BRAVO! Thank you so much! I am a Francophone and was looking for a ready-to-go resource for my choir in the US. There are some on RUclips that are de la merde! Bless you!
Merci beaucoup! J'apprécie énormément votre commentaire. En effet, pas toujours évident de trouver ce qu'on veut pour nos chorales. Donc j'imagine toujours un peu ma chorale quand je fais les vidéos. Je me lance aussi dans le Latin! Je viens de poster une vidéo de pronciation générale et je travaille maintenant sur les textes des messes etc.
Thank you so much - I just stumbled onto your video today by accident while searching for performances of this piece as I am not at all familiar with it . I am a native English speaker but moved to France two years ago to retire . My French is improving slowly - very slowly - but singing classical French is a whole new experience ! I didn’t realise how much I needed you!!! Merci ☺️
Since I am studying the FAURÉ Cantique, I was looking for a very good pronuntiation, AND finaly, I found this video, with a very good explanation , thank you, now I Will feel more confortable with my French pronuntiation, really apprecitate. Regards
Thanks so much Joan. You are so nice to do this and your teaching is so clearly laid out. Would you consider doing a video on Pierre Villette's Hymne à la Vierge?
Thank you. And what a great suggestion! I will add it to the list. :) I'm in the middle of preparing a guide to the Requiem (any Latin requiem) so I won't get to it right away, but your suggestion is definitely in the queue. What a beautiful piece.
Well done. Very easy to follow and just the right gap to be able to stop and restart at the end of each line for saying it back. The changing colour of the text makes replays of individual lines easier to find. Merci!
Wow! I love singing in Latin, German, Spanish, but have such a hard time in French, but YOU give me some great clues about how to do this, Many thanks!!!
Joan, your video gave me hope I'll be able to sing this one. Our Bulgarian choir is currently learning this beautiful piece and struggling quite a bit with the text. I'll make sure to share your wonderful tutorial with them, thank you!
I definitely could have used this a few months ago. It's Tuesday and our oratorio (Oratorio Society of Queens) is having its concert this Sunday. I will pass this on anyway. This is definitely a great help. We were getting all advice from people who have French as a second language.
Glad it can be of some assistance. You might be able to zero in on a few key fixes, if you spot any glaring issues. I completely understand your situation, you've described exactly what I imagine many choirs are struggling with. It's not about perfection, it's making the musical phrase come to life. Good luck on Sunday.
thank you so much for all the work you've put in here! You're fabulous and you make our lives so much easier! I teach a choir in Japan and we have a whole different set of challenges here, but we're thriving! Thank you for sharing your blessings
Hi Joan, do you have a suggestion for the Altos and Tenors in m. 69? I see that their text "gloire" (glwa) gets its own note for the -re part of the word followed by a rest. The word doesn't immediately elide with "immortelle" as it does for sopranos and basses. Would they sing a schwa for the note that has the "-re" part of "gloire"?
Good question! You are correct, it's a schwa because of the rest. I recently did a video on Fauré's les Djinns and spent a good amount of time on the schwa because it's especially important in that piece. I recommend you check it out, you can just watch from 12:45 to 14:10. (Or feel free to watch the whole thing!) ruclips.net/video/8YguLrIT8mQ/видео.html
This is just so helpful & meticulously done - Thanks/Merci! I especially valued the point about not closing the nasal vowel when it's followed by a consonant - a particularly bad habit of mine! I would just point out 2 adjustments that I would propose: 1) In "Christ sois favourable a ce..." [bar 61 in my copy], the "BLE" of favouraBLE is on the same note as "a", so the rule we have been given is: Combine the consonant(s) of the leading syllable with the vowel sound of the second", which gives the combined sound of "BLA". Similarly in bar 71 with "ta gloiRE IMmortelle", where you combine the RE & the IM on the same note into RIM (nasal vowel!). 2) In "a ta gloire" for the altos & tenors (in my SATB copy) the 2 syllables in sung gloi-re are on 2 notes so it becomes 2 separate syllables: GLOI + RE. @Joan, I hope you approve, let me know...!
no, the first syllable of "immortelle" is not nasal /ε/ - just a straight /i/. it's correctly modeled in the video, and she does warn that not every vowel followed by m or n will be nasal.
Joan you were my go to girl for masks during covid! Nice to have you as a go to for perfecting my pronunciation. Additionally, you are lovely! Beautiful eyes!
This tuto is extremely well conducted and must be very useful. The lady could very well be an Anglophone Canadian (from the quality of her English). Her French is perfect though. When she says 'Cantique de Jean Racine' at the beginning, she clearly has a Quebecer accent, as it is natural for an Anglo-Canadian. Also she 'rolls' the R when reading the lyrics (in French, we say 'rouler' les R). It's very nice, it sounds like they prononce it in Auvergne ou Bourgogne.
Je ne parle pas normalement avec le R roulé au bout de la langue, je le fais ici parce-que c'est l'approche employée en chant classique. Celà dit, cette prononciation a beaucoup évolué depuis les dernières décennies et est beaucoup moins prononcé aujourd'hui.
@@estebanbecerrarosales4338 the R is always rolled on the tip of the tongue in classical French song. It's standard practice. Bonus, it's also much easier to do it that way for non-francophones.
Many thanks. Our English choir will be singing this and other work by French composers in June. I normally sing in the chorus but I will also be singing solo the beautiful hymn Cantique by Nadia Boulanger, words by Maurice Maeterlinck. I would be very pleased to have a coaching video for this hymn to help me do it justice and to bring the hymn to a wider audience through your excellent RUclips channel.
That's great. I did a whole recital on Lili and Nadia Boulanger's aid efforts during WWI. Are you referring to the "Lux aeterna" by Nadia? (oops... that's Latin!) That was my closing piece for the recital and I used to have my children's choir sing it in November. Tell me more, I would love to help. I am focusing on choral music, but I have a soft spot for the Boulanger sisters. You can email me through my website: www.joanfearnley.com.
Very good, thank you. The only thing I am not sure about is the glottal stop in 'tres-haut' in the first line; I can't find a recording of any French choir that do this. Certainly there is no 's' sound, but a glottal disturbs the requirement for legato.
Yes, I agree. I probably should not have said that it should have a glottal, I think I was trying to emphasize the absence of the liaison. Thanks for the comment! It's helpful to have the discussion. And thanks for watching!
No, I am capable of singing in German but teaching diction is a different story. Was there a particular piece that you had in mind? By the way, I will be publishing Latin diction videos soon. The introductory video with my pronunciation guide should be out by early next week and the standard mass texts will follow.
That's a classic. I used to conduct a women's choir (church) and that was a regular feature. We always did it in German. As much as I am capable of singing in German and conducting a choir in a German piece, I would not be comfortable publishing German diction tutorials on RUclips! But, I will be taking on Latin diction soon. Currently working on a pronunciation guide which I hope to publish soon. :)
Hi @aretesingers! Just want to let you know that I'm working on the Litanies and it's going to be my next post (mid to late April, I hope). I started researching the story of the song a few months ago but life got in the way. But I have to thank you for the suggestion because it's been a great project. :)
The rolled r has been gradually been disappearing and you might not have encountered anyone who roll their r's. But there are still plenty of people who do, I know some personally. In Canada you'll find plenty of rolled r's outside Québec and I often came across it in older people in Québec. I can't really speak for other countries. That said, when performing repertoire like the Cantique de Jean Racine, you are expected to roll your r's slightly. But even that rolled r in singing has evolved. If you listen to older recordings of Fauré art songs you'll hear a much more pronounced roll than in modern recordings. Language is a living thing and it constantly changes.
BRAVO! Thank you so much! I am a Francophone and was looking for a ready-to-go resource for my choir in the US. There are some on RUclips that are de la merde! Bless you!
Merci beaucoup! J'apprécie énormément votre commentaire. En effet, pas toujours évident de trouver ce qu'on veut pour nos chorales. Donc j'imagine toujours un peu ma chorale quand je fais les vidéos.
Je me lance aussi dans le Latin! Je viens de poster une vidéo de pronciation générale et je travaille maintenant sur les textes des messes etc.
Thank you for you simple clear method of explaining the rule why you make that particular sound and how you do it. Extremely useful and logical.
(1:22) saving this time stamp so I can keep coming back to it whenever I need to! My choir is singing this 😊 thank you for making this video!
Thank you so much - I just stumbled onto your video today by accident while searching for performances of this piece as I am not at all familiar with it . I am a native English speaker but moved to France two years ago to retire . My French is improving slowly - very slowly - but singing classical French is a whole new experience ! I didn’t
realise how much I needed you!!!
Merci ☺️
Since I am studying the FAURÉ Cantique, I was looking for a very good pronuntiation, AND finaly, I found this video, with a very good explanation , thank you, now I Will feel more confortable with my French pronuntiation, really apprecitate. Regards
I could not find a better interpretation of the pronunication than this site.
Really really really helpful. Also you present well. Thank you.
Thanks so much Joan. You are so nice to do this and your teaching is so clearly laid out. Would you consider doing a video on Pierre Villette's Hymne à la Vierge?
Thank you. And what a great suggestion! I will add it to the list. :) I'm in the middle of preparing a guide to the Requiem (any Latin requiem) so I won't get to it right away, but your suggestion is definitely in the queue. What a beautiful piece.
@@SopranoJoan Thanks, so much Joan! Very nice of you to put it in the queue. Happy New Year to you and yours! :)
Well done. Very easy to follow and just the right gap to be able to stop and restart at the end of each line for saying it back. The changing colour of the text makes replays of individual lines easier to find. Merci!
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to write. Good to know what is working.
Wow! I love singing in Latin, German, Spanish, but have such a hard time in French, but YOU give me some great clues about how to do this, Many thanks!!!
Brilliant!! Thank you so much for this coaching session. Greetings from Chile 💙
You were excellent in your explaination. Thank you very much.
Thank you ! It’s really helpful for those who are not familiar with French language.
Joan, your video gave me hope I'll be able to sing this one. Our Bulgarian choir is currently learning this beautiful piece and struggling quite a bit with the text. I'll make sure to share your wonderful tutorial with them, thank you!
I definitely could have used this a few months ago. It's Tuesday and our oratorio (Oratorio Society of Queens) is having its concert this Sunday. I will pass this on anyway. This is definitely a great help. We were getting all advice from people who have French as a second language.
Glad it can be of some assistance. You might be able to zero in on a few key fixes, if you spot any glaring issues. I completely understand your situation, you've described exactly what I imagine many choirs are struggling with. It's not about perfection, it's making the musical phrase come to life. Good luck on Sunday.
This has been an excellent tutorial! Thank you!
thank you so much for all the work you've put in here! You're fabulous and you make our lives so much easier!
I teach a choir in Japan and we have a whole different set of challenges here, but we're thriving!
Thank you for sharing your blessings
Thanks Joan. Every little aid helps!
Hi Joan, do you have a suggestion for the Altos and Tenors in m. 69? I see that their text "gloire" (glwa) gets its own note for the -re part of the word followed by a rest. The word doesn't immediately elide with "immortelle" as it does for sopranos and basses. Would they sing a schwa for the note that has the "-re" part of "gloire"?
Good question! You are correct, it's a schwa because of the rest. I recently did a video on Fauré's les Djinns and spent a good amount of time on the schwa because it's especially important in that piece. I recommend you check it out, you can just watch from 12:45 to 14:10. (Or feel free to watch the whole thing!) ruclips.net/video/8YguLrIT8mQ/видео.html
@@SopranoJoan Thanks, Joan. You're so helpful :) I'll check out the video.
Thank you very much, I like your explanation..
Thank you so much for your detail explanation and examples. Blessings from Indonesia!
Teacher, I am very grateful for your class. Thanks for sharing 🙌🏻✨👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
This is just so helpful & meticulously done - Thanks/Merci! I especially valued the point about not closing the nasal vowel when it's followed by a consonant - a particularly bad habit of mine!
I would just point out 2 adjustments that I would propose:
1) In "Christ sois favourable a ce..." [bar 61 in my copy], the "BLE" of favouraBLE is on the same note as "a", so the rule we have been given is: Combine the consonant(s) of the leading syllable with the vowel sound of the second", which gives the combined sound of "BLA". Similarly in bar 71 with "ta gloiRE IMmortelle", where you combine the RE & the IM on the same note into RIM (nasal vowel!).
2) In "a ta gloire" for the altos & tenors (in my SATB copy) the 2 syllables in sung gloi-re are on 2 notes so it becomes 2 separate syllables: GLOI + RE.
@Joan, I hope you approve, let me know...!
What you describe sounds correct to me! (I don't have the score in front of me at the moment but if I don't reply now I might forget!)
no, the first syllable of "immortelle" is not nasal /ε/ - just a straight /i/. it's correctly modeled in the video, and she does warn that not every vowel followed by m or n will be nasal.
Delightful and so very helpful! Thank you!
Joan you were my go to girl for masks during covid! Nice to have you as a go to for perfecting my pronunciation. Additionally, you are lovely! Beautiful eyes!
Thank you! It's been an adventure. :)
Saved, subscribed, and sharing! Tres cher-ing, certes!
This tuto is extremely well conducted and must be very useful. The lady could very well be an Anglophone Canadian (from the quality of her English). Her French is perfect though. When she says 'Cantique de Jean Racine' at the beginning, she clearly has a Quebecer accent, as it is natural for an Anglo-Canadian. Also she 'rolls' the R when reading the lyrics (in French, we say 'rouler' les R). It's very nice, it sounds like they prononce it in Auvergne ou Bourgogne.
Merci! ❤️ I am French Canadian. Don't be fooled by my English name. I'm originally from Québec. ;)
Je ne parle pas normalement avec le R roulé au bout de la langue, je le fais ici parce-que c'est l'approche employée en chant classique. Celà dit, cette prononciation a beaucoup évolué depuis les dernières décennies et est beaucoup moins prononcé aujourd'hui.
Thank you very much for kind sharing. It really saves me.. Thank you
Merci beaucoup
Thank you. Great French diction for this wonderful music.
I love your explanations! Thank you!
Thank you very much!
Thank you so much! Only one thing left me in doubt: why do you pronounce the "r" sound as if you were speaking spanish?
@@estebanbecerrarosales4338 the R is always rolled on the tip of the tongue in classical French song. It's standard practice. Bonus, it's also much easier to do it that way for non-francophones.
Many thanks. Our English choir will be singing this and other work by French composers in June. I normally sing in the chorus but I will also be singing solo the beautiful hymn Cantique by Nadia Boulanger, words by Maurice Maeterlinck. I would be very pleased to have a coaching video for this hymn to help me do it justice and to bring the hymn to a wider audience through your excellent RUclips channel.
That's great. I did a whole recital on Lili and Nadia Boulanger's aid efforts during WWI. Are you referring to the "Lux aeterna" by Nadia? (oops... that's Latin!) That was my closing piece for the recital and I used to have my children's choir sing it in November. Tell me more, I would love to help. I am focusing on choral music, but I have a soft spot for the Boulanger sisters. You can email me through my website: www.joanfearnley.com.
My favorite song to sing. Pure Magic! Great video!
Very good, thank you. The only thing I am not sure about is the glottal stop in 'tres-haut' in the first line; I can't find a recording of any French choir that do this. Certainly there is no 's' sound, but a glottal disturbs the requirement for legato.
Yes, I agree. I probably should not have said that it should have a glottal, I think I was trying to emphasize the absence of the liaison.
Thanks for the comment! It's helpful to have the discussion. And thanks for watching!
Grazie!
Do you do German diction for choirs too?
No, I am capable of singing in German but teaching diction is a different story. Was there a particular piece that you had in mind?
By the way, I will be publishing Latin diction videos soon. The introductory video with my pronunciation guide should be out by early next week and the standard mass texts will follow.
@@SopranoJoan, the ladies in my choir are doing "Hebe deine Augen auf" for our concert mid of this month
That's a classic. I used to conduct a women's choir (church) and that was a regular feature. We always did it in German. As much as I am capable of singing in German and conducting a choir in a German piece, I would not be comfortable publishing German diction tutorials on RUclips! But, I will be taking on Latin diction soon. Currently working on a pronunciation guide which I hope to publish soon. :)
Merci beaucoup! How about tackling Poulenc's Litanies de la Vierge noire
What a great idea! I'll add it to the list. Poulenc is great!
Hi @aretesingers! Just want to let you know that I'm working on the Litanies and it's going to be my next post (mid to late April, I hope). I started researching the story of the song a few months ago but life got in the way. But I have to thank you for the suggestion because it's been a great project. :)
@@SopranoJoan It's such a haunting song. Well worth it to sing it correctly. Thank you.
@aretesingers It's done!!!! ruclips.net/video/5XJEd2XZlNc/видео.html
So grateful for your teaching ! TQQQQQ
10:49
The French do not roll their "r's" ever. I am half French, grew up with a French father, and have tons of French cousins. Never have I heard this.
The rolled r has been gradually been disappearing and you might not have encountered anyone who roll their r's. But there are still plenty of people who do, I know some personally. In Canada you'll find plenty of rolled r's outside Québec and I often came across it in older people in Québec. I can't really speak for other countries. That said, when performing repertoire like the Cantique de Jean Racine, you are expected to roll your r's slightly. But even that rolled r in singing has evolved. If you listen to older recordings of Fauré art songs you'll hear a much more pronounced roll than in modern recordings. Language is a living thing and it constantly changes.