Caitlin Craig Thomas Glen Masterclass 9/24/13

Emily Floyd: Emily's breath was deep, but not super released with it came to the down and outward motion.  I think the down and outward feeling would aid her in the long ascending phrases.  Her timbre was a bit swallowed the first time through, but when Thomas Glen asked her to speak the text first, and then sing it her voice came into focus.  It was a drastic change, and it sounded much more comfortable and less labored.  When he addressed singing louder, her throat opened on the vowel "oh", and there was a presence of consistency of depth throughout the entire phrase.  I saw a lot of good things happen for Emily today, I think that she is often afraid to sing high notes, but when she really let the text speak for itself, her voice and expression came naturally. 

Sarah Jane Boucher: Sarah's breath wasn't completely released, and I could hear it in her fluttering vibrato.  When Thomas asked her to do the sighing exercise, her posture changed, and her breath became released almost automatically.  The vibrato became more even.  I found this exercise to really change her thinking of not only the text, but also her approach to the phrasing.  Expression wasn't extremely solid, but I think that will come when she is more comfortable with the music, and feeling those energy inducing sighing exercises.  

Sarah Lowe: I was impressed with Sarah's breathing.  For a freshmen she seems to have a good concept of quiet and relaxed breaths, yes they could be quieter, but I think she did a pretty good job staying released while singing coloratura phrases.  Her timbre seemed to changed throughout the piece: her sound would often flip in between forward good resonation, to falling back.  When Thomas suggested feeling that extra energy of "delight" her sound stayed in that healthy speech-like place.  I found it interesting that lack of energy was a common fault in between all the singers today.  It changed their vocal production, and gave them more expression and life. I did feel like Sarah's diction was pretty solid as well.