Mixed voice

Hi Ms Camille

I just watched your mixed voice tutorial and I have some questions

1. You pointed out that people have tendency to a: shout for mixed voice or b: end up breaking into head voice. I shouldn't do those right? What does a mixed voice sound like? Because when notes are within my chest-head voice split (E4,F4) I give them a "push" to achieve mixed voice. But it is not like a "yell kind of push" but rather "HEY kind of push." Is what I am doing considered shouting? And when I reach notes that are too high for mixed voice, (G4 onwards) it is normal to break into head voice, right? 

2. I'm sorry if I misunderstood, but you seemed to be implying that I should try to achieve a mixed voice as much as possible. However, I remember watching singing tips by Adam Mishan on youtube, and he said that whenever I reach a note that is too high for me, I should just use head voice / falsetto to train my head voice. So... should I use mixed voice or falsettos during practices?

https://youtu.be/U0VMnVJQVJc (video link)

3. Singing for as little as 5 minutes every day is better than singing once per week for say... an hour, right?

So what my understanding of mixed voice (I'm kinda new to singing too) Is that lets say you sing a higher note like lets say that E4. From what I understand is that its supposed to resonate in your chest and in your head. That's why it's called mixed voice. And yea so what you're not trying to do when practicing singing, is to hurt your voice. If your singing along to a song and your voice breaks into head voice, its okay. It just means those muscles you use to produce that note need more work. The goal is to not hurt your voice. And for your last question, I would say yes, but you should definitly practice for more than 5 minutes if you want to make any progress in your voice.

Thanks for your detailed answer @Chrisgoodrich46!

I agree with Chris!

The over all goal is that we achieve a smooth transition from chest voice into head voice, through our mix. Some singers experience a "low mix" or "chest-dominant mix" that gradually becomes a "high mix" or "head-dominant mix" as they ascend. Others experience more of a division between their "chesty mix" and "heady mix". Within your vocal warmups, a good strategy would be to 1) work your chest voice, 2) work your head voice, and then 3) work on balancing & blending in the middle (mix). It's okay to "flip" into head voice when a pitch feels too high to maintain the intensity of mix! Ultimately, we want options: the ability to sing in head voice/falsetto when we want a lighter sound, and the ability to mix when we want a stronger/beltier sound. 

I hope that helps! And yes, the ideal would be 15-30 minutes of practice, as many days as you can - but it's true that more frequent practice (even if it's shorter) is better than one long practice session. 

That's some great tips! Thank you!

You're welcome, Kang!

@Camille van Niekerk 

So I do actually have a question for you. So I get that mix is head and chest resonance, but I really want to expand my mix belt range and not sound so much like mickey mouse. 

Like for example,

So there's this song called Man in the Box by Alice In Chains that I like to play with my band. I got the verse down, but right at the chorus when he belts out "Feed.." an a B flat 4, I just automatically switch into a falsetto ish sound (tbh I'm 100% on the difference between falsetto and head voice) Anyway, I see this as a major problem because Layne has a voice like a lion. I guess what I'm trying to ask is how do even begin to belt like that? If it matters at all, I'm a baritone

"Feed" is not a mix-friendly lyric - both the airflow of the "f" sound and the narrow "ee" vowel will encourage your voice to flip into falsetto!

I'd vocalize up to that Bb4 on a different syllable (like the word "one", for example). That may take some time on its own, stretching some intense mix quality to the Bb. But once you can do that, I'd employ vowel modification by singing on something closer to IH as in SIT (rather than EE as in FEED). See below for more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYq36TPd84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44A687fqhiI

https://www.30daysinger.com/tutorial/vowel-and-vowel-modification/1

https://www.30daysinger.com/tutorial/mixed-voice-101/1