Donatella Brioschi, Mariella Martini-Merschmann
Corso d’italiano per cantanti lirici e amanti dell’opera
Description
L’italiano nell’aria is a course of Italian in two volumes for foreign students of any country, even complete beginners, who are studying in conservatories and music schools, in universities and IIC, in music schools in Italy offering specific courses of Italian for the Opera. The course is also addressed to opera appassionato and to all those who wish to learn Italian in order to better understand the opera libretti.
The course covers the A1-B2 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. It is suitable to be used in class, but it can also be used separately for self-studying thanks to its several online resources.
L’italiano nell’aria 1 includes the following in a single volume:
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Student’s Book
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Workbook
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Pronunciation Booklet
- 2x
Audio-CD
Click
here to browse and/or print the first unit of the Student's book and the Workbook.
The Student’s Book is organized into 7 learning units. One of the main feature is that some grammar phenomena follow a different order than the one in most of traditional books for foreigners. Thus, past simple, direct, indirect and double object pronouns, imperative and the future simple are already for the students to immediately understand and translate the opera texts. Section E groups together all the grammar phenomena that, although essential to the Italian grammar, are not of high priority when it comes to the opera texts.
Another special feature of this volume is the consecutive presence of arias, recitatives and extracts, all carefully selected based on their relevance to the grammar phenomena presented in the book. This is a way for students to see in practice what they have just learned. For each opera text there is a translation exercise to be completed with the teacher’s help.
All dialogues are related to authentic situations and, along with the reading texts, provide the necessary communication, vocabulary and cultural awareness. The volume actually provides a wide range of information on theaters, composers and opera singers. It also offers many quizzes on music and opera culture, as well as useful trivia to enrich students’ knowledge about the opera.
The Workbook includes several engaging and stimulating activities for every unit of the Student’s Book, so that students can practice the linguistic elements they have learned. There are also opera extracts and readings dealing with the relevant specialized thematic. Keys to all exercises can be browsed and/or downloaded online. Clear and easy to read grammar tables are at the end of the volume.
The Pronunciation Booklet completes the first volume of the course, helping students to have correct pronunciation, a requirement for all students of Italian, but an absolute prerequisite for opera singers. This booklet is separate in order to allow students to use it simultaneously with the Student’s Book. It revises step-by-step the pronunciation rules presented in the first three units and it includes many listening and compilation exercises, ideal to be assigned as homework, which require students to reproduce both the rhythm of a phrase and the correct pronunciation. (Keys to all activities can be downloaded from our website). Finally, on our website you can also find the activities guidelines included in the Pronunciation Booklet translated into different languages.
2x Audio-CD, recorded by professional actors. Both are attached in the book. The first CD includes readouts of all dialogues and arias found in the Student’s Book, and the second one all audio-texts included in the Pronunciation booklet.
L’italiano nell’aria 1 is completed by a series of resources that will soon be available online:
Teacher’s Guide, it offers valuable suggestions and tips to facilitate the teachers’ work, especially those who have no prior knowledge of opera. Each chapter of the Guide contains an index of the sections: the communication skills and vocabulary elements; the grammar phenomenon; the readings and opera extracts, which are included in both the Student’s Book and the Workbook. Most of the arias are prefaced by a short overview that helps better understand the extract in question. To browse, download or print the PDF of the Teacher’s Guide , when requested a password, insert the last word of p. 39 in the Student’s book.
Grammar Synopsis for a quick unit revision
Pronunciation Final Test
Unit by unit glossary (for both the Student’s Book and the Workbook) in different languages (English, German, Russian).
Brief glossary of opera and music terms, it includes common opera and music vocabulary