When singing higher, where should chest voice end? When singing lower, at what note should I be completely in chest voice?
These are important questions because if you don’t get it right, you’ll pull chest voice too high and your voice will splat or crack. Or, singing lower, your chest voice will be too light and wimpy!
Inside this video I’ll give you a simplified approach to the vocal bridge using a visual diagram to help you get it right!
Here are two questions I received from John, a subscriber and skype student.
#1. Where should there not be any Chest Voice?
#2. What note should I be completely in chest voice?
“I ask this because I don’t want to start pulling chest when I should just let my head voice do it’s thing. I hope this makes sense?”
This is a great question about where chest voice begins and ends.
Simplified Approach to the Vocal Bridge
I answered him in an email and he sent me his visual interpretation of the answer. It’s a beautifully simplified approach to the vocal bridge.
I love it because he’s figuring out in his own voice what it feels like to bridge.
Simply put, for the majority of men, by the time you reach G4, that’s the G above middle C4, you no longer should have chest resonance. It should only be head resonance by this pitch.
As you come from the bottom of your voice, the chest resonance hits the soft palate splits into your head at the E4, the E above middle C…maybe 25%. [Demo] By the F4, more is splitting off into the head…maybe 50%, [Demo] by the F#4 even more…maybe 75%.[Demo] By the G4, 100% is now resonating in your head. [Demo] The vocal cords have also adjusted so less vibrating element is generating sound waves.
Overtones of the chest voice have dropped out and been replaced by head voice overtones.
However, because you do this without disconnecting the tone and breaking into falsetto, there remains a tonal connection to the chest voice. This unites the voice, making it seem like all one voice. [Demo]
The same thing happens in the reverse as you descend back into chest voice. [Demo]
On the way up and the way down, it’s ok to allow more head voice to “bleed” over early to where there could be strictly chest voice. [Demo]
However, it’s not ok to to pull chest voice higher to where there should be head voice. This causes the larynx to be pulled higher with unwanted tension and strain. [Demo]
Generally, I would say for a high percentage of tenors and baritones, that by the time you get to middle C, going up or down is where you can be comfortably 100% in chest voice. [Demo]
Caveat: There are always exceptions. This is generally.
John generously made a simplified approach to the vocal bridge for the sopranos and and altos.
Pandora’s Box
I might be opening Pandora’s Box. This next concept is more controversial. I hesitate to include this diagram because, although the concept is similar, it’s different for women’s voices.
The pitches A4-Eb5 COMPRISES A MIDDLE AREA. Once you pass through the first bridge at A4, Bb, B and C5, THERE’S VIRTUALLY NO CHEST VOICE. HOWEVER, while the chest resonance is almost non-existent from C#5 upward, this “MIDDLE” area of A4-Eb5 is felt by many singers to be neither chest or pure head voice.
WOMEN HAVE ANOTHER BRIDGE AT E,F, F#5. Once the singer arrives at the second bridge which is the E,F,F#5, she leaves the MIDDLE register and bridges into complete head voice at G5. It’s as if the ladies need one more bridge to make a complete transition into pure head voice.
Even though these diagrams may not be precisely accurate for any voice, it’s a useful concept in terms of transitioning from chest into head voice as the pitch ascends and head into chest voice as the pitch descends.
The study of singing is the study of how to transition successfully between registers of the voice, especially at the first bridge. When you can do this well, your whole life changes.
For more about vocal bridges be sure and watch this video.
If you liked this video please give it a thumbs up, subscribe and share it with a friend. How has your singing improved as you have learned to bridge? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
Vocal Type is another Simplified Approach to the Vocal Bridge
Your vocal type describes what your voice tends to do as you sing through the first bridge of your voice. Do you know your vocal type?
Go to PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test, which I call the Power Test. Take the quiz and discover your vocal type. Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type.
Download the free exercises and start practicing them. They will help you successfully bridge from your chest to head voice. This will have a huge impact on your singing.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.
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