I'm excited to start rehearsals with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City where I'll serve as the French language coach for their March 2024 production of Roméo et Juliette. It's my job to consult with artistic staff and performers on a linguistically accurate and artistically informed interpretation of the text itself. With character and story in mind, we'll bring the musical score to life and will make some use of the international phonetic alphabet to fine-tune the pronunciation of each phrase.
Audience members will enjoy the masterpiece of Shakespeare's timeless and world-famous love story, adapted for the genre of French grand opera. The opera first premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris in 1867 and is currently being staged for 21st century audiences in Kansas City, Missouri for performances scheduled March 9-17, 2024. COMPOSER Charles Gounod LIBRETTISTS Jules Barbier and Michel Carré CONDUCTOR Christopher Allen PRODUCTION Matthew Ozawa Tickets and more information at KCOpera.org
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Pour l'enfant francophone curieux, une présentation intéressante pour introduire une histoire bien-aimée. Apprenez le vocabulaire fantastique et appliquez-le à la lecture de textes brefs. Ceci est un exemple mettant en évidence l'action principale des premiers chapitres de Le hobbit.
I am available as a consultant for opera performances, theatre and other specialty creative that involve linguistics and phonetics. In the fall of 2022 I served as a member of the artistic staff for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's production of Bizet's Carmen. My expertise are in vocal music performance, Germanic and Romance languages allowed me this opportunity to collaborate with the musical and production staff, principal vocalists, professional chorus and children's chorus as the French diction coach. I provided feedback, tips and suggestions to singers to ensure the best quality performance.
I've got answers for you if you are trying to learn or practice French!
Contact me for private tutoring via zoom or in person. I specialize in beginner's French for kids or adults. I've worked with ten kid over the past year who are in a French immersion program here in Kansas City, so we work on French, but also subjects like Math, Science and Music. Most kids are focused on improving their reading and conversation skills. I offer private tutoring for adults, too and highly recommend lessons for parents and family of kids in French immersion school. It will improve your quality of life and will be an important asset to your kids as they continue their education. Currently I'm working as the Language Center Coordinator for Alliance Française of Kansas City. In fact, I'm offering a summer workshop for learning "French Through Music" at AFKC. There are tons of other opportunities to learn French or expand your abilities, both online and in person through this cultural center and association. Membership is only $40 per year and it allows you to take advantage of a ton of resources. These include small classes with expert teachers, private tutoring, and many events for intermediate, advanced or native speakers. Currently AFKC offers conversation opportunities like the Walk & Talk, Café Virtuel and the Monday Conversation Meet-Ups. For more advanced speakers and natives, the book club and cinema club are terrific opportunities to meet others who literally speak your language. AFKC is also becoming a testing center for DELF (French proficiency certification) in the European Common Framework of Reference for Languages. The people at AFKC are wonderful and encouraging besides! For those of you who prefer studying on your own or who are looking for supplementary materials, check out French with Alexa or Français avec Pierre (youtube), Michelle Thomas Method (audio) or Schaumm's Outline of French Grammar (fundamentals & workbook).
Beginners, focus on the sound of each word and the number of syllables.
Intermediate learners, note the spelling of the word and the articles 'le, la, les', 'un, une, des'. Advanced learners, improvise new sentences with these words. Everyone can enjoy these 19 French vocabulary words. If you want to get the basics before you start, please be sure to watch my videos 1) on French Syllables and 2) on French Nasal Vowel Sounds, both of which you can find among the videos in my French playlist on my youtube channel or here on this blog. Thanks for watching; Merci beaucoup!
Join me in discovering or reviewing the French nasal vowel sounds! There are four of these unique sounds embedded all throughout the French language, often disguised in various spellings. In this video I'll introduce these four nasal vowel sounds of French, with lots of examples. We'll discuss how syllabification affects the nasal pronunciation patterns of French and we'll learn 16 ways to spell these four sounds in French, so you can recognize how to pronounce words and start reading aloud. Reading aloud is a wonderfully affective tool for language learning as it trains reading, pronunciation, intonation and accent. Please enjoy the video and leave a comment or share with friends! You can subscribe to my channel for more videos on French pronunciation and other language learning topics.
Learn to Pronounce French in syllables using 25 words. Phonetics are the best! Learn to read a French words and determine the number of syllables. This video introduces some key concepts for adults interested in reading or pronouncing French quickly. Learning to spell, read, say and hear syllables is key to understanding words and phrases.
Luckily, French has the most helpful rule regarding the stress of a word, since we will always emphasize the last syllable of a word, in fact, the last syllable of an entire phrase, with the exception of a mute E. We will discuss the very common mute E, which is not heard in spoken French, but counts as an official syllable and is audible in sung French as a schwa (atonic) E sound. Please keep in mind that French has a much more regular pronunciation that English. I intend to make another video in greater detail of phonics and the various sounds of French, but this video serves to teach you to identify syllables in a word and when to stress a syllable. I had adults in mind for sure when making this video and I believe that parents with kids in French immersion programs, such as the one my family attends, would benefit greatly by diving into the language themselves. With kids learning to read and write in two languages at once, it is crucial that the spirit of learning is present in our lives. Please subscribe to my Youtube channel for more French pronunciation videos and other amazing language-learning content. Please leave a comment with your thoughts or questions and share this video with friends and family! |
Aaron BurnsI'm an entrepreneurial linguist and musician, a European in a former life, and an indefatigable conversationalist (like June). I'm available for hire as coach, teacher, writer, editor, analyst, consultant, marketeer, content specialist, translator, interpreter, MC, facilitator or performer. This blog is a portfolio of my interest and abilities in various languages of which I have extensive knowledge. I am also a student of several other languages that I am less intimately familiar with and they all bring me great joy. I currently hold degrees in Language and Literature as well as in Vocal Music Performance, both fields in which poetics and interpretation are no strangers. Archives
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