<p>LucyMom: You are correct, belting should not hurt. You should not be hoarse after belting either. When that happens, the singer is working too hard. The constrictor muscles are the ones that engage in swallowing to help work food into the stomach. It is quite common for those muscles (in the neck) to squeeze in on the larynx while singing unless taught to do otherwise. When that happens in a young singer, the muscles can bend the thyroid cartilage ever so slightly and help push the vocal folds together to strengthen the belt. That is the WRONG way to do it. That type of belting can lead to impact trauma, which can produce vocal damage. Not to mention, as the singer gets older, the cartilage ossifies (becomes bone) and you will no longer be able to squeeze the folds together through neck tension. If the vocal fold muscles (intrinsic muscles) never learn to bring the folds together on their own, as the singer gets around 25-30 years old you will hear a negative change in vocal quality and often range.</p>
<p>Classical breathing strategies can often also lead to problems in belters. Many teachers use an “up and in” approach to breathing. In young singers, that can be problematic. As singers get older, the vocal folds thicken and more air flow is indeed needed to vibrate them. However, in young singers, the vocal folds are often underdeveloped and one of two things will usually happen.<br>
- The muscles that pull the vocal folds together in the back of the larynx will be too weak to resist the excessive breath pressure and they will just blow open and produce an airy tone (Vennard, 1967). </p>
<p>2) The excessive breath pressure will drive the larynx up too high causing constriction. When this happens the tongue will often retract to counteract the high larynx and you have upward force (breath) and downward force (tongue) pushing on the larynx. That is not good either.</p>
<p>A teacher experienced with training the belt voice will ensure that a young singer is bringing the vocal folds together in chest dominant production without excessive force and will adjust the singer’s breath accordingly. For someone who is yelling, you may want to encourage a down and out breath to pull the vocal folds apart through tracheal pull (the diaphragm is attached to the lungs, which is attached to the trachea, which is attached to the larynx, which when lowered, slightly pulls the vocal folds apart in the back reducing excessive vocal fold closure). </p>
<p>In a singer struggling with engaging their chest voice, higher chest breathing can be helpful as it allows the larynx to raise slightly, which can bring the folds together. This is a trick, not an entire technique, but it can really work for some people. Dancers can also benefit from working with higher breaths as their abdominal muscles are usually tight like rubber bands and pull in with more force than singers with flabbier bellies.</p>
<p>Belting also requires experimenting with different positions of the soft palate, tongue, and lips than in classical singing in order to create brighter resonance. If you attempt to get a brighter sound without resonance adjustments, you will end up working harder than you actually need to. Our ears are more sensitive to high frequencies, therefore brighter sounds appear louder to an audience than darker sounds. Classical resonance strategies can lead a singer to push. Brighter resonance strategies can help a singer get that extra acoustic boost while reducing vocal fold load.</p>
<p>A researcher friend of mine likes to compare the two singing styles to shot put and javelin throwing. In both sports you are throwing an object and attempting to get the longest distance possible. However, the technique and muscular coordination required for each sport is different. Training yourself as a javelin thrower in order to compete in shot put would be foolish. Learning to sing with your legit voice as an MT is not foolish, its actually quite valuable for most people. However, expecting that classical training alone will prepare you to belt is misinformed. You must also realize that the legit voice of the 1950s to 60s is very different than the belt voice of today (listen to the original Oklahoma and then listen to Hugh Jackman sing it).</p>
<p>VT</p>