One of the most salient takeaways that I have from the Princeton in Leipzig course was the ability to work with the faculty on improving my solo performance pieces.

For both my solo songs, Schilflied by Mendelssohn and Leibst du um shönheit by Clara Schumann, I feel like I was able to improve the emotion and clarity in my singing by using my new understanding of the German language. As I started to learn more in my German classes and expand my vocabulary, I started to understand more of the words in my pieces, without having to rely solely on the translations. However, more than this, I also started to realise when the structure seemed unfamiliar and I was really grateful to have Professor Rankin explain the ways in which the German sentence structure can be manipulated for poetic effect. I think this really informed the way in which I approached the phrasing and emotive intent of the pieces as I continued to practice them and I started to enjoy the pieces even more.

Further, one particularly salient application of German language study transferring into my singing was when Professor Rankin pointed out that in certain words such as “Immer” and “Sonne” the doubled consonant is actually a geminate consonant and that placing emphasis on it would make my delivery more accurate. I also learnt that when one word ends with a vowel such as “du” and the following word starts with a vowel as in “um” in “Liebst du um Schönheit” that German speakers would insert a glottal stop between the two /u/ vowel sounds. I remember the first time I tried to sing through Liebst du um Schönheit whilst focusing on implementing this change and I was really shocked at how much it improved the phrasing and the overall tone of the line.

I also think that having had both Professor Heller and Dr Ochs listen to my singing in German and offer their insights and feedback into the ways in which I could improve my language pronunciation in order to increase clarity and support was really helpful. For example, being reminded to lengthen the vowel and place it on the beat was a really helpful tip that helped me to better control my breath for long phrases – especially in Shilflied.

I also think in a more general sense, having had the opportunity to be practicing and vocalising in Leipzig was particularly special to me because I haven’t sung any solo music in a long time due to vocal injury, however I felt incredibly supported and encouraged to do a solo music performance for the concert in Leipzig, but also to take singing lessons at Princeton to keep working on my voice.

So in all, I can say that having had the opportunity to work on my voice and on German Lieder in Leipzig was not only transformative regarding the way in which I will approach German Lieder going forward, but also regarding the way in which I approach singing in general!