Regaining my falsetto

MagnumForce

About two years ago, most of my falsetto just went, leaving my with only the ability to hit one high falsetto note, oddly enough its the final high note at the end of the chorus of Take On Me by A-Ha, anything below that and above a lower level just doesnt work it doesnt come out, it even feels blocked.

Is there any excercises or anything like that that anybody knows of to regain my falsetto abilities or is that big chunk of voice just gone forever, never to let me sing Judas Priest (albeit badly) again!

Thanks if you can help

Binomate

MagnumForce wrote:

About two years ago, most of my falsetto just went, leaving my with only the ability to hit one high falsetto note, oddly enough its the final high note at the end of the chorus of Take On Me by A-Ha, anything below that and above a lower level just doesnt work it doesnt come out, it even feels blocked.

Is there any excercises or anything like that that anybody knows of to regain my falsetto abilities or is that big chunk of voice just gone forever, never to let me sing Judas Priest (albeit badly) again!

Thanks if you can help

Can you sing any other falsetto notes?

MagnumForce

lower falsetto ones, and in and around that note i mentioned, theres just a big bit in the middle missing.

Binomate

MagnumForce wrote:

lower falsetto ones, and in and around that note i mentioned, theres just a big bit in the middle missing.

Try singing a note then changing the pitch of that note and sing down through all the notes.

MagnumForce

Tried it before but not too seriously, it seems to just stop and nothing comes out. ill give it a proper concentrating go at it in the near future, when no ones around to hear the awful sounds and be back to report.

Binomate

I can't sing in falsetto if I've been shouting loads the night before. Sounds like you just have to re-callibrate your vocal chords to your brain when it comes to singing in falsetto. The only way I can advise that you do this is by practicing singing in falsetto over and over.

MagnumForce

Found some good articles on www.thevoiceconnection.com gave some of the breathing excersises and general changes in how to use your throat a try. it helps, worked a bit, i can see it helping alot if i keep doin it. just sing what ever I can and try open the throat more, relax and try change note and build up and practice it loads. anyway, i think im on my way now, now i just gotta find some empty places to practice! thanks for your help.

Mad Mike

I guess you aren't interested in this method

MagnumForce

i think ill keep my testicles thanks!

red_ice

i put a post up here a week or two ago asking for help recording my vocals. Along side that i took some time into looking at mic technique and ways to use a mic to get the best sound, which inturn lead me to singing technique...

I know this sounds dumb and prolly is useless information to you, but, have you considered your singing position when you are singing? By this i mean, is your back straight? Is your neck inline with your back? (your not slumped over).. Is there consistant airflow when you sing your notes? (varying your airflow can effect nots bigtime).

Another consideration to add to the list above (which is recommended for all singers) is to try singing with one leg slightly infront of the other, apparently it helps airflow and so on..

It may not be your vocal range, it may be how your trying to use it. Are you pronouncing your vowels properly when your singing? Use of your mouth position afaik can help the output and pitch of your voice. Inturn it all leads back to your breating.

It may be useless or off point, but its just another thing to consider. Sometimes its the last thing you expect

hope that helps!

MagnumForce

No, that was good information, after giving some of the stuff from the page i mentioned a shot, which included alot about posture, mouth shape, breathing etc its actually helped, obviously, im not completely better, but its actually improved a bit from just one try, i think its something to do with doing it wrong and just getting back into the habit of doing it right again, kinda like reprogramming my brain and vocal chords or something...

And the prefered position of the microphone(an SM58 style mic not one like a Rode NT2 or other condensers) for best sound is horizontal just under the lips, practically held against the chin, it provides the greatest volume along with protecting from popping from the air excaping from your mouth. This method it best used live, most studios will either have a nice condenser mic for vox or at least a pop shield. Just incase you're interested!

WetDaddy

I know this sounds dumb and prolly is useless information to you, but, have you considered your singing position when you are singing? By this i mean, is your back straight? Is your neck inline with your back? (your not slumped over).. Is there consistant airflow when you sing your notes? (varying your airflow can effect nots bigtime).

Honestly not trying to start any kind of serious debate here, but I don't totally agree with this. I'm of the opinion that "thinking too much about your singing" affects it far more adversely than "not doing all the 'right' things".

I'd be more of the school of thought that singing really isn't that different from speaking (especially if you're from The People's Republic ). And think about how relaxed you are when speaking. I hope that doesn't sound pompous, but it's just what I reckon!

Don't have any advice in particular, but I do reckon red_ice was could be right about you re-configuring/re-learning falsetto. Did it just "go" suddenly? Do you smoke? Do you find yourself straining alot when you sing?

red_ice

deathfunk wrote:

Honestly not trying to start any kind of serious debate here, but I don't totally agree with this. I'm of the opinion that "thinking too much about your singing" affects it far more adversely than "not doing all the 'right' things".

I'd be more of the school of thought that singing really isn't that different from speaking (especially if you're from The People's Republic ). And think about how relaxed you are when speaking. I hope that doesn't sound pompous, but it's just what I reckon!

Well, from reading his post he more than likely (imo) is/aspires to sing in a more classical method. Im not that knowlegable on singing by all means, but i dont think he means to sing like your average band singer.

I myself totally agree with you about 'thinking' and your other point about talking words. Which i did cover while i was posting (constant flow of air). I find if you 'try' to sing your always going to 'try' to sing like someone else, where as if you talk your words, and then try add melody with tone and notes you develope your own voice. Something of which i really am struggling to do, but im getting there :]

Speaking of trying to sing, has anyone ever noticed that all those pop idols always do the stupid hand thing, while trying sing? They are trying to be christina or beyonce, which means what ever voice they have just sounds useless because they dont use it correctly. Thats my example of people not singing like themselves, thats people trying to sing like someone else

battery

just to set the record straight rob halford doesnt use falsetto sorry im a singer too and he's my favourite .but you can just lose range from getting older but just keep singing and singing use a piano to gradually sing in key and go higher up to the right on the keys im finding my voice still and its like a muscle you can strain it and hurt it but also make it stronger and increase you range ive probably gained an octave over the last year and i dont use falsetto alot only if it suits the song .

good luck and never give up

LD

Well, he sings in his head voice, which is kinda the same part of your voice, just that he has his tone placed properly and supported from the abdomen and so lets his voice box move freely. But I suppose it is different from falsetto beegees style or whatever...

MagnumForce

battery wrote:

just to set the record straight rob halford doesnt use falsetto sorry im a singer too and he's my favourite .but you can just lose range from getting older but just keep singing and singing use a piano to gradually sing in key and go higher up to the right on the keys im finding my voice still and its like a muscle you can strain it and hurt it but also make it stronger and increase you range ive probably gained an octave over the last year and i dont use falsetto alot only if it suits the song .

good luck and never give up

Oh I know he doesn't use falsetto for his high notes, it's just that that used to be the only way I could hit the notes he does (or did as the case may be these days). Since my original post (which i've just noticed was over a year ago, Jesus.) I havn't done much work trying to get my falsetto back. I know it's possible since doing those excersizes I found temporarely got some of it back, i just havnt done any more excersizes. I have learned to use my head voice a bit better however and have extended it's range somewhat and can sing moderatly high (think Into The Pit by Fight/Halford) albeit with admittedly poor technique. I really should get back to doing excersizes. I'm not a singer or anything, I just wanted to improve my singing a bit so I could do backing vox while playing guitar and while I was at it try and get back my falsetto cos I miss it. Trouble is, I forget or just don't bother.

red_ice wrote:

Speaking of trying to sing, has anyone ever noticed that all those pop idols always do the stupid hand thing, while trying sing?

That REALLY annoys me. Even when people who can sing do it. It should be used a training aid but shouldn't be used when singing live.

Piste

I have two tips for you for singing high notes.

1) Inhale slowly through your nose before singing. When you breathe in quicky through your mouth while you get more air in your throat constricts, try that now, put wo fingers on your voice box and inhale sharply, can you feel it move back?

2) Keep your back straight and tall but your head forward in a normal position, a lot of people make the mistake of raising their head when singing higher notes, this contricts the throat as well, basically the more relaxed your voice box is and the more air that can come out the better the quality of sound you produce and it'll be easier for you tosing higher.

Ah yes the DIT has taught me well

Papillon87

You most likely need to practice better breath control methods, poor breath control often cuts off the higher range of a voice. This happened to me before when I was a descant soprano.

Also, if you don't already, I would advise consulting a voice coach. You never know how many little things you could be doing which will ultimately leave you wih a crap voice if you don't fix them.

db17

I'm not a pro singing teacher but here's my opinion on the falsetto.

It's easily the most fragile part of your voice and comes in goes in the best of singers.

Also be clear on the difference between falsetto and head voice. Falsetto is airy, head voice has a solid closed cord feel, it is stable, the falsetto, certainly in untrained/intermediate singers doesn't tend to be so stable.

Again this is only my opinion/experience but I feel excessive falsetto damages the rest of my voice and diminishes my mixed voice range which personally is far more important to me. I imagine this has to do with falsetto requiring what really isn't great technique regarding your vocal cords. With falsetto you let too much air through your vocal cords when singing which does damage to them. Usually temporary but why push it?

If I need falsetto for a big gig I don't use it when rehearsing and just save it for the night as I find it (in my experience) it just isn't reliable enough to be used every day and overuse will kill it completely for days at a time.

Maybe it's just me and I have bad Falsetto technique but I don't see the point in risking the stability of the rest of my voice by singing a lot of falsetto, especially when with a bit of training your mixed and head voices can achieve the same notes. Maybe not quite with the feel of a Freddie Mercury falsetto or another pop/rock artist who does something similar as a mixed voice up there tends to be a bit nasal but it's better than wrecking your throat. Also if you look at an artist like Freddie Mercury they don't often do falsetto live all the time.

If my voice is tired the falsetto will also be the first part to go so if you're touring or just playing a lot of gigs I would invest in singing lessons and invest time in bringing your mixed and head voices up to scratch so you don't need your falsetto much.