Molly Holleran Voice Studio header
Voice Studio News & Fun
March 16, 2020 | Issue #16 | Newsletter Archive
Important Studio Info
  • I hope you are all taking care of yourselves and adjusting to your new routine. Please let me know if I can help you. Sending virtual hugs and air high fives!

  • For now, voice lessons will continue as scheduled for the rest of March. You can take your lesson online (it is fun!) if you don't want to leave your house, or you can cancel and get a make-up credit to use by May 31. I especially hope that students over 60 and those who are (or are living with someone who is) immunocompromised will choose to cancel. I support your choice and please do not worry about me or my situation. I will be as flexible as possible with the make-up policy, since I know it will be a time of financial struggle for many people. Your health is the most important thing.
  • Voice Adjudications have been postponed. I will let you know when these are rescheduled.

  • Happy St. Patrick's Day! Celebrate tomorrow by wearing green and dancing a little jig!
Musical of the Week
This musical set in Dublin, Ireland, features a working bar on stage that serves drinks to the audience before the show starts and at intermission. Scroll down (or right) for more about this great musical that won eight Tony Awards in 2012.
Name That Tune
Challenge your sight-reading skills with the melodies below!
You've Got Rhythm
Practice your rhythm with some fun exercises below!
Folk Song Favorites
Not technically a folk song, still this lilting Irish tune is a classic that everyone should know! Scroll for more info!
Composer Spotlight:
Enya
After U2, Enya is Ireland's most famous and popular musician. In addition to her solo albums, her distinctive new age style has been used in many movie scores. Scroll down to read more!

Musical of the Week
Once is a musical based on the 2007 film of the same name. Like the film, music and lyrics were by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, including the Academy Award-winning "Falling Slowly". The book for the musical was written by Enda Walsh. The musical opened on Broadway in 2012. The production received eleven 2012 Tony Award nominations, and won eight including Best Musical, Best Actor and Best Book. The musical also won the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical and the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

In the musical, the cast also serves as the orchestra. A minimalist set is used, including a bar in center stage with chairs lining stage left and right. Exiting cast members simply step to the side of the stage and sit down. They serve as the orchestra from these chairs. The bar is used before the show and at intermission as a working bar for theater patrons.

Here is an article to learn more about the show.

Here is a video of the cast performing at the 2012 Tony Awards.


Here's a video of the Academy and Tony Award winning song "Falling Slowly," easily the most famous song from the show.


Listen to the full original cast album on YouTube.
Voice Training: International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is a system of symbols used to represent verbal language sounds. IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech-language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators and translators.

The chart to the left shows the most commonly-used IPA symbols. Some of them are the same as our English (Latin) letters, but you'll see a lot of unfamiliar symbols. Each different sound has it's own distinct symbol, as opposed to our English alphabet, in which the letter "a" can be pronounced many different ways, for example.

We singers use this alphabet as a way to sing songs in languages we may not have studied. For example, if a song originally composed in Russian is transcribed into IPA, then you will be able to sing it accurately, even if you have not learned Russian.



You can find all kinds of YouTube videos to help with language pronunciation, such as this French language pronunciation video. French is notoriously one of the most challenging languages for native English speakers to pronounce correctly, particularly because of the mixed vowels and nasal vowels that we do not have in English.

College level voice majors study lyric diction, which includes all of the major languages that classical songs are written in, and they become very well acquainted with the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Have fun with this online phonetic transcriber! Type in the English words and see what it would be in IPA. Send secret messages only another singer can read!
Folk Song Favorites
When Irish Eyes are Smiling
Technically more in the category of a musical "standard" than a folk song, this tune is a great one for St. Patrick's Day. First published in 1912, its lyrics were written by Chau ncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr., set to music composed by Ernest Ball.


Listen to this lovely recording of some authentic Irish tenors .

Click here to download the song and sing or play for yourself!

Name That Tune
Have fun sight-reading these folk tunes! Do you recognize them?
‌
You've Got Rhythm!
Here are some exercises for rhythm practice - good luck!
Composer Spotlight: Enya
Irish singer and songwriter Enya (born May 17, 1961) is a contemporary icon of new age and Celtic music. She is Ireland's bestselling solo artist and second-bestselling artist behind U2. Enya has won awards including seven World Music Awards, four Grammy Awards for Best New Age Album, and an Ivor Novello Award. She was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for "May It Be", written for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).


Check out some of her original music videos:


  • May It Be (LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, 2001)


All of her songs are beautiful music to relax and fall asleep to!