I'm afraid I might be belting when I do not mean to

[Black Dog]

I should say I'm currently without a singing teacher, I've been "on the bench" for about an year but intend to resume lessons shortly (in a couple of weeks).
The thing is I have no experience belting, so it might be I misunderstood what it is and what is actually happenning.

I was doing some warm ups to get back on my feet and decided to see if I could find my first and second passagios (chest to middle and middle to head), they seem to be around d4 and g4 (used a phone app called pitch analyzer to minimize the possibility of mistakes), though I kinda have to force myself a bit to reach that g4 without breaking from f#4, I can also reach a g#4 without breaking but with some strain, on the lower passagio I can go higher than d4 (d4 seems pretty comfortable), to e4 I think, but that is also strained. And just to be complete, on lower register I guess I can go to f#2 but I can't actually sing until c#3, an even then, calling that singing would be a great abuse of language.

To the point:
I know about proper breathing support but to reach the higher notes I've been kinda pressing my voice down from where it is ressonating, as if I was trying to send the air back, and I don't know if this is belting or if it's an aspect of proper breating support I was not doing correctly. Definitely feeling the highest region of my chest, where it connects to the neck, vibrating and some neck tension on that g4 and g#4. Any way I can identify or understand better what I'm doing?

Also, regarding idenitification of the passagio, if I can reach a g4 on middle register but it breaks to g#4 on head, is my passagio g4 or g#4?

Thanks!

[Owen Korzec]

can you post a file of you practicing that area of your range so we can hear what's going on? it's hard to help a singer through text only

[Black Dog]

I'll try to, but as I said, I haven't sung in an year, I've been having acid reflux trouble since january of last year, and on top I was never good, so I will sound like trash haha.

[Jabroni]

I'll try to, but as I said, I haven't sung in an year, I've been having acid reflux trouble since january of last year, and on top I was never good, so I will sound like trash haha.

 

That's okay, we're not here to ridicule, only to help Best way is with a sound sample.

[Black Dog]

Will this do? Recorded quickly on my phone on my second try. My voice is a bit hoarse from reflux from this morning. I think I barelly hit a g#4, but that was under an ammount of strain I don't want to go through haha. A g#4 is definitely above the passagio.

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0EWF4moBmxi

 

Strangely enough after doing this take I tried a couple more times and that g4 is a bit looser (less strained) than on this take. Might be the phone microphone.

 

Edit:

Recorded another one, felt way less strain this time:

http://vocaroo.com/i/s17CiYYHATTF

[Owen Korzec]

Yea you are belting. Nothing wrong with that as long as you do it right but right now you are overusing energy and getting stuck. You can still sing in the way you are doing now and it's not unhealthy in moderation, you'll just find it physically difficult and your stamina and range will be cut short.

 

Getting back in to training after a year is of course going to be rough, but the solution here is to just train with a teacher who can guide you through it, so you're already on the right track.

 

But to oversimplify (lessons are the only thing that can truly teach you this), you need less excess tension around the throat, to thin out a bit to the higher range without flipping, and good vowel modifications to shift resonance through the passaggi so you can stay in full voice without tension. It will take years to get this all down really well even with a teacher, but without, you may never get there at all, so like I said, you're doing the right thing to get back into lessons soon once you brush up some stuff. And you can do that just by doing what you're doing. Like you noticed you could do it with less strain after practicing. Just keep practicing and shooting for that until your lessons start.

 

I'll just leave you with one quick tip to keep you busy, if it helps use it, if it doesn't, don't.

As you're going higher, when you get to the point where it feels like you're about to get "trapped" by tension, right before that point, gradually start shifting your vowel more and more toward an dark operatic variant "aw" as in "claw" while still keeping the throat and mouth fully open and tongue forward (like your ah here) and at the same time, back off the intensity a bit. The "aw" vowel, if you find the right pocket for it, will help you get the power with less effort (almost like you're thinking of going toward a falsettoey place but the resonant vowel is keeping you from flipping) and that might help get you up to an A or A#4 or so. If you crack or flip a couple times as you're trying this that's good because that's the opposite of gripping onto a note and getting stuck - the correct way is in the middle and in will take some experimentation on both sides (gripping/stuck/strained vs. too loose/cracking/flipping) to find the balance. Feel it out and try decreasing and increasing the intensity until you find the balance where you're backing off enough to reduce effort but not so much that you lose control of the note.

[Black Dog]

Working on that last part. I can already hit and sustain g4 with much less strain than when I recorded those. Most of the strain left on g4 is probably due to technical deficiencies on my part, I intend to solve that.

 

Is it possible to know how much I'm belting? I'm trying to not force too much, but I'm kinda unsure on when I start (I suppose it's g4 now).

 

Is it possible to hit high notes like c5 on chest without belting, or at least do it consistently and maintanable in a way that won't harm or strain my voice? Even if I have to go increasing little by little over time? If I force my voice too high this way my throat hurts a little and gets raspy (and so does my voice, it gets raspier and deeper) for some time after.

I'm asking this because I like the chestier sound and have terribly ugly head voice.

 

Also, just because I'm curious, how can people like Robert Plant belt f#5 or notes like that? I can't imagine hitting c5 doing what I'm doing, and if I did I'd probably sound like Tom Waits afterwards.

[Owen Korzec]

Yes there is a way to do it, it takes most people years to master (worth it of course), and it's not supposed to make you hoarse. Having your fundamentals (what I mentioned plus some other technical concepts) down very well is key and that is mostly what allows you to get your full voice up there, it's not really fancy tricks.

However Robert Plant is not pulling chest up there he's using what most people call head voice. It's way more similar in nature to falsetto than lower areas of the full voice but Robert gets the full sound because he doesn't flip to get up there he just "sheds off" vocal weight gradually - just enough to keep it from getting stuck at lower notes.

[Sexy Beast]

Will this do? Recorded quickly on my phone on my second try. My voice is a bit hoarse from reflux from this morning. I think I barelly hit a g#4, but that was under an ammount of strain I don't want to go through haha. A g#4 is definitely above the passagio.

 

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0EWF4moBmxi

 

 

Like Owen says you should "modify" the vowel.

 

You can also try to vocalize on rounder vowels like "oh" or "uh" but careful you don't widen it as you approach E4.