The chest voice is the lower range of the voice and it goes up to where the passaggio start.
First, here are some things you need to keep in mind:
- Breathe in from the mouth
- Allow the airflow coming out to create the first sound and maintain it
- The inhalation position should be maintained throughout singing. So make sure to stay in the same position as your inhalation while you are singing.
- This will allow you to have an open throat throughout your singing
- Singing (Chest voice/Head Voice) is the result of the passing air.
The Chest Voice
I’ve mentioned in a previous episode, that the Chest voice and the head voice are always mixed together. So even if you are in your chest voice, this doesn’t mean that you have to separate the head voice from it. Singing is all about finding a balance, in order to have an equal voice throughout its range.
The Chest voice is a mechanism that you feel in the front of your throat/chest. But this does not mean that you need to focus on the throat when singing or push the sound to the front. This will make you sing from the mouth and the sound will fall in front of you instead of projecting to the audience. When you sing, only focus on maintaining the airflow from one note to the other.
Download the voice range and registers as a reference when you practice
HERE.
Developing the chest voice
There are many ways to train the voice, and it really depends on each singer’s needs. A good way to go is to focus on the transition between the chest and the head voice: the ending of the chest and the beginning of the passaggio. On the last few notes of the chest voice, engage more of the head voice into the notes so that the more you go up, the thinner the sound gets.
Mixing
Thickening the chest voice will make it impossible to find the passaggio and especially the head voice. Remember that it’s all about mechanisms and resonance, so if you do not prepare the grounds, there is no place for improvement. The thicker the chest voice is, the more tension you will be imposing on your vocal cords. The chest voice can only go to a specific range since it is not meant to take you to the higher notes alone. Instead, think of combining the chest to the head, and vice versa, and learning how to balance both registers in order to have an equal vocal range throughout your voice.
What about range?
For certain songs, you are allowed to take up the chest voice more than usual. It is OK do to this as long as you know how to undo these effects. Being a singer means knowing how to do many things with your voice, but also, it means you know how to sing the right way. You are allowed to create effects only if you know how you are doing it and how to remove it from your voice. Art is about finding the right balance.
Tips For Singers
Engaging the lips cannot help you reach greatness in any way, since it engages so many muscular tensions in the face, the neck and the throat. This results in a sound that is spread that will exhaust you before you know it.
Instead, try to practice without engaging the lips. A good way to achieve this task is to place both hands on your cheeks (picture below) and sing without any effort or tension in the lips. This also allows the sound to be focused. Singing in front of a mirror will also help you control this easy way of singing.
With practice and experimenting by yourself in a comfortable space, you will discover things about yourself and your voice. We shouldn’t be obsessed with registers and ranges. It’s important to understand the basics of singing but at the end of the day, it is more important for your body to do what it was designed to. As long as you are singing the right way, you are using a specific technic that allows you to reach all the notes you desire within your range in an equal manner.
Tension in the Chest Voice
You will feel you’ve strained your voice when:
- You feel you need to stop singing because you cannot keep up
- Your throat is irritated or scratchy
This usually means that you either are not breathing properly while allowing the air to sing for you, or that you are thickening the chest voice way beyond its capabilities. If you experience tension, stop, take a break, and repeat / start over. It is important to use your critical thinking and to analyze what you see, hear and feel.
You may also record or film yourself when you sing in order to get a visual and to be able to hear yourself as well.
Your perception of your voice within yourself
is different from what your audience hears.
Hi, I’m the Voice Guru, but you can call me John Tracy.
I’ve been teaching voice and music for the past 15 years. With experience in Opera, Jazz and Pop, I share my knowledge and everything related to the Art of Singing in my weekly videos, every Friday, ad free!
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