Vocalist.org archive


From:  Domisosing@a...
Domisosing@a...
Date:  Sat Feb 10, 2001  10:49 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Do men belt? (Was scary teen belting)


Hi group,
I haven't been online in awhile due to some family emergencies, but this
is a hot topic that I've been wanting to jump into.
As far as "belt": these are my observations. First, yes, both men and
women can belt, if the definition of belt is a pulled chest voice, which
manifests itself with a loud, strident tone, and an extremely high laryngeal
position. THis is, of course, due to the action of the extrinsic muscles in
the larynx, coupled with the large amount of air pressure needed to produce
the vibration when chest is pulled this high. Typically, I have seen women
pull chest, or "belt" up to a D4 and men up to an A4. After that, the voice
will flip, or lose compression and go into a falsetto mode of production.
This is a common form of production in pop, gospel and R&B music right now,
and can be injurious in the long term. However, I have also heard of just as
many injuries being caused by taking a falsetto sound ( some call this head
voice) down too low into the chest register. The sound may not be as
strident, but typically it manifests itself with the same higher laryngeal
position and a large amount of air pressure.
The answer to this, is to train the intrinsic muscles of the larynx to
transition smoothly through all modes of production, chest, mix, head,
whistle........etc. WHen trained properly, the larynx will substantially
stabilize and only slight variations in vowel formations and air pressure
will be needed to created the stylized sound that the singer needs. The ideal
is to learn how to use the instrument correctly from a technical standpoint,
and then add the style the singer wants after that. This way, the voice
remains healthy and the singer gains the facility of expression they are
wanting no matter what the demands of the style. I have many singers who can
sound as if they are pulling chest, or belting, but do not manifest any of
the injurious symptoms that we have commonly associated with the belt sound.
This is what SLS calls "the mix" and is accomplished with ease and freedom by
the singer after a period of training or re-training.
As far as registration, passagi, or bridges and where they occur, by and
large they remain in the same zone for all singers. The only large deviations
I have found have been with true basses and contraltos. Randy, eluded to what
those zones were in a previous e=mail. The key to remember when addressing
passagi points, or bridges, is to not think of them as one note occurences,
but to realize that,when trained properly, they will be zones of transition
as different muscle groups take on the pitch making process. This process if
further enhanced by vowel modifications and air pressure adjustments. More,
all of this combines to produce different sensations for the singer, which is
where we get phrases, such as ring, buzz, forward, mask etc. It is important
to realize, however, that these sensations are not the way to achieve a
balanced registration, but are the results of a balanced registration brought
on by a proper approach to the passagi areas.
My two cents..............good to be back,
Mary Beth Felker

emusic.com