How do I sing from chest voice to falsetto without missing notes in between?

Question

I am having difficulty singing in head voice. I am a bass who can also sing very high falsetto. However, when I try singing a scale, there is always a few notes between chest voice and head voice that I can't hit. This is a problem that I have had since I was in 6th grade, and it has continued for two years now. I am wondering if there is any way to regain that part of my range.

Answer 1

I also have this problem. I am more or less a bass, and my range cuts off in chest voice at around a G or G#, but when I try to sing in that same range with falsetto, the tone is very weak and sometimes I drop notes or crack them when I make the switch between voices. The answer to this problem is very simple:

Practice.

To achieve the fluent motion between voices simply practice pushing the limits of your range. Sing a tone well in the range of your chest voice and slur it up to well above your range by switching to falsetto, and then slur the tone back into chest voice. The goal of this exercise is to create a seamless transition between the two voices, and eventually even blend their two tones so that its harder for a listener to tell where the switch is. I got this exercise from a video I saw a while back, if I can find that video I will post a link here. Goodluck!

Edit: (new exercises)

The past 2 semesters I spent with my vocal professor, I focused almost exclusively on limiting tightness in my upper range. Since your head and chest voice should overlap each other for at least a few notes, I can only assume that you are extremely tight in that range when you sing. To determine exactly where you are tense is slightly more difficult.

Stand in front of a mirror and sing in a range that you tend to struggle with. Look at yourself and check that:

• your shoulders are staying lowered
• your arms are relaxed by your sides
• your head is centered on your torso and looking directly forward
• your neck is not extending or compressing

After checking each of these major posture issues, also check these internal variables:

• your jaw is relaxed (check by moving gently horizontally and vertically with no specific sense in rhythm)
• your tongue is relaxed (check by switching rapidly between the vowels 'ah' and 'ee' without moving the shape of your mouth at all)
• your breath support is deep and well-grounded (check by panting in front of a mirror to see that you are breathing from the lower parts of your diaphragm [near your stomache] and that you aren't raising your shoulders or chest)
• Your onsets are consistently coordinated (This would take too long to type so I'll link you to this article which describes onsets very well: http://singing.about.com/od/Singing101/fl/Vocal-Onset.htm)

I realize that this could be overwhelming to take in, but I need to stress that singing should feel effortless, and often the key to singing higher isn't about pushing to hit the next note, but rather falling back a note or two to correct your form before you can extend your limits.

Answer 2

The disconnect between chest and head voice that you experience is completely normal. It is called the passaggio.

To minimize the difference in sound between the two vocal registers, you must gradually make them meet in the middle.

Chest

• For your chest voice, try and raise your overall range in half-step increments. Use any of the standard effective range extending exercises to sing higher, moving past your target half-step. (Also remember to always go downward before going upward.) Do this exercise every day. The goal here is to eventually increase your chest voice so that it overlaps with your passaggio.

Falsetto

• For your falsetto, try and lower your overall range in half-step increments. Use any of the standard effective range extending exercises to sing lower, moving past your target half-step. The key here is to actively stay in your falsetto. If you're doing it correctly, you should be singing low-enough where you would feel comfortable slipping into your chest voice. Stay in your falsetto the entire time. The overall goal here is to have your falsetto overlap with your passaggio.

Once both of your registers fully overlap your passaggio (and one another as well), you will find that your passaggio disappears.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

On reading your question a second time, I realized that you said you can't hit certain notes between falsetto and chest. Without any other knowledge, that kind of sounds like nodes or some other damage to your vocal chords, but you may just be confusing octaves. Don't yell too loud and don't screech, it can really damage your voice fast.

Seriously, a quick google shows that Sam Smith, the singer of "Stay with Me" and Arianna Grande recently had some hemorrhaging from improper form/overuse of their voice. Just be careful is all, don't get too freaked out or anything.

Anyways, I am a singer and a bass. When I started high school, I had trouble with falsetto and making higher sounds, although i could frog out pretty low notes, around F2 or E2 (two octaves below middle C).

The key to falsetto is practice, and personally I learned from singing old rock and roll music. The more I do it the better I get, you should have the same experience. Falsetto is a lot in the placement of your voice, that is, where it feels like it is vibrating in your throat. I suggest you try and change placements when you sing falsetto, singing really forward in your mouth. Follow the advice on the other post too, like keeping your head straight and all. Onsets are important and people don't do them right, even in good high school/college choirs.