Sopranos vs Belters?

Personally, I much more impressed by a soprano with good technique. I honestly don't like belting at all, actually. I think the trend of rock musicals is causing younger theatre fans to lean to the side of belters.

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Respectfully, as someone who has occasion to hire singers, I typically go with a good chest production over a head voice. I find lyrics are more easily understood and there is much greater flexibility, shading and nuance in a belt voice. If I hear something that smacks at all of "technique" I know I cannot use it. It will sound artificial to an audience. That said, any voice that conveys lyric intelligently (Barbara Cook being a masterful example) gets the job. I have had to tell more than one lovely legit soprano to get to an acting class. And, when they do, they work! An unpopular but classic truism of musical theatre: the note must serve the word.

Not Enough Time...your comment about the ability to produce a greater lyrical quality in the chest voice than in the head voice makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your intelligent post.

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I find the change in the average timbre of women's voices over the last 100 years fascinating.

As our notions of "femininity" change, so does the voice. Back when a woman/girl was expected to be clean, demure, and soft, the soprano range was the norm. Women tended to speak in a higher register, and sing there as well.

As a musical director, I find that most women today are enormously uncomfortable using their head voice. Acting teachers encourage them to push their speaking registers down. And this correlates to the "masculinization" of women in an age when the ladette is admired, and women are encouraged to drink, swear, fight, and screw like a man (a la "Jersey Shore" and shows of that ilk).

On the occasions when I do find an experienced soprano, it's a rare and delightful treat.

Updated On: 9/17/10 at 10:31 AM

No, I would say all singing is technique (whether the singer is aware of it or not). Placement is a funny thing, and varies enormously form voice to voice. I've known women who can't keep any chest in their voice after the first break (around G above middle C). The second break occurs around B-C above middle C.

Some women negotiate these breaks as if they don't exist - Streisand in her youth, for instance, made her mix sound like pure belt all the way up to D above middle C (as does Menzel today). But even Chenoweth does a lot of mixing, rather than going to full head voice from that first break up.

I always recommend female singers (in the theatre) to work on that mix, putting chest into their head. In the opera world, it's entirely different - women need to "mix down," i.e. -put as much head into their chest as possible.