DEVELOPING THE MALE HEAD VOICE

A Paper by
Shawn T. Eaton, D.M.A.
Achieving a healthy and satisfying head voice can be one of the most
challenging hurdles that male singers must accomplish during vocal training. This paper
will outline select strategies for head voice development with a focus upon the tenor
voice, as this is the category of male voice that employs head voice to the greatest extent.
In an effort to also facilitate the instruction of baritones and basses, the end of the paper
provides a short section devoted to particularities faced in the development of their upper
register. The study proceeds as follows: (1) a working understanding of the head voice
phenomenon as it contrasts the chest voice is established; (2) select strategies are
outlined from three respected pedagogues regarding the achievement and early
development of the head voice; (3) further development of the head voice including its
employment into song literature is discussed; (4) consideration is given to baritones and
basses; and finally, conclusions are drawn regarding various aspects of head voice
development.
Head Voice and Chest Voice
According to The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, In singing, register
refers to a series of pitches that are of like tonal character because of a consistent vocal
production.1 The lyric-tenor divisions of head and chest registers according to their
respective pitches are seen below, from Richard Millers Training Tenor Voices.2

Don Michael Randel, ed., The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge: Belnap Press,

1986), 927.

Fig. 13 Vocal Registers in the Lyric Tenor Voice.

Falsetto
Upper Voice (head)
Upper-Middle Voice (mixture, head/chest)
Lower-Middle Voice (mixture, chest/head)
Lower Voice (chest)
Strobass

C5-(F5) G5
G4-C5
D4-G4
G3-D4
C3-G3
G2-C3

Generally, the lyric tenor has his main lifts, or passaggi, at D4 and G4 and thus the zona
di passaggio falls between them in the upper-middle voice. The transition from chest
voice to head voice sounds generally begins at E4. At the point of G4 and higher, the
tenor must have made all the necessary adjustments to sing in the head voice. Miller
describes what happens during this period of adjustment, stating that the muscle functions
within the larynx which must work to successfully sing through the zona di passaggio,
are of a dynamic, not static, nature. The lengthening of the cords is activated by
muscle groups in the larynx called cricothyroids. It is cricothryroid activity which is
associated with the head voice. Thyroarytenoids, in contrast, control the adduction forces
of the vocal folds, and are associated with the chest voice. 4 In order for these fine
dynamic adjustments to take place easily, there must be considerable freedom within, as
well as vertical stability of the vocal mechanism. It is for this reason, that many teachers
of singing advocate the slight lowering of the larynx as a position ideal for the male
singer when he passes into the upper voice. 5

Richard Miller, Training Tenor Voices (New York: Schirmer Books, 1993).

Ibid, 7.

Ibid, 3-7.

R. D. Appelman, The Science of Vocal Pedagogy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,

1967), 95.

Achieving the Head Voice

Now will be considered the best means to accomplish control of these complex
laryngeal activities. The historic Italian school of vocalism defines covering (copertura),
as gradual acoustic adjustments which are brought about by modifying vowels in the
ascending scale. In this form of covering there are adjustments made in many of the
same areas as with the Germanic/Nordic model (Deckung), however, the difference lies
in the amount of conscious effort involved in the process. In copertura, there is no
sudden mechanical action or sensation of hooking over. This paper will focus upon
achieving the Italian model, although it should be noted that Miller believes that there are
several schools which teach methodology somewhere in between these two approaches. 6
Considered here will be perspectives from three respected pedagogues.
In an article published in 1999, Ingo Titze7, Executive Director of the National
Center for Voice and Speech, explains why the assistance of nasals like /m/, /n/, and //
and respectively closed vowels, like /u/, /U/ and /i/ are useful for accessing the head
voiceproviding insight into the acoustic process by which the unique resonance of the
head voice is created. He acknowledges that although it would seem that use of these
vowels and consonants would function to cap off the sound, in reality, they do not create
an adverse acoustic back-pressure. Rather they encourage in vocal fold tissues that are
not as capable of vibrating over the entire depth and thickness of the vocal fold, a lighter
registration for singing, when there is an acoustic coupling to the supraglottal vocal

Miller, Training Tenor Voices, 38, 89.

Ingo R. Titze, The Use of Low First Formant Vowels and Nasals to Train the Lighter
Mechanism, Journal of Singing 55, no. 4 (March/April 1999): 41-43.

tract.8 Additionally, this process lowers F1, the first formant frequency of the vocal
tract.9 Thus Titze adds to our working definition of the head voice. He continues,
explaining that in the chest voice a heavier register is used (operating over a greater
thickness of the vocal folds) with the subglottal vocal tract in resonance. 10 Titzes
implication is that teachers should design vocalises utilizing these nasals and closed
vowels to develop the head voice. Once these exercises are employed, he tells teachers
how they can know that they are on the right track with their students development.
If they can do lip trills, humming, and frontally closed vowels like /u/and /i/
in soft voice over a wide range, they have found the trick. A virtual
guarantee that they have arrived is if they can crescendo and decrescendo
without cracking on very high notes with these partial occlusions. They have
then learned how to lighten the voice, yet stay connected to the vocal tract.11
Corroborating Titzes approach, Anthony Frissel, author of the The Tenor
Voice12, clearly teaches that the two primary registers (head and chest) must be blended,
both in quality and action, in order to attain a mastery of singing through the passaggio.
He believes that the falsetto should be brought down to overlap all of the lower register to
enable the middle falsetto, or mixed voice, to appear. He states that the appearance of
this mixed voice is what is necessary to find the head voice.
The only way for the singer to unite the action and quality of the lower
register with that of the falsetto is by a phenomenon of muscular coordination called the middle falsetto. At one time the mezzo falso, as it was
named by the earlier teachers of bel canto, was considered an essential part of
voice training. Since it was the outgrowth of the falsetto itself, it was

Ibid, 41-42.

Ibid.

10

Ibid.

11

Ibid.

12

Anthony Frissell, The Tenor Voice (Somerville: Bruce Humphries, 1968).

discarded along with it. With its aid, singers are able to produce a full
spectrum of tonal colors by controlling the dynamics from pianissimo to
forte.13
Frissel explains that the middle falsetto gives the singer the feeling that he is still
attached to the lower register, while pure falsetto does not. After the middle
falsettos appearance and development, the singer will be able to use this new
quality to enhance singing throughout the vocal range as described in the quotation
above. 14 The quality of the voice will then be as follows:
As the voice mounts to the upper range the resonance of the lower register is
automatically lessened by a contour pattern natural to that register. It is
graduated with each successive tone ascending. The same rule applies when
descending toward the lower extreme; the quality of the upper register is
lessened by the graduation with each descending tone. When the registers are
correctly blended this is an automatic process and does not affect the volume
at either extreme.15
During 2009 and 2010, I spent some time training with Dr. Thomas
Cleveland16, at the Vanderbilt Voice Center, in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr.
Cleveland is well known for his many pedagogical articles published in The
Journal of Singing. The following entry records some of the authors experiences
with Dr. Cleveland and in subsequent study with his exercises for building the head
voice, substantiating Titzes and Frissells pedagogy.
Dr. Cleveland instructed me to begin singing falsetto on /u/ with
descending five-note scales. Once the voice was warm enough, the following
procedure was taken: The pattern was sung beginning on C5 and sung with

13

Ibid, 22.

14

Ibid, 23.

15

Ibid, 24.

16

Thomas Cleveland, voice training for author, Vanderbilt Voice Center, 2009 and 2010.

successive descending patterns, the final pattern beginning on F4. Furthermore,

once I crossed over to a sound connected with the lower register, I kept it there in
subsequent patterns, as I returned to higher starting pitches. He assured me that
these sounds would be light at first, but should grow with several weeks practice.
Another exercise used was similar to a lip trill. However, Dr.
Clevelands version gave me the clear sensation that the sounds up to C5 were
connected to the chest voice. To accomplish this, the singer should phonate as if he
was performing lip trills, but without allowing the lips to vibrate. This partial
closure of the mouth opening encourages activation of the lighter mechanism,
correlating with Titzes use of closed vowels. The resulting sound has a brassy
sound like a trombone in timbre.
My time with Dr. Cleveland also included working into an optimum
chest voice. Once this was established, and I sang in chest voice for at least thirty
minutes, and then began the aforementioned vocalise, I could bring in true head
voice sounds opening to vowels after 5 or 10 minutes. Dr. Cleveland had me
produce these sounds on descending and ascending arpeggio patterns, but stepwise
motion may be used as well. 17
Further Development and Working
the Head Voice into Songs
Once it is clear that the head voice is working, Titzes, Frissels and
Clevelands understanding of head voice production should be used in collaboration with
the historic coperatura technique. This Italian model of vowel modification generally
involves moving more open or front vowels toward the sounds of more closed or
17

Ibid.

back vowels. Richard Miller explains that the neutral vowels, / / and schwa, //, may be
used as central points for all vowel modification.18 Examples of vocalizes that Miller
gives to practice the technique follow.
For vocalises using Example 1 below, Miller suggests singing on a front
vowel, such as /i/ and /e/. Secondly, he suggests singing them beginning on a front vowel
and then changing to a back vowel, such as /o/ or /u/, on the second measure. I would
suggest that this pattern may be sung in inversion as well (using one vowel throughout),
depending upon which seems easier at first for the singer to make the adjustment into the
passaggio. These exercises follow a pattern of stepwise motion and should be followed
by Example 2combining stepwise and leaping motion for the early stages of
developing the technique.19
Example 1.20 Vowel modification exercise using stepwise motion.

18

Richard Miller, The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique (New York:
Schirmer, 1996), 157.
19

Miller, Training Tenor Voices, 52, 53.

20

Ibid. Examples 2, 3, and 4 are also from Training Tenor Voices, 53-57.

Example 2. Vowel modification exercise using a combination of leaping and stepwise

motion.

Next are some of Millers arpeggiated exercises. Once the singer has gained mastery of
the earlier exercises, he may be ready for those following. Example 3 should be
practiced in lower keys first, progressing to higher keys, as does Example 4. Miller gives
suggestions for vowels, but maintains that singers should try various front and back
vowel combinations. 21
Example 3. Vowel modification exercise employing arpeggiated motion and the shift
from a front to a back vowel.

21

Ibid, 55.

Example 4. Vowel modification exercise employing arpeggiated motion and

alternating front and back vowels.

Finally, Example 5 is similar to Example 4 above, but utilizes stepwise motion and
neighboring vowels in each series. 22 Millers various exercises may be used to train the
ability to adjust from chest to head voice via leaping or stepwise motion, as they appear
in the literature. Exercises such as these along with those of leaps of greater intervals
should also be practiced.
Example 5.23 Vowel modification exercise utilizing neighboring vowels.

22

Miller, The Structure of Singing, 158-60.

23

Ibid, 160.

Finally, as Titze implies, use of the messa di voce should be employed to

master the freedom necessary in making adjustments between chest and head voice.
To assist control of the crescendo and decrescendo events of the exercise,
Appleman suggests that the singer must: (1) During the decrescendo keep the
resonating space open and expanded to the jaw position used in the production of
the forte; (2) During the crescendo allow the volume of the phonatory tract to
increase. Also he explains that in working the messa di voce, changes in intensity
should be carried out gradually, by disciplined laryngeal muscle coordination and
control of the expiratory musculature.24
Baritones and Basses
At a Robert Edwin25 seminar the author attended in 2007, valuable
information was gained about the production of the top notes of the baritone range.
Although baritones and basses will not need to go the lengths that tenors do in the
development of head voice, teachers should keep the following in mind. Often,
rather than using the Italian method of covering, baritones employ the German
model (Deckung), which gives the sensation of hooking over for their upper most
notes. This practice may seem more acceptable for baritones than tenors, due to the
fact that baritones dont sing as many notes above the passaggio. However, even
baritones should apply vowel modification, and only as much hooking cover as
will allow their voice to still be brilliant and free in the uppermost notes. 26 Finding

24

Appelman, The Science of Vocal Pedagogy, 100.

25

Robert Edwin, Bach to Rock: Teaching and Singing (seminar, The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, June 25-29, 2007).
26

Ibid.

10

this balance can be challenging, but the rule is the same as for tenors, the voice
should feel effortless in production, as free as possible from any sensation of
weight or pushing.
Conclusion
It is my belief that for most tenors, the chest voice must be developed securely
with good tone up to the zone of the passaggio before the tenor is ready to develop the
dynamic control necessary to sing in head voice. Tenors will often come to training with
very different levels of development of the head voice. The use of the above
developmental exercises should help in development, and the Italian method of vowel
alteration should be applied in vocalises and literature once the quality of the head voice
is sufficient. Furthermore, teachers should use a graduated method in regard to tessitura
of songs. These should proceed from early study of those songs which only reach
transitional notes, such as Eb4, E4 and F4 to those that only reach high notes that secure
the singer in head voice, G4, for most tenors. Songs with higher notes should only be
attempted, once the tenor has mastered the former, usually increasing the tessitura by half
steps.27 The training of the higher range for baritones and basses should apply a similar
approach to literature selection for their respectively lower tessituras and passaggio
zones.

27

Miller, Training Tenor Voices, 59.

11

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appelman, R. D. The Science of Vocal Pedagogy. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press, 1967.
Frissell, Anthony. The Tenor Voice. Somerville: Bruce Humphries, 1968.
Miller, Richard. The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique. New
York: Schirmer, 1996.
________. Training Tenor Voices. New York: Schirmer Books, 1993.
Randel, Don Michael, ed. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Belnap
Press, 1986.
Titze, Ingo R. The Use of Low First Formant Vowels and Nasals to Train the Lighter
Mechanism. Journal of Singing 55, no. 4 (March/April 1999): 41-43.

12

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