I am a 23 yr old male singer, and I have found that over the past few years I have gradually lost the ability to sing in falsetto. I started having singing lessons when I was 18, and it was decided that my voice was in the baritone-tenor range. Even though singing lessons improved my natural singing voice and improved my range, I found now that I have no access to my falsetto, that was quite high and very reliable before I started having singing lessons. It went from good, to bleats and squawks, to now when I'm not able to sing in falsetto at all... I have not been singing in several years, and doubt that I have damaged my voice - I have always been careful and never really done anything that could cause lasting damage. Are there any suggestions you could give me that would help me regain this part of my voice?

It is impossible for me to give you any conclusive response without hearing an example of your current vocal condition. As our voice develops through training it can change the way it functions so that how you were accustomed to producing your falsetto doesn't work anymore and you have to adjust to your current condition. But it should still be there. Sometimes we can wear out the falsetto through the way we are training our full voice. If the voice is healthy you should be able to sing all of the pitches of your range in a quiet dynamic. If you have to crescendo as you rise in pitch there is an imbalance in the voice that is causing your falsetto to disappear. A good exercise for balancing the voice is to sing through your whole range quietly, from high to low. Start up around high B on an easy "oo" like an owl and descend. Try to minimize the "h" sound because that will blow through the cords too much with this light adjustment. Make sure your throat stays relaxed open. If it is squeezing closed at all it will make the light falsetto impossible.

Q&A

I am a female chorus teacher and have a difficult time explaining to my
male students how to sing falsetto. What is the best way to "explain" to
them how to sing in falsetto? Thanks


Understanding and explaining the opposite voice is a common challenge
among teachers. What I always try to assure people is that they are not
really different. They may differ in terms of degree, but the basic
configuration is the same. Falsetto is just the male head voice like
what is predominant in the female. Likewise females have some kind of
chest voice which is the dominant adjustment in the male. So taking your
own voice as an example you can demonstrate the change from your low
voice into your lighter voice that you sing with. I find demonstrating
to be the most successful option. Some respond immediately and others
may need to experiment more. One thing I would try is ask them to
imitate a woman or the hoot of an owl. Like most aspects of the voice,
what makes it challenging is that it responds automatically to our
thoughts and desires of what we want to do rather than our thoughts of
how to do it. In other words we have to figure out how to deliberately
influence involuntary muscle groups.