REGISTERS pt 1: Head & Chest Voice

Hello Singers!

I hope you’re keeping up with your technique tips and exercises from last months columns – each exercise is designed to help you develop and improve your voice. Your Vocademy Tutor will give you other tips, tricks & exercises that you can practice at home as well – you’ll be a superstar singer in no time :0)

This month I want us to start thinking about using our singing voice as an instrument – just as a guitarist or a keyboard player would do. First of all we need to understand how our voice feels as we sing and discover our individual range and our registers, every voice is different! Boys and girls voices ‘break’ in different places – and so it’s important you can recognise what this will feel like as you sing. Some people’s voices will shift from each register in a different place too – so you need to learn what’s right for you.

To control your vocal tone, you’ll need to learn how to alter the shape of your mouth as you change between registers. This will help control the sound.  We’ll look at this in more detail, but first, let’s look at how we can feel the changes in our own registers.

Chest Voice

« Your chest voice is at the lower end of your range

« You can feel vibrations in your chest as you sing

« The chest voice is strong sounding

« You need to use lots of diaphragm support to help control your tone

Watch this Vocademy Vid our  fab Ellis Lund singing Pixie Lott’s Turn It Up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUQLmJTB3Zk&feature=player_embedded

You can see Ellis shows great control in her chest voice. She uses her register to great effect with strong rhythmic phrasing and good use of dynamics (singing louder/softer). When she needs to Ellis navigates into her head voice with great control – e.g. in the Chorus (“waiting for the phone”) Great performance!

Other songs to try: I Love Rock & Roll, I Predict A Riot, Poker Face (In Verses, you’ll want to belt the Chorus!) Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay, Do It Like a Dude

Head Voice

« Your head voice is at the top end of your range

« You can feel it vibrating higher up in your face & head as you sing

« The head voice often sounds soft and breathy

« You need lots of support from your diaphragm as well

« Use the shape of your mouth help lift the sound and ensure stable tuning

Watch this other Vocademy Vid – The lovely Amy Curtis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcMl-saI7f4&feature=autofb

Amy has a beautifully supported head voice. You can she from the shape of her mouth as she sings, she smiles (showing lovely personality & great singing technique!) at the same time, lifting her voice stabling her tone. She also controls the change (her ‘break’) in register at the end of each phrase into her mixed voice as she sings her licks. Well done Amy – fab job!

Other Songs to try: Stay With Me (Chorus only), Anything by Leona Lewis! La Roux In For The Kill, How Deep Is Your Love by the Bee Gees, Skinny Love.

Practice singing different songs using your different registers – see how you get on and feel what it’s like to sing from one register to the other. Practice makes perfect!

Next month we’ll look at REGISTERS: pt 2: Mixed & Belting Voice

Happy Singing!

Bubsie :0)