Re: Greetings

 --- Christophe Grandsire skrzypszy:

> En réponse à Sam Drost:
>
> > Hello, I'd like to introduce myself.
> > My name is Sam Drost.  I live in Glenpool, OK, USA.  I've been lurking
> > around here for about two weeks now to see if the discussions on this
> > list fit my curiosity, I'm happy to say that they do.
Welcome, Sam! (Sorry to embed it in somebody else's welcome message, but I hope
the intention is clear anyway).

> That's something I've always been interested in: how do opera singer learn
> to sing in languages they don't know. How did you learn to pronounce
> correctly the trilled r of Italian for instance? I've always been impressed
> that singers, when learning to sing a song phonetically, were often very
> good, even with sounds that don't exist in their native tongue.
Well, I am not involved into opera, but as a (former) semi-professional
chorist, I think I can answer that question, especially since my mother is a
pedagogue in the field.
In order to be able to play his instrument properly, as musician must have a
very good understanding of how it works. That principle applies no less for a
singer, who is in fact his own instrument. Thus, a professional singer is
supposed to know everything about his mouth, his vocal chords, his tongue, and
even the position of his feet when he is singing.
A second thing is obviously the fact that a musical person has better ears and
is able to distinguish the subtle differences better than an untrained person.
I might add here, that (at least here) an Italian course is a normal part of
the vocal traject in a conservatory.

This does, of course, not mean that every musician is able to speak (or sing,
for that matter) any language without an accent.

> > Anyway, that's about all I can think to write right now so I guess
> > I'll shut up now.
>
> Please don't! If you have any questions, please ask them, we're here for
> that!
Well spoken, Christophe!

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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