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Belting SOUNDS strained but im not straining!


kellykitten

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My belts sound strained but I'm not straining! I used to strain all the time when I was in middle school and I know what it feels like. Having to cough all the time, hurting, sore throat, sometimes burning. I feel NO pain when I belt these but they sound strained! Help, please?

 

Recording: https://vocaroo.com/i/s0xTM6xoi78T

 

I hope the recording isn't too long lol

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That is way too airy for belting. What you are doing is the opposite of belting. It is mainly falsetto. It is even airy for a falsetto.

 

I can understand why it used to make you cough. Be very careful, even if it no longer makes you cough. You cannot generate the power of belting with a falsetto. Far from it. Falsetto is inherently soft.

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Hi Kelly,

 

Similar to what KT said. It's a bit on the airy side and there is some breathiness on top of your sound. To me it sounds like you're singing on "loose breath", in other words you may not be breathing deep enough. When the breath is not deep enough in the body then the result is lack of breath support because there's not enough expansion to allow your core muscles to engage, such as the rib cage and lower back muscles. Work on taking a slow and relaxed inhalation breath and then try to sustain a slow and long hiss of breath out. That should help you feel which muscles to need to be engaged when you sing.

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Hi Kelly,

 

Similar to what KT said. It's a bit on the airy side and there is some breathiness on top of your sound. To me it sounds like you're singing on "loose breath", in other words you may not be breathing deep enough. When the breath is not deep enough in the body then the result is lack of breath support because there's not enough expansion to allow your core muscles to engage, such as the rib cage and lower back muscles. Work on taking a slow and relaxed inhalation breath and then try to sustain a slow and long hiss of breath out. That should help you feel which muscles to need to be engaged when you sing.

 

(I read KT's post also but cant quote both)

 

Thank you! I will try making sure my diaphragm is engaged when Im belting and to work on my breath control/breathing. Im so used to singing in my throat. When I sing, usually I feel it all in my throat and hardly anything in my stomach chest or diaphragm.

 

And ill just add this- I also need to work on not making my voice shaky. Most of the time my voice is shaky when I sing and I dont even notice it. Its not TERRIBLE, like, REALLY wobbly and obnoxious, but its enough that you can kinda hear it when I sing.

 

I did get a months worth of voice lessons for christmas. Maybe I can work on this stuff.

-Using my diaphragm

-Vibrato

-Not making my voice so shaky

-Getting more comfortable with belting in front of people and knowing how it feels so I get it right every time

-Belting correctly, not "airy"

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Ive been practicing misery business and using my diaphragm really helped!

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1EYiFAf1yGj

Btw I TRY to do vibrato but sometimes it just sounds shaky, but the vibrato at the VERY end was good! Yaaay! Haha

 

 

Mainly needed to work on my shakiness here and I didnt sound too good, awfully nasal, but eh, Im working on it lol

 

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Yes, I did notice the shakiness in your sound. It is also a symptom of not getting the breath low enough in the body and lack of breath support. If I were to describe proper breath support, it feels like the breath is held deep in the body and then compressed using your back, abs and sides to put out a gradual and even stream of breath.

 

Also at the moment I don't recommend actively working with vibrato until you get the breath steady first. Sometimes singers can develop bad habits along the way when trying to "generate" vibrato. If the support is there and the voice is aligned then vibrato and overtones in the voice will naturally happen.

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The following may work for some people.

 

Imagine that you are outside in an open field, and a friend is nearly out of earshot. You try to attract her attention by calling her name. Mime accurately how you would do it. Some people would feel their trunk and lower back muscles engage automatically, and the belly and back expand and brace. Children do it automatically, all the time. When singing, you can invoke that same engagment, especially when "belting" or when singing higher notes.

 

(The more you feel the response in your trunk muscles, and the less in the chest and throat, the better you have the coordination. You should feel very little in the chest and throat.)

 

If the experiment doesn't work, you may have temporarily lost the instinct you had as a child, and need to rediscover it. This happens a lot, as children are always being told to "keep quiet". They may develop restrained voices.

 

The most important thing in belting is the "call" effect (this has to do with overtones -- for example, some people say that the effect is produced by a pronounced third harmonic). It doesn't have to done at volume at all, and practicing "call" at normal volume is probably a good place to start. Imagine that you are singing to somebody further away, but you are not allowed to raise the volume of your voice.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Hi Kelly,

 

First of all you have a lovely voice, there is a naturally pleasant quality to it:) I am a new musician so please take what I say with a grain of salt, but I do have two comments that might help. I noticed that there is a lot of distortion because of your microphone when you sing louder. You might want to adjust your mic settings, or step back from your mic when you practice belting. That way you'll have a clearer recording and you might find it easier to pinpoint what you like or don't like about your belting and self-adjust. I also sometimes have this same issue (with belting) and what I like to do is sing the phrase straight without belting or any other vocal decorations to make sure I have that it down normally first. Then I add back in the belt to try and isolate the problem. I personally feel like that helps me, but once again, I am definitely an amateur here!

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