Again to John and Vocalisters:
You wrote: >I can't help but wonder if the "new style" of female belting that >has taken over pop music might somehow be related to the "new type" >of tenor singing that "took over" the vocal scene in the mid 1800s. >Singers are so often told not to abuse their chest-voices and yet we >have singers like Barbra Streisand who have seemingly been taking >their chest voices high for YEARS and also seemingly have less >problems than many operatic counterparts.
Regarding Streisand's belting it should be kept in mind that she seldom sings higher than D5 (C4 as Middle C) which is well within the range of a developed chest voice as it mixes above about G4. Her so called belting is more a use of chest voice than a true belt. By comparison the singing of Kelly Clarkson, who uses her voice badly, is that she literally yells in this same range and the result is destroying her voice. She has little idea of how to achieve the sound she desires and has developed a vocal coordination that is dangerous.
There are many operatic tenors who have done the same thing. They have chosen to use a heavy mechanism or chest voice much too high and, although they will have an exciting career for a while their vocal life span is greatly reduced. And it is most often impossible to convince such singers that they need to re-train so that they learn the necessary vocal coordination that develops their head voice which, as it strengthens will "appear" to be an extension of the chest voice but is not. Bjorling and Pavarotti learned this at an early age and had long and vocally healthy careers as a result. Their personal lives are another matter. -- Lloyd W. Hanson
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