Singing For Dummies
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You have one glorious singing voice made up of three distinct parts or registers: chest voice, middle voice, and head voice. As you may guess, the notes in the middle part of your voice make up your middle voice, the notes in the lower part of your voice make up your chest voice, and the notes in the upper part of your voice make up your head voice.

To get a better idea of each part of the voice, you have to recognize how each area of the voice relates to the others.

  • Chest voice: The thicker, heavier sound made in the lower part of your voice. It makes vibrations in your chest while you sing.

  • Head voice: The higher part of your singing voice. It makes vibrations in your head or skull as you sing.

  • Middle voice: The bridge between your chest voice and your head voice. It makes vibrations in your mouth and neck. Middle voice feels similar to head voice for many female singers, and similar to chest voice for many male singers. Some people call middle voice a mix because, in this area of the voice, it’s neither 100 percent chest voice nor 100 percent head voice. It’s a combination.

Specific muscles create head voice and chest voice; these muscles groups work together to produce middle voice.

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Pamelia S. Phillips is a professional singer with over 35 years of teaching experience. She has designed curriculum for high school students, college BFA programs, and professional training programs, helping thousands of singers refine their singing technique.

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