I know what you mean, Chris and I agree. The vocal belting style used by Mary Martin, Doris Day, Ethel Merman et al had much more of a classical approach (more head tone in chest, larynx not as high as following belters, more spread vowels) than that of say, Bernadette Peters, Patti Lupone et al. One thing I discovered that surprised me several years ago: Ethel Merman's vocal quality is often recalled in the form presented by the people that imitate her in parody than by Miss Merman herself. I was pleasantly surprised upon seeing her in a Lucy rerun several years ago how soprano-like her quality came across and how less belted her vocal approach was than I seemed to remember.
Mark
On Sat, 10 Feb 2001 Mezzoid@a... wrote:
> BUT > Mary Martin was a belter > Ethel Merman was a belter > > These women did NOT use mikes in their performances. The use of mikes on > Bway came much much later. So what is the difference between the belters of > yesterday, who could sing w/o amplification and be heard in the back row, and > the belters of today, who can't be heard in the third row w/o mikes????? > There seems to be a radical difference in overtones, IMHO!!
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