Sam Meredith Master Class 10/1

Amber Denslow- From what I saw in Amber's performance her breathing was good in that it looked technically correct. There were some things, however, that made me think that the breathing could still use some improvement. The timbre of her voice was slightly breathy in the upper register of her voice. Maybe that is a result of shallow breaths. The intonation seemed kind of shaky at times, but she was singing a piece that makes having good intonation very difficult. I thought she made good adjustments as per Cindy's suggestions and made a lot of improvements in this area when she sang the song again. The diction was fine and i thought she did a good job expressing the emotion of the piece. Overall a strong performance with some nice improvements the second time around.
Mariah Boyer- I noticed that Mariah was breathing a little bit with her shoulders. I think that made her a little tight when she sang and it made the vibrato a little delayed at some points. When she gets a good breath, though, she has a very nice vibrant timbre to her voice. The intonation was good, but there were a few concerns I had with the diction. I think she can do more to bring out the consonants because they are so important in German. I would say, however, that she probably doesn't need to emphasize the 'r' in words like 'traume' quite so much. The 'u' vowels also need to be purer and more consistent. I thought she did a good job adjusting to Cindy's suggestions. It brought more emotion and expressiveness to the piece, which is something that I thought was lacking in the original performance. All in all, I think she has a great tone that just needs to be helped a little more through more consistent diction and good breathing.
Ben Shaw- Ben had a great energy in his performance, but I think if the breathing is better we could see even more of that. There were some audible breaths that if fixed will probably give his tone even more support. I thought that he had good intonation as well as a powerful timbre. I thought the diction was mostly pretty good. I thought he did a good job of bringing out the important consonants. I think the 'ah' vowel had trouble staying true in some spots, though. Sometimes it sounded like a mix between that and another vowel. More looseness in the jaw will fix that. Overall I thought it was a very powerful performance that was very well expressed.