Head Voice - WTF?

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First of all I admit I can't sing. I'm not tone deaf I can HEAR when I'm out of tune (most of the time) and when I'm intune (rarely). I always wanted to be able to sing though. Not so I could become Adele. But it would be nice not to traumatise cats and small children while singing along to the radio So as part of a self-improvement thing I started in January (poor timing on my part, thanks Corona!) I booked a course of singing lessons. Im not in the UK so we were able to actually re-start them a few weeks ago. I've had a few lessons and it turns out

1. I actually can sing in tune within a very narrow range
2. Theres a thing called head voice that I can't do. This is despite several lessons of the (very lovely and patient) singing teacher trying to show me what it is. I think I understand the theory. I can see and hear when she is doing it. I can also hear when she isnt.

Is there anything outside of the lessons I can do to improve? I have some exercises the teacher gave me, plus I tried you-tube tutorials but there are loads and they all seem to start "head voice is a very easy way to..." . I feel bad for the teacher that I'm just not getting it. I don't think this is her fault... Its meee. Or I could just give up but I'm stubborn.

I am in a choir and our leader often asks us to sing with our head voice or our chest voice. I don't find it a problem so I can't help you work it out but usually the head voice is lighter and higher and the chest voice is lower and deeper.

Chest voice refers to the sound generated from the vocal chords which are also used for speaking.

Chest voice is richer, lower and causes a vibration in your chest wen you sing.

Head voice is for the higher notes.

When the notes becomes too high for the chest voice to comfortably accommodate them without cracking or breaking, you start using your head voice.

The noise isn't generated in your head, but you may feel the vibrations in you nasopharynx, behind your nose and mouth.

Head voice is thinner, but can strengthen with practice.

www.backstage.com/magazine/article/singing-how-to-transition-from-chest-voice-to-head-voice-65559/

@Apolloanddaphne This is just it - I know I need it to be able to sing higher notes (and stay in tune). But I don't know how to do it. Everyone else seems to be able to access it automatically/instinctively without being able to explain exactly how.
@Gingernaut Thanks, Il look at the article. I think before I even worry about strengthening my head voice I need to actually be able to do it...

What happens when you sing up a scale? I know I transition from chest to head naturally as it gets higher. Maybe you are over thinking it?

@apolloanddaphne when I do scales at a certain point (I guess the point at which I need to transition from chest into head voice) my voice goes breathy and then breaks trying to hit the higher notes. I am definately overthinking it in that I know my jaw muscles are tensing up which makes the problem worse but I can't stop it. And wierdly I can do it and hit higher notes when Im going brrrrrrr with my lips (dont know the technical term for it) but not when Im singing la or ya or me or any other scale sounds. So it is a block in my head or just something I dont do naturally but everyone else does. Its not that theres something fundamentally wrong with my soft palate.

At best I can hit C5 but its VERY breathy and weak at that point and I cant always do it.

It might very well be that you are an Alto with a naturally deep voice and will never reach above E5.

To reach higher notes, think about bringing your voice forward - to the front of your face, even to your teeth.

Another trick: Stand tall and push both hands down on your sides to grow tall, then reach down for the high note.

Take a deep breath from your belly, then pull your stomach in and shout out the high note.

If you let me which of the above helps, I can try to say more in that direction.

For head voice try pulling your chin in towards your breastbone so the sound is generated behind your nose.

1. When you're doing the BRRRR sound and Cambridge up, put your hand on your larynx and you will feel it going up. The higher larynx is when you are singing higher. 2. Try doing a big vocalised sigh, staring high and going down. Then siren back up and down 3. Don't take a huge deep breath before singing, as you don't want to build up too much pressure - the air needs to escape through thin vocal folds when singing high, and if there's too much pressure, it makes this difficult and creates tension.
2. Think of the difference between the speaking lower voice and the singing voice as a continuum rather than a single moment when you switch from one to the other.

If you can get a note with the Brrrrrr, then starting a bit lower than the highest note you have to do that on (iyswim) make the brrrrr then slowly close your lips so you're humming (mmmmmm). Keep practising that as you go up, don't worry about how high you get-mm right now: when you begin to feel uncomfortable go back down doing the same thing.

Once you're happy with the brr-mmm you can open your mouth to transition to aaaa, but keep those sounds joined up as much as you can.