How To Sing In Mixed Voice

How To Sing In Mixed Voice

Let me ask you a couple of questions.  Do you find that your voice hits a ceiling as you sing higher? Do you feel a lot of strain as you sing higher? Does your voice appear to have gaps in your range? If you answered yes to one or all of these questions then chances are you are either struggling to find your mixed voice or have no idea what it is and how it can help you.

I feel your pain.  As a young singer I had some real issues with the higher part of my voice.  My voice would feel fine and sound great until I started to sing higher.  It was as if my voice was hitting a ceiling.  It really frustrated me because I had no idea why it was happening.  The higher I tried to sing the harder it became. My voice would eventually give up due to the amount of work my “singing muscles” had to do.  My teacher at the time offered no solutions to me.  He concluded that there must be something wrong with my voice.  This really affected my confidence and I developed a real fear of singing high notes.  I found myself forced to sing in a small range which didn’t do my chances of making a career out of singing much good at all!

Fast forward 14 years and I do have a career as a professional singer and vocal coach.  I can now sing very high notes without feeling like I’m about to burst a blood vessel! My voice is seamless from top to bottom and I’m not limited to what I can perform.  I don’t write these things to impress you, I write them to give you hope because I was once in your shoes.  I know your frustration and pain, but I also know there is a solution.

My voice found its freedom when I found my mix voice.

What is Mixed Voice?

Okay it’s time for me to go into teacher mode.  I don’t want to bore you with too much theory on how the voice works as I want this article to be of practical value and not purely theoretical, but it is important that you know certain things.

Your voice has three distinct areas:

• Chest Voice  (The lowest part of your voice)
• Head Voice   (The highest part of your voice)
• Mixed Voice  (The area in between)

These areas are commonly called vocal registers.  Chest voice is called that because when you sing lower notes the sound should vibrate in your chest.  Head voice gets its title because as you sing higher the sound should vibrate in the cavities of your head.  Mixed voice is a combination of Chest and Head voice.  You get the best of both worlds.  The nice full texture of the low notes and the lighter less weighted sound of the higher notes.

Why Is Mixed Voice Important?

As you start to sing higher you need to drop weight from your voice.  Nearly every singer I have taught has come to me with this problem of carrying too much weight into the higher part of their voice.  The reason for this is related to our speaking voice.  We naturally speak in our chest voice.  Try it.  Put your hand on your chest and say a few words.  You should find that your chest vibrates when you speak.  Because we are very familiar with this part of our voice it is natural for a singer to try and carry this sound up to the top of the voice.  This is where problems start to occur.  The muscles that control the vocal cords can only hold that “chest position” for a certain amount of notes before it physically becomes impossible to do so.  You will find that if you try and carry that heavy sound up it will resemble a yell and the voice will eventually hit a ceiling.  Have you had this experience?  The answer?  Drop the weight! I will tell you how in a moment.

The second important role of mixed voice is fixing breaks in the voice.  There is nothing more embarrassing as a singer than having your voice break or crack during a performance.  These breaks always occur in two places:

• Between chest and mixed voice.
• Between mixed and head voice.

I have some news for you that should make you feel better.  Everyone has these breaks in their voice.  They are natural transition points commonly called “bridges”.  I’m only going to discuss the “first bridge” in this article which is your break between chest voice and mixed voice.  This is a very important part of your voice because it primes your vocal cords (and singing muscles) to sing higher.

Most singers are not aware of this first bridge and it is the main reason why I struggled so much in my early days as a singer.  I would take my chest voice up past this transition point giving my voice absolutely no chance to “re-coordinate” or change gears.  The solution?  Blend some head voice into your sound before you get to the “bridge”.  In fact it is a good idea to always have an element of head voice present in your sound as it will help you create a seamless voice.

Exercises To Develop Mixed Voice.

I am going to share with you two aspects of developing your mixed voice and the exercises associated with them.  The first and most vitally important is keeping a low larynx as you start to sing higher.  Your larynx is the bump in your neck (also called the adam’s apple).  To maintain a low larynx two great exercises are:

1. 1. A Liproll
2. 2. A “dopey” “mum” sound.

To perform a liproll you need to blow air out and try and make your lips vibrate together.  Imagine the sound you make when it is bitterly cold, or similar to the sound a horse makes.  The liproll is very effective to drop weight from your voice.  The “dopey mum” sound will help keep your larynx low.  I am going to include some video links at the end of the article that will show you how to do the exercises properly.

The second aspect of developing your mixed voice is the use of nasality.  Nasality will help transfer the vibration (resonance) into your head.  Exercises which I suggest are:

1. 1. Scales and arpeggios using “mm”, “nn” and “ng”
2. 2. Combining those nasal sounds with vowels.

My favourite exercises are scales using “ng” and the sound “nay”.  If you are struggling to work out how to do an “ng”, say the word “sing” and then hold the “ng” at the end.  It’s a great exercise for balancing the tone of your voice.  I will include links to these exercises at the end of the article.

Benefits Of The Mixed Voice.

There are some wonderful benefits you can expect when you discover and develop your mixed voice:

• An Increased Range
• Increased Power
• A more impressive and meatier tone
• Boosted Self Esteem and Confidence
• The ability to sing in a variety of genres
• Eliminated strain
• Increased vocal endurance

Learning how to sing with mixed voice solved so many vocal issues that I carried around for many years.  Issues that held me back vocally and affected my confidence.  I hope this article has given you some hope and ideas that you can use in your own vocal development.

You can learn more about the mixed voice and try and exercises outlined in this article by enrolling in my Free 8 Week Vocal Course “What I Didn’t Learn From My Singing Teacher But Wish I had”

Brett Manning also offers a dedicated course on the mixed voice called Mastering Mix.  I own a copy and recommend it to all of my students. 

Aussie Vocal Coach,

Ian Castle

To download this article as a pdf right click here and choose “save as”

How To Develop Your Tone

“I want to sound better!” How many times have you heard someone say this about their singing?  How many times have you said this to yourself?  During this Interactive Article you will learn the different “areas” of your voice, how they affect your tone, and how to adjust your sound so that it sounds better and is easier to sing.  Think of your voice as an engine in a car.  In order for a car to go faster the engine needs to change gears.  Your voice acts in a very similar way.  Your voice has 3 distinct “gears”:

1. Chest Voice
2. Mixed Voice
3. Head Voice

These “gears” are commonly referred to as vocal registers.

Chest Voice

This part of your voice is the most easily developed and recognized because it is used in everyday speech.  It is termed chest voice because of the sound resonating and vibrating in the chest cavity.  Take a moment to put your hand on your chest and speak as if you are in a conversation.

Being the most natural and common register there is a tendency for novice singers (and some not so novice!) to take their chest voice too high.  This will result in a yelling sound and will cause vocal fatigue.  A “changing of gears” is required to allow the voice to freely ascend into higher singing.

Here is a simple exercise to develop the chest register:

1. Ascending and Descending 5 note scale on “AH”

Head Voice

In order for the voice ascend into higher singing a “gear change” needs to occur.  Your chest voice will eventually “redline” as you take the chest voice up.  There will be a point where you cannot sing any higher.  This point is where you need to switch to your “head voice”.  It is termed head voice because the vibrating sensation moves from your chest cavity to the cavities in the face and nose.  It is a much thinner sound and feels lighter.

Here is a simple exercise to develop the head register:

1. Arpeggio using a lip roll

When doing these exercises, make sure you are not pushing the voice.  Let the sound “transfer” into your head naturally.  It is helpful to practice in front of a mirror.  Focus on the muscles in the middle of your neck and make sure they do not tense up.  The lip roll is used to keep your larynx low.

Before we continue I want you to make a sliding sound on “AH” starting in chest voice.  Ascend into head voice, then back down to chest.  Did you notice a change or a break from chest to head?  This is called a bridge in your voice.  It occurs for 2 or 3 notes and can be a troublesome area for singers.  This area can be improved and “ironed out” by developing….

The Mixed Voice.

To smooth the transition between chest and head voice, the resonance needs to be split between the two.

Here is a simple exercise to develop the mixed register:

1. Ascending and Descending 5 note scale on “MUH”.  Make sure you keep a low larynx position and maintain a “dopey” sound.

Bonus Exercise.

There is another vocal technique that can be used to help smooth out the registers and shed weight from the voice, Vocal Fry.  I know the name of it sounds quite strange but it is a sound you should be familiar with from the lesson on the onset of sound, the balanced onset.  It is also a sound you may make every day when waking.  You may have seen the movie “The Grudge” or remember the cartoon character “Elmer Fudd”.  These are great examples of vocal fry.

Here is a simple exercise to develop vocal fry:

1. Ascending and Descending 5 note scale.

When doing these exercises there should be no tension in the throat.  Monitor yourself by using a mirror.

The second area of Tone Development is vowel placement and modification.

The way you shape different vowels, the position of the three “articulators”, can drastically change the sound of your voice.

The three articulators of your voice are:

1. The Jaw
2. The Tongue
3. The Lips

Often singers will tense these articulators in speaking and singing.  The result will be “muddy” diction and tone.  Are you sensing a common theme here?  Tension and singing cannot co-exist.

We will now look at the five major vowels, the neutral position and the positioning of your articulators.

The Neutral Position

When at rest the tongue is relaxed, sitting on the lower teeth.  The jaw is slightly dropped and the lips relaxed and slightly parted.  I am going to refer to this position as Neutral.

Exercise 1.

I want you to say “I  E  A  O  U”

Notice the different jaw, tongue and lip positions for each vowel.

Say it again, but this time with tense and tight articulators.  Do you notice the difference?

The Five Vowels.

The combination of vowels flows from the most open to most closed vowels.

Neutral to “I”

Slightly wider lip position and slightly lower jaw position. The tongue rises at the back of the throat.

The next vowel is “E”.  The tongue should have increased contact with the lower teeth.  The jaw should drop slightly.  The lips should remain in a similar position to the “I” vowel.

Try it…

Neutral                     “I”                   “E”

Notice the slight tongue and jaw movement.

The next vowel is “A”.  The tongue should remain in the same position as the “E’ vowel.  The jaw should drop slightly.  The lips should also remain in a similar position.

Try it….

Neutral                     “I”                   “E”                  “A”

Notice how the jaw drops as you move between the vowels.

The next vowel in the sequence is “O” as in “hot”.  The jaw should remain dropped as in the previous vowel.  The lips become more rounded and the tongue will be slightly elevated to create space in the back of the throat.

Try it….

Neutral                     “I”                   “E”                  “A”                 “O”

The last vowel in the sequence is “U” as in “book”.  The jaw remains in the dropped position.  The lips are rounded, almost to a pouting position.  The tip of the tongue is elevated to create maximum space in the back of the throat.

Try it….

Neutral                     “I”                   “E”                  “A”                 “O”                 “U”

Here is a simple exercise for vowel shaping and placement:

1. IEAOU in an Ascending and Descending 5 note scale.








I hope you enjoyed this Interactive Article on Tone Development.  I will be adding more exercises so please revisit this article soon.  Feel free to share this article with your friends and family.




To download the exercises as an MP3 simply go to the MP3 Downloads page.

To access even more information and videos about Improving your Tone enrol in my Free Course.


Thanks for reading,

Ian Castle