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Table of contents

1. Belting
   1. Warning Against Hyperadduction
   2. Components of Belting
   3. Mechanism Breaks

Belting

Belting is the technique of adding weight and volume to high pitches to force the voice to stay in M1. It can be thought of as the opposite approach to adding range as blending M2. Instead of making M1 lighter so we can transition into M2, we’re making it heavier so we don’t transition into M2 at all.

Example of belting:

Warning Against Hyperadduction

Belting is loud, and essentially yelling so loud we can go higher. This has a tendency to encourage hyperadduction. It’s best not to push the voice so hard it becomes hyperadducted. Slowly adding a note or two at a time in a scale can be a good way to reduce the chance of becoming hyperadducted.

Components of Belting

• adding weight
• adding airflow and closure (volume)
• raising pitch until just before mechanism break

Mechanism Breaks

Mechanism breaks or voice cracks are a sign that the voice is not heavy or loud enough for that pitch and so a threshold is crossed, flipping into M2. The answer is not to just force the voice to get louder, but instead question technique. Are you adding weight or just volume? The fact that a break happened is a sign that we’re belting because we have enough vocal weight and volume to not just slide into M2 seamlessly.

Mechanism Break: