What Head Voice ACTUALLY Is (and How to Fix It Fast) – Voice Science

One of the most common complaints from singers is their head voice. You try to sing higher and suddenly you hit a ceiling, the tone gets thin or breathy, or the sound gives out. Does that happen when you try and sing higher?

And the advice you’ve probably been given? “Just relax.” “Place the sound in the mask.”

If relaxing fixed head voice, none of us would be looking for solutions. You can’t relax your way into stability. Your head voice doesn’t need to be found, it needs to be trained.

Head voice isn’t a sensation problem — it’s a muscle balance problem.

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

• What head voice actually is 
• How singers sabotage it without realizing it
• The exercises you can start using today to build a reliable head voice that holds steady when you need it

Let’s pull back the curtain and look at what’s physically happening.

At the risk of stating the obvious, head voice is not actually produced in your head, it is named for the vibratory sensation that some, though not all, singers feel when singing in this style. Now, since the sound is not originating in the head, what is happening? Head voice like all vocalizations originates from the vocal folds, for the purpose of this definition we will be focused on the true vocal folds, though some vocal styles do also incorporate the false vocal folds. The true vocal folds are tiny flaps of tissue located behind the thyroid cartilage, the bump on the front of your neck. The true vocal folds are made of multiple layers of tissue, but the muscles inside and outside are what control pitch.

On the inside we have the thyroarytenoid muscle or TA and on the outside of the thyroid cartilage we have the cricothyroid muscle or CT. The TA muscle is responsible for shortening and thickening the true vocal folds by reducing the distance between the thyroid cartilage and the arytenoid cartilages.

The CT muscle pulls the thyroid cartilage down and forward which stretches and thins the true vocal folds. One last important detail about these two muscles, they can both be active at the same time. In fact, they normally are. It is not some one or the other situation, it is a how much of one and how much of the other interaction, an epic tug of war called muscular antagonism.

For many singers, TA dominates. You try to ascend, but the tone gets strained or the pitch won’t ascend, you hit that ceiling. It isn’t because the head voice “isn’t there,” it’s because TA wins the tug‑of‑war.

Come with me on a quick trip down memory lane. The setting, the last face to face conversation you had. I want you to remember how the other person was speaking. They sounded like Mrs. Doubtfire right? Head voice, floaty, elongated vowel sounds, the whole thing, right?… Probably not. In fact almost without exception they were talking in chest voice and low in their chest voice at that. The majority of everyone speaks in their chest voice and in the bottom third of their vocal range. I draw your attention to this detail because chest voice is most likely how you go through all of your conversations every day. That means that your TA muscles are far more active than your CT muscles. This amount of repetition directly relates to the relative strength of your TA and CT muscles.You wouldn’t expect your calf muscles to get stronger because you are doing bicep curls, that wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

Now a second failure point exists for head voice, voice cracks. You are ascending (it’s nearly always the ascending line, right?), and bam your voice cracks, the pitch is gone, tone – what tone? All that remains is breathy, squeaky thing. This is caused by too much air pressure compared to the adduction (closure) of the true vocal folds. While there are technically two ways to fix this in theory I would encourage you to reduce the amount of air pressure you are trying to sing with. You can check out our very first episode “Unlocking Breath Support: Sing Powerfully Without More Air” to learn more about methods for reducing subglottal air pressure. Reducing the air pressure will allow your TA muscles to relax some which will certainly help you with your head voice.

To quickly recap. Pitch is controlled by the thyroarytenoid (TA) and cricothyroid (CT) muscles as well as a delicate balance with the subglottal air pressure. Your CT muscles are used significantly less often in your daily life leading to an imbalance in strength between the TA and CT muscles.

According to Holmberg et al., the average speaking pitch for an adult woman is roughly the G# below middle C, which might be surprising to you as G#3 is considered to be below the singing range of a soprano. But assuming she talks for two hours a day, seven days a week. That is 840 minutes of TA practice each week. How much time would you say you spend practicing head voice? Exactly. Avoiding head voice doesn’t just maintain the imbalance — it strengthens the dominant muscle (TA) and further weakens the one you need for head voice (CT). I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t practice 840 minutes of head voice each week, and I never have. We’ll get to some excellent ways to counteract this without 840 minutes of head voice practice shortly.

That’s the real point of failure: TA dominance through sheer repetition. Your head voice doesn’t fail because you’re missing it.

You think you are missing it because of the biggest misconception that causes all of the problems, a simple linguistic issue. Head voice, translated from the Italian voce di testa, was named after a sensation. But head voice is not a sensation — it’s a mechanical condition of the true vocal folds. Chasing a feeling leads to pushing and squeezing. If you are a singer that does feel this sensation sometimes, raise your tongue to a higher position — think an /ee/ vowel — the sensation goes away with a lower tongue position. There is no need to push or squeeze.

Gaining strength and coordination for head voice is actually amazingly simple, it just takes some very specific exercises and some dedication. The payout is worth it. At the top of this list is the only set of vocal exercises that have been scientifically proven to improve the function of your voice. The Vocal Function Exercises, or Stemple Exercises, are a research-backed vocal training protocol designed to strengthen and balance the vocal mechanism. Developed by Dr. Joseph Stemple, these exercises have been clinically proven to improve vocal function, endurance, and efficiency. Today, we're going to walk through the complete protocol so you can implement it in your own practice.

Okay, we know why head voice fails. Now we fix it.

The Protocol

Before we dive into the exercises themselves, let's talk about the structure of them. The protocol requires twice-daily practice, every single day, for a minimum of one month. After that initial month, you can maintain your results with once-daily practice. Each session takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete all four exercises. The most important principle to remember is that all exercises should be performed as softly as possible while maintaining a stable, consistent sound. This is about vocal efficiency, not volume. You're training your voice to work smarter, not harder.

Exercise 1: Sustained Comfortable Phonation

The first exercise is sustained comfortable phonation, which builds vocal endurance and breath control. Here's how it works: Take a maximal inhalation, meaning fill your lungs completely. Then, sustain the vowel "eeee", as long as possible on a comfortable pitch. The goal here is maximum duration, not volume or quality. Choose a pitch in your comfortable speaking range and keep the sound soft and steady. Don't push for volume; focus entirely on how long you can sustain the sound. After you've sustained it as long as you can, repeat the exercise a second time. You can track your progress by timing how long you're able to sustain the sound, and you should see that duration increase over the weeks of practice.

Exercise 2: Low to High Glide

The second exercise is the low to high glide, which stretches and strengthens the vocal folds through their full range. Start by taking an inhalation, then glide from your lowest physiological note to your highest physiological note. This is crucial to understand: we're talking about your actual lowest and highest pitches—your physiological range, not your artistic range. It doesn't matter if it sounds good. Start at your absolute lowest pitch, even if it sounds rough or feels uncomfortable, and end at your absolute highest pitch, even if it cracks or sounds thin. The entire glide should be smooth and continuous, and you should maintain soft dynamics throughout. Repeat this a second time.

Now, for the sound you use: Stemple's original protocol recommended the vowel "oh", but many voice professionals have found success with alternatives like lip trills, tongue trills, or other sounds. Choose whatever feels most comfortable for your voice. The key is that smooth glide through your entire range, from the very bottom to the very top.

Exercise 3: High to Low Glide

The third exercise completes the range work by reversing the direction. This is the high to low glide. Take an inhalation, then glide from your highest physiological note to your lowest physiological note. Just like the previous exercise, use your actual highest note—not the highest note you can sing beautifully, but the actual highest pitch you can produce. Begin at that absolute highest pitch, even if it's not pretty, and descend smoothly all the way to your lowest pitch. Keep the sound soft and controlled throughout. The goal is to stretch the vocal folds through their full range, not to sound musical. Repeat this a second time.

The sound options are the same as exercise two: Stemple recommended /o/, but lip trills, tongue trills, or other sounds work just as well. Choose what serves your voice best.

Exercise 4: Sustained Pentascale

The fourth and final exercise is the sustained pentascale, which builds vocal strength and resonance through sustained phonation at specific pitches. This one has a particular setup that's important to get right. Form tight "oh" lips, protruding them slightly more than you would for normal /o/ phonation. When you do this correctly, you should hear and feel a sympathetic buzz on your lips. This buzz creates optimal resonance and is essential to the exercise.

Once you've got that buzzy /o/ sound established, here's what you do: Take a maximal inhalation, then sustain each note for as long as possible with that buzzy /o/ sound. You're going to complete each of the five notes twice, for a total of ten sustained notes. Rest briefly between repetitions, and track your progress by timing how long you can sustain each note.

The specific pitches depend on your voice type. If you're a soprano, you'll use C4—that's middle C—then D4, E4, F4, and G4. Mezzos and altos start one note lower: B3, C#4, D#4, E4, and F#4. Tenors use E3, F#3, G#3, A3, and B3. Baritones and basses use C3, D3, E3, F3, and G3.

Here's something critical to understand about this exercise: there is no benefit to working your way up to higher pitches. Don't think of this as a progression where you're trying to get to the higher notes. Instead, focus entirely on extending the duration of your phonation for maximum benefit. If you can sustain 20 seconds on C4, that's far better than sustaining 10 seconds on G4. The strength comes from duration, not from pitch height.

Important Reminders

Now that we've covered all four exercises, let's talk about some important principles for making this protocol work. First, consistency is absolutely key. Missing sessions significantly reduces the effectiveness of this program. You need to aim for twice daily, every day. Second, remember that soft dynamics throughout all exercises is not optional—it's the entire point. All exercises should be performed quietly. Loud singing defeats the purpose. These are strengthening exercises that work through repetition and duration, not through force.

Third, commit to a minimum of one month before expecting significant results. Vocal changes take time, and you need to give your voice the full month to adapt and strengthen. After that initial month, you can transition to once-daily practice to maintain your improved vocal function.

Fourth, remember that this is rehabilitation and training, not music-making. These exercises may feel strange or boring compared to singing. That's normal. They're designed for vocal health and strength, not for musical expression. And finally, these exercises should never cause pain. If any exercise causes pain or discomfort, stop immediately and consult a voice professional. These exercises should feel like gentle stretching, not straining.

Expected Outcomes

So what can you expect after one month of consistent practice? You should notice increased vocal endurance—the ability to sing or speak for longer periods without fatigue. You'll likely experience more efficient phonation, meaning you'll require less air to produce the same sound. Your vocal range should expand, and you should hear improved voice quality and resonance. Many people also report reduced vocal fatigue in their daily speaking and singing activities.

The Vocal Function Exercises are a clinically proven method for developing vocal strength, flexibility, and endurance. Like any physical training program, consistency and proper technique are essential for results. Commit to the protocol, practice twice daily for a month, and pay attention to the changes in your voice. The results are worth the dedication.

After you have been working through the vocal function exercises for at least a month you have probably already noticed some improvements in your range and control. You’ve noticed an increase in range, delicacy, dynamic control, etc. I recommend descending into your mix voice from your head voice at this point. It will still be challenging to ascend into head voice but will continue to get easier with continued practice. Descending 5-tone scales starting high and slowly lowering are an excellent way to experiment. How low can you go without the sensation of TA dragging your voice down?

So to bring it home: your head voice isn’t fragile, mysterious, or missing — it’s under-trained. We covered what head voice actually is, mechanically: the balance between TA and CT. We looked at why most singers struggle — not because you can’t “find” head voice, but because daily speech heavily biases TA, leaving CT underconditioned. Then we walked through the Vocal Function Exercises — the only clinically validated protocol we have — to strengthen CT, build endurance, and give you the coordination needed for a reliable, stable head voice. Strength first. Repetition second. Coordination last. When the muscle is trained, the register stops being unpredictable.

If you want structure and support instead of guessing, VoSci Academy is where we keep going. Inside the Academy, you’ll get practice paths that tell you exactly what to work on each week, courses that take this kind of science and turn it into step-by-step training, and live Q&A sessions so you never get stuck alone. If you’re ready to train your voice with intention — not trial and error — join us at voicescience.org/academy.

Until next time — keep singing smart.