(no subject)

[mari4212]

The Latin teachers never mention this when they're telling you why you should take Latin, but it is rather fun and useful to actually know the language when you start singing all of the Christmas music in Latin.

Unfortunately for both my sister and I, Mr. Heman (and Dr. Kaiser for me in college) taught us Classical Latin pronunciation. The vowels are the same, and most of the consonants remain consistent, but both she and I know we're going to end up singing dicentes with a hard K sound, not the ch sound of Church Latin.

On the other hand, Hodie Christus Natus Est is definitely the most fun song we're singing on Christmas Eve, so it's definitely worth the possible pronunciation slip-up to get to sing it. *glees*

I love the sacred Christmas music. The secular stuff, I could cheerfully go without ever hearing again.

Comments

[svimmelhet.livejournal.com]

Ahh, this makes me miss being in choir! :(

[petitecrivan.livejournal.com]

I really want to take Latin next year...I think I'm going to have space for at least one extra class, and I'm tempted. It might make English make a little more sense. Plus...it's Latin! It's COOL.

And yay for Christmas and church choirs. :)

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Latin is great for giving you a good foundation into English grammar, simply because when you have Latin you finally have to learn basic grammar to make the language make any sense.

Plus, at UE you'd either have Dr. Thomas or Dr. Kaiser, and both of them are great teachers.

[vaudy.livejournal.com]

I learned Latin pronunciation in choir, but I'd love to study Latin someday. My choir director loves to talk about all the disagreements he has with other choir directors about classical vs. church pronunciation (and combinations thereof, apparently). I like the sacred and secular Christmas songs equally well (with exceptions), but I do have a rather unusual love for liturgical music for a lapsed Catholic. Who's the composer on the Hodie you're performing? (I ask because my choir is performing two versions of the Hodie in our Christmas repertoire).

[mari4212.livejournal.com]

Sorry to take so long getting back to you, but I had to wait until choir practice again before I could get the composer's name. It's an arrangement by Krentz, but I've forgotten his first name by now.