TOP 8 - 8APR08

Overall I think everyone tried too hard this week, and the voices are giving a little under the strain. No one really blew me away.

DAVID A (Angels) - what I liked best about David's performance is I felt that overall he did not stress his voice in order to deliver the song. We lost him a little on the low notes, but he negotiated it well & sang it easily, with feeling.

SYESHA (When You Believe) Overall, good performance & good vocal. However, a little bit pushed in some notes. The top note was a bit weak. Still I thought she sang it smoothly and she has good stage presence.

MICHAEL J (Dream On) - I felt Michael did better with the not-so-great vocal habits this week. He kept his head down more. I thought he sang it pretty well but I was a little worried about the falsetto shouting, that could cause nodes or even permanent damage. He's got such a lovely voice but really needs some technical instruction.

DAVID COOK (We are all innocent) - I'm afraid the song didn't thrill me. Still, I thought it was an okay performance with nice vocals.

CARLY (Show Must Go On) - Great song choice, good tessatura for her, the beginning was powerfully done. Again, she tends to sing very wide on the upper notes, which causes a lot of strain. Think of it like this. If you are watering the lawn, and you want more power, you put your finger over the end of the hose to make the stream more powerful. If you take your finger away, the water falls out more slowly. Apply that to singing. If you sing an upper note very wide, you lose focus, you lose power, and therefore you are tempted to push to get more sound. Make the right kind of shape for the vowel you are singing, smaller, rounder and you focus the sound. You get more power with less effort. And it's healthier.

JASON CASTRO (Somewhere Over the Rainbow) - I do get disappointed when I hear what I think is a new arrangement of a song by an Idol contestant, and find out later they borrowed it from someone else. This is the case here. I thought Jason did a nice job, his whispy folky sound suited the song. to me I think he'd be a great children's entertainer. IMO he really can't sing like an "Idol" but he knows how to entertain.

KRISTY (Anyway) - bad song choice, IMO. Martina can sing the heck out of this, Kristy can't. Very low and pitchy on the bottom, which is what happens when you choose a song with a high tessatura you can't support. I did hear more good tone in the middle voice, and I thought it was the best performance I've heard from Kristy to date. However, I really don't think she will be in the top 4 or 5.

BROOK -- I find that Brook sings with the vowels far back in the throat, which makes the tone dull & also kind of strangles the voice a little since there is no flow out the aperature. She also tends to sing hunched over - I mentioned that last week, but attributed it to her playing of the guitar. But even standing with a mic her posture is not great. I found the song pitchy but I thought she pulled it out at the end.