Breakout Session

Beyond Belt: Vocal Timbre Variety in Contemporary Commercial Music

Sunday, June 24 • 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Presenter: Kathryn Paradise
Introduced by: Angela Holder
Location: Trinidad 1-3

Discussion of CCM style and technique is often saturated with discussion of the practice, health and semantics surrounding “belting.” While important, professional pop, R&B, country, rock and jazz vocalists spend a majority of their time using vocal colors that fall outside of belting. In fact, in popular music, a singer’s use of timbre variety is often what makes him or her compelling as an artist and immediately identifiable and appealing to audiences! This session will highlight the range of vocal timbre used in popular music and how these colors are applied to fit emotional, musical and stylistic goals. (Belting will be discussed as just one of many timbres!) Participants will leave with an increased understanding of basic source-filter theory and its role in shaping sound, an ability to listen to and analyze effective use of timbre variety in CCM, and will learn practical strategies for eliciting these vocal colors in their students.

About Kathryn Paradise

Kathryn Paradise joined Belmont University in 2007 as an instructor of commercial voice. Paradise earned both the BM and MM in Studio Music and Jazz Vocal Performance from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. While continuing to teach at Belmont University, she is completing a DMA at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Paradise has received certification in Somatic Voicework™, The LoVetri Method, from the Institute of Contemporary Commercial Music in Voice Pedagogy, and completed training in Vocology with Dr. Ingo Titze at the National Center for Voice and Speech. Her successful performing career as a jazz vocalist has included appearances with Kurt Elling, Elaine Elias and John Pizzarelli, and a feature on Putumayo’s international release, Woman of Jazz. Kathryn has presented at national conferences for JEN, NATS, The Voice Foundation and APME and is currently serving as Assistant Director of the School of Music at Belmont.