Sarah Breney
Breathing: Solid most of the time, not full enough to support consistently though.
Intonation: Beginnings of phrases eased into the correct pitch.
Timbre: Very even, clear.
Diction: Easy to understand, consonants were emphasized just right.
Expressiveness: Emotion was clearly portrayed, but phrase development, a little bit more contrast would have played it out better.
Overall: Enjoyable performance, but perhaps wasn't as comfortable with the selection as possible, leading to some slight tension.
Sarah Boucher
Breathing: Very well placed breaths, I hardly noticed them. Support was constant through phrases.
Intonation: Good, perhaps a few jumps were overreached.
Timbre: Very bright and airy. Following strong phrase ending, particularly with plenty of vibrato, the beginning of the next phrase was nearly indistinct sometimes.
Diction: Precise.
Expressiveness: Well developed characterization throughout the body, which made it naturally carry into the voice.
Overall: Great musical theater performance, very lively.
Taylee Beckstead
Breathing: Maybe not as relaxed as could be, but effective.
Intonation: In fast descending passages, the middle notes were losing their distinction.
Timbre: Consistent with great resonance for a very open feel, bright and happy.
Diction: Pretty clean, having to start and stop may have affected that though.
Expressiveness: Difficult with the nature of the performance but a little bit more could have been done.
Overall: A little more work to clean up the notes in those tricky descending passages and I'd call it fantastic.
Mariah Boyer
Breathing: Sometimes awkward, and didn't support the whole phrase. I wondered if her practice tempo hadn't been faster.
Intonation: Mostly on pitch, the jumps to the higher register felt sharp.
Timbre: Even and open, but again with the jumps, it felt like the sound got into the nasal passages a little bit.
Diction: Impressive, it's never easy switching back and forth from languages.
Expression: I couldn't identify a strong motive.
Overall: More breath control and relaxation on the jumps would have really transformed the piece.
Carolee Beck
Breathing: Gave support, but was a little jerky, I felt.
Intonation: Pitches were very distinct, a few phrases were eased into, but that may have been the nature of the piece and the desired effect.
Timbre: Heavy, a little throaty.
Diction: Not as clean as a typical art song, but again, that may have been the desired effect.
Expression: The sound and the body didn't quite match up. The sound was what I expected with the piece.
Overall: Jazzy. Felt a little bit forced, but the overall effect of the piece really showed a powerful voice.
Emily Cottam
Breathing: Not as smooth or relaxed as it could have been.
Intonation: Mostly very clean, but sometimes appeared a little flat.
Timbre: I think this is where the pitches come out a little flat, because of the deeply placed sound, and an almost dark tone, the pitch came out a little lower than intended. Very easy on the ear though.
Diction: Clean.
Expressiveness: I didn't feel the message of the song. The left arm was held at a stiff angle like she was thinking about directing herself, and made it seem as though she was simply singing, as opposed to performing and finding emotional connection.
Overall: Not as relaxed or open as I think it could have been. The sound was very pleasing and there was some great phrase development, but there could have been more.
Caitlin Craig
Breathing: Could have been deeper. The support wasn't enough for all phrases to be connected smoothly.
Intonation: Right on.
Timbre: Open and clear, but got the sound got sucked back occasionally.
Diction: Some of the French vowels got swallowed a little bit.
Expressiveness: I felt like the piece called for a bit more variety of feeling, but intensity was there.
Overall: Smooth performance and very relaxing voice. Just a little more support.
Laura Berg
Breathing: Quick breaths that lasted. Control was very consistent.
Intonation: Mostly solid, just a few notes seemed to waver a little bit in the lower regions.
Timbre: Very full, just a bit chesty on the low notes.
Diction: Not very clear. The consonants were hard to catch.
Expressiveness: Great use of dynamic contrast, but occasionally got too soft and the piano covered the voice.
Overall: Pleasing sound with great expression.
Hi Michael. I liked how carefully your were listening. Some especially helpful comments: "The sound got sucked back occasionally." Let's the singer know that the problem was not pervasive, but gives a good description of what you heard happening when the sound was less effective. "the left arm was held out stiffly." Again specific and descriptive of what you saw. Gives the singer something to monitor (increases their ability to detect errors if they know what they should be looking for.
ReplyDeleteOops. Sorry for the typo - you were listening, not your were listening.
ReplyDelete