<p>Can a female soprano make it in musical theatre without a belt?</p>
<p>My D auditioned for 7 colleges this year and each school required one legit and one belt song.</p>
<p>Its possible to make it into the business of musical theatre, but I’m not sure about college. They want their students to be versatile and having a belt is quite common for young girls. The more things you can do the better.</p>
<p>Last year my D didn’t belt at four college auditions for various reasons. She got into all of those schools without belting, except one, which was an “impossible” school anyway.
She has, in the meanwhile, been working on it with a teacher well versed on the subject as she wants to be able to do contemporary shows as well as the golden oldies. She now describes herself as a soprano with belt/mix.
Some colleges would prefer to be the place where you learn to belt. Then there are other colleges that ask in the audition requirements that you do both styles.<br>
Read the requirements carefully!</p>
<p>^^It’s true - read the requirements carefully - many say uptempo and a ballad - but they aren’t telling you the uptempo has to be in belt. Personally, my feeling is you are better off being a legit singer without a belt (yet) than a belter without a legit voice (yet). My D has an incredibly strong and healthy belt, a great mix, but her legit is in process - it’s there, but it’s been hard for her. Of course, I may be coming from the “grass is always greener on the other side” point of view. </p>
<p>My daughter applied to 9 audition BFA MT schools and most if not all of them asked for contrasting songs or one uptempo and one ballad - there may have been one school where the requirement was one song with a sustained legato line and one belt. What we gave all of them was one all out belt and one mix with a little bit of legit - so I don’t know where you’re at - but can you give them one awesome legit - and one legit/mix with a little bit of belt? (btw - my d has 4 acceptances, 2 rejections and 3 yet to hear from). </p>
<p>It’s almost impossible to figure out what any one school is looking for - and I think the top top schools want and expect a good deal of skill in both - although one can certainly be more of a strength.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you’ve already auditioned and are worrying about this at this late date, or if you’re not a senior yet and are thinking about the future. But, if you are a junior or younger, my advice is to go out and find someone to help you find your belt. Two years ago, my D had virtually no head voice. With determination and good training, she’s come a long way - although belt and mix are still her strength - you can do the same!</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>The only school I have seen that specifically asks for a belt if you are a soprano is Penn State. Some of the schools that have a crossover program with VP (like OCU and Steinhardt) seem to appreciate the classical voice. My D (a junior in high school) is a legit soprano with a strong mix, and is just learning to belt, but she is only going to pull out her belt if a school asks her in auditions. There are plenty of uptempo and ballad soprano songs that are not belt songs. Although she feels at a disadvantage in the more pop/rock musical situations, she is more at home in the ingenue roles that require a legit soprano sound (Cosette, Miss Dorothy, Maria, Emma Carew, Marion, Johanna, etc.). I think the trick is to show the schools who YOU are, and if you have a good soprano song without much of a belt, choose songs that will show that off. As far as the MT world outside of college, certainly there are plenty of roles that require sopranos and do not require belting. But being able to do both will allow you to audition for, and hopefully get, more roles. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great answers! D is a jr. with a legit soprano classical voice. She also feels at a disadvantage with all the pop/rocks musicals. I am glad to hear that some colleges prefer that they teach you how to belt. All things to consider when finding good schools to visit this summer. Thanks!</p>
<p>D is a VP/ Musical Theatre major at Steinhardt. Whereas they certainly teach voice from a classical basis of training, in the end a lot of the girls that are cast in their shows still need to have a strong mix or belt–and a good number of the shows the faculty produces are leaning towards contempory and not just traditional musical theatre. In voice lessons, they teach students to mix/belt, but not a true belt…even though in senior year more contemporary repetoire is required for some classes. </p>
<p>I think many programs are torn between what they feel is healthy singing–and a bias towards musical theatre that is pre-Rent–and a realization of what it takes to be cast in the real world. And in the contemporary world of musical theatre, even the ingenues need to belt.</p>
<p>At my D’s school first semester (freshman year) is all about legit training - which she needed to work on and developed beautifully. Now they are working on belting. There are some kids in her class that have never belted. She says that it is very exciting to hear people as their voices develop over the semester. Kids work with the voice teachers privately and then sing their songs for the class. Bottom line - for auditions my daughter did not have what she considered a strong legit voice and there are kids in her class without a belt. They are receiving training for both at her school.</p>
<p>Upon re-reading this I see that you are asking about making a career without a belt? Perhaps your D’s strength will always be her legit voice - but should she not at least get some training to learn how to belt?</p>
<p>From Penn State’s website: “One song should be written prior to 1960 so that we may hear both traditional “Golden Age” singing and contemporary musical theatre singing. Additionally, it is our hope that women will demonstrate both their soprano and their belt voices.”</p>
<p>They do not require a belt during auditions, but would like to see auditionees be versatile. Like many have said here, I think most schools would prefer a legit singer w/o a belt than vice versa. Penn State has admitted students w/o a belt in the past. I think they are looking for students that are “trainable”. While my D did have a strong belt when she was admitted, she said that during auditions they didn’t pay much attention during her up-tempo with belt, but really perked up when she did her legit song. I do not think it is much of a disadvantage during auditions if you are lacking a belt, as long as you show you have potential.</p>
<p>lcrcmom, your original question was about ‘making it’ in the musical theatre world: In my opinion, making it in the MT world versus getting into a college program are not necessarily equivalent. It seems that many MT programs do tilt toward a belt sound, or the ability for a strong belt. And obviously, ideally it’s best to be as skilled in as many areas as possible. And it’s true that currently on Broadway, the pop belt singing is trendy. But there are also always shows requiring a legit voice - eg there’s nearly always a Sondheim and/or Rogers & Hammerstein/pre-1960s. And there are also many terrific, highly regarded regional theatres across the country, many of which employ legit sopranos. </p>
<p>Furthermore, as your D trains, she will hopefully learn to belt (probably). I do agree it’s much better to start with legit and supported, and then move on to belt rather than the reverse. </p>
<p>So, yes, I do think you can survive in MT if you can’t belt, just as you can survive in MT if you can’t dance. Although in the same way, you strengthen your marketability, particularly in the beginning of your career, if you can do as much as possible. </p>
<p>Some colleges look for belters, but other ones don’t. If she’s not going to belt, she should definitely choose two songs that are very contrasting in tone, approach, and expression. Does she have a coach who can help her with this?</p>
<p>Our daughter was in the same boat junior year of high school; great legit training with a fabulous voice teacher, but no belt. We did a 3 state search and could find no one out here in the Northwest that had legitimate training in teaching her to properly belt. Many said they had training, but it usually boiled down to a few workshops. Finally, we went with MTCA (music theater college auditions) early on for belt training, and for audition coaching. It worked beautifully! My daughter worked with a beautifully trained Broadway AND opera singer whose methods our current voice teacher approved of, and my daughter successfully learned a strong mix and starting belt. And, she did it all over SKYPE! From there, song and monologue picking and coaching made the most of what she had and she was accepted into a number of top MT schools and is currently at NYU. I strongly recommend MTCA for voice training and audition coaching! If she’s a junior, by all means, start right away! Feel free to pm me for more info.</p>
<p>Question from a naive dad: is it only sopranos that are supposed to do this belting stuff? My daughter is a junior with a pretty wide range, generally sings second soprano but can sing anywhere from alto to soprano. And she’s always saying she’s not a belter, but she’s working on it with her voice coach. So is the belting important only for sopranos or is it something looked at regardless of voice type?</p>
<p>jeffandann- It sure is a confusing topic. It used to be that sopranos never belted - they sang Laurie in Oklahoma! and sounded pretty and that was it. Then everything changed and they had to belt, as well (if they wanted to sing contemporary music). The altos have been belting all along, in musical theatre lit. Think of Ethel Merman.</p>
<p>70% of the musicals today are based on Tin Pan Alley style composition techniques or pop/rock music and therefore require some form of belting. Belting can be chest heavy or very mix oriented, it should not be stuck in the nose. Anyone and I mean ANYONE can learn to belt, they just need to work with a teacher who really understands the belt voice. The mechanics of the belt voice are different than the classical voice. There are plenty of teachers out there who teach both well, there are many more though that do not. But even legit singing now is different than it used to be. It cannot sound operatic, it cannot be too loud, the singing cannot be more important than the acting. The vibrato has to be under control and the vowels need to sound American, not Italian.</p>
<p>Times are changing constantly in MT and so are the singing preferences.</p>
<p>VT</p>