The first version I listened to was performed by Cesar Augusto, he did extraordinarily well with a few exceptions. He had a great tune, it sounded very natural, he has a lot of confidence. As a soloist he had a accompaniment, and his tuning with her was really well, they always blended appropriately. Although at about 6 minutes he had an audible gasp, otherwise throughout the whole he didn’t breath on the bar lines or make any of them audible. When it comes to tempo he sped up when it …show more content…
was necessary, and slowed down when it was necessary. I was able to tell he purposely sped up because the pianist did too. The only thing that stuck out to me the most was that he swayed and moved a lot, perhaps too much. Even though his moving hardly affected his playing it was still extremely distracting. Overall, I would give Cesar a 1, perhaps a *1, he is an amazing clarinetist, but needs to work on his standing still.
The second version of the song I listened to was performed by Leo Kerr, he didn’t do so great compared to Cesar.
Starting with a positive comment, he had great breathing, never on the bar line, and his breathing wasn’t audible. Leo’s sound seemed weak and forced, it was so quiet I had to turn my volume all the way up. Before he even started playing he tried to tune with the pianist but didn’t, he just went ahead and started. During the song every time he played a high note it seemed squeaky, not natural at all. Knowing that the piece was to get louder and softer I looked forward those parts, but they were hardly there. Lastly he didn’t have good posture, he hunched over the whole song, he could have risen the stand but didn’t. Overall, Leo was skilled enough to play a class A solo but not skilled enough to receive a 1, I would give him a 2. He needed a bit more practice and then he would be
golden.
Overall I thought that Cesar Augusto did way better than Leo Kerr, he had better support and a more natural sound. I chose to give Cesar a 1 and Leo a 2 because Leo had noticeable mistakes compared to Cesar. If I were a judge I would tell Cesar that he needs to work on keeping still and a bit of work should be done on his breathing. I would tell Leo to stand up straight, it will help his high notes, also I would tell him to pay attention to the dynamics. In conclusion, learning the proper skills to judge music helps when you get to perform music yourself.