Perceptual Differences between Novice and Professional Music Theater Singers.
Lynn Maxfield, Brian Manternach
PMID 28888666WHAT IT FOUND
Professional music theater singers produced belt, mix, and legit sounds that casting directors identified more accurately than those from novice singers.
Raters relied on brassy or fluty tone quality rather than brightness or darkness to distinguish the styles.
Key findings
01Casting directors successfully identified whether a singer intended to produce a belt, mix, or legit sound, with a strong positive correlation between the singer's intent and the rater's score.
02The ability of raters to correctly identify the singing style was significantly stronger when listening to professional singers compared to novice student singers.
03Raters distinguished between belt and legit styles based on whether the voice sounded brassy or fluty, rather than bright or dark.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only 11 singers and 5 raters, which is a very small sample size. The singers were female only, so findings may not apply to male singers. The raters were casting directors without formal voice training, and their agreement with each other was only moderate. The study used isolated scales without accompaniment or lyrics, which may not reflect how singing is evaluated in a real audition. The pitches used were very high, potentially representing an extreme test case rather than typical performance ranges.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that 'bright' tone is the defining feature of belting. The study found that casting directors distinguished belt from legit primarily by whether the voice sounded brassy or fluty, with almost no correlation to how bright or dark the voice sounded.