How to Belt When Singing: 4 Belting Exercises to Try

Belting is a vocal technique characterized by projected singing from a performer's chest voice. The belt sound has become a signature of musical theatre, where Broadway singers fill large venues with their powerfully projected vocals. Vocal belting also has a place in pop music, in styles ranging from gospel to R&B to country to hard rock to emo.

The belt technique differs from classical singing techniques that can produce a similarly powerful sound. Singers who aspire to have a pop-style voice quality train their singing voices for belting, which may contradict methods that classical singers practice with their vocal coaches.

When performed with poor technique, a belt voice can cause hoarseness, a diminished falsetto (head voice), and even nodules on the vocal cords inside your larynx. Healthy belting is quite possible, provided that you warm up with proven vocal exercises and keep tabs on your voice at all times. If you take proper care of your voice and vocal cords, you can belt notes night after night without damaging your voice.

To thrive as a vocal belter, approach your singing with the following strategies in mind.

1. 1. Open your mouth in a natural way. Allow your mouth to open naturally—with your jaw relaxing downward—so that air can freely flow from your windpipe. This allows your soft palate to expand and vibrate.
2. 2. Project from both your chest voice and head voice. While your airflow is controlled by your diaphragm, your actual singing comes from the vocal folds in your larynx. Successful belters use a mixed voice that emanates from both the chest voice and the head voice and centers right on the larynx.
3. 3. Stand straight with your muscles relaxed. The best posture for belting is standing upright with a straight spine and shoulders slightly back. While your posture should be straight, your muscles should be relaxed. Tension is a singer's great enemy as it pinches their vocal timbre and can lead to long-term vocal cord injury. Allow your body to relax and let your mouth open effortlessly.
4. 4. Accentuate consonants. While classical singing emphasizes vibrato-laden vowel sounds, belting tends to involve greater articulation. Singers focus on chiaro (bright) vocal timbre, which places words forward in the mouth. The end effect has a slight twang to it, particularly when compared to the classical technique.

Explore some singing exercises that voice teachers use to help their students improve their belting technique.

1. 1. Call out phrases that open your mouth. Practice projecting phrases with vowel sounds that raise your soft palate and open your jaw. The long "a" and short "a" sounds do this well, so a phrase like "hey man" (which incorporates both) is a good one to try projecting.
2. 2. Speak in recitative without changing volume. Recitative is a "speak-singing" vocal technique used in opera between formal musical numbers. Try speaking full sentences aloud in recitative without changing volume and without tensing any part of your airway. You can also try counting up to five or up to ten in this way. Sing longer and longer phrases to build up breath support and consistent air pressure. If you feel any tension, stop.
3. 3. Try signing phrases in fifths. The interval of a fifth is one of the fundamental intervals in music. To get the sound into your head, the first two notes in John Williams' theme from Star Wars are a perfect fifth. In solfège, this is going from do to sol. Try singing a four-word phrase like "I love my mom" as do-sol-sol-do. This will force you to go up and down in fifths and repeat notes of the same pitch.
4. 4. Focus on working in your head voice on high notes. Belt vocalists use their head voice to support higher pitches in their register. This is important because belting does not come from the center of your chest. It comes from an intersection of chest voice and head voice. As you sing passages with high notes, concentrate on shifting physical focus upward from your chest to your head. If you feel tension, stop and reset.

Classical singers are trained differently than pop music belters.

• Articulation: Classical singing emphasizes legato and vowel sounds; belting emphasizes chiaro voice and articulation. Belters focus on the articulation of consonants and tend to sing with a brighter, bell-like tone.
• Technique: Classical singers are trained to use rounded lips; belters open their mouths more. Belters widen their lips and let their jaws relax to promote airflow. Some belters even look like they're smiling when they sing.
• Vocal folds: Classical singers and belters develop different vocal folds. The classical singing technique builds long, thin vocal folds. The belting technique builds shorter, thicker vocal folds.
• Register: Classical singers use their head register more consistently. Classical singing consistently uses a mix of chest voice and head voice. Belting starts with the chest voice and incorporates head voice on higher notes.
• Vibrato: Classical singing has more consistent vibrato. The vibrato technique helps characterize classical singing. Belt singing uses vibrato in a much more sparing fashion. It can turn up in musical theater productions but is usually considered gaudy in rock and pop music.
• Vocal health: Both classical singers and belters must constantly monitor their vocal health. Any voice teacher will tell you that a great singer is nothing without a reliable instrument. Whether you're an alto gospel belter or a soprano opera diva, your voice is always susceptible to damage if you do not use it properly. All singers, no matter their voice sound and vocal range, must warm up before every performance, monitor tension in their vocal tract, and give themselves proper recovery time between singing engagements.

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