[Magdalen] Music question

[Scott Knitter]

German is challenging, at least to get a more native sound. There are
subtleties of long vs. short vowels.

A student German-conversation group at Michigan State while I was
there decided to name themselves "Faß und Spaß" ("Draught and
Fun"--they met in pubs to chat in German), thinking it a clever
rhyming pair. Mostly, it is. But one of the German professors was
practically apoplectic in his denunciation of the name, pointing out
that the 'a' in Faß (sounds like the English word "fuss") is short
while the one in Spaß ("shpahss") is long, and he didn't want native
German speakers to think MSU's German department would sit idly by
while students erroneously rhymed a short vowel with a long one.
Knowing the professor, I think this was a bit of wry pseudo-ire. But
it did get us to pay attention to length of vowels. (The ß character,
by the way, makes an 's' sound...the Swiss would use 'ss' instead.)

I've heard some German choirs sing Bach cantatas with this difference
between short and long. A word with a short vowel would not be
elongated at all, even if a long note is given for it. "Gott" is one
such word. Sounds oddly clipped until you get used to it. I think I
have a St. Matthew Passion sung this way.

On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 9:53 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen
<magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
> Never more obvious than listening to someone to whom English is a
> second language.  They often (such as my spouse) struggle with  them.
> Spanish and Italian vowels are so logical in comparison to English.




-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA