Belting in Musical Theatre

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 12/20/23 at 10:11pm

I've talked to many people about musical theatre and singing and found something near universal that I feel shouldn't be

People think climactic high note=belt 

This 

Is not the case

And should not be

For example, "Bring Him Home" is a song often tagged "belt" and I've asked some of my friends who aren't well versed in classical music if they'd describe the high A sung near the end in full voice as a belt and they all consistently say yes

But belting 

Well you all know this I'm sure 

But belting, very simply, is pushing the chest voice in females or the full voice in males into the range of the head voice in females or false voice in males 

It's characterized by lack of vibrato, a somewhat strained sound, and very open vowels

It's possible to reach similar heights without actually belting

For example, many classically trained tenors are able to sing a high D in full voice without needing to push it up (albeit it is at the top of their range and therefore still very demanding)

Given that, I find it shocking how many mezzo sopranos and tenors I hear belt every high D and high A that comes their way 

Sometimes I get the belting

Elphaba? 

Elphaba belts

But 

Does Evan Hansen really have to belt? 

Like tell me if I'm crazy: 

Every single Evan Hansen belts the high A during the climax of Words Fail

A lot of them, including Ben Platt, sing the G immediately after in a noticeably less strained full voice 

So tell me 

Why would you drop off power 

And risk vocal damage

While the instrumentals cut out

And then when they come back in 

All of a sudden now you place the high notes in the right place???? 

I know a lot of them can't not belt that note, but Ben Platt can go higher than that without belting

In a recent tour, I saw Geffrey Cornelius get a nose bleed from the forward vibration of the highest notes in that song 

And I think belting is obviously acceptable and a valid way to sing

But I really wonder why all of this belting of high notes is so necessary in modern musical theatre 

This is very long winded but I guess my main point is just 

How did we get to this point, why are we here, is it because of pop music, and why do people think that any time I use vibrato while singing a high C or literally use any falsetto at all that I'm singing "opera"

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 12/24/23 at 1:58am

I think part of it could be the American Idol-ification of music/pop songs, where the most "impressive" voices are the ones that have the biggest belts (and in a way I think the distinction of vocal timbre has sort of fallen away).  It's a bit of a perpetuating cycle too, as musical theater composers that compose pop scores will also use this for a lot of the high notes because it's impressive to audiences, and because that's becoming more common in musicals, we hear it more often so we also expect it more often.

I can't really relate to people thinking falsetto = opera, but I think that also shows a lack of knowledge of what opera is, and also probably just not used to hearing high notes not belted (though if you listen to anything Adam Levine sings, I doubt people would consider that opera).

[BETTY22]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 2:55pm

Julie Benko is a great belter.......

[baritonewithtenortendencies]

Posted: 12/27/23 at 5:47pm

BETTY22 said: "Julie Benko is a great belter......."

That's entirely true. And yet Kristin Chenoweth is a great opera singer and very little is written for her.