor who teams up with a speech pathologist who himself (the speech pathologist) is a Broadway singer and actor with great voice production. The best baritone voices that I like now are German singing classical music. There are many who seem to have that seamless extension throughout all of their voices. Please comment.
There are definitely some people out there, that are amazing singers without any vocal training, but this is more an exception.
The problem that is common for some classical baritones/basses is, that they don't train their head voice enough. They are using dominantly chest voice and neglecting to train a muscle called cricothyroid pars oblique (short form CT muscle). Because of that, the vocal cords can't stretch enough to reach higher notes. I'm talking about this topic in this video:
th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html
You're debunking so many wrong ideas man!!! I'm loving your channel!
I think that, if I'm not wrong about this topic, you will speak one day about that myth around the "hold or push very tight with your abs" or "open your mouth at least one inch". 🤷♀️ You'll tell if I'm right.
Thank you so much. Obviously subscribed!
Yay thank you and welcome to the community! 😀 haha just keep watching you won't be disappointed... 😂
@@timoparker Indeed! 😅
What do you think about straw exercises for singing?
I am not working with straw exercises, but I might do a video about it at some point! (explaining why I think you don't need them) 😀
Can you please answer this question? Is it not the actual "type of sound" that you make, that makes the difference when any human voice (male or female) is let's say bridging the gap (some call it passaggio (scientists say modal to loft) is making the transition. Is this not what you yourself do? My question again, is this not what you have to do: make the type of sound that can teach us to make a seamless transition from low to high. Thank you in advance for addressing my question. I hope I have made it clear.
Hi there, I'm not singing/working with a breaking point, because if you train the right muscles in your larynx you can get rid of it, but it takes patience and training. You can hear me demonstrating the seamless transition in this video: th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html
I also have a playlist about "basic voice anatomy" where I talk about this topic in more depth:
www.youtube.com/@timoparker/playlists
I just noticed the comment below of James Holland. I think we have he same difficulty and issue.
You can see my reply below. 😀
I'm wondering what the answer to jamesalexanderholland issue is though. Like him I have a limit around f# at the moment in terms of a useable voice (apart from a strong high head voice as well). I would say though that starting around A (below middle c) the tone of my voice DOES shift from being just chest voice because I have changed the placement - isn't this what mixed voice is (?) and there are higher harmonics in there. My issue is though how does getting rid of the break point IN ITSELF enable me to sing higher notes. It seems with practice you can get your voice to transition from headvoice to mix (as I described it) without hearing a sudden flip but this doesn't mean I suddenly have higher range in what I have described as mixed voice, it just means I still have an overlap between mixed sound and ever weaker sounding headvoice (as it comes lower). So what does the practice of removing the flip from one to the other achieve? In other words I seem to be missing something in my understanding and practice. Thanks
Hi there, if you have a breaking point in your voice you are changing the way you use your vocal cords. Before the breaking point the vocal cords vibrate in their full length which could be in head voice or chest voice (will link below what my definition of these two is) and after your breaking point the length of the vibrating vocal cords shortens. I call this mechanism falsetto. When you are using this mechanism (falsetto) you are not training the right muscle (cricothyroid muscle) which stretches the vocal cords and using falsetto is also not healthy to your voice. That's why it is important to get rid of the breaking point and therefore stop using falsetto, so your muscles can taker over when you sing. I go into detail in the videos linked below.
Using falsetto and having a breaking point is one of the main reasons for most people why they are not able to expand their vocal range. I will link videos about this topic below.
If your voice is getting thinner (shifts in sound) in chest voice or head voice, it is most likely due to a raising thyroid cartilage in a narrow position. For me it has nothing to do with mixing registers. I have a video linked below where I talk about the width of the thyroid cartilage.
breaking point/falsetto:
th-cam.com/video/IfMdWZ7C40g/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/Ac9l51edyBc/w-d-xo.html
narrow and wide thyroid cartilage:
th-cam.com/video/1IKm9R7hjZ4/w-d-xo.html
difference between head voice and chest voice:
th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/-Vr0z99Oovg/w-d-xo.html
expanding vocal range:
th-cam.com/video/Dal7Sj1Vnh0/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/KWe5J-UBxhg/w-d-xo.html
I'm also talking about registers and mix voice in this video:
th-cam.com/video/Y1si9gjvJdQ/w-d-xo.html
Hope that helps! :)
I personally do not think that Mix is a real thing. I feel like it’s a new age gimmick. I’ve been trying for mix for over 20 years but, in spite of spending 1000’s of dollars on courses and lessons, I have found only chest register and a supported falsetto. My chest voice was never useable beyond G4/G#4 and the supported falsetto allows me to go pretty high but it requires me to pull falsetto down very far which deprives me of power, resonance, endurance and closed vocal chords. In summation, I do not think that mix is an actual registration. It’s something, like weight loss pills, that is being marketed to millions of aspiring singers who, like me, have naturally limited vocal ranges and desperately want to sing higher.
Hi there, thank you so much for sharing your story. I totally agree with you! Mix voice doesn't make any sense anatomically speaking since your vocal cords (to be precise the thyroaytenoid pars externa muscle) are either contracted or they aren't. If they are contracted it's chest voice and if not, it's head voice. I'm talking about this topic towards the end of this video: th-cam.com/video/Y1si9gjvJdQ/w-d-xo.html
I believe that everyone can increase their range dramatically, if you train the right muscles with patience and persistence.
(Check out my playlist: www.youtube.com/@timoparker/playlists)
Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there and without a little guidance in the beginning it is really hard. I was lucky enough to be at the right time in the right place and learned from incredible mentors. That's why I want to share this knowledge with you all, so you have the same chance that I had. Understanding vocal anatomy is the first step and that is often overlooked!
Complete misinformation. No one can or should sing their highest notes in M1, and high M1 is certainly not what most people think of as “chest voice” anyway.
Increased subglottic pressure is fine and normal for certain coordinations, and is not necessarily dangerous - although I can see the argument that it’s best not to rely on it.
Mixed voice is definitely a thing, and when you get into the high range with voce faringea it is indeed distinct at the vocal cord level and in terms of vocal tract shaping from both conventional chest voice and conventional head voice.
You clearly have some knowledge of the voice, but claiming things like “there’s no break” is just ridiculous and counterproductive for the majority of people. Plus, many singers use “disconnected” singing as the default in the high range, and it’s often more beautiful and natural sounding (classical sopranos, for example). Presenting a narrow view of the voice as fact is never helpful.