Please can someone define belting and also explain why it is damaging to children's voices?

At the school where I teach I have battled to start singing songs appropriate for children's voices but unfortunately I have to work with someone else who likes them to sing pop songs that are not only totally irrelevant to children but also not suitable for their voices. It would be good to go back in September armed with the facts about belting.

Thanks, barcarolle.

Belting is usually a strong mix (not pulled-up chest-voice, although some people sing like that) and therefore inappropriate for children, and that's for a handful of reasons:

1. It works with a strong larynx-tilt which is not advisable for beginners.
2. It is placed very much forward and usually neglects the back-spaces that are so important to develop the voice of a beginner.
3. It requires extreme muscular support which most singers and especially children don't have at the start.

Other reasons are that belting-repertoire is mostly too low for young voices and that kids' voices in general should be built up in their natural (mostly treble) range.
If they sing too heavy and chesty from the start, they will have a very difficult time to ever develop their top-register (I will not mention real physical damage like nodules etc.).

That is just a short introduction

P.S.: Belting is not harmful to the adult voice if learnt properly - I use and teach it myself and never had any problems. But you have to be pretty stable in your technique.

It's also worth pointing out that there are two kinds of belting recognised in the vocal anatomy world -

1) the strong, chestier mix that Mezzo is describing - it requires, as she pointed out, a very present tilt of the thyroid cartilage towards the cricoid - this lengthens and things the cords making higher notes easier to obtain with less pressure, then you place the resonance forward - principally in the mouth (although some people consider a nasal mix ok too - it depends on the music being sung) - which brings a really chesty sound to the overall product. The larynx here needs to be in a neutral position. This is very common in musical theatre styles and sounds great if done well.

2) The kind of belting I refer to 'safe yelling' - the larynx is placed in a very high position on purpose, then the false vocal chords are pulled back and phenomenal amounts of abdominal support are used (with a fair amount of back anchoring too) - this is effectively musical shouting. It sounds less harmonic-rich than number one, but i certainly louder and perhaps more appropriate when an actual yelled sound is required. Think Christina Aguilera.

Both kinds are perfectly safe if taught well and both have their place. Both are inappropriate for young voices, or even beginners, though - not so much for the thyroid tilt which is quite easy to teach, but essentially because if the support system isn't in place (particularly for number 2) the voice can be damaged through frequent mis-use of the techniques.

In Children, even if you do manage to teach the tilt (for number one) and the false chord deconstriction for number 2, so they end up doing it safely - the overall effect will be one of robbing the voice of richness and range over time.

It's not worth it on unmature voices or beginning singers. Icing the cake before it goes into the oven.

Allan

(Incidentally, I'm specialising in vocal anatomy for singing at the moment, so if you want any pictures etc to back this up and help you prepare for battle, please do PM me)

All very interesting - I wondered what was going on when people did the 'belting' type singing!
Do you know of any interesting books relating to singing anatomy etc Allan? I'm part way through a Speech Therapy degree (which I've had to suspend for the time being), so I find this kind of thing fascinating.

I would heartily recommend the two following books as standard texts :

ISBN: 0-9764816-0-X - Geography of the voice : anatomy of an adam's apple

ISBN: 2738108105 - Le guide de la voix

Second one only available in French, but worth it if you read French it's an excellent text written by an ORL (ear nose and throat specialist) who is also an amateur singer. Both texts have good solid vocal anatomy with a focus on singers and singing voice production. The first one looks more at 'what is it? Where is it? What does it do? etc.'

Let me know if you have any more specific requests!

I'm pleased to know a fellow voice geek!

Allan

I like The Structure of Singing by Richard Miller IBSN 0-534-25535-3

I bought it because it was recommended by Renee Fleming, and I find it very good.

I haven't read that one AnnC - it's gone on my list of things to read now (long, scary list... )

Thanks for the recommendation !

Thank you for your replies, they are really interesting.

So if children are singing too low (i.e. below the treble range - say Middle C on the piano), then is what they're doing to get a sound defined as belting?

At school the children enjoy 'singing' the James Blunt song Simone... the range for that is all very low and I feel that they're just shouting really. I know that the song is inappropriate for them because it's too low... but is the way they're 'singing' defined as belting?

Sorry to go on but am having difficulty grasping the definition.

No. What they're doing is pushing their range too low. If they were trying to belt in this range, the increased air pressure would simply push the notes out of tune.

Belting is, by definition, a way to sing the middle and upper part of one's register, not the lower part - the configuration of the larynx isn't possible in the lower registers.

Correct as always Allan. Although I'm now finding the natural bottom note of the average kid is B below middle C, some manage an A, again you can guide them to a better sound through using techniques to encourage the little chest register they have, but this needs to be done with extreme care.

Belting is done, as Allan says un the upper and upper-middle register of the voice.

Taking care of kids voices is a different issue to the teaching of belt and mix to developing voices or to adult voices.

Kids are a special issue, unfortunately taught by those who know nothing at a time where they really need an expert who will encourage their natural voice and range to develop.

Are you a little belter, jod?

In stature yes, In volume....

I mainly sing using classical technique so rarely rely on Belt and Mix. However my Climb Every Mountain on the otherhand...

And this is why it needs to be done on an individual basis. When teaching groups you have to play safe.

with the proviso that small groups of up to 4 allow a skilled vocal practitioner to hear individual voices and boost confidence with safety in numbers. Any greater than that is too many.

Yes, I agree. In France I get frequent requests from people saying 'do you teach group lessons' (the French are notorious penny pinchers... ) to which I always reply 'it is impossible to teach singing to groups of people as they all have different needs - all I can teach to a group is generic stuff that may or may not help'.

Workshops of course are a different matter - fixed objective, people know what they're getting in advance and can decide to come or not - but singing lessons in groups.... what nonsense! How are you supposed to solve the vocal problems of twenty different people all at once....

Nutters!

Allan

Thanks for the book recommendations - I shall take a look at those ... my brain could do with a bit of an exercise, I'm starting to feel a bit stale and slow off the mark!