Can you believe that it’s already March? This means spring is just around the corner. Yes, that’s right. The official first day of spring is March 20th. As spring draws near, many of you are probably planning recitals, either for a school requirement or to add to your summer performance schedule. When planning a recital, it’s usually a good idea to plan your program around a theme, such as German art songs about spring! Okay, okay… you might not get that specific. However, we’ve created a list of great German art songs about spring, just in case you want to sing them! Keep in mind with this list that sometimes multiple voice types may sing an art song. These are examples of past performances.
How to start working on a new song
If you are planning on picking up some new art songs for your upcoming recital, it can be helpful to strategize learning them so that you can learn them quickly and correctly. Here are some helpful steps to learning new music:
Recurring Words As you may have noticed, several of these pieces have recurring words. It may be beneficial to you to memorize these common spring song words so that the next time you see them, you’ll immediately recognize them. Here are some of the words that seem to appear over and over again, along with their IPA and English translation:
Let’s take a closer look at two words on this list - der Frühling and blühen. The umlaut u (ü) is a tricky vowel. Some umlauts are short, some long. For a lot of students, it is difficult to distinguish these two sounds. They think they are already singing a long vowel, but in fact, they are singing a short vowel. But if you know the rules and develop your ear through practice and good feedback (if possible with a native German speaker), it will be easy for you. Here’s an easy way to distinguish which is which!
The vowel is long, if it is
The vowel is short, if
For example: Frühling- spring (long - silent h), blühen - bloom (long - silent h), füllen -fill (short- followed by two consonants) Seele - soul (long- double vowel) Recurring Themes As you may have guessed from looking at the recurring words, there are also recurring themes. Songs about spring tend to wax on about the beauty of the world, the birds in the sky, and the flowers among fields of green grass. Or, they may talk about love, seeing your love again, feeling love for your partner, looking forward to finding the person you love… you get the picture. These songs tend to be quite descriptive, painting a visual scene. Now, you are ready for your spring/summer recital! What other German spring songs would you suggest? Or, do you have a favorite spring song cycle? Let us know in the comments! For more tips on singing in German, be sure to join our email list on the side of this page.
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Most blog posts from June 2017 - June 2018 were written by GVAI's blogger Anikka Abbott who has just started her journalism studies. We already miss her. Learn more about her here or connect with her on Facebook.
Meet ChristineHello, I am Christine, the director of GVAI, a passionate singer, German diction, voice and performance coach. I love music, singing and dancing. Life is an exciting journey and I invite you to walk with me.... |