The Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the Choral Rehearsal
Contributions by Susan Bender, Rene Clausen, Dan Dressen, Christine Ericsdotter, Agnes Farkas, Sue Goodenow, Anna Helwing, Heather M. Garbes, Thomas Goleeke, Joshua Habermann, Martha Herr, Gotzon Ibarretxe, Harald Jers, Soojeong Lee, Min Li, Jaakko Mantyjarvi, Wladimi Mattos, Kathleen Maurer, John Nix, Clayton Parr, Andrew Schmidt, Sten Ternstrom, David M. Thomas, George Olivier Toni, Areti Topouzides, Kathleen Wilson, Minoru Yamada, Mei Zhong Edited by Duane Richard Karna
Publication date:
13 September 2012Length of book:
336 pagesPublisher
Scarecrow PressDimensions:
262x184mm7x10"
ISBN-13: 9780810881693
“The fusion of text with music is one of the most powerful methods by which a composer can express emotion to an audience, yet, all too often, the diction of choral groups is lacking to such a degree as to make the text unintelligible.” So argues Duane R. Karna, who in The Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the Choral Rehearsal brings together 30 essays by experts from around the world to describe how the character symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) can be used by singers in the choral rehearsal.
In an effort to conquer one of the greatest challenges facing choral directors and their choirs, contributors explore the use of the IPA system in a vast range of languages. Readers will find essays devoted to the use of IPA on matters of lyric diction for the following tongues: Baltic Languages, Basque, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, Ecclesiastical Latin, English, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Germanic Latin, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and Swedish. Holding firmly to the belief that basic instruction in IPA character is part of a choir's training, Karna and his contributors see enormous potential for choirs to expand considerably their foreign-language repertoire and save considerable rehearsal time.
The Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the Choral Rehearsal is the ideal primer for choral directors and choirmasters as well as choir members.
In an effort to conquer one of the greatest challenges facing choral directors and their choirs, contributors explore the use of the IPA system in a vast range of languages. Readers will find essays devoted to the use of IPA on matters of lyric diction for the following tongues: Baltic Languages, Basque, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, Ecclesiastical Latin, English, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Germanic Latin, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and Swedish. Holding firmly to the belief that basic instruction in IPA character is part of a choir's training, Karna and his contributors see enormous potential for choirs to expand considerably their foreign-language repertoire and save considerable rehearsal time.
The Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the Choral Rehearsal is the ideal primer for choral directors and choirmasters as well as choir members.
The Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the Choral Rehearsal addresses a great need in the area of choral musicians: the ability to use diction in their practice and performance in order to enhance the pronunciation of the words that blend with the music. As the editor states, "All too often, the diction of choral groups is lacking to such a degree as to make the text unintelligible" (back cover). It is the editors hope that implementing the teaching of this volume will expand the foreign-language capability of choral musicians, enhancing their overall performance. After introductory chapters on the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in rehearsal and vowel and consonant modification in the choral setting, each chapter focuses on one specific language: English, Latin, German, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Romanian, Japanese, Swahili, Greek, Russian, and Polish, just to name a few. The contributors go into great deal about the diction of each language, focusing on the most common and troublesome words. The volume concludes with an appendix of four sample songs.