My Top 3 Singing Exercises to Develop a Strong Head Voice
Man singing emotionally into a microphone, wearing a black hat and set against a dark background
Contents
Excercise 2 - Goo on a descending arpeggio
Excercise 3 - Woof on a one and a half octave scale
Today we’re going to chat about all things Head Voice. What is it? What role does it play in our voice as a whole? And what exercises can we use to develop it?
This is effectively part 2 of a series of posts that examines different areas of the voice and my favourite singing exercises to strengthen them. If you missed part one, where I spoke about my top 3 exercises to develop your chest voice, be sure to check it out.
What is "Head Voice?"
Generally speaking, Head Voice is a common term for our upper register or the higher part of our vocal range.
Think of the classic depiction of a female opera singer as her voice soars up to those incredibly high notes. Those bright, floaty, ringing high notes? That’s head voice.
Or maybe think of Mickey Mouse; he tends to speak up in his head voice range, or you could think of a young child who squeals in excitement as they go down a slide at the park. These are all examples of what I would consider to be “Head Voice.”
You might come across different interpretations and definitions of what is considered to be Head Voice on your singing journey (as you might with other registers or areas of the voice), and that’s because although there are some widely accepted ideas and terms associated with the different parts of the voice, there are no universally agreed-upon definitions for a lot of singing terminology.
It may change depending on the type of training a singer (or teacher) has received, vocal style, or culture. That is something to bear in mind on your singing journey!
Why is Head Voice Useful?
In the simplest of terms, we need a strong Head Voice to sing high notes.
The anatomy and physiology of how the voice works is fascinating, but there’s a lot to cover, so I’ll save that for another post. For now, here’s a very simple overview of how we sing high notes:
To sing higher notes, the vocal folds need to stretch and thin out so they can vibrate fast enough to create higher pitches. That process of stretching is controlled by a different muscle than the one that shortens and thickens the folds when we sing low notes.
What this means is there is a physiological change in how the voice works to sing higher notes, so if we want our full range of notes available to us, as well as different tonal colours and intensities, we need to be working to strengthen and develop Head Voice.
Developing our Head Voice also helps us to find release across our range, a sense of ease and freedom throughout our entire voice.
So, to the exercises!
1. The Siren
This one is very simple—imagine you’re a young child at a playground using the slide. Pick a comfortably high note and sing “Weeeee” and slide all the way through your range to your lowest comfortable note.
Try that a few times, and when it’s comfortable, try sliding around. Slide all the way down, then from your lowest note back up to your highest note. You can also think about an emergency ambulance and mimic their siren.
If this feels easy, go ahead and change the vowel. If you started on “Wee,” choose “Woo” next. Maybe you just use the vowel or switch to an “ah” or “ae” vowel.
The great thing about this exercise is that it’s free-form. You can play and experiment with sounds that work for you without having to worry about singing specific notes. It’s great for stretching the voice in a warm-up and expanding your vocal range.
If you feel a crack, flip, or break during the exercise, that is absolutely fine. This exercise is about opening up access to the head voice and getting used to finding that part of our range.
The more you use this exercise and glide back and forth between your lower and upper registers, the more connected and seamless your voice will become, but this takes time.
And don’t worry! I’ll be going over my favourite exercises to move through your break in another post.
2. "Goo" on a Descending Octave Arpeggio
Next up, I want you to sing the syllable “Goo” on a descending octave arpeggio
The scale pattern is: 8-5-3-1.
For my lower voices, I’d start around G4.
For my higher voices, I’d start around C5.
I love this one because we start each repetition of the scale in head voice and drop down into chest. This can help us to find head voice more easily and not be tempted to pull too much weight from our lower register up.
The G consonant also helps us to bring the vocal folds together, which gives the head voice a strong, clear tone that’s not breathy or weak. While the narrow “oo” sound encourages a headier resonance.
Take this exercise only as high as is comfortable. Don’t push or strain, and then come back down.
3. "Woof" on a One-and-a-Half Octave Scale
Lastly, is the sound “Woof” (like the dog) on a long octave-and-a-half scale.
This once again uses that narrow vowel to help encourage head voice, but covers a large area of range, which means we’ll start in our chest or lower register, move through our transition, and end up in our head voice.
The F consonant on the end encourages more airflow, which helps us to stay relaxed and find an easy, light head voice sound.
The pattern for the scale is: 1-3-5-8-3-5-4-2-7-5-4-2-1. I’ve added an example of the notation below in the key of C major.
Male or low voices start around C3
Female or high voices start around G3
Final Tips
• Keep a slightly dopey “yawn”-like quality to your voice as you work these exercises. (Give me your best Homer Simpson impression!) A low larynx helps encourage a headier resonance.
• Drop the jaw and round the lips; again, this will help lower the larynx and acoustically boost the frequencies we perceive as “heady.”
• Try not to rush. It takes time to build strength and coordination, and consistent practice. You’ll get there!
Which of the exercises in today’s post was your favourite? Let me know in the comments or suggest your own!
If you need further guidance on these exercises or another singing topic, I teach private one-to-one sessions online. Book your free consultation call here. I also offer a 30-minute trial lesson to all new clients at a discounted rate.
If you have any questions, comments, or topic suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments below; I’d love to hear from you!
Until next time,
Happy singing!