BEYOND CLASSICAL: MIXING IN THE BELT.

AN EXPLORATION OF MUSICAL THEATRE SINGING

by
Lauren Elizabeth Rathbun

A Senior Honors Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

The University of Utah
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Honors Degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts

In
Musical Theatre

Approved:

^_^Bnan Manterna< D.M.

Thesis Faculty Supervisor

Gage Williams, MFA

Chair, Department of Theatre

____________________

Sydney Cneek-ODonnell, PhD

Honors Faculty Advisor

Sylvia D. Torti, PhD

Dean, Honors College

Lauren Rathbun
Copyright August 2015

ABSTRACT
Belt, mix and classical are three terms for distinguishing the different sounds used
in musical theatre vocal repertoire. Each requires different techniques regarding
resonance space, vowels, laryngeal position, and breath management. For years, there
has been a debate among vocal pedagogues questioning the risk of belt and mix singing.
Through my journey at the University of Utah in the BFA Musical Theatre Program, I
was interested in demystifying the assumptions and questions presented about belt and
mix technique, and defining those sounds in my own voice. I documented my personal
discoveries gained through private instruction, at-home experimentation, comments from
competition judges, and inspiration from peers, to provide a detailed overview of each
technique. In this thesis I discuss the varying opinions on each and compare the outside
sources with my own experience. In musical theatre, it is vital for the female singer to
acquire maximum proficiency in each register to broaden her marketability, overall vocal
health, and opportunities in the industry.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

ii

PREFACE

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

vii

INTRODUCTION

MECHANICS

MISCONCEPTIONS

17

CURRENT APPLICATION

25

CONCLUSION

32

REFERENCES

35

iii

PREFACE
How many tools do you have in your toolbox? It is a lifelong process to acquire
the number of skills one needs to be successful in his or her field, and a never-ending one
at that. When I was a child, I thought that people were guaranteed success if they
mastered a skill in college. I quickly learned that the education one gains from college is
the starting point to building a life in the particular field of study, and that diversity
within the field often leads to opportunities. One is constantly changing and improving
according to alterations in technology, society, personal goals, and competition for jobs.
Also, the more knowledge and skills one is willing to tackle, the more opportunities
become present.
Musical theatre is a complex major to pursue because of its three equally
proficient entities required of one performer: acting, dancing, and singing. The ultimate
goal while in a BFA program is to acquire enough competence in all three skills to
become a triple threat, or a performer with equal abilities to act, sing, and dance well.
Ill emphasize -well here, for mediocrity in all three rarely guarantees survival in such a
competitive field. As a triple threat, one ideally should be able to audition for shows
that require brilliance in all three categories. It of course takes a special type of person to
have the intellectual capacity for acting, the physique and rhythm for dance, the natural
ability for singing, and the work ethic to succeed in all three. However, the achievement
is attainable, which is why many pursue the dream.
I grew up singing, being asked to audition for Utah Childrens Opera when I was

five (and pretending to forget the lyrics to Over the Rainbow in my audition to avoid
singing it because I was so nervous) and acting with The Childrens Theatre in
Downtown Salt Lake City for a while. In fourth grade I was accepted into The Madeleine
Choir School, Americas only
European-modeled performance singing and academic academy, in efforts from my
parents to develop my natural talent.
In high school, the musical theatre bug bit me and I decided to pursue the triple
threat career with a college degree. It was in college where I was exposed to the many
layers that lie beneath just the mere abilities to sing, act, and dance. Within each
category, there are so many skills and syntax one needs to learn, hone, and create.
Musical theatre entails a wide variety of vocal demands, with shows ranging from
operettas like Pirates o f Penzance to Golden Age musicals like Oklahoma, to extremely
text-heavy shows such as Into the Woods, to rock musicals like American Idiot. Many
shows require multiple vocal demands from one singer. In Phantom o f the Opera,
Madame Giry has to have a solid belt (a music theatre vocal technique) as well as high
soprano notes. In She Loves Me, most of Amalias songs are in a classical soprano
register, but she has to use more speech-dominant sound in the song Wheres My Shoe?
In the voice area of the Musical Theatre Program (MTP) at the University of
Utah, there is a strict curriculum that aims to build the toolbox of vocal colors and
ability. By the end of the four-year program, students have acquired songs for their
audition books from every time period of musical theatre repertoire, starting with Golden

Age through contemporary, as well as classical arias, art songs, and pieces from operas.
Belt, mix and classical are three terms for distinguishing the different sounds used
in music theatre, each requiring different techniques regarding resonance space, vowels,
and breath management. For years, there has been a debate among vocal pedagogues
questioning the risk of belt and mix singing. At the University of Utah, MTP students
begin their vocal studies singing only classical technique, with Italian art songs and
Golden Age repertoire in hopes to establish a healthy foundation upon which to
eventually build belt and mix singing. Through my journey at the U, I was particularly
interested in demystifying the assumptions and questions presented about belt and mix
technique, and finding those sounds in my own voice. I documented my personal
discoveries gained through private instruction, at-home experimentation, comments from
competition judges, and inspiration from peers to contribute to a capstone that would not
only inform and further my personal journey, but educate and hopefully inspire others in
their vocal studies. This thesis attempts to demystify the mechanics of classical, mix, and
belt in the female voice, defining the key elements used to produce the sounds through
the lens of my own personal journey, from teachers who have guided me, articles that
informed me, and peers who have inspired me.

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are so many, countless people who have helped me on my journey. I have
to first thank my parents, who have always encouraged me to follow every dream of
mine, pursue every talent, and also write this thesis. I owe everything to them.
I proudly acknowledge the faculty of the Madeleine Choir School of Salt Lake
City, Utah, who not only gave me an immense leg-up in music theory, but also a deep
love and appreciation of Classical music, and the voice as an instrument. Thank you for
lending me the initial spark to launch my singing career.
My continued inspiration, and initial music theatre education I owe to Mr. Steve
Pay, who fueled my performing desire and encouraged me to take a leap of faith into a
BFA program. Thank you for believing in me.
David and Shalee Schmidt have been with me through much of this journey. I
cant thank either of them enough for taking me under their wings as a vocal student,
accepting me into the MTP, and challenging and helping me grow every step of the way.
Thank you.
Many thanks to Shawna Gottfredson, who transformed my voice and showed me
the keys to truly unlock the depths and potential of my instrument. Thank you for sharing
your magic.
And a very special thanks to Dr. Brian Mantemach, my faculty supervisor for this
thesis, whose passion for learning and knowledge of the voice constantly inspires me to
be a better singer, performer, academic, and person. I cant thank you enough.
vii

I cant forget to acknowledge the performers in Utah, on Broadway, and in

London who unknowingly are much of the reason I continue to do this. In this field, I am
inspired daily!

viii

INTRODUCTION
Imagine yourself in the second row of Wicked on Broadway, blown away by
Elphabas last held note in Defying Gravity You may have noticed a difference
between the sound shes making on her last held note as she ascends into smoke on her
broomstick, versus the warmer sound of an opera singer. Thats because Elphaba and the
opera singer are using two different singing techniques used in musical theatre: belt and
classical. Since the seventeenth century, classical singing has carried the esteemed
reputation of being the most proper way to present a song in civilized society
(Edwin,Belt is Legit, 213). It wasnt until the twentieth century when Broadway stars
like Ethel Merman, Judy Garland, Patti Lupone, and others popularized a new and
outrageous way to use the vocal cords. Since then, there has been an ongoing debate
among vocal pedagogues about the legitimacy of belting, since the quality strays heavily
from classical. In recent years, vocal pedagogues have vigorously explored both styles of
singing through scopes, electroglottographs, vocal dosimeters, acoustic analysis through
programs like VoceVista, and through interviews of singers to properly define what is
happening in the voice during the different sounds.
Several terms exist in the realm of non-classical sounds. In addition to
belting are the terms: mix, mix/belt, chest mix, head mix, pure belt, light belt, healthy
belt, chest belt, power belt, pop belt, rock belt, twangy belt, high belt... the list goes on!
(LoVetri, 7). All represent the varying sounds among the speech-like, text-driven
approach through the middle register. For the purpose of simplicity in this paper, I will

only use the terms belt, mix, and occasionally head-dominant mix or chest-dominant
mix, in contrast with classical.
Belt voice lacks a singular definition. The word itself is derived from the slang
term for wallop, meaning delivering a hard blow. It is speech-like or yell-like in
character (Popeil, 77) and used in much of todays musical theatre. It requires a higher
sub-glottic pressure than classical singing, increased lung pressure, and represents an
extension the chest register upward in frequency beyond the expected modal voice range
into the range that characterizes falsetto (Leibowitz, 162). Musical theatre examples of
women belting include Ethel Merman singing Everythings Coming Up Roses from
Gypsy, Idina Menzels singing Defying Gravity from Wicked, and songs from rock
contemporary musical theatre such as American Idiot or Rock o f Ages. Quite simply,
belt singing sounds like someones speaking voice, and classical doesnt (Popeil, 77).
Before the invention of microphones, performers struggled to compete with the
loud brass bands of the Jazz Age. Belt singing grew out of the need to produce intense
un-amplified vocal sound to large audiences and over considerably large background
instrumental accompaniments (Titze,Source-Voice, 561). The technique was first
introduced during an operatic revolution, however. In 1830, the French tenor Gilbert
Duprez introduced a high C in chest voice on the opera stage. Leading up to Duprezs
time, tenors sang high notes with a light, mixed (chest and falsetto mix) production. In
the late 1800s, composers such as Puccini and Wagner started to prefer a more robust
tenor and baritone sound that contained more of the modal (male speaking) register at
high pitches (562). This same revolution for females occurred about a century later

when music theatre singers such as Ethel Merman were searching for a sound that would
fill a large house with the evolving Jazz Age without amplification, and where the text
could be easily understood. The quality was better suited to match jazz instruments, and
was a portrayal of stronger and self-determined characters (562). The classical world
scorned belt singing at first due to the unnatural extension of using chest voice for
singing notes in the head voice register. Belt was immediately condemned as low brow,
commercial, and somewhat the bastard child of authentic singing (Edwin, Belt is
Legit, 213).
Belt has a much broader definition now, and is used as a noun, adjective, and
verb in the music theatre community. A belter describes someone able to sing in this
vocal quality, who is often identified with it (LoVetri, 4). A belt song refers to a song
meant to be sung using belt technique (determined through research of the era in which it
was written, the context of the show, and analysis of the character who sings it). Belt
refers to the general sounds accepted by the definition, of which there are many. Two
individual voices can produce totally different sounds using the same technique, but can
be identified through recognizable qualities, which will be discussed in the Mechanics
section of this paper.
The term legit appeared as a nickname for classical singing in the early 1900s
to distinguish the elite way of singing from the newly introduced belt technique.
Italian classical technique is often referred to as bel canto, which refers to the period of
time in Italy starting in about the mid-1700s where certain qualities such as: vibrato on
every note, lifted soft palate in the mouth, and a resonant backspace to create open,

organic vowels became widely accepted around the world as a healthy way to produce
the desired operatic sound (Miller, 150). It is considered by many to be the standard
classical approach. One of the objectives of bel canto singers is the development of a
vocal scale that [is] pure, unbroken, and uninterrupted (150).

As author and voice

pedagogue Scott McCoy observed in his study of classical, bel canto-originated sound,
The throat is relaxed to its maximum circumference to produce a warmly resonant
sound (McCoy, 546). Beautiful quality of sound is prized above all else.
Mix is a term used through the middle voice (in females) from about an F4 to a
G5 that allows seamless blending of the head and chest voices throughout the middle
range. It is an acoustic strategy that enables sustainably lower pressure
levels (Bozeman, 70) in the voice because a singer learns how to mix head tones into her
chest production, making a belt sound that is more realistic to produce eight times a week
(the amount of performances shows have on Broadway). My voice teacher Brian
Manternach describes mix as an adjustment of the percentages of head and chest voice,
according to the desired timbre (color/tone) for the song or specific note.
The growing popularity of mix and belt singing over the twentieth century is
linked with the evolution and growth of musical theatre as an art form in the United
States. Show Boat in 1927 was the first theatre piece to integrate song and dialogue to
tell a serious storyline, and Oklahoma was the first to introduce dance as well. In both of
these shows, the text of the song was key in understanding the feelings of the characters,
which contributed to the plot. In musical theatre, the songs are used as catalysts for the
storyline, characters feelings, and to present the morals of the story rather than to display

the vocal abilities of the singer. As opposed to opera, vocal beauty is not the primary
goal, but rather, emotional expressivity and story telling (Balog, 402). With the advent
of rock n roll, musical writers started to experiment with the societal music trends, and
storytelling became a more important factor. Having a more speech-like singing quality
shifted the focus to the text, and as an added benefit, singers were able to compete with
the sounds from the accompanying brass bands, and eventually, rock bands that were
dominating musical theatre repertoire.
Acting is the most essential ability to possess for a successful career in music
theatre. Since theatre is about storytelling, pretty sounds only go so far as giving one a
solid base to build upon in interpreting a song. It is this base, however, that is necessary
for a singer to have control of in order to fully invest in the character and commit to the
text. My voice teacher Shawna Gottfredson refers to it as submitting yourself to the
character; fully investing in the story of the song once the technique is settled. By
knowing how to produce the various sounds with ease and consistency, one has the
freedom to sing anything from Oklahoma/ to Chicago to Memphis the Musical. And
when correct vocal navigation is attained, the text interpretation can build upon that, and
a song becomes a work of art.
In my studies at the University of Utah, I have explored classical, mix, and belt in
my own voice. I began school as a soprano, strongest in open-throated head and chest
voices, then half way through college, I discovered ease in raising my chest voice above
my passaggio to unlock a significant belt sound, as well as improving flexibility and
specificity in my mix voice. My senior vocal recital, entitled On My Way, included a

collection of songs in these different techniques, and I leave college with a commitment
to this life-long process of learning and developing the many aspects of my voice.
I am eager to explore the misconceptions about belt and mix singing, define the
basic mechanics of the voice and the evolution of that knowledge, and examine the
current applicability of being well-versed in the varying styles, and how these tools
contribute to a successful career in musical theatre.

MECHANICS
My collegiate vocal process began with gaining a more in-depth understanding of
the larynx: the musculature and air pathways, and studying how phonation technically
occurs. Clifton Wares book, Basics o f Vocal Pedagogy: The Foundation and Process o f
Singing was a significant guide to my comprehension of the vocal mechanism. In chapter
four, he breaks down the vocal process into the three basic components that drive the
sound: 1. Lungs, which use air pressure to 2. vibrate the vocal folds, which 3. produce
sound out of the vocal tract. He emphasizes breath as the first step in using the vocal
organ (Ware, 54). Later, he dedicates a whole chapter to emphasizing the necessity of
efficient and coordinated respiratory skills (73).
In Kenneth W. Bozemans book Practical Vocal Acoustics: Pedagogic
Applications fo r Teachers and Singers, a more recent guide through my journey, the
mode of phonation is described similarly, involving breath pressure, airflow, and glottal
(valve) resistance. Bozeman gathers these factors into a phonation equation: breath
pressure/airflow = glottal resistance. For vocal fold vibration to occur, there needs to be
sufficient sub-glottal air pressure, as well as a coordination of several laryngeal muscles.
The thyroarytenoid muscle, which well call TA for short, forms the body of each vocal
fold (Ware, 101). Air flows through this source for a chest voice sound. The TA is a
vocal fold shortening and thickening muscle, making up the body of the vocal folds
(Bozeman, 6). There is a muscle attached to the thyroid cartilage called the cricothyroid
muscle (nicknamed CT) that tilts the thyroid cartilage forward, hence lengthening the
TA muscle, creating the sound called head voice.

Robert Edwin, one of the most successful teachers of belting in the

world (McCoy, 546), performed a study examining TA and CT to find a clearer
understanding of belt. Edwin found that healthy, efficient belting is a result of keeping
the TA-CT muscle interaction properly balanced in each individual voice (Edwin,
Whats Going On, 72). A narrowed pharynx and more horizontal mouth position for
vowels and consonants make possible the bright resonance sound characteristic of
belting. He states that in order to create a healthy, efficient, and artistically credible belt,
a voice technique measurably different than that used in classical singing is
needed (Edwin, Belt is Legit, 214). In order to create the bright, speech-like sounds
with controlled vibrato, one must sing with TA-dominant vocal source. Approaching belt
technique from a classical standpoint requires a shift from tall, round vowels and formal
language to the production of bright, narrow vowels and speech-based language (215).
The shift is also accompanied with TA/CT muscular adjustments. Author and voice
pedagogue Karen Hall defines the difference between female music theatre and classical
singing as simply the use of head and chest register. In the simplest terms, female music
theater singing requires more use of chest register, especially in the middle register (the
middle-C octave), while classical singing uses more head register throughout the entire
vocal range. (Hall, 69).
I define belting in my own voice as a chest voice dominant sound with a yell or
call-like quality, energized in the same way as if I were calling out for a taxi cab. I feel a
forwardly-focused resonance in the front mask of my face, with open, speech-like
vowels, and occasional modification to uh, ah, or eh on sustained notes above

about a G4 (above my register break, called the passaggio). I define mixing in my

voice as a usually head-dominant sound with very forward resonance like belting, but
with more sensations in my nasal bone and not as wide of a backspace. Chest-dominant
mix in my voice feels like belting, but with the same resonance sensation in my nasal
bone as my head-dominant mix. The sensations and definitions I try to develop for the
sounds my voice teachers have identified in my voice as belt, head mix, and chest
mix seem to change daily, however! I am in the midst of this seemingly never-ending
process of learning and defining my instrument.
I have heard conflicting views from three different teachers of mine about
whether all belting is a mix of head and chest voices, with chest voice just being more
dominant, or if true belting is the extension of the chest voice above the passaggio, and
mixing is the conscious addition of head tones on notes throughout the entire middle
range. From about a C4 to B5 I can create three different sounds that I would classify as
belt, chest mix, and head mix. I hesitate to even make a distinction between belt and
chest mix, because really the only difference I feel is is a narrowing of my pharynx and
a more focused sound in the mix version. However, it is possible that what feels like pure
chest voice being carried up is actually mixed as well, just with a different pharyngeal
space. One song in my repertoire that has allowed me to play with the different sounds is
All to Pieces from Violet. I can comfortably sing this in (what feels like) pure chest
voice, in chest-dominant mix, as well as in head-dominant mix. I am eager to one day
observe my instrument during each sound production with Electroglottograph and see
what is actually happening in my larynx, and if indeed what feels like pure chest voice is

technically the same as what feels like chest mix. For this particular song, I found that
head-dominant mix feels the easiest in terms of effort but doesnt sound powerful enough
to match the blunt and callous personality of the character. Chest belt doesnt quite
match the twangy nature of the song, but chest-mix sounds style-appropriate, and feels
realistic to reproduce eight shows a week. These opinions are of course subjective, and in
a real production, it would be collaboration or specific direction from the music director
as to which sound was best. The decision of which sound to use varies among shows, and
depends on many factors.
I found Bozemans recent book helpful in breaking down the register differences.
He states that though research and conclusions about belting are still evolving, the
typical model is that belting, acoustically speaking, is a skillful form of what we have
defined as the yell... It is powerful, usually clear, high in energy, expressive, and
emotionally strong (Bozeman, 67). He continues to add that Because of its high energy
and potentially higher pressure levels, it also poses higher health risks if unskillfully
executed. Yet it is also apparent that those singers who master the skills necessary to this
form of vocalism manage to sustain long and healthy careers (67). He explains the
modification to open ah and eh vowels (as I earlier mentioned finding helpful in
sustaining belt notes) to create shapes more compatible with the acoustic requirements of
the yell (68). He explains how there is no distinct timbre or separate register for mix,
but rather it is a term used to describe the area of cooperation between the TA and CT that
retains a consistent timbre using an acoustic strategy to enable sustainably lower

pressure levels (70). Mix, he states, retains most of the timbre of chest but with less
heft, sheer breath force, and airflow.
Bozeman notes the unique element for good function in belting is especially high
energization, lower airflow, and somewhat higher pressure level compared to other
styles. He emphasizes the importance of physical energy through upper chest expansion
to allow full expansion of the intercostal rib muscles, which, combined with a sense of
whole body involvement and full but unforced commitment to expression helps diffuse
the extra work required of the high energy levels of belting (71).
Energy and commitment to the text has been crucial in my journey of learning
how to belt. Bozeman lists other factors among a heightened physical energy, such as a
lifted soft palate to increase ring, narrowed aryepiglottic sphincter (swallowing muscles),
increased vocal fold compression, and a more lateral lip opening than is typical for
Western classical timbre (71), but all in conjunction with sufficient breath energy. I have
found all these factors crucial for a flexible, pain-free, sustainable belt in my voice.
However, not all these adjustments are conscious.
In classical singing, the term for the perfect balance of breath to muscle activation
is called appoggio. This Italian noun translates as support, and is identifiable when
the singer produces a consistent, balanced tone with evenness throughout the register. To
find appoggio, I remember my teacher Shawna Gottfredson giving me a pelvic tilt
exercise: sitting upright on the edge of the chair, moving the pelvis slowly back, then
forward, in coordination with an inhale while tilting, and exhaling on ooo. This

12

exercise helped me locate the lower pelvic floor muscles that must activate for a deep
breath connection essential for locating my appoggio.
When my voice teacher started helping me identify appoggio, I felt gentle
activation from my pelvic floor muscles all the way up through my lower ribcage. To
recreate that sensation, I imagine a ribbon attached from the bottom of my body cavity up
to my hard palate. I imagine my breath to come from a pool in the bottom of my pelvis,
filling up my torso and being released through the mouth (as sound), with sensations of
buzz in various resonance spaces in my head and mouth (where this happens depends on
which style I am singing). I have to credit this imagery to my voice and text acting
coach, Sarah Shippobotham, who really helped me connect with and discover the full
range of my breath capacity through imagery and physicalization.
In 2009, a study was done asking a group of Broadway casting directors to
evaluate the belt voice quality of 20 musical theatre majors who were proficient in belting
(LeBorgne et al. 678). Results showed that the casting directors rated those with the
most ring and vibrato in the voice as the most elite belters. The study concluded that
singers should emphasize training appropriate breathing techniques, phonation
strategies, and resonance to maintain a healthy belt voice (685). It was after finding
appoggio that I was able to gain complete control over my breath the highly energized
belt sounds.
A goal for every singer is to eliminate natural register breaks. Through college, I
found this through coordinating my breath while learning to adjust the percentages of
head and chest voice through the middle range of about C4-E5, while maintaining

laryngeal stability and relaxation. Since the vocal mechanism is suspended in the throat
by a series of muscles, it can be moved inside the throat both externally (grabbing with
your hands and moving it) and internally (using the muscles to move it up and down). In
classical singing, one aims to eliminate extrinsic muscle tension in the larynx. By
learning to sing with a stabilized larynx, I discovered and located the resonance
sensations in my face and mouth that, through imagery, I used to find the sensation of the
passaggio notes and therefore smooth the transition. In voice lessons, I have always been
encouraged to create images associated with what I feel. For classical, the resonance
sensations happen in the middle of my hard palate and through the top of my skull. Head
voice-dominant mix feels very frontal in my mouth, with vibrations in the front of my
sinus cavity and corners of my nose. Chest belting feels resonant in the top half of my
face, with vibrations covering more surface area of my face than in mix or classical.
Associating images with my vocal production has helped me recreate those sounds, and
maintain consistency through the passaggios.
The Italian classical term for the desired vocal timbre, describing the resonance
quality, is chiaroscuro, (literally bright and dark) which involves focusing higher
notes (lighter), and broader for lower sounds (darker). Robert Edwin talks about the vital
role of resonance in distinguishing pop sounds from traditional Broadway mix and belt,
light, conversational legit, popera, and full classical sounds (Edwin, Pedagogic
Pears). For classical, with a lifted soft palate and open vowels, I feel the resonance
through the middle of the hard palate, extending through the top of my skull. Thinking of
the sound going up helps remind me to keep my palate lifted, as well as to feel

14

vibrancy and lift in the front of my face. A sound too far back, produced by zero forward
resonance and sound trapped in the back space, gives me limitations in range and sounds
swallowed and feels difficult and dull.
In belting, a similar phenomenon occurs. Kenneth Bozeman refers to the belt
version of chiaroscuro as chiarochiaro, since belt is very bright (Bozeman, 69). Easy,
legato, painless belting seems to require feeling sensations in more of the sinus cavity
than in classical; I feel vibrations in the front third of my mouth behind the teeth and in
the nasal cavity, balanced with a lifted soft palate. If the sound is not allowed to vibrate
in the front of the mask (face) and somewhat in the nose, the air is trapped in the middle/
back of my mouth, and the yell-quality of belting feels painful and too pressed at the
vocal folds. It took me awhile to discover mix because, as a classical singer, I always
feared having too much nasality. Learning to belt taught me that the proper amount of
nasal resonance is not only a good thing, but is necessary to a healthy sound.
While first experimenting with mix, I remember when I finally found the sweet
spot of nasal resonance it was while experimenting with Fine, Fine Line from Avenue
Q. The sensation on the held mixed notes gave me the same excitement I felt when
discovering appoggio. It is SO exciting to find new sounds!
Awareness and mobility of my soft palate was a huge benefit of starting as a
classical singer, because Ive found the soft palate to be another tool in creating healthy
head, mix, and belt productions. A lifted palate allows space for air to tumble and spin
in the back of the mouth: a term used to describe extremely vibrant and free, on-thebreath vibrato. When I am singing an aria or a classical music theatre piece, the sound

15

doesnt ring, have flexibility, or even tune if my soft palate is not raised. One main vocal
exercise I use to find the soft palate is called soft surprise: taking an open-mouth
inhalation with the sensation of something exciting happening. I feel my facial muscles
engage and slightly lift, my lungs immediately fill with air, and my soft palate rise,
creating a yawning sensation.
The soft palate is crucial for vocal control in several ways. The purpose of the
whole palate (hard and soft) is defined by author Barbara M. Doscher as a resonance
articulator. She states that the height of the soft palate to have a direct relationship to
the acoustic properties of the oral cavity and probably influences individual voice
characteristics (Doscher, 117). She also points out that in the elevated state, it [the soft
palate] creates more space in the pharynx and prevents an overly nasal quality (120).
Robert Edwin mentions this role of the soft palate in his article about vocal resonance,
saying that to find changes in resonance and vocal fold activity, sometimes one must
mechanically lower the soft palate to get the desired sound (Edwin, Pedagogic
Pears). I have found this to be true through voice lessons with Brian Manternach, with
whom I have spent ample time observing my soft palate in the mirror and consciously
raising and lowering the palate to adjust the nasal quality of my sound. For mix, I have
found lowering the soft palate to be beneficial in achieving resonance consistency
through the upper head mix register.
I recently had the privilege of conducting a Skype interview with Mary SaundersBarton, Head of Voice Instruction for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, and
Program Head of the MFA in Vocal Pedagogy for Musical Theatre at Penn State

University. In her estimation, the soft palate should always be lifted in mix voice while
moving into the narrow zone required for high mix to allow space for the sound. Since
then, I have been experimenting with maintaining a lifted palate when going from chestdominant mix voice into the head-mix range. It actually does ease the transition because
the muscles inside dont need to make such a drastic adjustment! In her 2013 article
Broadway Bound: Teaching Young Musical Theater Sinters in a College Training
Program, she suggests that Palatal control (isolation of the soft palate from the
movement of the larynx) is a key element in acquiring technical proficiency (SaundersBarton, Broadway Bound)
The breath is the power source of the vocal mechanism. The resonance works in
conjunction with the soft palate to direct the airflow and focus the sound, and the
articulators (mouth, tongue, lips, hard palate, and soft palate) create the vowel shapes and
consonants to complete the process. It is control and manipulation of the breath,
resonators, and articulators which serve as tools for singers to adjust their sound
accordingly.

MISCONCEPTIONS
Belt singing took a while to be recognized by voice associations as a teachable
singing technique. The classical world long scorned belt singing as an unnatural and
harmful way of using chest voice to hit notes normally sang in the head voice register.
Until about the 1980s, most teachers refused to teach belting, and those who did found a
lack of tangible evidence as to was actually going on in the larynx. In Kevin Robisons
book The Actor Sings: Discovering a Musical Voice for the Stage, he states, For years,
classically trained singers have been taught that the chest voice is not a legitimate register
for artistic singing. It was, and still is, frequently regarded by some teachers as
Broadway singing (Spivey, 607). There was condescending separation between
legitimate singing and Broadway.
When belting stormed America in the twentieth century, the launchpad of new
rock musicals like Hair in 1968, there were many assumptions made by classical vocal
pedagogues about the amplified, outrageous sounds they were hearing. NATS journalist
Norman Spivey wrote an article compiling many of the statements written about the
assumed dangers of belting. He quoted various opinions published in journals, articles,
and books ranging from 1969 to 2007, listing the most repeated condemnations of belting
as: 1. causing vocal nodes, 2. being the same as chest voice, 3, more strenuous on the
throat than classical, 4. causing hoarseness and weak laryngeal muscles, 5. belting is an
individual phenomena, not taught, and 6. belt and classical cannot be sung by the same
individual (Spivey, 609).

There have been a number studies conducted by universities, representatives of

various voice associations, and various pedagogues committed to exploring the subject.
The reason for the vast length of this ongoing debate on belting is not just that some
classical pedagogues are simply unwilling to change their views, but that research on the
belt voice has been just guess work for many years due to lack of technology to see the
technicalities in the larynx, as well as the lack of an established technique for belting.
Many assumptions have been made on either sides of the argument, advocating or
condoning belt singing.
Richard Miller, a well-respected singer, professor, and author, has published
several books and articles committed to vocal research, visiting hundreds of voice
studios and thousands of lessons from a wide range of pedagogic orientations (Miller,
xv). I have found many valuable insights on vowel modification, vocalises, and the
structure of the voice and breathing mechanism in his book The Structure o f Singing:
System and Art in Vocal Technique. However, this book as well as Solutions for Singers:
Tools for Performers and Teachers provide examples of assumptions made about the
female belt voice which caused a springboard for debate. He states:
Belting carried into the middle and upper regions of the range must surely
introduce physical conflict. I doubt that this can be done with impunity. A number of
teachers who are considered specialists in belting believe that voce mista (mixed voice)
can be turned into some form of belt. If that is the case, they probably are no longer
maintaining true belt quality (152).

19

Words such as must surely, I doubt, and If that is the case, they probably...
suggest the subjective quality of this statement. Ten years after this book was published,
some findings on the belt voice emerged that disproved this assumed theory.
We now know that the properly trained belter is at no greater vocal risk than a
classical singer. Classical voice pedagogue Scott McCoy conducted a study to see for
himself the dangers of belting in 2007, when he teamed up with Robert Edwin to
observe successful belt singers. The study observed the vocal muscle during head, belt/
mix, and full belt voices in a group of female singers using an electroglottograph (EGG)
to find the closed quotient (CQ) during head and chest voices, and to observe laryngeal
height adjustments during the different sounds. Among other assumptions, McCoy said
he expected to see obvious physical signs of vocal distress. Once again, I was wrong.
The physical hindrances of neck muscle tightness, improper breathing, and an elevated
larynx were not to be found in this study. He concluded that they are only found in
incorrect belting, just as they are only found in incorrect classical singing (McCoy, 548).
A study performed in Stockholm in 2006 examined the sub-glottic pressure and
electroglottograph signals in ten professional musical theatre and opera singers (five of
each) who sang a sequence of open vowel pae syllables starting at maximal vocal
loudness, then gradually decreasing vocal loudness, twice at one octave apart (Bjorkner,
533). After measuring both vocal adduction as well as sub-glottal pressure, results
implied that the music theatre singers did not use a more pressed phonation mode than
the opera singers. Due to the graphed results, there was an assumption of firmer
contraction of the vocalis muscle, but that could not be proven. This study did observe

20

that phonation at low lung volumes tended to increase glottal adductionm the music
theatre singers (537). Thus, insufficient breath energy was linked to increased impact
between the vocal folds. With ample breath support, the voices suffered no provable
worse effects from belt singing than from classical.
Like any controversial subject, varying opinions will always remain among
different singing techniques. However, there were several pioneers who, through their
own research and use of technology, were the first to clear up the many false assumptions
of belting. One such individual was Robert Edwin, a leading authority on classical
contemporary music CCM, who was the first pedagogue in the NATS Journal of Singing
publication dedicated to CCM (nonclassical) vocal pedagogy. He continues to produce
many well-researched, insightful articles as a current editor for the Popular Song and
Music Theatre section of the NATS Journal of Singing (Edwin, Biography).
In his 1998 article, Belting 101, he established the fact that belting had not only
been used for decades, but was a growing skill for music theatre performers to have due
to the apparent increase of contemporary music theatre repertoire. He accused the
uninformed singer of causing belt to be viewed as an unintelligent form of singing. In his
groundbreaking article, he asked readers to change their question from should belting be
considered a legitimate use of the voice? to How can we most effectively and
efficiently teach the belting style of singing? (55). He encouraged the NATS community
to become educated in the style that was so obviously important to the careers of many
students of singing.

Jo Estill was the first major publishing advocate, before Robert Edwin, of not
only belt singing, but jazz, opera, twang, speech and falsetto. She was the first to use
electromyographic (EMG) and EGG data to observe the closed quotient percentage and
muscle activity in both intrinsic and extrinsic muscles in the larynx during belt, speech,
and classical. Among many productive conclusions from her 1988 EMG/EGG-employed
study was the point that we should not wait to study the belting voice quality if we are to
help the singers who are using it now. (Estill, 43). Estill used herself as the study
subject, using her data to give the world its first ever scientific analysis of a successful
belter.
She nailed the fact that belt requires a different energy and vocal use than
classical. She stated that in view of her data, it would seem illogical to support that
training techniques would be the same, or that what is good technique for opera is
equally good for belting. Belting certainly gives me different resonance sensations than
classical does, as well as a wider expansion of the ribs and the feeling of fully expanding
the lungs, rather than imagining a lowered diaphragm (subjective to my experience of
course). However, her article argues that belting is harder for some than others due to
the extra extrinsic muscle engagement and the fact that for some it is unnatural to
sustain the unfamiliar posture (42). To a classically trained singer, belting can certainly
feel strange at firstbut I have discovered that it is certainly possible!
It is true that despite growing evidence supporting the legitimacy of belt
technique, unhealthy belting remains common due to the intensity of sound production.
Pedagogues Amy Leibowitz and R. J. Baken clarified belt register in physiological and

acoustic terms (Baken, 159) as requiring a greater effort both at the glottal source and
in the vocal tract, increased lung pressure, and raising of the first formant to the
frequency of the second harmonic (160). Doctor of Vocal Performance Barbara Burdick
confirmed the energy needed to produce belt exceeds that of chest voice and head
voice. She also warned, damage can occur if the belter allows the energy necessary to
support the sound to drop (Burdick, 261). I knew a BFA Musical Theatre student who
had developed vocal nodules after years of incorrect belting. She entered college with
the issue, and experienced vocal surgery her sophomore year, followed by a year of vocal
rest. The danger of vocal damage to the untrained or unaware singer is all too real!
Leibowitz and Bakens study measured the CQ and speed quotient (SQ) of the
vocal chords in professional female singers who were working on Broadway for the
previous two years. Each had to sing the last four bars of Maybe This Time from
Cabaret in both belt and classical styles. The women accomplished belt through an
increasing driving pressure and vocal fold adjustment as well as altering vocal tract
geometry. This was, and still is, another subject of debate about the health risk of belting,
as explored in the following study by Ingo R. Titze.
One of the basic observations about belting for several years has been the
adjustment of the larynx while ascending a scale. Acoustically, there is an advantage to
having a raised larynx in belt because formant frequencies increase when the resonance
tube is shortened. However it crowds the hyoid bone, the tongue, and the jaw, and can
prohibit sound. High laryngeal position in classical singing is a sign of an inexperienced
singer because classical technique aims to sing with a neutral throat to eliminate beauty-

23

inhibiting tension. Because a high larynx was (and still is) often observed in belt singers,
uninformed singers would try to purposefully raise their larynx in an effort to copy the
sound. In his study observing the adjustment of the larynx while belting, Titze found that
the larynx does rise in belt... But reluctantly! (Titze, 570). Forcing it to raise can cause
problems, hence it is the poor technique of the singer doing the damage, not necessarily
the overall nature of belting itself.
When I look in the mirror while belting and mixing, I notice my larynx adjust
slightly, but the extrinsic muscles stay relaxed. As soon as I engage any neck muscles,
my voice feels sore and the pitch cracks. I have found the laryngeal height adjustment to
be a product of the way the TA is being used in that sound, but it isnt something I
consciously do. Any forced adjustment would lead to discomfort and possible damage.
Since the groundbreaking discoveries of Jo Estill and Robert Edwin, voice
pedagogues have become increasingly eager to prove belt and mixs legitimacy,
especially as they continue to rise as a growing style demanded on Broadway. Several
events in recent years have edged voice pedagogues to find an answer to this ongoing
debate. One milestone happened in 2003 when the National Association of Teachers of
Singing (NATS)-certified Jeannette LoVetri created the term Contemporary Commercial
Music (CCM) for nonclassical singing. This inspired the first ever CCM Panel
Discussion at The Voice Foundations 35thAnnual Symposium in June 2006. It brought
together CCM advocates to discuss significant medical, scientific, pedagogic, and
artistic attention to this new hot topic. The creation of the nickname CCM gave
nonclassical singing recognition, rather than just being called that music other than

classical (Edwin, Belt Is Legit, 213). Since formal recognition of the technique, voice
pedagogues have been searching for an answer to this ongoing debate. Through
observing Broadway in the twenty-first century, it is clear there is no denying that the
belt voice has established itself as a vocal quality that is desired in the professional
arena (Balog, 405).

25

CURRENT APPLICATION
As studies continued to be produced and pedagogical discussions and debates
were abundant, pedagogues started recognizing and encouraging the benefit of vocal
cross training. In a 2005 article entitled Contemporary Music Theatre: Louder than
Words, Robert Edwin stressed the necessity of integrating nonclassical vocal pedagogy
and repertoire into universities. He stated that Initially, many [music theatre
programs] would have to go outside their departments to find experienced and qualified
instructors in that area (292). I was lucky to be provided with instructors who were
committed to expanding their knowledge in coordination with the constant renewal of
researched facts about belt and mix. In my very first voice lesson with Shawna
Gottfredson, she had just attended an out-of-state summer conference that gave new
information and exercises for voice instructors teaching belt technique. My supervisor
for this thesis, and current teacher Dr. Brian Manternach, keeps a plethora of current and
past articles, books, and interviews to keep up with the continuing research on all forms
of singing. As stated in Kenneth W. Bozemans Practical Vocal Acoustics, ongoing
open and honest collaborations between voice teachers and voice scientists... are needed
to advance the pedagogy and art of singing (Bozeman, xiv).
A major idea I have discovered through my vocal journey, and have been
reassured of through research, is the benefit of cross training. I noticed through my junior
and senior years of college that the more belt exercises I incorporated into my practice
sessions, the stronger my classical voice became. By the middle of senior year, I
developed a warm-up routine, with guidance from Shawna, that consisted of vocalises in

26

the order of: semi-occluded (e.g. lip buzzes), pure head voice, pure chest voice, then
mix. I found the separation of the head and chest voices, along with starting on
completely breath-driven semi-occluded sounds, to be the most successful route in
navigating all three with ease in every session. If I want to focus one day on just my
classical repertoire, I still warm up all areas of my voice because I feel increased
flexibility, ease, and a more overtone-brilliant quality in my classical sound.
I found comforting reassurance in this warm-up technique while reading Karen
Halls So You Want to Sing Music Theatre book in the Registers section. She
emphasizes the importance of developing a music theatre mix voice, since it has a
lighter and more spoken quality than belt singing and credits Jeannette LoVetris unique
exercises used to isolate both registers as the One of the most effective ways for a
female music theater singer to learn how to use her head and chest registers in music
theatre singing (Hall, 71).
Through strengthening and exploring the various resonances and vowels used in
my belt sound, I began to find greater ease in breath, a more vibrant ping in my head
voice, and the ability to sing golden age repertoire with greater ease. In one particular
voice lesson with Shawna, I remember going straight from Pres Des Remparts De
Seville from the opera Carmen, to Will You Love Me Tomorrow by Carole King, then
into a head voice-dominant mix song from The Bridges o f Madison County. By
implementing Shawnas dynamic warm-up, I was able to make necessary adjustments for
each songs vowel shapes, resonance sensations, and breath management with great ease.

The same is true for my classical voice having improved my belt. After feeling
chiaroscuro and appoggio in my classical warm-up, I can quickly connect to a properly
balanced belt. A warm-up in either pure head or pure chest makes it difficult to resist
excess laryngeal muscle tension, and hard to find the proper breath strategy. It is the
interweaving of all three that has strengthened and proved essential to the heath of my
voice as a whole.
Mary Saunders-Barton wrote an article in 2013 in the Journal of the New York
Singing Teachers Association entitled Broadway Bound, that glorifies the benefits of
cross-training young singers. She explains how her method of choosing repertoire each
semester addresses areas of weakness in the individual student to reap the benefit of
stretching and opening these young voices early on. In our recent interview, she
provided a couple examples of students who surpassed their expectations of their own
abilities after spending time improving their vocal weakness. First was a BFA freshman
who entered as strong mixer/belter with no head voice. Mary helped her strengthen the
head voice, which opened up the students instrument in a way that not only gave her a
top range, but greatly improved her already wonderful belt voice. After graduation, she
carried roles that would not have been vocally possible without the year of head voice
training. A similar transformation happened to a second year MFA student at Penn State,
who was a thirty-something year old excellent belter, with very little classical training.
After cross training in many classical voice lessons while maintaining her belt ability, she
was cast at the university as Mimi in Puccinis opera La Boheme.

28

Mary-Saunders Barton has been an extremely influential figure in educating voice

pedagogues around the world promoting her adage, Bel Canto Can Belto. As many of
her students have proven, and as I continue to unlock in my own voice, the classical
singer CAN learn to belt healthily, just as the belter can learn classical!
A quick look at the resumes of several successful Broadway performers proves
that many benefited from vocal versatility. Six-time Tony Award nominee Kelli OHara
has sung leading classical-voiced roles on Broadway such as in The Light in the Piazza,
and also mix/belted her way through shows like The Pajama Game. Kristin Chenoweth
received an MFA in Opera Performance, but her vocal elasticity has provided her gigs
from Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown to the title role in the coloratura-crazy Candide.
Marin Mazzie recently won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her role as Helen
Sinclair in Bullets Over Broadway, whose songs are predominantly in chest-mix, and
received a Tony Award nomination for her role in Cole Porters Kiss Me Kate. Her
resume lists everything from Golden-Age roles like Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, to
Diana Goodman in the contemporary-rock musical Next to Normal.
Another benefit of cross-training is how it improves the voice itself, as mentioned
earlier. In Robert Edwins article, Belt is Legit, he emphasizes how working both the
TA and CT strengthens the voice and aids in flexibility, coordination, and endurance.
When this was written in 2007, there were no universal belt exercises for the voice, but
rather, vocalises that could be done in classical or belt voice, using triads, scales, and
arpeggios, and that simply developed voice technique in support of belt (214).

Since Edwins article, there are a plethora of mix and belt exercises designed to
train the belt voice more specifically than general arpeggios. Mary Saunders-Barton lists
many in her Broadway Bound article. One of my favorites of Marys that Shawna taught
me is taxi, sung on a perfect fifth interval from high to low. I find it beneficial to look
out the window and actually imagine calling to a taxi cab along the street. Committing to
the situation allows my body to make the energized call sound without overthinking and
tensing up. Starting in the bottom of my chest voice, I carry the exercise up to about a
C5. Instigators such as this and Damn Cat!, (in this case, Im scolding a naughty cat
instead of flagging down a taxi) help me find the intention linked with the sound that is
ESSENTIAL for success in not just belting, but all musical theatre singing.
Perhaps the most obvious reason supporting cross-training of belt and legit in
musical theatre is to broaden ones castability. By observing the eclectic musical variety
of shows on Broadway, it is safe to conclude that belt, mix, and classical are all necessary
tools for aspiring singers to succeed on the Great White Way. Robert Edwin states,
Broadway, like our universe, continues to expand (Edwin, Whats Going On, 71). It
is necessary to be well-versed in both traditional and contemporary Broadway singing
styles to be marketable in the growing world of musical theatre. A short visit to
Broadwav.com provides proof of the co-existence of classically based musicals such as
Phantom o f the Opera with rock music shows such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Edwin uses the example of his students successful audition for the musical Spiderman:
Turn Off the Dark to support the adage that much like the dancer skilled in ballet, jazz,
tap, and hip hop, the singer who has legit and belt vocal skills can show up to many more

30

auditions than the singer fluent in only one style (72). Auditioning for a show such as
Spider-Man with an operetta song will not earn someone a call-back for this rock musical
written by Bono and The Edge. It is important for a performer to be versed in as many
Broadway sounds as possible to broaden ones opportunities.
In casting notices, auditioners are often informed of the vocal requirements,
which often say something like: Must belt to D, must mix to F, must sing legit to A, or
Must be able to sing a rock belt and a classical legit for a single role (Lovetri, 6). I
once attended a Norwegian Cruise Line audition that asked for two contrasting songs, for
which I presented a chest belt and high classical song, and in the audition room was then
asked to sing an excerpt of Elles high belt/mix at the end of So Much Better from
Legally Blonde the Musical. One has to be prepared for everything!
This increasing importance of well-versed and multi-skilled music theatre
performers in this competitive industry has some pedagogues questioning whether singers
should stop labeling themselves as a belter, mixer, or soprano, since one so clearly
benefits from being versed in all three. In my Skype interview with Mary SaundersBarton, she introduced me to her article entitled Farewell to Fach, in which she states:
The voice pedagogy required to meet the demands placed on todays performers
eliminated the concept of fach completely. (Vocal Fach is a term for categorizing
voice types. Ones fach in music theatre, in simplest terms, is either soprano, mixer or
belter.) All girls belt and sing soprano, she says, for which there is absence of a
formal pedagogy. Her instigation of the MFA in Voice Pedagogy for Musical Theatre at
Penn State University was built to address these demands.

The first graduate of that program was Christy Turnbow. She credits the crosstraining provided by that program for extending her range, bettering her belt technique,
helping her acquire a clearer understanding of the relationship between resonance and
pharyngeal space, as well as an exponential improvement in all areas of [her] craft as a
singer and a teacher (next generation article). I have found equivalent results as an
undergrad, and am eager to continue expanding my vocal capabilities and knowledge of
my instrument. In the words of Mary Saunders-Barton, Farewell to Fach! This is the
next generation of musical theatre singing.

CONCLUSION
Broadway is continually expanding, with the recent Tony award musical winners
ranging from the folk sound in Once, to classical in A Gentlemans Guide to Love and
Murder, to contemporary belt in Fun Home. There is no doubt that the more vocal
flexibility a music theatre performer has, the more opportunities will become present.
For years, the twentieth-century popularized belt technique was belittled and condemned
by many classical pedagogues. With the advent of new technology to view the vocal
mechanism from a scientific standpoint, opinions of belt began to change and more
studies were released presenting results in favor of that vocal production. Whether or not
individuals condone it, there is not doubt the technique is, and will continue to be, widely
used in the professional industry.
Like any physical activity, belting is un-damaging when used correctly, but can be
abusive to the uninformed singer. The belt voice can be taught in a healthy manner if
teachers understand the physiology and perceptual differences and learn techniques to
produce it (Burdick, 261). Recent technology such as video fluoroscopy and devices to
measure muscle movement in the voice are disproving previous assumptions of belting,
and expanding our knowledge of the voice as a whole. Voice pedagogues are utilizing this
technology to find that belt singing requires a higher larynx and increased sub-glottic
pressure, among other differences from classical singing, but through proper execution,
both forms are legitimate. As Robert Edwin points out, it is the uninformed singer who
causes belt to be viewed as an unintelligent form of singing. It is essential for female
music theatre singers to develop their mix voice production, since the integration of head

33

tones into a chest-dominant production, as well as the ability to produce a head-dominant

mix, are crucial to longevity of the belt sound. The timbres of belting and mixing in
my voice sound and feel different, and for the purpose of this paper, they were separated.
However I am beginning to find that all belting benefits from being a mixed sound.
Through fully understanding and continuing to learn about the mechanics of ones voice,
and finding an instructor who is committed to keeping up to date with the ever growing
research, singers can learn how to utilize their voice in a sustainable manner that will
carry them through arias, golden age, contemporary music theatre, and beyond.
I have identified a few key elements to my own sound productions, including
proper breath management, resonance visualization, and soft palate awareness, that, with
vowel modifications and commitment to the text of the song, as essential factors in
creating a healthy, flexible, and balanced TA/CT sound production.
I have found that eliminating the restriction of Ive been told I m___, therefore I
am and will always b e ___ has increased my vocal opportunities. Freshman year of
college, I was labeled a classical soprano according to where my voice fach seemed to
sit, and I limited myself to the repertoire in that range. My decision junior year to build
and strengthen my belt voice allowed me to exceeded all previous expectations of my
instrument. Allowing myself to sing everything instead of certain things has proved
beneficial in my advancement not only as a singer, but as an artist and a person as well.
Breaking down the walls built around me of assumptions and labels has been nothing
short of freeing.

Text interpretation takes prominence above the sound quality in musical theatre.
The greatest benefit from the advent of belt technique and its emergence in the music
theatre world was the freedom it gave singers to prioritize text over beauty of tone, since
belting began not only as a way to compete with the new brass orchestras, but also as a
way to express a greater range of humanity in the character whom the singer was
portraying, or the singer herself. If an artist is able to suit her voice appropriately for an
individual character, then the intentions, relationships, and objectives come alive, and the
singer can maintain longevity in her career.
It is the total investment in the text, the submission of oneself, to the characters
journey that makes any music theatre performance successful. I have found this
commitment crucial in not only performing, but throughout my vocal research and
schoolwork. Often the work you put in will open up doors for new discoveries or
opportunities. Since starting this thesis, I have changed my mind about many of the
assumptions I had about belting and mixing, and have made many new breakthroughs in
my mix, belt, and even classical voice. My most recent voila! moment was figuring
out how to carry a chest-voice dominant sound into a high belt (up to F5). I had a sudden
burst of inspiration while singing in my living room and unlocked a vocal quality I
NEVER imagined I would produce. I am excited to jump off the cliff into the
professional world of musical theatre with a deeper understanding of my own voice, and
with groundwork from which to build upon my continued research and vocal discoveries.
Once again, in the words of Elphaba, Nobody... is ever gonna bring me down!

35

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Name of Candidate

Lauren Elizabeth Rathbun

Birth date:

June 15,1993

Birth place:

Salt Lake City, Utah

Address:

1661 Downington Avenue

City, State, Zip