Sarah Brenay - Masterclass Critiques

Hannah Lavato
I was really impressed with Hannah both in recital hour and in masterclass! I feel like she's put in a lot of hard work and is improving every time I hear her. She has a bright, bubbly timbre, especially delightful in the higher range of her voice. Her intonation was really good, which is something I know she has struggled with. She said she used Cindy's practice tips and learned that song in two weeks. Just sayin. Go Hannah! Her tendency to sway and bounce with the beat when she sings is distracting, and her diction needs some work, needs to be more crisp. Her low notes tend to be less full.
As Cindy worked with her on keeping space between her molars her voice started to come out more in the lower range. As Cindy mentioned, the resulting complications with tongue position will take some practice to work out, but already it's sounding much better.

Taylee Beckstead
Her shoulders are coming up a lot, I think this is part of Taylee's attempts to express the piece, but needs to stop because it's getting in the way of other things. The lower range of Taylee's voice is very sunken, needs to maintain vibrancy! High resonance! Ping! Lift! Bite pens and stuff Taylee. The upper range often sounds pinched and muscled - can see your throat clenching. Be very watchful of this! I also noticed that the vibrato could be more even. The diction was very good though, and her face speaks volumes! She's really comfortable with expression.
Cindy's work on Taylee's breathing with her shoulders helped release tension in the upper back, and her help keeping consonants on pitch helped out with intonation a lot! Taylee demonstrated great poise and confidence in front of the group.

LaeKin Burgess
She is not connecting with her lower body, which is cutting her support and strength in half. Hips are tilted oddly, and shoulders are caved in. Chest needs to come up like Gorilla! The breathe is low in the body but a little bucket-like. Could expand outward more. Tongue drops in low range, causing her to lose vibrancy and tone focus. The diction sounded nice. Expression was good, I can tell you're not afraid to use your face.
YES looks so much stronger standing up straight! YES! good good. The breathing technique Cindy used improved the onset of pitch, the release, and the pitches seem to come much easier. It was nice to hear how clear and lovely your voice sounded when you were focusing on breathing and not clenching up! What a nice tone.