Head Voice
Quick Definition
The upper register of the voice characterized by a lighter, more resonant quality typically felt vibrating in the head or mask area.
Factual Definition
A phonation pattern where the vocal folds are stretched thinner and longer, vibrating primarily at their edges. The cricothyroid (CT) muscle is the dominant contributor, creating a sound with more upper harmonics and less fundamental frequency emphasis.
Full Explanation
Head voice describes the upper portion of a singer’s range characterized by a lighter, more ‘floating’ quality distinct from the fuller chest voice. Singers typically report feeling vibrations in the head, sinuses, or ‘mask’ area when singing in this register.
The laryngeal mechanism involves elongated, thinned vocal folds with the cricothyroid muscle as the primary tensor. The folds vibrate along their edges rather than their full depth, producing a shorter closed phase and a tone quality rich in higher harmonics.
In contemporary commercial music contexts, head voice is often distinguished from ‘falsetto,’ though these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Most pedagogues consider head voice to maintain fold contact throughout the vibratory cycle, while falsetto may involve incomplete closure.
How Different Methods Define This
This term may be used differently across vocal pedagogy traditions: