Balancing your belt …

Posted on | September 6, 2010 | 2 Comments

So what is the deal with belt? What is it and how do we get it?

Belt is that strong sound in the female voice you hear in contemporary commercial music. It is the powerful sound you hear when listening to Pink, Celine Dion, Indina Menzel or Lea Michelle. It is what you hear when Beyonce sings. It isn’t always the loudest, or highest sound. But there is a certain energy in the sound which creates excitement in the audience.

Belt is taking the muscles which support the lower register of your voice and systematically (and over time) training them to stay in play when you are singing higher notes. Normally, untrained voices might want to switch to a lighter feel around E – G above middle C, but belt is taking this register higher, to Ab, then up to C, and beyond. Some singers just have this quality, some need to train it into their muscles.

Belt scares some singers. It can feel dangerous when done badly. It sounds dangerous and edgy – which is why audiences are thrilled by the sound. If you belt too high, too loudly for too long, you can certainly do some damage and it is off to the ENT. Hemorrhage and, long term, nodules may appear on the vocal folds and this is scary indeed for singers.

However, when done correctly, belt feels amazing. I have been belting for at least 23 years, and most of the time well but occasionally not healthily. Which is why I know what it feels like to

1. Develop a belt

2. Stuff up a belt

3. Learn how to fix a belt

4. Maintain healthy belt

5. Increase the belt range

6. Blend the belt into your top notes by mixing into upper register

7. Keep speech quality throughout.

I have never damaged my own voice, but I have had singers come for rehab (after surgery) who have. It is great to hear their voices improve with correct technique. Belt requires lots of space in the pharynx, a careful balance of airflow and air pressure (too much airflow and you can overblow the sound, not enough, and the muscles won’t co-operate and the sound will be weak and under-energised. Too little air pressure and you have no belt, too much air pressure and  you get into dangerous territory again!)

Balancing the belt into the upper register requires a lot of body awareness, energy and sometimes patience. It is an awful feeling to have your voice simply “cut out” as you sing higher. This will happen when there is no twang present in the belt – it is too dark and heavy in the upper belt area – or there is too much flow and pressure – overblowing the top of the belt.  The muscles simply say “no way” and stop singing, or else disconnect into a breathy light sound which feels like a completely different voice.

Why do you need to belt? Well, quite simply, you don’t HAVE to belt. There is much beautiful singing and many beautiful singers out there who never need to or want to belt and that is great. However, much contemporary commercial music requires belt. Country, pop, rock, music theatre, jazz  styles (and all their intertwining permutations) use belt, and audiences often expect this sound. Classical singers CAN (and do) learn to belt. If they are not singing classical style, but  a contemporary song, really, it sounds inappropriate if they don’t! It probably sounds beautiful, but inappropriate. (Think Dame Kiri singing jazz – lovely, but kinda weird too!)

I love singing, I love belting, I love teaching belt – the excitement of a free belt is something I look forward to seeing on those students learning how to do this! What is your belt experience?

Comments