Hi all 
I will be entering college this fall and I am planning on pursuing a BA in music. I was wondering if those who are more experienced with studying music in college could offer me some advice about studying a foreign language to complement my music major.
I’ve had previous experience with German and I’ve really enjoyed it so far, and I feel like it’s very important in the world of music, so I’ve thought about continuing with it in college. But I’ve also though about the possibility of changing to French or Italian, since I believe these also would be important to the study of music. Would there be any benefit to choosing one of these instead? Are there any other European languages worth considering (Spanish or Russian? I’m not super familiar with the influence of some languages on music, so any guidance would be appreciated)?
Also, is it important to specifically take foreign language classes in one of these languages? I’ve always been far more interested in non-European languages, like Arabic or Chinese, and I think college would be a great time to learn a language like one of these, but I would not choose these if they were a complete waste of time. Are there any other non-European languages whose importance in music I’m not aware of?
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any advice!
Italian seems like good idea if you major in music, especially if you’re interested in classical music. A lot of music terms are Italian.
For a music major, German, Italian, and French are the three big ones. If you’re a voice major you’ll need to know pronunciation for all of these and a basic understanding will help.
All right, I think I’ll probably continue with German and maybe try to start Italian as well if possible. Thank you both for the input!
German is good for post graduate work if you continue in musicology.
If you are a vocal major they require language study (to what level I am not sure, not a voice parent), with other forms of music studying a foreign language or languages is helpful, but isn’t particularly required (also again depends on what you are studying, learning German in musicology or theory would be helpful, as @spiritmanager said, because of all the work that has been done in that language, more than a bit of which may not be translated into English). It also won’t hurt for performers, either, to learn foreign languages, given the international nature of music, but it isn’t a direct requirement either. Yeah, music notation is written in Italian but you don’t need to speak the language to get to understand it, it is a rather limited set of Italian words or phrases and most of them musician get to know pretty early, allegro, maestoso, piano, pianissmo, forte, fortissimo, pesante, etc don’t require you know Italian,
Me, outside the vocal music requirements, I would recommend taking a language or languages for the joy of learning it, if you want to learn Chinese or Arabic or whatnot, go for it as long as you meet the other requirements.
As a parent of a vocalist, it is Italian and German (in no particular order) followed by French.
And check the course requirements for the BA at the college you are attending. You may already be required to take at least intro French, German and/or Italian as well as diction classes.
Look at each college and their requirements. My child is not a VP, but we just returned from orientation and I learned that the VP students (at least opera, but maybe all VP students) need a year of German, Italian, AND French. You can probably test out and I don’t know if the classes are general language classes or specific to music (which I doubt), but I encourage you to look at the requirements for graduation.
So that matches what @vistajay said above…
The “good” programs for VP majors require at least a year each of Italian, German and French plus diction in each as well as English diction. There are programs with lesser requirements, but that will bite you later on when applying to grad school (again, if VP). My D went into school fluent in French and took several years of the others- and has since picked up two more languages. They are rather dependent upon voice type though, so singers should keep that in mind-for instance, there is little or no Russian rep in my D’s voice type, so she can skip that, but French was more important for her than German (just as far as repertoire goes).
For instrumentalists, take Italian!!
@“Mezzo’sMama” , I am curious about the importance of foreign language proficiency in opera. My S18 is applying for VP programs. He will have 5 years of Latin and 4 of HS French with additional study before HS. He is very good at languages, has all As, AP classes, first in state rally, golds on national exams, etc… Will VP programs value this skill in admissions?
Since you sing in foreign languages during a VP classical audition, a strong grasp of a language can pay off, particularly in your pronunciation (diction). They will be listening for that. If your French diction is poor during your French art song that would probably signal a concern. In opera you have to have a good ear for music AND languages.
While some instrumentalist may be spending hours in a practice room, a singer cannot do that without potentially straining their voice. However spending hours translating the score and hours listening to the opera is necessary.
One thing that can trip VP classical students up is the academic side. I think all parents of music majors could agree and warn that a music major despite the lower test score requirements will be academically tough. Honestly if you struggle in high school academically it won’t be an easy ride. My D has seen people not progress due to music theory but also language study. People with beautiful voices who just can’t memorize an opera much less a lead role in a foreign language. You need to be able to sit and do the work. My D also does theatre and loves the looser creative style. You can show up to a rehearsal not even knowing your part for a read-through. Opera always involves “study” and you should be fully memorized at the first rehearsal. It’s something to think about when comparing VP and MT. I’m not saying MT (or acting) doesn’t require study but the process is more collaborative and ensemble-based. Opera always starts with studying the score by yourself for days, weeks or a month.
In auditioning for undergrad, my D had been singing in Italian and French for a couple of years. She studied French in school. German was her weakest so she didn’t offer a German song. I think you need 3 languages generally for UG (including English). I know she sang her German song at her last sr recital and her teacher was adamant in her sr yr that she get more comfortable with German. She was comfortable in French and Italian and the only thing ever said during her auditions (that I recall her saying) was a compliment on her diction. I think if you can show ease and good pronunciation (diction) in a language or two they can be confident in your ability to keep learning diction.
I’m not sure how much they would consider for example AP French. It really is about the audition. But he seems to have an affinity for languages so that should come out in the audition. My D had nothing outstanding about her language study on her high school transcript. However my H is not a native English speaker and my D was “forced” to attend a Saturday language school in an Asian language. She hated it. She did everything possible not to learn but a little seeped in and I do think the early exposure to a second language helped her. She did watch a lot of cartoons in the other language and could sing the songs. I explain this to give you an idea of where a student was on languages before acceptance.
French and Italian diction solid. German in the early phase. Had a good ear for languages.
Forgot to say: most programs require one year study of each language. This would be a general first year Italian class to learn the basics of the language. Remember you will need to translate scores to English to understand the action. Then you take Italian diction in the music school to learn proper pronunciation/diction used by singers. My d tested out of French so she could take French or English diction (no English language requirement unless you’re foreign) first year. She studied in Italy so she got a pass on first year Italian by the school t take Italian diction. All schools are a little different but good programs will require a lot of language study.