Ian Sidden

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You Know Nothung, Jon Snow

Please forgive the joke in the title ha ha ha…

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Some characters in A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones have some serious similarities to characters in Der Ring des Nibelungen. But first:

If you haven’t read the books comprising George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and watched the show Game of Thrones, then you should stop right here, because I’m getting into spoilers right away. Some of them involve spoilers that are show only, which have – as of this writing – gone beyond the books’ plots. On Reddit, this would correspond to a SPOILERS EXTENDED post.

Ok?

I recommend the books whole-heartedly. I also recommend the show (the moments of greatness more than cancel out the moments of not-so-greatness), but the books are the real love of my heart when it comes to this story. Part of the joy is not knowing what the books are actually about through most of their telling, which spoilers ruin.

I also think you should watch or listen to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen since it’s an incredibly grand fantasy with moments that stand as pinnacles of musical drama 1. If you’ve noticed the recurring musical motifs that accompany Star Wars or Game of Thrones, you have Richard Wagner’s influence to thank.

That said, I don’t think spoilers ruin the Ring in the way they might for A Song of Ice and Fire, so you can read on.

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The Elastic Passaggio: [a] Edition

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At the passaggi, a singer has some flexibility. With the vocal tract being comprised of flesh and cartilage, we can manipulate our throats within reason to achieve certain vocal effects depending on the musical choices we want to make.

Once you see my examples, you might think, “Yea, well duh. I’ve heard lots of singers do this stuff,” and you’d be right. But I want make these “flipping” strategies more explicit than they have been. Because the concepts of formant tuning are still relatively new, many singers approach their passaggio with a certain amount of guesswork, and that guesswork can lead to uncertainty about the results they can expect.

If you don’t know what the heck I’m writing about with regards to formant tuning, please check out the formant-tuning primer I wrote for the occasion.

My examples, by the way, will detail the strategies for ascending on an “ah” vowel (IPA: [a]) into resonant second formant third harmonic tuning (F2H3) and away from first formant second harmonic tuning (F1H2). 1
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Premiere: Gullivers Reise

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Deutsch

Heute findet die Premiere Gullivers Reise von Gerald Resch und John von Düffel in Opernhaus Dortmund statt. Ich werde heute als Einspringer die Rolle Maat/Besuffliput übernehmen.

Die Geschichte Gullivers ist gut bekannt, und unsere Produktion ist humorvoll und süß und viel mehr. Ich freue mich auf die Premiere, und ich wünsche den Kollegen ein herzliches toi toi toi!.

English:

Today is the premiere of Gulliver’s Travels by Gerald Resch and John von Düffel in Opernhaus Dortmund. I’m jumping into the dual role of Maat/Besuffliput.

The story of Gulliver’s is well know, and our production is funny and sweet and much more. I’m looking forward to the premiere, and I wish all my colleagues a hearty toi toi toi!

Mehr Infos/More Information here:

https://www.theaterdo.de/detail/event/gullivers-reise/