Benefits of developing the head voice--

 

Most people overuse the chest voice, because that is the 'speaking voice' amplified.  In the US for instance, most men use an artificially low speaking voice, because it is considered more masculine, attractive and persuasive. This voice develops quickly in vocal training.  However, it is limited in range and expressiveness, and is, as Maestro writes, 'antagonistic' to the head voice.  As the chest grows more and more dominant, the head voice takes a more and more subservient role.  In voices that are at first balanced, it weakens until the voice loses beauty and range. In voices that are already chest voice dominant, it becomes unusable.  The 'Natural' singer, who shows immediate promise, tends to have a more blended voice with both registers playing a part.  As they continue their quest for more body, volume and resonance, most teachers praise the chest voice sounds, and slowly this dominates.  Singers who are successful and are asked to sing more and more, in bigger and bigger spaces, lean more and more on the chest voice.  After a time, their technique suffers, they develop health issues,and cannot continue in this way.  It is never too late to reverse these effects and return the voice to a balanced state, but this takes a long time and patience.  However, the 'balanced' state only comes when the head voice is developed to the point that it becomes the dominant force in the creation of the voice. This was the key to Maestro Frisell's training.

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The stages of head voice development--

 

The first stage of development is being able to singe and sustain high breathy tones in the upper range, and expanding the range both up and down the entire range.  As this happens some tones will become useable, especially in choral and pop settings. In next stage of development these tones can become both breathy or solid in nature.  Using the Messa di Voce, we strengthen the head voice to have a solid core.  At this point most of the upper range becomes easy and is usable in choir, pop, musical theater and some operatic usage where medium and medium high notes are called for. The student will also notice their 'Chest Voice' becomes much easier to sing, more resonant, more beautiful and easy to control. Many talented students will abandon continued development of the head, because all of a sudden they are able to sing in their old way, but with more range and beauty.  This is a dangerous time, as this 'false gold' will slow down the ultimate goal of head voice dominance.

  If the student is happy at this phase, it is fine and as long as balance is retained, they can sing much more beautifully and comfortably throughout the range and still use head voice when needed, this is an acceptable stage for many baritones and short tenors. However, this is still just a middle level stage in voice development.  As the head voice becomes more and more dominant with training, the speaking voice rises as well, passagio and lower tones are available to sing in the head voice, the chest begins to blend into the power of the head voice, especially in the very highest notes, high A, B, and C (even in baritones) and the singer sings in what feels to them as head voice but to listeners, feels like a 'normal' singing voice. This process can take several years, especially for people who have trained in chest for a long time and also have to sing in chest for performances- as was the case with me.