71 | Teaching New Languages: Interview with Dr. Tracey Ford
When do you introduce a young singer to a new language? How do you begin the process? What about that tricky rolled or flipped “r” or blended vowels? Special guest, Tracey Ford loves working with young vocalists and is super passionate about teaching repertoire in new languages to her students. She shares her favorite beginner and intermediate song collections, fantastic resources and how she works new language challenges into her student’s vocal warm-ups.
About our Guest
http://www.singbeautifully.com/
Dr. Tracey Ford is a passionate, experienced voice teacher of students of all ages in genres. Located in the Western suburbs of Chicago, Tracey teaches a diverse group of students ages 7-70. Although Tracey’s professional and educational background is in classical vocal repertoire, she has expanded her expertise to include young singers and contemporary commercial music. Whether she is helping students prepare for a RCM Voice Exam, or teaching an adult a voice lesson for the first time, Tracey is committed to helping students develop their voices and the joy for singing for a lifetime!
Tracey holds a DMA and MM in Vocal Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, a BM from Wayne State University and a BA in French Language and Literature and Linguistics from the University of Michigan. She is a former president of Chicago NATS and a Certified RCM Teacher for Elementary-Intermediate levels in Voice.
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Links Mentioned in this podcast:
RCM Voice Syllabus
https://www.rcmusic.com/sites/default/files/files/S35_Voice%20Syllabus_2013%20online_final_SECURED.pdf
Subscription service for IPA: https://www.ipasource.com
Website for Children’s songs in foreign languages: https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=hubeh
Repertoire Collections
The Language of Song Series Ed. Heidi Pegler and Nicky-Jane Kemp
The Language of Song are graded songbooks that provide classic song repertoire, carefully selected by examiners and professional singers Heidi Pegler and Nicola-Jane Kemp to develop the vital skills required to sing in a foreign language. Each song gives both a literal and poetic translation of each text, a detailed pronunciation guide and background information on the songs as well as technical and musical teaching points. The accompanying CD provides the text for each song spoken by a native speaker — expert language consultants who specialize in coaching singers — as well as a recording of each song accompaniment. (Available on Amazon)
This exquisite collection of vocal solos features folk songs from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. Appropriate for both developing singers and mature vocalists, each of the 10 beautiful arrangements is sung largely in English and a phonetic pronunciation guide is included for the phrases in Asian languages. (Amazon)
For intermediate to advance levels (Vocal Collection). This series of 5 book/audio packs is an introduction to art song in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Each volume has a different song list, and includes 30 selections in appropriate keys. Beyond art song, each collection includes two carefully chosen opera arias, an oratorio aria, and an operetta aria by Gilbert & Sullivan. Available in all voice ranges (Amazon)
