Vocal Quality: Developing and Respecting Vocal Headroom

I’ve talked before about this idea of vocal tessitura. This is a very nuanced concept, so please have a read of that article. This week I wanted to talk about vocal headroom.

Here is the summarised definition of tessitura from that other article:

“Tessitura asks “how comfortable are you” in certain regions of your voice, and where should we place songs so that:
a) the melody of a song is in the best spot in your voice; and
b) the opportunity to style and riff/ornament above that melody is still open to you (while still remaining comfortable).”

What is vocal headroom?

Let’s start with this definition of tessitura. While reading it, let’s also think about how this can apply to us as we are figuring out a song.

Tessitura instructs us to optimise the key of a song such that you:
a) sound great on the original melody in that key without straining, and yet also
b) have melodic space above that original melody such that you can extrapolate or ornament the original melody as you see fit.

The emboldened elements outline the key take-aways for identifying and respecting your own vocal headroom.

1. Don’t stick songs so high you’re straining

This is a point I often talk about, so I don’t need to linger too long on it. If we stick a song too high, where we’re worried about making the top notes, then we’re right at the edge of our ability.

We should NEVER be performing songs like this. In truth, we shouldn’t ever really practice songs at the edge of our ability anyway, as this is where damage can creep in.

Ultimately though, when we try to sing at the edge of our ability, this inherently means our instrument is at it’s lowest ebb of quality. We shouldn’t be reaching up for top notes, let alone a whole melody. If we care about great singing, then this is an obvious no-no. Put the song in a key where it almost feels too easy.

SIDENOTE: We also don’t want to be pressing down to reach the low notes. That said, for some melodies in lighter female voices, this may be unavoidable. This is especially true for voices with less technical development. This can mean we need to alter the melody in select places to render the song singable. This concept is a whole article in itself, so we won’t be diving into it here.

2. Mark out space above the original melody

If we lower the key of of a given song as per point 1, you will have inherently moved the melody away from the absolute upper limit of your voice. This in turn frees up melodic space in your instrument to extrapolate the melody upwards. It’s a symbiotic win-win. The song becomes easier to sing, AND you gain extra range to play with musically.

Ideally you want at least a 5th (musical interval) between the top note of the melody and the upper limit of your voice. This will place the melody in a fairly easy feeling part of your voice, but will also let you enjoy about a 3rd/4th worth of headroom that you can extend into for style purposes. It also builds in a buffer for if you are feeling a bit off your game one day to the next.

The more strain-free range you have developed technically into your voice, the more headroom you have inherently created.

In turn, this makes the act of singing easier and easier, and more and more relaxing. With even intermediate voices I work with, we’ll have somewhere between a 5th and an octave of extra range in their voice above where they place melodies of their songs. Think about it – how much easier would songs feel if you had a full octave of range spare to jump into whenever you wanted to? That kind of ability gives singers such huge room to maneuver.

Such technical development and observancy of vocal headroom renders the original melody more relaxing and effortless. It also renders almost limitless opportunities for styling the song.

Headroom is about quality

The idea of headroom is not primarily about more range, it’s about conceptually marking out whatever range you have to sound better, sing for longer, and have more artistic options at your fingertips. By ‘marking out’ this headroom in your voice, you can make both the original melody feel easy and sound killer, AND be able to style with great ease, at a moment’s notice. Implement this in your voice and you’ll hear your performance ability level up substantially. It might require your ego dying a little bit, but that’s rarely a bad thing.