AMD 1

     I had a great experience in the last week working on a German song cycle that I am singing by American composer, Robert Owens. It is entitled " Drei Lieder für Bariton. The poems are by
Herman Hesse.  I am preparing to sing this  for my master's recital in March.
     I had a chance to go back over the text more carefully and the flow of the language in order
for my tongue and lips to respond better to the text.  Because I will be singing it, there will be some differences between spoken German, however, taking this class has already helped me to be more aware of grammatical structure and pronunciation.
    The first piece I am singing is entitled " Fremde Stadt," which means strange town/city. The second is "Eine Geige in den Gärten" meaning a violin in the garden. Finally, the cycle ends with " Im Nebel," in fog. 
The entire cycle is about uncertainty and experiencing unfamiliar places and  deep emotions of life. I worked with my voice teacher and pianist to bring the text alive. My voice teacher in particular helped me to ensure that all of my final and beginning consonants were crisp and clear. In addition we worked on word stress and knowing exactly what each word means as I sing it and not as a poetic translation. By taking these steps I was able to better put in perspective what the composer had in mind as he set the text to music and also what the poet might have had in mind when writing the poem.