Placement Vocal Techniques Part 2

Pyramid of Vocal Technique Diction (Vowels & Consonants) Tone (Focus and Space) Placement (High/Low Voice) Breath Support Posture Expression

Level 3: Placement

Learning How to “Drive” Your Voice Voices, like cars, work and sound much better when driven in the appropriate gear for the speed and power needed. In a car, you drive in low gear when you are going slow or need a lot of pulling power. You drive in high gear when you want to go fast.

Your Voice “Gears” Middle Area Low/Chest Voice High/Head Voice Low Voice is probably your talking voice. It is strong, but it can only go so high without straining. High Voice is often called falsetto. It is often weak and breathy, but can be trained to be focused and strong. It can go very high. Middle Area is where the voices overlap, or the gap between them. It can be trained to be extremely flexible, allowing an easy transition between voices. It also makes it possible to sing in many different styles: loud/soft, breathy/metallic, dark/pure, etc.

Which is Your Voice? Chest Only Weak Head Mind the Gap

Balancing Your Voices Chest Head Find and strengthen your head voice. Find the “bridge” between head and chest. Help them mix in the middle.

More Tips Get over the belief that head voice is not “real” singing. Always focus your voice in “head” as much as possible, especially low in its range. Instead of straining high in “chest,” try singing lighter to sing higher. Work on the “bridge” with sirens and short scales, especially going down, trying to smooth over the shift.