Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Serious problem changing from normal voice to falsetto recently

Options
  • 29-11-2012 4:09am
    #1
    hatrickpatrick
    Registered Users Posts: 17,797 ✭✭✭✭


    First off, this is not a medical advice thread - I say that because I saw an ENT last week and he did the whole camera up the nose thing, looked at my vocal cords and couldn't see anything on them at all. So I'm fairly sure this isn't a medical issue, unless it's (please God no) scarring - and having listened to mp3 samples of people suffering from this, mine is minuscule compared to that. So I'm stumped.

    Basically, I can't change from normal voice to falsetto. Or I should say, I can do it sometimes, but it's totally hit and miss, and the vast majority of the time for me at the moment it doesn't work.

    What happens is I go into a very faint register which is about an octave higher again than falsetto - basically a sort of whispery squeak, I guess you could call it. I can't control when it happens, sometimes I'll go into my falsetto normally and sometimes this will happen instead.

    So basically I was just wondering if anyone could explain what's actually happening to my voice in this scenario, instead of going into falsetto it's obviously doing something it's not supposed to be. Does anyone have any experience with this and/or an explanation as to why I could last 21 years and never have this problem? I'm 23 now and I've literally only noticed this for the last year, possibly the last year and a half. Can anyone shed ANY light on this situation whatsoever? At this stage I'm honestly scared that I might never get it back.

    Here's a sound clip illustrating the problem (for those curious, the song I'm trying to sing a clip from is an unreleased U2 song called "Every Breaking Wave", download it, it's great :D )

    http://www.esnips.com/displayimage.php?album=3701089&pid=34252550

    As you can see from that, it's SO hit and miss. Typically, the time I try to show it to someone is the rare time it actually works, I have to sing the line 3 times before the messed up switch kicks in - but it's at a stage now where that happens far more often than smooth falsetto, to the point where I can no longer risk trying to sing a falsetto line on stage, just in case I end up in that horribly squeak.

    Any insights?


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    9959
    Registered Users Posts: 1,785 ✭✭✭9959


    If I could refer you to post #6 in the thread 'What Are Your Biggest Challanges Voice Wise?"

    As you can see, I too, or rather, my friend, is also at a loss to explain this 'disappearing falsetto' phenomenon.
    Perhaps it's just natural wear and tear, I hope it's not the psychological equivalent of a golfer's 'putting yips', which apparently takes years to conquer with the 'help' of inordinately expensive 'life coaches' and psychobabble merchants.

    I'm afraid, like my friend, you might just have to resign yourself to a life forever singing in a normal manly voice.

    Worse thing happen at sea.
    Hope this helps.
    Good luck to you and keep singing!


  • Options
    #3
    Wurly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,095 ✭✭✭Wurly


    It's difficult for me to ascertain what's going on here without trying a number of things face to face.... But I come across this problem a lot with male singers. The most common cause is to do with 'head' voice being underdeveloped and when you sing from it, you're not quite sure where it's parameters start and end.

    Try singing in head voice a lot more and push past the barrier. Warm up head voice also before singing. You should feel the resonance for head voice in your head and a slight bit in your throat area. If there is a lot going on in your throat, you could be 'breaking' out of mid voice and falling short of hitting head voice properly. This could explain the issue you're having.

    If you're managing to hit these notes 9 times out of 10, then it's not too high for you. You just need to get to know your voice a bit more, in my opinion.


  • Options
    #4
    Aurongroove
    Registered Users Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Aurongroove


    I've been a singer for years and I use falsetto heavily. In the past few years my voice has settled (happens mid 20's) as well as that I spent some years singing some harsh rock 'n' roll, which did some damage to my voice.

    I met a lot of falsetto challenges; sore throats, voice changing, long gigs, surprise gigs, tiredness, different types of falsetto. Using particular mental images can help in certain situations, since one can't see one's own voice muscles.

    the one I use for making sure the falsetto comes out and doest split is the tried and trusted method of imagining you're making space in the back of your throat to fit a chicken egg, then singing "huuuuuuuuuuuuu" through that space at a medium volume.

    If you under support the tone the "huuu" will sound very pure, and will be resonating in your throat (and possible feel uncomfortable, in your larynx),
    If you over support you'll feel your breath hit the top of your mouth and it your voice will be strained in a different way.

    If you sing it just right you'll feel almost nothing but the sound will feel like it's resonating somewhere behind your nose. but even if you do it wrong the right note should still come out in tune (where is why it's so handy).

    This gives your a very classical sounding falsetto, like a "choir boy". It can be quite a taxing method if you're using it al day but it is bullet proof as a means of getting the note out.
    So perhaps look at this as your "white sauce" falsetto; it always works, it sounds grand, and all you need to do then is bend the tone to the right vowel and preferred falsetto sound as far as you dare. i.e. the more tired your voice is, or more stressed the closer you need to stick to the simple "ooo's"


Advertisement