The great great Belt singers!

Let’s take a moment and appreciate the great Belters out there.

To belt is to take your chest voice up into a higher range with out transitioning into head voice or your falsetto and projecting it out strong.  I love a great belt voice.  Not many people are naturally inclined to do good belt singing.  Here are a few examples of singers who are great at it:

Someone a lot of people don’t think of as a serious singer, but who was great and on Broadway in her day was Comedian Carol Burnett.  She is one of those great belters with a natural placement, who is not known for having a “pretty voice”, but rather a great powerhouse free sound:  About 45 seconds into the clip it gets really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugLimIj98g

Next is the Vocal Goddess Barbra Streisand.  This woman is a freak of nature ( I mean that in the best way).  Only a handful of people can attempt to sing like her- I’ll give Celine Dion a pass for that.  The end of this rocks “Don’t” from Funny Girl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6E2Mooz_LA

Adina Menzel’s Defying Gravity from Wicked:  A great singer!  I can’t get the best clip from Youtube but here is the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4ekwTd6Ig

The thing about belting is that not everyone can do it or is meant to.  A lot of people try and blow out there voice.  It is a gift you are born with just like an Opera singer is often born into their specialty.  These belters are not straining and are connected to their own sound.  A straining “want to be belter”, is a tough thing to listen to and terrible for one’s vocal chords.  Be very careful when belting.  Try and get guidance from a good voice teacher to master it.  The power does not come from the throat, rather the body and strength supporting the sound.

Sing well people!written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want to receive immediate feedback on how you are singing from me?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my advice right away.

Follow me on twitter:http://www.twitter.com/singingvltg