WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SINGING MUSICAL THEATER AND OPERA?
Musical theater singing for women usually involves bringing the chest voice up fairly high (aka belting). Generally speaking, the tessitura of the music is quite a bit lower for the different voice types — a MT alto might be asked to sing in what a classically trained singer would think of as a tenor or contralto range; but she would be belting. I am no expert on belting, but it seems to me that a lot of MT singers use a certain amount of tension in the throat to achieve it, which is the antithesis of classical singing technique. Some of my colleagues who teach both styles of singing insist that there is a healthy way to belt, but that’s out of my area of expertise. MT singing is not necessarily about vocal beauty, which is not to say that it’s ugly, but merely that it is more important to express the text using a wide palette of sounds, some of which are unmusical. Also, the MT technique requires miking to be heard. Operatic singing is more supported and concentrated on beauty and e
