Singing is a tremendous talent. Like all talents, it needs to be focused on, studied for hours and developed in technical aspects. When it comes to singing technique, many of us will think of head voice and chest voice. True, these are among the most frequently used vocal techniques, but there is a technique called falsetto, which both reveals the mastery of the singer and conquers the hearts of those who listen to the song sung with this technique.
If you are not very interested in music other than listening, you may not have heard of falsetto before, but be sure that you have heard and enchanted a song sung with this technique. Let’s take a closer look at what is falsetto, a singing technique used by male vocalists to reach much higher notes, even though it is also used by women, and see the difference between falsetto and head voice.
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Firstly; What are chest voices and head voices?
Since the falsetto technique is a different mix of all these singing techniques, first of all, it is necessary to talk a little about the concepts of chest voice and head voice. Chest voice means the lowest note range that a vocal can drop. Head voice means the highest note range a vocal can come out of.
The chest voice of a vocal is deep, while the head voice is thin. Even without a vocal, everyone uses chest voice or head voice not only when singing but even when speaking. As can be understood from their definitions, these two singing techniques give the range of the lowest and highest notes in which the normal voice of the vocal can rise and fall. Falsetto means going beyond the limits.
What does chest voice and head voice do?
Female vocals and male vocals have their own specific voice types. Male voices bass, baritone, tenor; female voices are called alto, mezzo, soprano. In other words, due to the natural structures of men and women, voice types are certain. Chest voice and head voice are used for vocals to produce the best quality sounds in the note ranges where they can rise and fall.
A unique singing technique: what is falsetto?
Falsetto, which is also used by female vocalists, is a singing technique generally used by male vocalists to raise the notes of female vocalists as high as possible. It sounds like a flute. It is defined as the range of voices preceding the whistling of a vocal. In other words, falsetto is a singing technique in which an extremely high and at the same time a thin voice is produced.
What does falsetto do?
Let’s go back a bit and take a look at the era when songs consisted only of operas sung on stage. In art genres such as opera, the note intervals that men and women will sing are certain and are sung in this way according to the song. However, in cases where there is no female vocalist, the falsetto technique has been developed for the use of male vocals in order to reach their note ranges.
Although falsetto is a singing technique that emerged out of necessity, the situation completely changed in the 1950s. Because music had come to a completely different point and vocals could do experimental work. During this period, countless songs of many important male singers, sometimes all or some of which were sung with the falsetto technique, were published. After those days, falsetto became an important technique where talented male and female vocalists made their songs unique.
What is the difference between falsetto and head voice?
Head voice refers to the highest note range that a vocal can naturally sound like. So a skilled and at the same time well-trained vocal head can produce the voice quite successfully. Falsetto means going beyond this limit. Even a talented and well-trained vocalist cannot easily produce a falsetto sound if he has not made special studies on this singing technique.
We encounter the head voice and chest voice of a vocalist in every song he already sings. Because no song is sung in a single note range. There are high ups and low downs. That’s what makes the song beautiful. But falsetto requires a special effort. Often times, listeners will get goosebumps when a vocal, especially a male vocal, begins to sing with the falsetto technique.
Which sound technique is better?
Unfortunately, such a comparison is not possible. Because there are vocals, there are songs. The effortless chest voice and head voice some vocalists produce is so impressive that he doesn’t have to do anything. In the same way, since some songs affect the listeners no matter how they are sung, even the most special techniques applied by the vocal lose their importance.
If a male vocalist with bass, baritone or tenor or a female vocalist with alto, mezzo or soprano suddenly starts singing with falsetto technique, they can capture a completely different atmosphere. There are even songs sung with the falsetto technique from start to finish. Sometimes, in a normal song, the vocal suddenly starts to sing with the falsetto technique and that’s when we can talk about a whole different level.
So what makes a singing technique good or bad depends entirely on the vocal and the song. Especially today, many rock singers use the falsetto technique to overcome the limits of rock music that we are used to. If you suddenly hear a vocal that has not used the falsetto technique before, listen carefully. Because the sound of detonated vocals and falsetto are quite similar to each other.
How is the falsetto technique applied?
According to experts and music educators, there are three modes in which the voice of the vocals can resist the air coming from the lungs to practice the falsetto singing technique; compression, breathing and flow. Each of them makes different sounds and a vocalist determines in which mode he will perform falsetto. After taking a deep breath, you should check your vocal cords and find out for yourself in which mode you can apply the falsetto technique.
We talked about the main differences between head voice and falsetto by answering questions such as what is falsetto, a singing technique that allows vocals to sound in a much different range of notes than we are used to, and what is it for? You should be careful when trying falsetto because you can damage muscles that are not used to this technique. You can share your thoughts on the subject in the comments.
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