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So here is the thing...I bought this book to help improve singing "Setting your Voice Free" by Roger Love...and anyways, he is attempting to teach middle voice.

The thing is...I do not know if I sing in middle voice or not. Basically...I can attempt to sing a little higher than my speaking voice...and this adds emotion and feelings to songs...but I cannot hit high notes or sustain some certain words for a long time without my voice cracking...

However...I can also try and sing a little lower which sounds a lot like my speaking voice...and doesn't really show much feeling...sounds kind of monotonous...but I have a better range this way...

Does anyone know if I am still doing middle voice by singing a little higher or is that strictly head vocie...keep in mind its not completly falsetto high or doesnt make me sound like a woman....but it is definetly higher than my speaking voice (and when I hit notes with it...I think it sounds better). Anyone have any clues or tips for me??

A great example of something I cannot hit with Voice 1 is the ending to "With or Without You" by U2 where they sing "AHH AHHHH AHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH" however singing lower I can easily hit it...but doesnt sound very musical...

Middle Voice is difficult for a person to describe to you because it is a cross-over point, or transition between the Chest voice and your Head voices... In some people it's a distinct area, other's it's a more discreet transition range... It's really just cross-over voice, and I think it's relative to many aspects of your singing register, as well as your ability, not sure if you are a bass, baritone, or tenor voice... and the makeup of your individual vocal chords....Some people might only sing from head voice, they haven't learned how to project and sing from the diaphragm. Other's are strong bass voices, yet have little transitional range, and jump directly into a strong falsetto...Tough to know what you are doing in your particular case...

Middle voice, (as I understand it from writing and directing for glee clubs ages back) can even be an area the vocalist feels a certain way with,... not always clearly as discernible to the listener. In many cases it's a tonal quality a trained person can listen for knowing your range, yet in some that make a pretty decent transition between the chest and head voices, THEY can more easily describe it as a sensation of less strength and security singing..and this can also change in accordance to physical condition, and warming up exercizes.... It's a tough area to describe as I recall...Just as the name says

Chest---->Middle---->head voice

ADDED IN:

I'm stating my observation as also a person who's been fooled by the skilled singer. I couldn't hear the transition in their particular cases.  Falsetto became evident...A trained vocalist can make a damn good transition that's discreet in this area, and might still sound strong to the average listener.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I googled this to confirm what I thought and that is.... Sing the notes and don't become too concerned about where its coming from.  Of course, you'll need to "traing" yourself to sing the notes the right way but evanutally (as noted in prev. post) you need to be able to transition from singing lower (diaphram) in your body to singing higher (e.g. head voice).  

Of course there is there is also the piece that you may not be able to sing the U2 song in the same octave as Bono.

Here's an interesting link on this sort of into...
http://www.vocalist.org.uk/headorchest.html

Hello,

Your middle voice is a combonation of "chest voice" and "head voice". The purpose of middle voice is to create a smooth transition between your chest and head voices, where many singers experience a break in their voices.

If your voice is breaking when you are trying to sing higher, your middle voice is probably not quite developed yet. Singing scales with lip rolls and tongue trills will help you. A tongue trill is when you roll your r's and sing a scale making that sound. Lip rolls are a little more difficult to explain.

You wouldn't believe how much this helps to smooth out breaks in your voice.

It's hard to say if you are truly singing in head voice or middle voice when you go up a little higher without actually being able to hear you, but the easiest way to tell is if you break when you sing higher. When you break, you're likely breaking and landing in head voice, so what you need to do is concentrate on developing a "mix" of the two voices, chest and head. That's all middle voice is.

I don't know if this will help you but it may be useful to know that when you sing higher up in your range, your vocal cords are coming together as you go higher.

When you are in chest voice, about a third of your cords length is touching. When in head voice, 2 thirds, so on so on. Middle voice is what happens when you make the transition from having your cords together one third, to two thirds.

I hope that made sense!

Elisha

I have a strong head voice and a strong chest voice, but my break point
between the 2 have always been my bane. I've never heard it called a middle voice before. This is all making sense now. I don't go easily between one to the other unless it is a big jump. It is hard for me to know when to switch because I have a good range with my head voice. I usually listen to the song and switch when they do. I'm at awe with the Christina Agulara's of the world.

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well, it look likes you've been getting some good information in your post replies and i thought i'd add my two cents. the fact that you're trying to improve your singing is wonderful and kudos to you. i'm sure you have a good voice already and are trying to get even stronger and that's comendable. as for the middle voice, i agree with what's been said before. the break you're experiencing is something everybody has-the trick is that experienced/trained singers have effectively smoothed over that break. there are common places that break happens (for women sometimes around f on the top line of the treble clef stef, etc.) but it is different for each person. just practice singing scales and identify those places where your breaks lie. then, work on smoothing over them with even more practice. that's the most practical advice i can offer. certainly there are more academic and potentially more effective ways, but for a person with no formal training (which you may or may not be) and doesn't want/can't afford to invest in some lessons, that would be step one. good luck!!

ok i'm lost here......first, 2nd third voice....i have a question and really would loveeeeeee some help with it......

growing up and on into my 20s i had great valsetto,  it was very easy to slide from one to the other,  some times to easy, very good controll,  i got to where i depended on it to much, it was almost cheating, no straining at all, keep in mind i have never had singing lessions, but it got to where u couldn't tell what voice i was useing,

well after practiceing for 2 wks singing like 8 hrs a day 7 days a wk,and me doing 95 % of the singing my throat was shot, i took a few days off and when my voice was better i returned to find out i no longer had valsetto, and to this day i don't have it...now if i get a really bad cold to where i almost lose my voice i can use it a tad, but its not very controlled at all, just certain notes...growing up my bro and i had valsetto while another bro. didn't and we would tease him and say just make ur voice pop...thats how we could tell when we were in valsetto....i can't do that anymore....i do sing totally wrong, straight from my throat, always have, guessing i always will, i have had nodes removed from my vocal cords from singing wrong, but this was long after i lost my falsetto..

it would honestly bring me to tears to have my falsetto back....i do feel because i did lose it that my reg. voice is much stronger, it had to be to make up for the range i lost.....but i always feel i'm only half singing, i hear so much i could do but i can't...

so if anyone finds my falsetto there is a huge reward....i'm talkin HUGEEEEEE...
 hope someone has an idea.... ty u

I'm looking right now Billy.  This is something that affects MOST of us that have been over-using a part of our body too long, and straining it as a result !

http://eeshop.unl.edu/music.html


I'm going to check out the Ithaca performing art's rehab site right now ~
There are medical folks that specialize in these area's... problems such as nodes, or straining various parts....I'll share what I find...It's possible that without utilizing certain proper techniques, in time we really hurt ourselves doing it our own way.

Billy, I'm going to post stuff I'm find currently in Singer forum, I finding some amazing stuff that's helpful to all, so I'm just going to start a thread called "vocal health"....

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Wow! I want to first thank everyone who has responded because it is very informative!

Basically, in a nut shell, I know that to really do what I want to do, a vocal coach will be the best option. I will be done  with college come December and that will probably be the first thing I do, is get a vocal instructor. I simply dont have the time right now so I am turning to these $15 books which seem to basically be for people who have NO musical experience whatsoever. I was a band member in highschool so I have some musical experience, and actually wish I would of stayed with it through college...but oh well

Like I said, my range is horrible when it comes to my "Comfortable" singing, but then also I lose my voice real quick to. When i do the lower stuff, it sounds very off by its easier to sing....

Some big examples of what I would like to be able to sing well are U2 (this being the big one because they are my absolute favorite band and I know I would have SOOO much fun if I could do them well), Oasis, Beatles (Oh! Darling is such a good song but the scream singing I cannot do....yet) and some 80s songs...

Once again, I appreciate all your help, and any other advice is very reccomended!

I'm not trying to be funny, but could it be puberty hit? You said you were younger when it happened.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I'm pretty sure OK what now pushed his vocal cords too far Babs, I don't think singing from "the throat" for prolonged periods is healthy at all... Plus other things strain the vocal cords too....When a person does damage to the vocal cords they do lose the higher ranges, that would in fact affect his falsetto..

Dan Fogelburg had his tonsil's out about 5 years ago.... His voice lowered a fifth... If he was a first tenor, that would drop him into second tenor range I believe... He likely will never sing as high as he once did as the result of the surgery. Not everything involving vocal cords or the throat can be reversed

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".