Frequently Asked Questions

Well, you’ve reached what we affectionately call a bridge, where resonance must shift from one area of your body to the next (you feel the voice move from your chest [mouthy] to higher in the head [heady]). But because your vocal cords are not yet coordinated to stay adducted (closed) through the passage area, the "crack" or "flip" you are experiencing is a disconnection from your chest voice into falsetto or chest to head. Reaching for higher notes to avoid "breaking" (yelling, in other words) will only exacerbate the problem since this blasts even more air through the vocal folds while attempting to stretch them beyond what is healthy. Imagine leaving your car in 1st gear while attempting to accelerate to 50 m.p.h. This will eventually blow the engine. Similarly, pulling your chest voice up can eventually lead to a host of vocal problems such as vocal strain, hoarseness, nodules, and even the loss of your upper range altogether.

To smooth out the "break" you must learn to develop a "mix", which is a blend of chest and head registers. With practice your vocal cords can learn to coordinate the amount of air required to keep them vibrating and adducted so there is no audible shift in resonation. You will still feel the transition take place inside your body, but the audience will only hear a full, strong, and connected sound.

Although many people use these terms interchangeably, they are both physically different processes that occur within the larynx. Both men and women have a head voice as well as falsetto. During speech, the vocal cords naturally adduct and vibrate at their full length. When a singer ascends from his speaking chest voice into his head voice, the vocal cords shorten in vibrating length as sound waves begin to travel more and more behind the soft palate, resonating in the head cavity. When done correctly there is no sudden shift in tone production because the vocal cords are staying adducted (closed) while the singer crosses the bridge into his head voice.

Falsetto is the maximal elongation of vocal cords with minimal glottic gap (look THAT up when you get the chance). It can be produced at almost any frequency but is mostly produced in the upper range for both male and female voices. It is the uncontrolled breathy or whistly sound that results from the vocal cords separating and most often occurs when a singer has not learned to coordinate her vocal cords to stay closed between registers. As a result, too much air forces the vocal cords apart, creating a "break." During falsetto the vocal cords are actually bowed apart and are unable to blend with chest voice, making it impractical to use except for special vocal stylings. While falsetto is sometimes used for style (such as in yodeling), most of the time it either occurs accidentally or as a stylistic means to disguise the singer's inability to coordinate his vocal cords between registers. Falsetto confuses some folks because the sensation of resonance is similar to head voice. The basic difference: head voice uses fully adducted (closed) vocal cords; falsetto does not.

No, this is not true. It is unfortunate that many singers are taught to push their chest voice as high as possible (we call it "pulling chest" or belting). Not only will it eventually lead to vocal strain and damage over time, but the singer is limited to using only a small portion of her range. The reason singers are often taught to pull chest is because today's demanding styles such as pop or musical theater require a fuller and stronger sound. Yet many teachers do not adequately understand how the natural bridges of the voice work, nor are they equipped to guide their students to coordinate their vocal cords through the passage areas. As a result, singers are often taught to sing exclusively in chest voice and basically yell for all their higher notes. The solution is to develop a strong "mix" so there is no audible shift between registers.

No, we do not recommend this type of technique for several reasons. Singing exclusively in head voice is just as damaging to the vocal cords as pulling chest, but in the other direction. This happens when a singer is descending from head voice down below the first bridge yet does not allow the vocal cords to adjust back to their full vibrating length. Rather than connecting to their speaking chest voice, the vocal cords just get looser and looser as they descend, blowing excessive air past the vocal folds. Although the singer is able to avoid "breaking," there will never be any power or depth to his voice since he is unable to connect with his chest voice. This will only limit the singer in his vocal style and choice of repertoire. (This is where the training creates problems for most singers who want to expand their singing experience.)

Imagine playing on the 12th fret of the guitar and then choosing to loosen the string by unwinding the tuning peg in order to achieve a lower pitch. The string will just get looser and looser until it eventually wobbles. It would be much more productive to lower the pitch by simply lifting the fingers and '"unfretting" the guitar. A very similar thing happens when the vocal cords are forced to get looser and looser while attempting to achieve a lower pitch for singing. Because the muscles which keep the vocal cords taut for chest voice are not used, over time the voice will eventually develop a wobble. The vocal cords no longer have the strength to stay adducted. This is why you'll sometimes hear old ladies in church sing with a wobble. The truth is, the voice that you speak with should also be the voice that you sing with.

While it is essential to have enough air to produce the desired sound when singing, most teachers over-emphasize breathing without addressing the underlying issue, which is vocal cord adduction (closing). Imagine going to the gas station every day to pump up the tires of your car, only to find yourself frustrated that they've gone flat again by the end of the day. You could choose to blame the gas station for failing to provide your tires with enough air, or you could address the real problem, which is a hole in the tire.

Similarly, if the vocal cords are separated and not staying adducted, air is wasted, and all the breath support in the world will not alleviate the problem. The problem is not a lack of breath support but rather air escaping from separated vocal cords. In fact, too much air can be just as damaging as too little air. Since you don't consciously spend additional time focusing on a slow, continual release of air when speaking, why would you do this for singing? Singing should be as natural and easy as speaking. As long as the vocal cords stay adducted like they naturally do when speaking, you will have all the breath you need, and air will not be wasted because you will actually be using less air. Proper tone support occurs automatically when the right amount of air is balanced with the right amount of muscle for the vocal cords to adduct smoothly within the larynx.

Unless we see a student with poor posture or someone raising the chest during inhalation, we spend very little time focusing on breathing. This is because the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle which automatically regulates the proper amount of air required for singing, just as it naturally does for speaking. This does not require any additional conscious effort. In other words, breath support is a byproduct of good vocal technique rather than a means to it.

Not at all. In fact, the truth is that all styles including classical have nuances that deviate from proper vocal technique in one way or another. Classical tends to be over-hooty and singers are often taught to bring their head voice down so low that there is no connection to chest voice. Country singing tends to be overly nasal, while yodeling is characterized by flipping from chest into falsetto and back - the exact opposite of what we work to achieve during vocal development. One of the primary purposes of good vocal technique should be equipping the singer with a method that facilitates freedom to sing in a variety of styles - be it pop, gospel, R&B, jazz, country, rock, or classical. The singer should be able to choose his or her vocal style based on artistic preferences, not vocal limitations.

Well, not really. The lower pitches are directly related to the length and thickness of your vocal cords. Getting them to lengthen is like trying to get your feet to grow more. They’re pretty much as long as they’ll get once you mature. If you try to "dig" lower notes from your voice, you’ll notice a straining sensation. That’s because you’re using lots of outside muscle to impose on the voice for these notes. Not a great idea.

It has most to do with attention span and desire. Many parents and kids are told that the vocal cords aren't mature enough for voice lessons until they reach a certain age...and that's true if that teacher uses belting as a means of vocalizing. (Some folks think it's really cute to hear little kids blasting their vocal cords to shreds.) At speech level, singing is as natural as speaking, and children’s voices are quite ready for that! They might not be ready to knuckle down and really "work" on their voices mentally, though...that requires a measure of discipline that may not be present yet in younger kids. But if they love singing, it's certainly worth a try!