How to Sing Falsetto

Trawling through the internet there seems to be a lot of information about how to sing falsetto but not a huge amount about how to actually get into the voice. That’s going to change right now. In this post I’m going to make it clear what falsetto is, what head voice is, if there is a difference and how to access this.

The Root of it All- the Passagio

It’s important to understand a little about the vocal cords in order to have control over them. Yes, I know that you may just want to sing and not care about them one bit. However, in my experience a little understanding goes a long way. It’s almost like knowing which pedal in the car makes it go (accelerate) and which one makes it stop(the brake). You can’t drive a car without this information. Whilst it may not be so extreme with singing, it will help a lot in your future ability to sing high notes and low ones.

The vocal cords as essentially gates to the kingdom. When they are open things can get out and in and when they are closed nothing can get through. Your normal position of them is therefore closed when you are not speaking. This is different to breathing obviously where you are always doing so. For more information about how to breathe when singing feel free to check out that post.

When you sing at your loudest it stands to reason that the vocal cords are fully open and have the biggest amount of space between them. And obviously the higher you go, the more quiet the sound and therefore the space and opening between the cords is smaller.

In singing there is a big transmission point at somewhere in your range. Mostly you will be singing in your chest voice which is when your vocal cords are open the whole way. However, when you get to certain point, you have to change up and make your vocal cords close to enable you to get the high notes. Straining is therefore when you have tried to get to the note when your vocal cords are either open too much or too little. Singing should never hurt your vocal cords. In reality, you should be constantly adjusting the amount your vocal cords are open or closed.

Breaking It Down

The passagio is the point in your voice when the “break” happens. Try singing up a scale in a loud voice. At a certain point you will feel that you can’t go higher. This is because you have reached your break and in order to sing higher you need to make a change. Once you have made this change you will be able to sing higher notes.

Try this:

Slide up a scale as high as you can go.
When you get to the point where you feel you can’t start to sing really quietly and try to go higher.

You will probably feel that you can and that you have “broken through” a barrier. This barrier is the passagio and it is a different register of the voice. In fact, this is actually head voice. Falsetto comes after that.

The Different Parts of the Voice

There are essentially four different parts of the voice. They are:

Chest Voice

This is the main position of your vocal cords and it’s when they are open in a normal way without being stretched. When you sing and you are in the chest voice, you will feel your chest vibrating. Sing a note and feel when the resonance is coming from. If you are feeling it in your chest then you know you are in your chest voice.

Head Voice

Falsetto Voice

This is what we are talking about and it’s when the vocal cords open completely. Unlike the whistle and head voice, here the vocal chords more resemble the chest voice in that they are open. However, there is a huge difference here in that whilst in the chest voice the vocal chords are in a neutral position, in falsetto, they are stretched out. This enables you to get to the high notes. However, as there is so much air coming through in this position, you will not be able to get the kind of volume here. Generally speaking, you may be singing in your head voice rather than your falsetto.

When you transmission from your chest voice to your head voice you are closing your vocal cords up most of the way. That is a fairly drastic change and why so much is talked about it. Even though you should be making constant adjustments, when you switch from chest voice to head voice, there is a much bigger change happening there and that’s often called the break, in Italian the passagio.

This is the underlying principle of singing falsetto.

Whistle Voice

This is an extreme form of head voice where the vocal cords are almost completely closed. The note that you will produce from this is very high and very different from your normal voice.

How High is Falsetto?

Once you get through your chest voice and head voice there is something even above that. That’s when instead of your vocal cords closing up more they stretch and open out. They basically separate completely and give you a breathy tone. This is not the same a head voice at all. You may be hitting the same notes but you won’t be sounding the same. Whereas in the head voice with practice you can singing really loudly, you will never be able to do so when you are singing in falsetto. It’s just not biologically possible. The vocal folds are too open and without anything holding back the breath, you can’t get out the full volume of a belt.

How can you sing in falsetto?

I actually think that armed with the information above, you’d prefer to be singing in your head voice rather than in falsetto. For this reason, we’ll go through both. First of all, as always, make sure you are warmed up.

After you are warmed up, the next thing to do is to start playing around with your voice:

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Talk in a Micky Mouse Voice

Speak in as high and as squeaky as you can make it. Make sure you are giving it some volume as well and that it’s not too breathy.

Try to Mimic a Little Child’s Voice

The idea here is to try to sing like you did when you were a little child. Sweet and innocent. Try and sing like an angel and allow you voice to float above the clouds.

Sing up a Scale All the Way to the Top of Your Range

After that, try to go higher and release the pressure. You won’t be able to sing higher without it. You will feel that there is almost a blockage there that you have to remove in order to go higher. Visualise removing that block, opening your vocal cords and stretching them, just allowing the voice to get through. It may be a small little voice and it should be very airy. That’s what you are aiming for.

Sing Quietly

When you are singing in falsetto, it’s not possible to sing loudly. In fact, if you are, then you have switched to your head or whistle voice which isn’t what we are aiming for.

Relax

Maybe you’ve heard it hundreds of times, but it’s true. You really have to be as relaxed as you can be in order to be able to get there the first time. (Not that I’m saying that you can’t sing when you are stressed, but it’s just much easier to do so when you aren’t)

Some other things to try are yodelling and sirens. However, as it’s so easy when doing these to flip into your head voice it’s not the advisable thing to do.

Remember: Head voice and falsetto aren’t the same and don’t sound or feel the same.

How High and Low Can you Actually Sing in Falsetto?

Whilst not specifically on the subject of how to sing falsetto, there is a fascinating thing that your voice and everything to do with your vocal production that is worth bearing in mind. In general, there are four different vocal registers and they go up from the lowest to the highest register.

That isn’t the whole story though as there is tremendous overlap if you train and practise.

For example, yodelling in the quick changing from chest voice to head voice or falsetto. However, the low note doesn’t necessarily have to be sung in the chest register. It can actually be sung on the falsetto register. It is generally all about practice and the more you play with your voice, the more dexterity you will have.

In Closing

We have learned that there is a different between the different vocal registers and that in order to be a great singer you need to be able to access all of them. Whilst guys generally sing in their chest voice, women often flip between both head and chest voice. Falsetto though, isn’t something that we normally sing. If you want to learn how to sing head voice, please check out that post. I hope you have enjoyed trying out some of the exercises here and I hope to help you out more in the future. Till next time!