Oct 14, 2019
(3:00) The back story of Dr. Melody started with living in Taiwan and then in San Antonio, TX, where she was exposed to other languages.
(6:25) When Dr. Melody took voice lessons in high school, she really was inspired by her own voice teachers. “All I wanted to do was do what they did…and help other people.”
(10:35) She tells how she really had a respect for both musical theater and opera.
(13:45) IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet—an alphabet of symbols that equal a sound. One symbol equals one sound. Orthographs = symbols that are letters Phonemes = symbols that equal one sound and one sound only
(15:15) In 1886, British and French teachers formed a group and put out the first version of the IPA chart for any language.
(17:15) The symbols are suggestive of the sounds they represent. closed o = [ o ]
open o = [ ɔ ]
(20:15) IPA can give singers a real sense of clarity in how to pronounce lyrics for singing.
(21:29) IPA allows for quick notation of lyrics.
(23:55) Dr. Melody wanted to sound true to a language so teaching IPA was a natural fit for her.
(25:50) Dr. Melody recommends that voice teachers should learn IPA to be able to offer their students the ability to sing in languages that they themselves don’t know.
(28:43) You can get a subscription to IPAsource.com (This includes spelling of words, the IPA transcription and the word for word translation)
(31:50) The YouTube sources for IPA can be good. Dr. Melody encourages people to find a voice similar in quality and pitch to your own for pronunciation of IPA.
(32:25) Using flashcards for IPA can be super helpful—especially ones that you create yourself.
If you would like to get ahold of Dr. Melody Rich, feel free to Facebook her: Melody Rich or you can email her at: mxr151@shsu.edu
Her website will be up in November 2019 and you can find her there at www.melodyrich.com
If you want to be a part of a community that talks all things vocal, pop over to The Engaging Voice Singers (Facebook).
Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/275720043147345/
You can find this and other episodes on theengingvoice.com and at Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, iHeart radio, iTunes and radio.com
For a free PDF of Ways to Practice the Voice Consistently, please click here and grab your download: https://mailchi.mp/16a4bd648eac/getfreevoiceinfo