VRH 09/19-Taylee

Luke S.
B: Bucket, tight upper body in first few lines, but relaxed more afterwards.
I: accurate, but it was achieved through being overly cautious.... if that makes any sense.
T: thinner than I've heard before, but flowed well.
D: AWESOME! each word was distinguishable!
E: eyes seemed out of focus like he was thinking a lot more that feeling.
O: seemed to perform this piece with a check point mindset: Do this, this and this. Yes things were accomplished but it didn't seem authentic. Luke can do such a great job in giving a purpose and meaning to a piece and this one kind of was lacking that finesse.
H: I'm not sure if the coaching was short-term beneficial, but I could tell that it gave Luke a lot of really good things to think about (as well as everyone else). There needed to be a better connection between speaking vs singing. Luke was able to make progress in the right direction with this. Also Thomas gave Luke some great ideas about how to feel more at home in a style/genre that he doesn't necessarily love. it goes beyond "why am I (the singer) singing this particular piece?" It is more along the lines of "what does singing this song accomplish, and can the audience understand that?"

Elizabeth T.
B: exhales a lot of unnecessary air.
I: accurate but by being so accurate it disconnected phrases.
T: seemed to adjust depending on what word was being said. Sometimes it was more sassy, sounding bright and very forward. Other emotions that were more thoughtful made the timbre full and rich.
D: always heard consonants but they seemed to get the focus of my attention rather than the word that was being formed and what it meant to the song.
E: good emphesis on important words but why are you singing them? There was a story but I'm not sure if the story was really Liz's.
O: Liz is such a good student, but she can get in her own way sometimes. She works very hard and that is always obvious in her technique. She has a beautiful voice, but her brain is always trying to get in on the action. In both her body and sound, one can see her making a performance instead of allowing a performance.

H: Her voice timbre improved immensely when, in her words, she "gave-up". Favorite Thomas quote, " you can't micro-manage the voice. It's kind of a Diva. You give it breath and vowel and then let it do its thing." (not an exact quote word for word, but same concept.)