To sing in your "head voice" is a very high pitch, in a soprano scale.

Your "head voice" is a term used to refer to a technique called falsetto. The dictionary.com definition of falsetto is: 1. A male voice in an upper register beyond its normal range. 2. One who sings or talks in this register. When someone sings in their normal range, their diaphram, a muscle below the rib cage, is used to sustain the voice. If used correctly the diaphram will give the voice a strong, robust sound, like those baritones in the Southern Gospel groups. When someone sings out of their normal range less pressure must be put on the diaphram. In other words: they shouldn't "belt it out." Have you ever heard a guy strain to hit a high note and it just seems like he's screaming? Thats why men sing falsetto, use their "head voice," when singing high notes. Less pressure it put on the diaphram, more attention is given to simply hitting the note. In order for the note to remain clear and sound good, however, proper use of the mouth becomes even more important. Basically, the center of attention for the singer while singing falsetto becomes the head. It really does feel like your singing out of your head. You can tell when a man is singing falsetto when the volume of his voice is a little softer, because he isn't using his diaphram as much.

Head voice is the phenomenom when the vibrating length of the vocal cords shortens after the vocal cords can be stretched no further. The shortening increases the pitch because the folds open and close faster. Head voice can only correctly be achieved if the outer muscles are not involved in the process (meaning that the singer isn't straining what so ever). The larynx must remain fairly still, regardless of how high or low the note is. Most people cannot achieve a true head voice without training for an extremely skilled teacher. Falsetto is NOT head voice, but it does resonate in the same area. Both falsetto and head voice feel like they resonate inside the head cavity, rather than the chest. The speaking voice is chest voice. The difference in sound is also quite obvious. Pavarotti pulls his high C's in head voice, the beegees sing in falsetto. Falsetto is a weak sounding type of voice, and it cannot blend with chest (meaning that if you try to go from chest to falsetto or vice versa, you will either hear a break or an immediate shift in quality of the voice). With head voice, there is no shift in quality and there is no break. For more information, look up Bel Canto or Speech Level Singing.

I am a voice teacher and a head voice "is" generally in the "breathy" range. It uses MORE air and therefore SOUNDS more breathy. Not extremely contrived breathy necessarily, but it isn't the same as mixed and chest tones. Also, a "head tone" allows more air to escape and in the untrained singer this creates a "breathy" voice. As well, sometimes untrained singers will use "head tones" for some of the lower ranges when they should be controlling the sound better, i.e not letting too much air escape.

Falsetto is breathy, head voice is not. When you listen to Pavarotti hit high notes in La Donna E Mobile, there is nothing breathy sounding about it. This is because head voice actually uses LESS air than chest voice. Falsetto uses more air because it works by trying to get the outer edges of the vocal cords to vibrate even though they are seperated (chest/head voice work with the vocal cords together). http://www.goodrichvocal.com/education/education.htm has many great examples of the difference between head voice, pushed chest, and falsetto. The teachers on the site are SLS certified (Speech Level Singing).

"Head voice" is a term generally used to refer to two different things. Traditionally, head voice, or the italian "voce in piena testa", is a sound made by vibration of the true vocal folds once the cricothyroid muscles take over as the primary muscle group adducting the vocal folds (pressing them together). In simpler terms, it is the voice sound made by your true vocal folds when singing above your "calling voice", or the highest pitch you can use to speak on. This is the voice that opera singers like Pavarotti use to sing the vibrant, ringing notes betwween F# and high C, although each voice type has a different location for when this "head voice" kicks in. The other type of singing regarded as "head voice" is otherwise known as falsetto, of which there are two kinds. One kind involves incomplete closure of the true vocal folds, causing the outer edges of the vocal lip to vibrate weakly making a louder falsetto sound (italian "voce finta"). This makes a tighter sounding falsetto, but still a rather weak sound. The other kind involves the use of the false vocal folds, which do not connect together. This makes the sort of "hooty" falsetto sound that most people associate with falsetto. Hope this helps!

When I first started singing, I was completely "nasal" sounding. That's because I was not singing from my diaphram. Most singers go into "head voice" when they can't hit a particular high note. "Head voice" comes from the throat and not from the diaphram. That's why it sounds weak a lot of times. But some people have actually mastered the art of singing in "mixed voice" or "masking" their voice. This means singing from your diaphram and from your throat. (the best way to explain it, is bringing the notes from around your upper body like your throat and face and mixing it with your diaphram) Doing this will give the notes more power and make it sound less nasal. Its a very hard skill to master but can come in handy in many situations. *The same goes for low notes

Will everybody please stop calling head voice "falsetto"! Head voice may be anywhere from the top fifth or sixth of one's range to the top octave or more, depending on who you are; there's nothing false about it (that is, it is not the singing equivalent of the spoken falsetto a comedian might use to do a stereotypical society lady or the like). To take an easily grasped mechanical test, if you can crescendo and decrescendo normally in making phrases, it's not falsetto. There's a moment, when you go up in your range, when you're coming to the end of your chest voice -- trying to go higher is going to mean simply straining to do more of the same, which is always fatal. What real singers do instead feels like letting the center of resonance shift up so that it feels like it's in the head rather than the chest, and it's come to be called head voice, but exactly what happens physically is very far from clear, and may not be exactly the same for everyone, because although they all use the term "head voice" they report different experiences of using it -- or are they only coming up with different descriptions? Anyway, if anyone starts talking to you about chest voice and head voice, ask them about the passagio -- if the term isn't familiar, they haven't really gone into this, and their opinions should be accepted with caution. Anyone more than casually interested in these issues should have a book called "Great Singers on Great Singing," by Jerome Hines (Limelight Editions; don't know the date but it must be pre-1981, because he interviewed Rosa Ponselle). Hines was a very successful bass for a long time (he was, for example, in the cast at the Met when Pavarotti debuted in Boheme), and he took advantage of his acquaintance with most of the great modern singers to interview 40 of them about singing, their backgrounds, training, practice habits, beliefs, etc. The result, which includes a lot of anecdotes, is fascinating. (Hines's wife is a retired soprano, whose name I don't remember, and whom he also interviews; they don't agree on some things.)

There's chest voice, middle voice, head voice, and falsetto. That's in order from bass to treble. How can you tell you are singing in head voice? Head voice is when you feel the sound vibrating in your head rather than in your chest.

I agree with everyone who has said that HEAD voice is NOT the same as FALSETTO. Not only do they SOUND completely different and FEEL completely different, their very name suggests they are different. Head voice indicate that the resonance is in you "head" ( or your upper mouth, nasal and sinus cavities). Falsetto, as the name suggests, is a false sound- different from normal. Head voice in a continuation or "connected" to your CHEST voice (SPEAKING or MODAL voice). Your own distinct vocal character remains and you remain in complet control of the note and can vary dynamic as you wish. In Falsetto the vocal cords do not close along their whole length producing a much "breathier" sound. This lacks personal distinction, is harder to (or near impossible) to add real dynamics, and is harder to hold for a extended note (as the air is escaping faster). But this can be desirable for a particular effect or style. Listen to Alannis Morissette for an obvious example of flipping between "normal" voice and "false" voice - IE Chest voice and Falsetto. Chest voice sounds rich and powerful, falsetto suddenly sounds breathy and weaker. Now listen to Emmy Rosum (Phantom of the opera) How do her high notes differ from Alannis Morisette's high notes? Alannis morissette is very breathy on her high notes, Emmy is Clear and distinctive. Alannis is in FALSETTO, Emmy is in whats known as PURE HEAD VOICE. Now listen to any gospel singer. How do their high notes differ from EMMY? Hers are pure, clear, piercing even whereas a classic gospel singing is singing the same note but rich and powerful..they are singing in a "MIXED" voice. That means they are singing in "HEAD" register but adding CHEST resonance. See Brett Manning, Goodrich studios, Seth Riggs or another other SPEAK LEVEL SINGING teacher (SLS. It will change your life (vocal speaking) Garanteed!!!

I agree with everyone who has said that HEAD voice is NOT the same as FALSETTO. Not only do they SOUND completely different and FEEL completely different, the very name suggests they are different. HEAD voice indicates that your resonance is in your "head" (that is your upper mouth, nasal and sinus cavities). FALSETTO (as the name suggests) is a false voice - different from normal. Head voice is a continuation or "connected" to CHEST voice (SPEAKING or MODAL voice). Your own distinct vocal character remains and you remain in full control of the note and can vary dynamics and you wish. In Falsetto the vocal cords do not vibrate alone their optimal length. This produces a "breathier" sound, which is not only more difficult (if not impossible) to add real dynamics to but is also hard to hold for an extended note, as the air is rushing out faster. THis can be desirable for effect or style. Listen to Alannis Morissette for obvious examples of flipping from Chest voice to FALSETTO. lower notes are rich and well controled and she suddenyl flips into a breathy, non-distinct sound, it is VERY different from her NORMAL voice, this is FALSETTO. Now listen to Emmy Rosum (Phantom of the opera). What difference do you hear between her high notes and Alannis' high notes? Hers are pure, clear, controled and distinctive. She is singing what is called PURE HEAD VOICE. Now listen to a classic gospel singer. What difference do you hear between them and Emmy? They are both singing similar notes and are both in HEAD voice as the notes are distinct and controled. But the gospel singers are not in PURE head voice, they are singing in a MIXED head voice. this means they are adding chest resonances to the HEAD register to porduce that deeper, more dynamic sound. See Brett Manning, Goodrich studio, Seth Riggs or any other SPEACH-LEVEL SINGING teacher (SLS). It will change your life (vocally speaking) Garanteed! Best wishes