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by AB-Joel on October 27th, 2003

AB-Joel

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What does it mean to sing in your "head voice"?

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  • by john lipian on March 21st, 2005

    john lipian

    "Head voice" is a term generally used to refer to two different things.

    Traditionally, head voice, or the italian "voce in piena testa", is a sound made by vibration of the true vocal folds once the cricothyroid muscles take over as the primary muscle group adducting the vocal folds (pressing them together). In simpler terms, it is the voice sound made by your true vocal folds when singing above your "calling voice", or the highest pitch you can use to speak on. This is the voice that opera singers like Pavarotti use to sing the vibrant, ringing notes betwween F# and high C, although each voice type has a different location for when this "head voice" kicks in.

    The other type of singing regarded as "head voice" is otherwise known as falsetto, of which there are two kinds. One kind involves incomplete closure of the true vocal folds, causing the outer edges of the vocal lip to vibrate weakly making a louder falsetto sound (italian "voce finta"). This makes a tighter sounding falsetto, but still a rather weak sound. The other kind involves the use of the false vocal folds, which do not connect together. This makes the sort of "hooty" falsetto sound that most people associate with falsetto.

    Hope this helps!

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