Jeannette LoVetri

Mark, There was only one brief moment where she was in head register. You would have to point out to me specific instances where that wasn’t true, as all I heard was chest dominant singing at softer or louder volumes.

Very well stated. I completely agree.

Carrie Underwood is not singing in mix most of the time. She is always singing as a belter, a very good one, but a belter who can get lighter as necessary. Mix implies that the sound is more like Kelli O’Hara and Julie Andrews above B5 (the one next to A44) in that it takes on a different overall quality or texture. Even Audra goes to head mix at about about C6. Singing a lighter belt sound does imply that there is less pressure on the vocal folds and that the sound is correctly produced, but the long (implied) closed phase of the full depth of the vocal folds, coupled with the high transglottal airflow (support) generates what is still a speech oriented vocal production, and is therefore chest dominant. As such, it isn’t head register (or the upper edges of the vocal folds) that is influencing things, it is the combined components of vocal tract configuration and open/closed phase. This confusion, which is typically a big juggernaut for classically trained singers, catches people all the time because they confuse “bright” resonance with head register when it is, in fact, the chest register component in the sound that comes from the open/closed phase of the folds and the sound pressure level and not so much from the vowel sound configuration (although in a good singer that can also vary).

Only time will tell, Sarah. You never know how the TV show will go on……and what long term effects it will have. And, it’s true that “legit” positioned against “belting” makes belting somehow seem illegitimate, and that is probably because long ago, when the terms were coined in theater, that was the thought. Belting was a kind of shouting and not “real” singing, so in some way it was not legitimate. We should probably have a new terms but what would they be? Classical and non-classical? That never worked. Belting and non-belting. Hm. Loud singing and not-so-loud singing? Only time will tell, truly.

Glad to know that you are out there, doing the good work that you do, to help students sing in a way that makes sense!