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How will most of us who can't read music find out what ours is? Should we assume prolly 2? And does it count if your highest one you can hit is in your head voice (man I've wondered that for so long).

Was Minnie Ripperton's necessarily broad?

And supposedly having a huge range didn't help ole Mariah in the end. She seems not to be able to get out of the hole she's in for some reason.

Come on Jazzy, Steven, Sybie, Heather and help me out here.

Oops, shoot, I will repost the correct file.

The best I have ever done.....

There is middle C, then high C.....I hit the B after the High C....so almost two? Octaves?

Middle C to High C
High C to Higher C

Plus, I don't know how low I can go, so I would say I have maybe 2 1/2 !

I am sure I can make it higher....but I get too excited...and then I can't sing anymore.....from the excitement of hitting the high notes !

How do those numbers work, Gilly? I am confused

Ok, the red star is middle C on a piano.... the recording I have above starts at C3 and goes to C6.... which you can see in the picture... does this help?

WOW!

Then I almost did the whole recording that you made.

I always get scared when I hear my voice reach those high notes !

The recording sounds a lot higher when you are not singing with it (I do the same kind of warm ups with my vocal coach)

Your diagram helped a lot!

Thanks Gilly

Thanks Gilly, That's a great post.


Here's a question regarding this grossly exaggerated vocal range chat. My comfortable singing range would be perhaps F2 or G2 up around an octave and a half at best. Now I can falsetto. Many men that sing in the bass, and baritone range for some reason are the stronger falsetto's. Yet when people talk about singing :range:, does it mean that the F2 to my dinkiest high falsetto note is my "singing range" ? After-all a falsetto is somewhat of a fluke in our vocal chords. If I can sing an octave and a half. and jump another octave into a falsetto range and falsetto an octave there. I don't have a 4 octave range. Yet the notes I can hit might fall within a four octave range.

deleted accidental duplicate

Lol, wish I coudl help answer the question.. I think you will have to shout to Jazzy... I know music.. but nothing to do with vocals..... Lol, confuses the heck out of me.. because, if I took an instrument, and played through the octaves, then, every note woudl count as my instrumental range... Because, i don't have a falsetto valve or position:) HOwever, when it comes to singing I haven't a clue.. but, I figure, if you can MAKE the sound, it counts..... well, in my deranged non professional, knows nothing about singing opinion;)

Oh, and by the way, yall, Justy has barely ONE octave as a range... and it is impossible to REALLY tell, because, he can't stay on pitch. .

I don't have a huge range, but I am confortable with what I have... although, before I had sky, i could easily sing to a b6, and now sometimes I can JUST barely get an a g5-a5... i don' know if it is age, change of hormones, but my voice is much lower... I never used to be able to get as low as I can now.

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Steven, I don't think you count falsetto in your range.

Singing with the piano my range is pretty good: F2->A5

In falsetto I span A4->G5 (if my counting is correct).

Now if only I would sound good also

Morten

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Jazzy,

is it possible to sing continously from falsetto to head voice? My understanding was that in falsetto only the edges of the cords vibrate. At least for me falsetto doesn't blend with the rest of the range (the timbre is rather special). Of course in a song like "100 years" that effect is what makes the song...

BTW. since I have no formal education in singing, I'm not sure I make sense.

Morten

It's very easy to sing from real range straight into falsetto for the first tenor range male singers Morten. Thing is, the weak area between comfort range, and falsetto for the lower voices can't be hit. Probably an area that is non-existent for the baritone, or bass singer.




Jazzy, Would Tracy Chapman be a tenor ? or would she be one of those rare females that is singing in a baritone range ?

So is falsetto "head voice"? I'm still wondering if hitting a note while using your "head voice" counts in your range.

Tigger,

I can sing notes from A4 to A5 in both headvoice and falsetto. The timbre is different, the falsetto, at least in my mind, is more "pure" with less complex overtones. So at least for men (is there a falsetto for women????) head voice and falsetto is not the same thing. Of course some books I have read do not distinguish between falsetto and headvoice...

Steven,

as I mentioned above I have no issues with the notes leading up to the falsetto (I have a 1 octave overlap). I can also sing from middle/head voice into falsetto and back (with a little break, guess I need some practice).
I would still say that the sound of falsetto and head voice are quite distinct. I don't think falsetto blends well with the other registers: ex. I am not sure a harmony/chorus sung in falsetto would blend with the lead vocal in another register???

Morten

Tigger,

using your headvoice definately counts in your range. For many female singers (sopranos) head voice is the most important register, AFAIK.

Morten

Let me post this so some of you have a better understanding of falsetto vs head voice. It's technical, and most will likely hate it, yet some of you might actually have nothing better to do, and want to read it After all, I went searching for it and read it


[Head Voice and Falsetto]

I would add my opinion to the discussion of falsetto and head voice. It is based on some 40 years of teaching voice and the good fortune of studying with some excellent teachers. Much of the this material can be found in Richard Miller's "The Structure of Singing" and in Barbara Doscher's "The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice" and in Berton Coffin's "The Sounds of Bel Canto". I am also drawing on my own research survey of concepts about falsetto which was published in the NATS "Journal of Singing".

Any discussion of head voice and falsetto involves a basic consideration of vocal phonation. Resonance, of course, has an effect on phonation in these areas, as it does in all areas of singing, but the primary differences between falsetto and head voice are phonational. The modern definition of falsetto is a voice production in which the vocalis muscles (for simplicity's sake the thyro-arytenoids) are inactive and lengthened greatly by the action of the crico-thyroid muscles which are at their nearly maximum contraction. The sound is produced by the air blowing over the very thin edges of the thyro-arytenoids and the pitch is controlled mostly by a regulation of the breath flow. If, at any time, the thyro-arytenoids began to resist this extreme lengthening of themselves and provide some resistance to the action of the cryco-thyroids, the vocal mechanism begins to move into head voice.

The sound of the falsetto voice is weak in overtones and produces no singer's formant. This is because the very thin edges of the lengthened vocal folds, which do not display any tension in opposition to the stretching action of the thyro-arytenoids, are easily blown open by the breath and offers little resistance to the breath flow.

The sound of the head voice, however, is richer in overtones and has the potential to produce a substantial singer's formant. In other words, it has a "ring". This is caused by the increased tension of the thyro-arytenoids which creates a 'tighter" and more substantial edge to the vocal folds which, in turn, resists the flow of breath and builds a more noticeable pressure below the vocal folds (subglottal pressure). The male singer can easily sense this difference in breath pressure between the true head voice and the falsetto.

It is possible to move gracefully between the falsetto and the head voice. If the male singer can gradually increase the activity of the thyro-arytenoids in resistance to the stretching action of the crico-thyroids the tone will change from the flute-like quality of the falsetto to the ringing sound of the head voice and the singer will also experience the increase in subglottal pressure. It is a bit of vocal gymnastics that not all singers can achieve. It is also an ability that is not necessary. This change from falsetto to head voice (or, for that matter, from head voice to falsetto) is not the heart of the mezza-voce or sotto-voce sound. These latter techniques have much to do with a change in the resonance spaces for the singer. In other words, mezza-voce and sotto-voce are more involved with changes in resonance of the voice than they are with phonational changes of the voice.

The vowels have a strong effect on the transition from chest voice to head voice. The point at which the male singer enters into a "call" or "shouting" voice as he ascends the scale on the [a] vowel is usually considered to be the lowest or first point of his passaggio or bridge into head voice [primo passaggio]. The singer may be able to extend this "call" voice about another fourth upward at which point he will usually switch into falsetto (if he is an untrained singer) or head voice (if properly trained) and this is his topmost or second point of his passaggio or bridge into head voice [secondo passaggio]. The difference between these two register activity points is known as the "zona di passaggio". However, if the same exercise is attempted in the [i] vowel the male singer will move into "call" voice and change into head voice about a minor (or major) third lower. This is the effect of the vowel on the register change.

Closed vowels such as [i] and [u] tend to lower the register change points. It is believed this is caused by the difference in acoustic "load" these vowels provide for the vocal folds. In effect, this increased acoustic load allows the vocal folds to make their adjustment more easily because they are not required to be the sole engines of resistance to the increased breath pressure as the pitch rises. The acoustic load provides some of the resistance necessary.

This is one of the reasons that men generally prefer closed vowels in the passaggio and above. The other primary reason for this vowel preference is the availability of a rich harmonic environment in the male voice which is able to activate the first and second natural resonances of the vocal tract (formants). An excellent article on this effect in the male passaggio can be found in the latest issue of the Journal of Singing (the official publication of the National Association of Teachers of Singing).

How much a singer is using falsetto or how much he is using head voice is not difficult to determine in most cases. If there is any ring to the tone, it is likely that the thyro-arytenoids are somewhat active and the transition has been, or is being made to head voice. If the tone is flutey and disembodied it is likely falsetto. But it is all a matter of degree.

Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011



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Morten, There is falsetto for women, and yes, there is a difference in the vocal qualities of real voice range, vs falsetto range that is usually discernible.


Jazzy, although I'm sure males can falsetto into, and above the female alto range. You are saying that it is possible for the male to falsetto into the upper portions of the soprano range as well ? Boys perhaps can.


Gilly, as people get older, the voice does lower. Poor Dan Fogelberg had his tonsils out a few years back, and his voice dropped a 5th. Lot's of things can cause a voice to lower, yet it always does lower with age.


Tigger, I suppose if a person wants to impress people, they can include their falsetto higher end in order to make themselves appear that they have a vast singing range. Yet it seems that anything beyond a persons actual comfort range, isn't practical, and would fall into a stunt singing area. Most people don't have a range over a few octaves.

head voice?...........

OK WHO RUBBED THE LAMP !!!!

when anyone asks me my range, i tell them up to but not including my headvoice falsetto....
but including everything i think i have a little over 4 octaves but thats cheating if you count my "axl" head voice....in reality i really have about about 2 and a half......not that anyone cares....hehehehe...well back in lamp...if you need me again just rub the vocal folds and ill be there....

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Listen to Steve Perry in some of the old journey albums, as well as some of Paul McCartneys older work. It got very difficult to differentiate between real voice, and falsetto range. These two males have a very high singing range. Than you have vocals such as those that can be heard in Rush, and Yes. I have no idea what to make of those vocals (heh)