Chest voice, Head voice & Developing Mix
From: Your First Singing Lesson With Camilleby Camille van Niekerk
Description:
In this video, we’ll cover three terms that are often used by singers and teachers: chest voice, head voice, and mixed voice. These are all “registers”, or different “modes” you can sing in. All that means is: your voice works in a particular way, and there’s a unique sound that results.
Before we define terms and learn exercises, I’ll sing in each of these modes so you can hear the difference!
“Chest voice” is essentially using your speaking voice function to sing. It’s called chest voice because most people feel strong vibration on their chest when making sound in this way. Place your hand on your chest and say with a strong, confident voice “hello there”. For higher pitches, we first learn to access them using another function called “head voice” or “falsetto”. As you might have guessed, mix is using a balance of chest voice and head voice function, especially for medium and high pitches. Mix is used to transition smoothly from chest voice to head voice, and to sing higher pitches in a way that’s not shouting or “flipping” into light head voice. One way we develop mix is by using vowels that help us transition from chest voice to head voice. Learn this exercise using the vowels OH and OO.
Exercises:
Chest voice “GO”: 1 (spoken), 121 (sung)
Head voice “Woo”: Woo-woo (spoken), 3-2-1 (sung)
Chest & head voice “HEY hoo HEY”: 1 8 1
Mix-building “NO-oo”: 18-531
Mix-building “NG” slide: 181
Mix-building “NG” slide: 181
Mix building “ONE”: 13531
The next video will put all of these exercises together for a complete warmup!
Lessons:
Instructor: Camille van Niekerk
Camille van Niekerk is a singer, writer and vocal instructor in Southern California. Camille began studying voice and performing in musicals at age seven. In 2010, Camille began working towards her BA in Music Education at Azusa Pacific University. She then earned her teaching credential from San Diego State University and taught classroom choral and instrumental music. Shortly after moving to LA county, Camille began her private vocal studio, providing vocal coaching, ear training, and recording for students of all ages. She is constantly refining her skills and methods for greater versatility and effectiveness. When she is not teaching, Camille enjoys singing with the L.A. Choral Lab and Ensoma Creative. She lives in San Diego with her husband and loves going to the beach, practicing yoga, reading, and cooking.