Repertoire Studies (393-0-2)

Topic

Lied

Instructors

Alan Darling
847/491-7575
RCMA 4-160
Office Hours: Contact Instructor

Meeting Info

RCMA Choral Room 1-190: Tues 9:00AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

The aim of the Opera Repertoire course is to expand the class's awareness of vocal style in significant areas of the repertoire: Baroque (Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, Rameau), Mozart, bel canto (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti), French (Berlioz, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet), German Romantic (Beethoven, Weber, Lortzing, Flotow, Nicolai), Verdi, Puccini, R. Strauss, American repertoire (Menotti, Barber, Floyd, Argento, Heggie, Adams) and classic operetta repertoire (Gilbert and Sullivan, Offenbach, J. Strauss, Lehár, Kálmán, Herbert, Romberg). The class sessions will be divided between lecture, discussion, and coaching elements.

Registration Requirements

The majority of this course's registrants are generally juniors, seniors, and graduate students, although a sophomore attending is not without precedent (however, any sophomore wishing to register for the course would need their voice teacher's approval regarding the student's vocal readiness for the course). The repertoire to be coached will be exclusively by composers discussed in class; therefore, If the student does not already know repertoire by any of those composers, that student must be willing to learn at least two arias assigned by the instructor for in-class coachings (in addition to the aria to be assigned for the final). Each student will be required to submit a list of possible arias to the instructor before the course begins, so that a week-by-week schedule of singing can then be prepared.

Learning Objectives

The student will be expected to be conversant with: 1) differences in style that distinguish the operettas of all the composers studied in the course; and 2) the evolution of the vocal requirements needed for each area of the repertoire that the course will cover.

Teaching Method

The instructional design is lecture/discussion in the first hour, covering one of the above-mentioned areas of repertoire, followed in the second hour by a maximum of four in-class coachings, with each singer performing an aria by one of the composers covered in the first hour.

Evaluation Method

1) Attendance; 2) participation in class discussions; 3) preparation and overall performance - including spoken introduction -- of arias coached in class (number of arias depends on size of the class); and 4) three in-class written assignments of the "drop-the-needle" variety (i.e. writing in so-called "Blue Books," without access to mobile phone or laptop). Evaluation for the final will be based on the preparation and overall performance of a new aria - memorized and sung in the original language -- chosen by the instructor specifically for each student and assigned well in advance. The aria sung at the final must be preceded by a spoken introduction addressing specific questions assigned in advance by the instructor.

Class Materials (Required)

Any articles to be read by the class will be distributed to the class via email.

Class Materials (Suggested)

Possible use of selected articles, but these will be distributed to the class via email.

Class Notes

This class gives students an opportunity to develop a more in-depth sense of style, one of their most essential tools as both intelligent singers and thoughtful listeners. The course also introduces them to a great deal of repertoire, enabling them to develop a much broader frame of reference in opera that will make them significantly better informed as they pursue appropriate performance opportunities in the future.

Class Attributes

SoC Applied Humanities and Fine Arts Distro
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro