Youtube Singers #3/#4

Video #3 Observation...

Well, my goodness. Bryn Terfel. What a yummy voice.
I listened to him sing a few duets with Cecelia Bartoli as well as 'Some Enchanted Evening' by Rodgers. His singing surely comes off as effortless, and though he has a 'meatier' voice I think he sings with tenderness. In more melismatic passages, his voice sounds agile, and even sounding. The shape of his mouth is kind of interesting.. it appears to hang down further on one side... Perhaps he uses this to his benefit? He sings with support throughout, in all areas of his voice. Beautiful resonant tone seems to escape him.

Video #4 Observation...
Well, since I'm on a 'man kick' here, let's go with another bass. I observed Sam Ramey singing 'Ol' Man River' and 'Vous, qui faites l'endormie' from Faust... I must say, I think his facial expression fits the character he's portraying in all of the videos I watched. His voice is pretty forward placed from what I hear - almost nasally at times. In the 'Ol' Man River' excerpt, I hear a little bit of a pushed tone in the upper part of his voice... Perhaps that's a tightness in the throat? However, I do think his voice is supported throughout... I also watched him, and heard him sing in the Act two finale from Don Giovanni.. I think he sings rather well in this video considering his character and what roles out for him... He does seem to push a bit as earlier noted, but it sounds that his vocal mechanism is working as it should. Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about. That surely could be the case.

Youtube Singers #1/#2

First Observation:
Well, my first thought is who am I to judge Cecelia Bartoli. I literally can't do one tenth of what she can vocally, so I'm a little intimidated writing this.
I digress.

While listening to Ms. Bartoli, Cecelia, if I might, sing 'Al tuo seo Fotunateo' (?) from Orfeo and Eurydice, by Haydn, I noticed:
- Cecelia has a very active mouth. She is forming her lips into shapes that might not be necessary to produce the kind of vowels and consonants she is trying to create.
- At times I notice her singing along and wam-oh! Her mouth flies open as though the sound is erupting from her, and I find it distracting... I know she needs more room in her mouth though, so...
-She sings with incredibly clean diction. Her lips are really active...
- She sings with an even vibrato and supported sound.
-Back to her mouth; Ms. Bartoli seems to tighten her jaw on the ascending and descending scales so that very little space is created..
-She has a very expressive face.
-If one can even notice this, I think her throat has an appropriate amount of face.. it seems relaxed?
-Re: what we were talking about in class along the lines of everything being in the same place head/chest wise.. I think it sounds pretty consistent.

I might be way off. "Samsonite... I was way off."

Second Observation...

Frederica von Stade singing 'Una voce poco fa' by Rossini...
Well, she is cute as a bug's ear. Let's start there.
Secondly, her singing is so smooth and even sounding all the way across the board.
She sings the melismatic passages with such ease.
Her mouth doesn't distract me.

I also listened and watched her sing 'Voi Che Sapete,' from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart and while I thoroughly enjoyed her singing on this piece, it sounded a bit that the lower register pitches were a little on the heavy side...

However, for the most part she maneuvers her instrument so effectively, singing on the breath at all times.. Beautiful.

Blog #1

In response to Blog #1's comparison of Mr. David Daniels and Mr. Christopher Dallo singing 'Ombra Mai Fu" by Handel...

When I listened to David Daniels sing the recitative and aria from Xerxes, I noticed first off that he sang the recitative with great ease. Secondly, his aria performance was sung very expressively in that he effectively portrayed the text through his use of word stress, and facial expression... It appears he is singing in a supported manner on account of his vibrato being very even. His tone sounded supported throughout his entire register.
When I listed to Christopher Dallo sing this same aria, I noticed right away that he seems to posses a very different voice than David Daniels, in the quality of sound, perhaps even that they are two different voice types. It appeared Christopher's larynx moved up when he reached the higher register as there was not only an audible shift, but a physical change as well in regards to the way his alignment appeared to change. During his performance I noticed a few glottal stops when a word began with a vowel... Perhaps this was because he is still learning to maneuver that musculature and a lack of breath flow caused the cords to come together forcefully.

I really think there is something to be said about the growth that occurs when one has time to discover what their voice is capable of doing. In that regard, perhaps Christopher is learning how to glide easily through, and modify to fix the few above mentioned concerns. This piece seems to sit in perhaps a difficult tessitura for many tenors, and I can appreciate the interpretation of both singers in these videos.