Belter's Questionnaire
Notice: The questionaire is temporary on hold while data is being analyzed.
Dear Paid Professional Belters:
Did you know that there is no demographic or codified information on belters? No one has ever compiled any information on the singers who have made belting famous! Who are you? How did you get to be the great vocalists you are? Why can you make these powerful belt sounds that not everyone can do? The truth is, no one knows, because no one has ever asked.
Why would this matter? Here are just three reasons:
- In order to properly address health issues it is important to understand how healthy, musically viable belting happens.
- In order to teach young people who want to make this sound how to do that, we need to understand how most singers have learned to sing it
- In order to examine the sound itself - its acoustic properties and behaviors - we need to find out what belters are hearing and feeling as they sing. Then we can analyze how belters change from style to style and how belting changes from person to person.
What's important about that? Everything! It's time for voice science and voice medicine to take belters and the music they sing seriously and to treat it the same way that classical music and opera singers are treated - respectfully!
Our most important concern is reaching enough professional belters who are willing to return the questionnaire to make its data significant. If only a few people respond, our research will be meaningless in a scientific "statistical" sense. Word of mouth would be our greatest hope and for that, we need you to assist us.
Won't you please help us reach as many paid professional belters as possible by (a) filling out this questionnaire and (b) asking your friends to fill one out, too. We have a web site that will make it possible to fill it out on line by clicking on this link Belter's Questionnaire. (Please note: The questionaire is on temporary hold while data is being analyzed.) If you have any questions, please contact either of us via e-mail.
We thank you for your help. If you would like a copy of the research when it is published, please be sure to give us your contact information.
Sincerely,
Donna Gullstrand Professor of Voice, Shenandoah Conservatory and Jeannette LoVetri Director of the Voice Workshop
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