Chest and head voice vs falsetto, M1 and M2 (1,357 views)

[Steingrim]

In some singer-specific thread we were having a discussion about chest voice and head voice vs falsetto. Or the M1 vs M2 register.

Aardvark and Kaji stated that there is no separate head voice register, it's all the M1 or chest voice register, just the chest voice is thinned out as one ascends up through and beyond the passagi. 

While it may all be part of the M1 register, vocal teachers frequently talk about chest and head voice, and a mix between the two. This seems to revolve not around different registers however, but around varying use of muscles found inside the voice box.

Jeff Rolka on youtube talks a lot about cricothyroid dominant singing (head voice) vs thyroarytenoid dominant singing (chest voice). Those are two different muscle groups and they are apparently involved in how the M1 register is utilized. 

Why the CT dominant singing is referred to as "head voice", is interesting. Apparently it has to do with the feeling that sopranos get from singing in octave 5 or above, where notes are projected heavily through the facial mask. I get the same feeling, at least to some degree, from singing high notes, but only from singing a lot in the C5-E5 range. Which is vocal training towards limits, for me. I also get the same feeling, albeit slightly different, from singing a lot below say A2, a corresponding bass resonance from projecting through the facial mask. Facial muscles are engaged in both cases to support the projection. If I sing from low down to high up, I get some kind of "full orchestra" feeling in my head afterwards, as if there's the resonance of low brass instruments and flutes going on at the same time.

Kaji talked about mix, which was M2 (falsetto) mimicking M1 (chest voice). Not sure how that works, but it's different to when people talk about chest-head mix, which is within the M1 register. Anyway, I'm trying to understand what people on here are talking about, and elsewhere. So feel free to comment.

[mehrhs9]

in my understanding chest voice is m1 and head voice is m2. and mixed voice could be done both in m1 and m2 depending on how dominant each muscle are
personally, I just hate the falsetto term it just creates confusion. I prefer soft or breathy head voice.
and I genuinely don't understand the term operatic falsetto. countertenors literally use the same placement that operatic sopranos use

[Steingrim]

Mar 26, 2022 11:33:11 GMT mehrhs9 said:

in my understanding chest voice is m1 and head voice is m2. and mixed voice could be done both in m1 and m2 depending on how dominant each muscle are
personally, I just hate the falsetto term it just creates confusion. I prefer soft or breathy head voice.
and I genuinely don't understand the term operatic falsetto. countertenors literally use the same placement that operatic sopranos use

With female singers, falsetto is often referred to as head voice. Which adds to the confusion. When I talked about singing C5-E5, I wasn't talking about falsetto. I can get a Bb5 in falsetto and a rather beefy D5. I don't get the projection thing from singing in falsetto, at all. The beefiness has to do with how CT or TA dominant the note is, TA dominant means that the chest voice is still fairly thick and the resulting tone is fairly beefy.