Sing in Mixed Voice

Singing in mixed voice, also called middle voice or blended voice, means singing in a combination of head voice and chest voice.[1] This produces a full, bright sound that is similar to belting but is less likely to cause injury.[1] It is often employed to bridge the gap between the head and chest registers: when you move from head voice (your higher notes) to chest voice (your lower notes), singing in mixed voice will allow you to sing smoothly without gaps or abrupt changes of tone.

Steps

Discovering Your Mixed Voice

  1. Find the break between head voice and chest voice. Sing ascending and descending scales. Feel your voice resonate: when do you feel it in your chest, and when do you feel it in your head? You will feel higher notes in your head, and lower notes in your chest. The notes that prompt you to switch from head to chest and vice versa are called your register break.
    • Sing until you are sure which notes prompt you to switch. This will vary depending on how high or low your individual voice is.
  2. Sing across your break. Sing the scales again, and try to sing across the break in your register (to avoid the clunk at the break-over point in your voicing). To do this, focus on maintaining the feeling of singing low notes from your chest as the notes begin to rise higher and shift (suddenly) into your head voice. If this feels strange, add your nasal voice to mix with chest voice by singing "ng" (like "ing"), by pronouncing the "g" as "gah" to find and learn this transition. Do scales pronouncing "nnga". Notice holding the "nnn" sound in "ng" is felt in the head/nasal voice area but "ng" blends immediately into the chest voice "ga" felt in the lower/chest-throat area.[2]
    • Your nasal tone may sound unpleasantly twangy at first, but it will strengthen your ability to bridge the break point. As your ability to sing in mixed voice improves, the nasal tone can eventually give way to a blended, pleasant tone by listening to yourself to notice how it sounds. So you culture/cultivate your voice by practicing your blending so your voice is not either head or chest but a blended voice much of the time.
    • Modify your vowels. Vowels work differently in head and chest voices. If you try to force your vowels to remain consistent across your register break, you will not achieve middle voice.
    • Sing elongated vowels gently across your break, and notice where they naturally change. A long "i" (as in "sigh") will become a short "i" (as in "trip."), etc.
    • Begin blending voice before you hit the hard break point. Don't try to jump into your other voice. Rather, realize you're approaching a change to head voice while notes are rising but you're still comfortably below your break upward in the notes. Also, begin blending as you're approaching the shift to chest voice notes while you are still above your break point.
  3. Train your larynx to lie low. Learn not to strain, to relax a little. Practice the special sounds that will show you how to naturally lower the tension in your larynx. Sing either word word given below, one-at-a-time:
    • "Gug" on a low note in your range, and continue singing "gug" up and down through a major arpeggio (each of the notes of a major chord sung separately).
    • Sing "Mum" in the same manner. So, your larynx tends to strain to rise as you sing higher notes, but to get to your mixed voice you will want it to stay lower even as you climb to higher notes into the nasal/head voice.
    • Don't force/strain your larynx. Sing the tones patiently into their place.

Developing Your Mixed Voice

  1. Sing 5-note chromatic scales. Chromatic scales are composed of notes in sequence, like the keys of a piano. Start with a scale a few notes below the break point in your register—the moment you normally switch from chest voice to head voice. Sing 5-note chromatic scales above, through, and below the break, in ascending and descending patterns.[3]
    • Keep your tone even, and go slowly. Don't rush the difficult notes.
    • You will naturally blend your head and chest voices if you sing below and above your register break without changing your tone.
    • Play along on a piano as you sing, or sing along to a recording of vocal exercises.
    • You can easily find free recordings of 5-note chromatic scales for vocal exercise online.
  2. Slur your scales. While warming up, sing short scales. Rather than singing each note distinctly, "slide" your voice from one note to the next. Sing up and down a scale. Go slowly and do not allow yourself to vary your speed, so that you don't skip over your register break.[3]
  3. Practice lip trills. Yawn widely to stretch your lips. Purse your lips and say "buh-buh-buh" while singing a scale. Try to make a good clear noise, not releasing too much air. If your lips keep losing the trill, stop and yawn, or put a finger in each cheek on either side of your mouth.[4]
    • Use this exercise regularly. The beginning of your routine is a good time for it, as it warms up your mouth.
    • Do your trills for a scale longer each time.



Tips

  • Many vocalists recommend working with singing coaches to achieve a mixed voice.

Warnings

  • Do not strain your voice in either rising or moving downward when trying to achieve a mix. Any feeling of pushing or straining in your throat/neck area is a sign that you are at risk of injury.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=GoodToneProductionForSinging&page=4#blendingRegisters
  2. ↑ http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=GoodToneProductionForSinging&page=4
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=TipsForPracticingSinging&page=1#blendingRegisters
  4. ↑ http://thesingingvoice.com/tips/vocal-warm-ups
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