My voice stops at a certain point?

[Annaiyah]

Here's the thing: i think i've got the right idea when it comes to training my voice (falsetto, reduce chest resonance, building muscular control, etc.). But the issue i find myself running into is this -- i would take my voice up to its highest possible falsetto pitch, then make that cross over to my female side. At this point, it sounds completely phony and unnatural but that's the point. I try bringing my voice down from that female range, but if it gets any lower than that highest point at the female level, it's just air and no sound is coming out.

Can anyone offer any explanation as to why this is or what i could do differently if anything?

Thanks.

[kwala]

Here's the thing: i think i've got the right idea when it comes to training my voice (falsetto, reduce chest resonance, building muscular control, etc.). But the issue i find myself running into is this -- i would take my voice up to its highest possible falsetto pitch, then make that cross over to my female side. At this point, it sounds completely phony and unnatural but that's the point. I try bringing my voice down from that female range, but if it gets any lower than that highest point at the female level, it's just air and no sound is coming out.

Can anyone offer any explanation as to why this is or what i could do differently if anything?

Thanks.

To give real feedback an audio sample would be helpful.

[Dena]

What you are explaining is either wrong or just a confusion of terms. A falsetto is a voice you don't want to use as it's only used occasionally used in singing. What you require is the head voice. This voice is reached by tensing the muscles between your larynx and your jaw. When you do it your voice will break into the upper range. Strange as it may sound, your vocal cords will still be fairly relaxed and by tensing them, you will have additional range to add inflection. When you use a head voice, you shouldn't feel like you are straining and there should be no pain. If you feel either of these, stop and ask for help.

[LizK]

Hi Annaiyah

I have had about 4 sessions with my voice therapist and not straining was the big thing. As Dena has talked about, keeping the voice out of your chest and into your throat. I now do not talk at all (unless I slip into an old habit) with chest resonance and my average pitch went from 140 to 185 just by doing this much which is enough to put it just in the female vocal range (lower end)

We have been working on variance of the pitch and rising and dropping inflections more recently.

I do have a passable voice however what I lack is the ability to do it consistently which is what I am working on. I need the voice I am developing to be my "normal" voice without thinking about it...and as far as I know the only way to do that is practice. Once warmed up and talking for a bit my Pitch varies from about 170 up to 210 with the occasional slip down to around 160. I would do 3 daily practice just to keep the resonance out of my chest and totally in my throat...this alone brings your pitch up. I don't practice daily as much as I used to but use my voice working on it each time I speak.

[amandam]

I've tried Melanie Anne Phillips' method and it seems to be working. I've found where my voice "breaks" and goes way down in tone like she describes. Now, I work on keeping it from breaking.

[Annaiyah]

What you are explaining is either wrong or just a confusion of terms. A falsetto is a voice you don't want to use as it's only used occasionally used in singing. What you require is the head voice. This voice is reached by tensing the muscles between your larynx and your jaw. When you do it your voice will break into the upper range. Strange as it may sound, your vocal cords will still be fairly relaxed and by tensing them, you will have additional range to add inflection. When you use a head voice, you shouldn't feel like you are straining and there should be no pain. If you feel either of these, stop and ask for help.

I try to explain again as best i can. I would speak with my voice at its highest possible pitch (falsetto) and as i do this, i would place my hand on my chest. When speaking normally, i feel chest vibrations, which i'm trying to get out of. In the falsetto i just told you about i feel no chest vibrations at all.

From that falsetto, i would make that shift into the female register, and by that i mean, the sound would be female but it is not a voice i'd want to be speaking in on a regular basis. I would come down a little more than that for a more natural sound but this is the part where no sound comes out. Nothing comes out but air and this is what i'm having trouble with.

For example, let's imagine a pair of jeans... and that the left pant leg is the male register and that the right pant leg is the female register. The crotch area would be the falsetto area. From where my voice is now, i can just jump right into the crotch area with no problem at all. But when it comes to making my way down the right pant leg, i go not even a couple inches down until i'm blocked. Maybe in this analogy the right pant leg is sewn shut.

I don't know if i'm possibly doing something wrong or what else but what is why i'm here asking for help about.

[amandam]

See if you can find Melanie's info online, there are videos but I don't know if you have to pay for them now or if they are still on Youtube. She talks about the point where your voice breaks into male mode. She would hum high-pitched, then lower it to find the breaking point. Once she knew where it was, she stopped just before it broke and tried to loosen her throat while speaking. She repeated this over and over. When I did it at first, my voice would sometimes break, or sometimes get breathless. You have to practice. I used one phrase at first, "This is where my voice should be". Then added phrases as I got better.

[Sarah_P]

I think I know what you're talking about. When I started working on my voice (I'm using the Deep Stealth DVD/CD), I'd hum low & slowly raise it, then there would be an area where I just couldn't make a noise (or a mild stuttering) before hitting my falsetto. Since I've been doing the exercises though (almost 2 months now), it's mostly stopped doing that.

[DawnOday]

My Therapist Emily says there are three things you need to keep in mind. Pitch, resonance, and breathing. Breath through the stomach. after studying my normal voice she set a goal of me achieving  F3 90% of the time. I use an app called "DA Tuner". It is easy to use. Also I have used Eva from Kathe Perez. Each of the 4 sections run $4.99. These are interactive speech therapy sessions.

Pitch corresponds to a musical note. My male voice is around D2, my female voice goes to F3. So by reorienting my voice just over an octave Emily says it is enough to blend in. Women do not breath through their chest while talking they use their stomach so we need to practice that aspect. Resonance is the vibrating feeling when you produce your voice from your head instead of the chest. This is probably the hardest to master.