I say Part 1 because belting is something that is so integral to new musical theatre and won’t be fully explained in just one post.

In this week’s belting lesson, I’m going to start with the assumption that you have been properly trained on how to belt healthfully and know how to belt. This post is going to focus on when to belt.

If you know how to belt, that doesn’t mean you should sing every note in a powerful chest voice.  As with all the advice I’ve given as part of this series, it really depends on what you’re singing.

This week’s #NMTvotw features Yael Karoly singing Jonathan Reid Gealt‘s Quiet. The video and this song are  absolutely astounding as an example for this concept. The first verse is very much in very soft, very head voice, but it slowly builds into that strong chest voice, especially as she loses patience, until finally she belts out that she can’t remain quiet. The words literally lead her there. She does soften back down into that nice soprano at the end, but that’s because her decision has already been made, and she’s confident in it.

Here’s just a quick list of places in songs or specific events songs could be about that you should consider belting during:

• Important discoveries
• Telling someone off
• The most important note of the song
• When you change your mind about something
• The second time you sing a phrase, chorus, or such
• Near the end
• On appropriate riffs

This isn’t even close to a complete list. In fact, I left it incomplete because I want to hear from you. What moments are belt-worthy for you?

The post #NMTVotW: Belting, part 1 appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.