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One of the most common requests that voice teachers hear is that singers want to improve their head voice, more technically known as Cricothyroid Dominant Vocal Production (CT Dominant). Anecdotally, I would say 90% of all students start lessons with this as their primary technical goal for lessons. What a great goal! But what is head voice? How can we strengthen our head voice? Should we strengthen our head voice?
Head voice means different things to different people and may encompass two physically different methods of vocal production.
First, there is the smooth and clean vocals commonly associated with higher female singers; this is accomplished through a stretching and thinning of the vocal folds caused by the cricothyroid muscles tilting the thyroid cartilage anteriorly (forward).
Second and more commonly associated with the male falsetto, the true vocal folds are lengthened and thinned just like above; however there is no full adduction (closure) causing a posterior (back) glottal chink, a small gap between the true vocal folds during phonation. This produces a light, high, and breathy sound.
Both versions of head voice can be produced by any singer and are equally healthy. When in doubt, I recommend aiming for no breathiness in the sound as the second option will use more air, and you can always add breathiness later.
If you are like many of the singers I have met over the years, you spend the majority of your life speaking and singing in chest voice; or as I prefer to call it Thyroarytenoid Dominant Vocal Production (TA Dominant), and there is nothing wrong with that, it is where almost every spends their time. Unfortunately, what it does mean is that your cricothyroid muscles are likely weaker than is ideal. Fortunately, there is a straightforward way to strengthen your CT muscles.
For this, we are going to do one specific vocal function exercise for its benefits strengthening the cricothyroid muscles.
1. Maximally Inhale
2. Make tight ‘ooo’ lips, lips protruded, you should hear a secondary buzz if lips are tight enough
3. Sing each note 2x, as soft as possible, as stable/consistent as possible, for as long as possible on one breath.
Sopranos: C4 (middle), D4, E4, F4, G4
Mezzos/Altos: B3, C4 (middle), D4, E4, F4
Tenors: E3, F#3, G#3, A3, B3
Baritones/Basses: C3, D3, E3, F3, G3
For best results, do all five notes 2x, twice daily, every day. You should start to see results after a few weeks.
For more information and for a practice tracking sheet, go here.
Once you have been doing the functional exercises for a while, or when you find that you can sing high or low but not in the middle or mix, it’s time to start adding high to low exercises. The goal is to start so high that the sound has to be in head voice when in doubt, go higher.
One of the easiest exercises to do this with is a high to low siren. Choose the sound of your choice, I’m a big fan of ‘weeeee’ /wi/ or ‘ooooo’ /u/, but whatever you are most comfortable with will be great.
The exercise is simple:
1. Start high, really high.
2. Slide downward on your sound of choice, slowly.
3. Keep the sound thin and light as you descend
4. Repeat several times.
There is a good chance you will get tired quickly in the beginning, take it easy, this will take time. The goal is to build up strength and coordination.
While I love a slide, at some point we need to start singing accurate pitches. A Descending 5-Tone Scale is perfect! You will find that you probably can’t start as high and that’s okay, aim to start still where it feels like head voice, thin and light.
1. Start High
2. Sing a descending 5-tone scale, starting on Sol or 5. That goes: Sol, Fa, Mi, Re, Do or 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
3. As you descend, keep that same feeling of thin and light.
4. Slowly descend into the lower parts of your range.
Like before, the goal is to build your strength and coordination. Overtime, you will find it easier and easier to bring your head voice lower, this is what we are working towards.
A quick caution: you’re going to want to skip ahead and do this, don’t. Your head voice is likely going to be “weak” for several months, try not to rush this.
About now is when I hear, “But Josh, my head voice sounds so weak!”
Yeah, it probably does, and that’s okay. Fundamentally, head voice or cricothyroid dominant vocal production has significantly weaker harmonics than chest voice. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have techniques for this.
When you sing higher, there is a natural tendency to allow the larynx to rise. You can experience this by placing your fingers on the front of your neck and swallowing; your thyroid cartilage will raise and then lower. Alternatively, if you yawn, you will feel your larynx descend.
When the larynx is raised, we want to employ narrowing of the pharyngeal wall, and there are two really successful ways to experience this:
1. Witches Cackle, a full on wicked witch ‘he he he he my pretties’
2. Puppy whimpers
Both of these exercises will help you find that narrowing for these higher pitches. When the pharyngeal wall narrows, there is an acoustical boost in the 3-5 kHz range, which will intensity and richen your sound.
Honest time, where in your range do you speak? Do you speak high in your range? In the middle? Or do you spend a lot of the day in vocal fry? No judgement. Depending on a multitude of factors, your average speaking pitch could be very different. Typically, students that are looking to improve their head voice speak low in their range or speak in vocal fry all day. This is a solid option for many things, but does your head voice no favors.
An easy way to help improve your head voice is simply to speak a little higher. It’s remarkable how much benefit this can bring to you without adding any additional practice time.
No surprises here, if you really want to improve your head voice, work with a voice teacher. Singing is hard, improving your head voice is a long process. The guidance and care from a professional will help you navigate the challenges and speed up your progress.
Josh Manuel, a voice instructor and founder of VoiceScience, is dedicated to empowering singers by providing evidence-based techniques and knowledge for enhanced performance and vocal health. His expertise and passion in the field of vocal science have made him a trusted resource for singers seeking to improve their skills and achieve their full potential.
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