Christopher Goldsack's Mélodie Treasury

Art song and language resources are a useful addition to anyone's coaching arsenal, and I was glad to make the acquaintance of Christopher Goldsack's Mélodie Treasury. It would be well worth your time to spend a few hours looking through these resources, including a sizeable index of art song translations, a concise and well worded guide to singing in French, and Christopher's own publications for sale.

On French as a legato language:

One of the big differences between French and English – and German and Italian for that matter – is how stresses are handled in French. In English the rhythm of the language takes you from one stressed syllable to the next, and this rhythm is called a metre. In French stresses are generally created by lengthening a syllable without extra weight. This results in a far greater fluidity in the spoken language. There is an imperative when singing in French above all other languages, which is to create a legato line.

Christopher's quick rundown on the vowels of French:

The Diction Police, a Podcast for Singers and Coaches

Having you recently been cited for an idiomatic violation by voicing that bilabial fricative in the wrong place? A new podcast might be able to help. The Diction Police is the brainchild of Dresden-based vocal coach Ellen Rissinger. The Diction Police's goal:

...to enhance singers’ study of diction by hearing the text of songs and arias spoken by native speakers, to give a broad range of opinions from native speakers on their own language, and to give singers practical tools for practicing and learning foreign languages.

A noble cause indeed. Here are DP's podcasts to date:

• Episode 1: Heidenröslein and Der Gärtner with Nadja Mchantaf and Hans Sotin.
• Episode 2: Italian art songs and a discussion with Fabio Centanni.
• Episode 3: three Zauberflöte arias and a discussion of [ä], [r], and the German schwa.
• Episode 4: Gretchen am Spinnrade with Netta Or, Die Post with Markus Marquardt, and a discussion with Hans Sotin.
• Episode 5: Nathalie de Montmollin on Fauré and an interview with Philip Shepard
• Episode 6: Offenbach and Schumann with Stephanie Atanasov and Markus Marquardt, and diphthongs with Markus Henn.