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What does it feel like to sing in mix and
head voice?
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This week I received this question during
my weekly Tuesday Power to Sing Live broadcast:
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“Is there a certain feeling in the vibrations
in mix and head voice that I will feel, to
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know if I am singing in those styles?”
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Inside this video I’ll give you 3 ways to
identify the feeling of singing with a mix
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and head voice to help you recognize when
you are doing it right!
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Also I’ll give you 3 ways to recognize when
it can not be mix or head voice.
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Hi I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
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This was a question I had for several years,
even though I was sing in mix and head voice.
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But I couldn’t really tell if I was doing
it or not.
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Here are 3 ways to know when you are not in
head voice and mix.
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First, location.
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While mix can be throughout your entire range,
(that’s an advanced subject to discuss another
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day) you can easily identify the specific
range that must be mix and head voice for
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men and women.
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For men, Mix is on the E (just above middle
C),F,F#4.
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Head voice is on the G4 and above.
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For women, Mix is on the A (just above middle
C), Bb,B,C5, C#5.
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This Mix continues until F#5.
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Head voice is on the G5 and above.
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If you’re below the E4 for men or A4 for
women, you’re probably in chest voice.
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Second, if while singing in these mix or head
voice pitch ranges, your voice breaks into
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falsetto, you’re not in a mix, you’re
in falsetto.
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Third, if you are singing with very slightly
adducted vocal cords so there’s a lot of
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air escaping, or if you are pulling the chest
voice high into the mix pitch ranges discussed
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above, you’re not in mix.
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You are in a light chest voice or a pulled
up chest voice.
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Also, if you are on these pitches and the
vowel widens and splats, you fall out of mix
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and into chest voice.
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What does it feel like to sing in mix and
head voice?
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First, let’s identify the feeling of mix.
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Do this exercise: [Demo Oct up sustain with
word change New-No]
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You must keep the more open vowel in “No”
feeling like the more narrow vowel in “New”.
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[Demo]
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As you do this, get louder as you hold the
“No”.
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[Demo]
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But don’t open the “No” wider than the
“new” and/or let it drop into your mouth
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and become chest voice.
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[Demo]
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Men
sing it on the F4.
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[Demo] That’s Mix.
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Now sing it on the G4.
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[Demo] That’s your head voice.
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Women sing it on the B4.
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That’s Mix.
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Now sing it on
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the E5.
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While not 100% head voice, it’s close enough
to feel like head voice.
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What does it feel like to you to keep the
“No” in the “New” place?
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That’s the feeling of mix and head voice.
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My descriptions have changed through the years.
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Now it feels like I’m singing on overlapping
resonances of chest and head.
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And when I press or lean into it, it feels
like I’m pressing into tone rather than
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grabbing vocal cord.
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It’s a very individual feeling that mainly
YOU identify with.
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Everyone feels and describes it differently.
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Second, do exactly the same thing you just
did, only on the words, “Goo-Go”.
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[Demo]
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What does that feel like to you?
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Can you describe it?
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Third, On the same pitches above sing this:
[Demo Oct up with oo-oh-ah vowel change and
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sustain] Keep the “Oh” and “ah” in
the narrow place the “oo” established
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first.
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[Don’t open them beyond the more narrow
“oo”.
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[Demo]
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What does it feel like to you?
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Can you describe it?
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I have a student who calls maintaining this
feeling in a phrase during a song, “staying
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in the pocket”.
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I can identify with that.
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To me it’s like [B-Roll ... take my arms
that I might reach you, but my words, like
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silent raindrops fell...]
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If I fall out of the “Mix Pocket” if would
sound like this: [.. take my arms that I might
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reach you].
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This is a process that evolves over time.
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When you begin to identify the awareness and
feeling of mix, then you can better monitor
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yourself and progress faster.
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If you liked this video, please give it a
thumbs up, subscribe, and share it with a
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friend.
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How do you describe the feeling of mix in
your voice?
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Or are you still developing your mix and head
voice.
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Let me know in the comments section below.
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A great way to learn to sing with a mix voice
is to discover your vocal type and then do
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exercises designed to get you into a mix voice.
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Do you know your vocal type?
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Your vocal type is what you tend to do when
you sing through the first bridge and into
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your head voice.
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Visit PowertoSing.com and take the vocal test,
which I call the Power Test.
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Take the quiz and discover your vocal type.
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Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch
the videos about your vocal type.
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Download the free exercises for your vocal
type and start working on them immediately.
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You’ll progress rapidly toward developing
a mix voice.
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I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
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You can sing higher with beauty, confidence
and power.
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I’ll see you inside the next video.