This is a widely debated question. People have different definitions of falsetto, some people think it’s one thing, other people think it’s another, and some people confuse falsetto and head voice completely, as being the same thing.
Here is the difference: When you are singing in falsetto, it is a breathy, airy sound where your vocal cords ARE NOT TOUCHING. Air is flowing completely through them, thus producing the breathy, airy tone which isn’t even really a tone at all.
Head voice is the vocal register above chest voice, and when you are singing in head voice your vocal cords ARE touching, somewhere around three quarters of the way together. It’s a higher sound, and most of the tone is being resonated in your head before flowing out of your mouth.
Falsetto is actually just a stylistic vocal technique; head voice is a solid vocal register. That’s the difference.
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Elisha Rae
Tags: falsetto, head voice, singing, tone, vocal cords
I agree that falsetto is a stylistic vocal technique but based on this definition this is just an open sound on an exhale. From a classical definition the falsetto is the extremely high head voice of the male voice. It’s basically an attempt to resemble a female high soprano voice hence the term falsetto. The reason I make this distinction is because in Hawaiian music there is a singing style called falsetto which is written specifically for men only.
Yes I see what you’re saying, in classical music there is a voice called head voice for men to sing in, and it is taught as the high end of the head voice in men.
When I explain falsetto in this post, I am mainly speaking in terms of commercial singing, not necessarily classical. Many singers who don’t sing classical are confused as to what head voice is and what the voice is doing when singing in it. In other words, falsetto is absolutely an open sound on an exhale, it’s a breathy sound where the vocal cords are not really touching each other. Not enough to produce a full tone. When a singer is using their full voice, their vocal cords will be touching at least part of the way up.
I’m interested in knowing more about the Hawaiian style of music called falsetto; I haven’t hear anyone use it before! By chance would you have a link for it an example?
Thanks for the comment!
Elisha Rae
http://www.sing-like-a-pro.com