Chest register

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The chest register is the speaking vocal range of a singer, for example, in baritones, notes below the E above middle C (C4, C1 in European notation). It is the major bulk of most male voices, however, in female voices, falsetto voices are also utilized in most cases for screaming (especially in female children who often hit whistle register when they scream). It is called the chest register because the pitch resonates throughout the chest cavity.

In commercial pop music, most rock, indie rock metal, and a lot of general pop music, belting is used to sing higher notes than are present in the average vocal range. These higher than average notes are hit using the chest register, albeit with careful studying on how to use minimum muscle effort to avoid damaging the vocal cords. Belting is often used to create large intervals and money notes. This type of singing is largely shunned in women in bel canto and Speech Level Singing, however it is taught, although to a lesser extent than fully possible in men in both methods due to the difference of male voices. To learn the full belting method, other schools of singing methodology generally must be sought out.

The chest register is one of three registers in the bel canto italian Opera singing method, and the largely commercial (usually used with RnB singers) Speech Level Singing method, where it is used along with head register, and the passagio middle area.

The chest voice is the register typically used in everyday speech. The first recorded mention of this register was around the 13th century, when it was distinguished from the throat and the head voice (pectoris, guttoris, capitis -- at this time it is likely head voice referred to the falsetto register, see falsetto article) by the writers Johannes de Garlandia and Jerome of Moravia.^[1]

The speaking voice is named as "the chest voice" in the Speech Level Singing method. It is so called because it can produce the sensation of the sound coming from the upper chest. This is because lower frequency sounds have longer wavelengths, and resonate mostly in the larger cavity of the chest. A person uses the chest voice when singing in the majority of his or her lower range.

It was discovered via stroboscope that during ordinary phonation, or speaking in a man the vocal folds contact with each other completely during each vibration closing the gap between them fully, if just for a small length of time. This closure cuts off the escaping air. When the air pressure in the trachea rises as a result of this closure, the folds are blown apart, while the vocal processes of the arytenoid cartilages remain in apposition. This creates an oval shaped gap between the folds and some air escapes, lowering the pressure inside the trachea. Rhythmic repetition of this movement a certain number of times a second creates a pitched note. This is how the chest voice is created.^[1]

The tonal qualities of the chest voice are usually described as being rich or full, but can also be belted or forced to make it sound powerful by shouting or screaming.

Use of overly strong chest voice in the higher registers in an attempt to hit higher notes in the chest can lead to forcing. Forcing can lead consequently to vocal deterioration.^[2]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b THE NEW GROVE Dictionary of MUSIC & MUSICIANS. Edited by Stanley Sadie, Volume 6. Edmund to Fryklund. ISBN 1-56159-174-2, Copyright Macmillan 1980.
^ The OXFORD DICTIONARY OF OPERA. JOHN WARRACK AND EWAN WEST, ISBN 0-19-869164-5