When I was in college I took formal voice lessons: classical/opera. My teacher then (and several I've met since do the same thing) spent the first half hour of my first class with him teaching me "head voice" and "chest voice" and the differrence was quite evident. From then on, my lessons were aimed more at perfecting the use of the two voices.

Spend just a little time with a classical voice teacher and you'll learn what's going on here.

Falsetto vs "natural range" (don't know what else to call it) is not the same as the difference between head voice and chest voice. However, my biggest hurdle was getting the chest voice when I was up in my falsetto range. I'm a baritone and [then] could reach the F above middle C with very little strain in my "natural" range. In falsetto, I could reach the second D and occasionally the second E above middle C. (Though nothing above about Bb really sounded good enough to sing in performance.)

GUEST,Lyle asked about a gap between falsetto and "natural". My teacher had me work both to stretch the "natural range" up and the "falsetto range" down. When I first started my lessons, there was a noticeable gap, probably 4-5 semitones. However, as I broadened the both ranges, I reached the point where they actually crossed over by 2-3 semitones. I.e., when I was in "natural range" and heading up, I would shift gradually into falsetto over that 2-3 note range and just keep on climbing. Same thing coming back down.

BB,

NightWing