Edited by Nicholas Roy Butcher, Wednesday 7 April 2021 at 21:30
Dear Blog,
I am very happy to report that I have submitted my first TMA, and we now have a few days to draw breath and relax before studies recommence on the 13th. An appropriate moment, I think, to pause and reflect.
During our studies on the Arts and Languages Access module over the last few weeks, I have often been reminded of the indomitable character Professor Henry Higgins, the scholar of Phonetics in the musical 'My Fair Lady', and wonder what he would have made of modern linguistic studies. Perhaps he would have relished it? One of his claims in the story is to be able to, by listening to your accent, pinpoint your place of birth to within a quarter of a mile. Putting aside his arrogant, boorish personality, I couldn't help but admire his academic prowess...
And who could forget Audrey Hepburn as the long suffering Eliza Doolittle in the Warner Bros film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's original 1913 play 'Pygmalion'? It is packed with an array of wonderful Lerner and Loewe songs, including my personal favourite 'On The Street Where You Live'. I still feel aggrieved that, even though he had a more than capable vocal dexterity, Jeremy Brett was overdubbed for this song.
I remember watching this film with my parents as a young boy on a small, square television which had just three buttons on it; BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, and you had to get up from the sofa to change the channel. Ah, the good old days. When Channel 4 came along in 1982, we had to buy one of the new-fangled televisions which had a fourth button. Talk about your advances in technology...
But aside from being a fantastically entertaining film, I remember being intrigued by Rex Harrison's character, because he had a wonderful old phonograph with black, cylindrical recordings of people reciting a frightening collection of different vowel pronunciations. At one point, Higgins forces Eliza to practice 'proper' pronunciation with marbles in her mouth, poor girl.
There is a serious point to be made here though, that there has always been a whole industry surrounding elocution lessons in this country, designed to stamp out unwanted regional accents in an effort to speak 'proper' English. Isn't diversity a good thing? Doesn't the saying go - 'Variety is the spice of life'?
Since beginning the Arts and Languages module I have renewed my appreciation of my Warwickshire heritage and ancestry. I am proud to have been born in Shakespeare country.
And so, Blog, next week we begin studying in earnest the beguiling world of poetry. Ma raison d'être.
Calling Professor Higgins
Dear Blog,
I am very happy to report that I have submitted my first TMA, and we now have a few days to draw breath and relax before studies recommence on the 13th. An appropriate moment, I think, to pause and reflect.
During our studies on the Arts and Languages Access module over the last few weeks, I have often been reminded of the indomitable character Professor Henry Higgins, the scholar of Phonetics in the musical 'My Fair Lady', and wonder what he would have made of modern linguistic studies. Perhaps he would have relished it? One of his claims in the story is to be able to, by listening to your accent, pinpoint your place of birth to within a quarter of a mile. Putting aside his arrogant, boorish personality, I couldn't help but admire his academic prowess...
And who could forget Audrey Hepburn as the long suffering Eliza Doolittle in the Warner Bros film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's original 1913 play 'Pygmalion'? It is packed with an array of wonderful Lerner and Loewe songs, including my personal favourite 'On The Street Where You Live'. I still feel aggrieved that, even though he had a more than capable vocal dexterity, Jeremy Brett was overdubbed for this song.
I remember watching this film with my parents as a young boy on a small, square television which had just three buttons on it; BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, and you had to get up from the sofa to change the channel. Ah, the good old days. When Channel 4 came along in 1982, we had to buy one of the new-fangled televisions which had a fourth button. Talk about your advances in technology...
But aside from being a fantastically entertaining film, I remember being intrigued by Rex Harrison's character, because he had a wonderful old phonograph with black, cylindrical recordings of people reciting a frightening collection of different vowel pronunciations. At one point, Higgins forces Eliza to practice 'proper' pronunciation with marbles in her mouth, poor girl.
There is a serious point to be made here though, that there has always been a whole industry surrounding elocution lessons in this country, designed to stamp out unwanted regional accents in an effort to speak 'proper' English. Isn't diversity a good thing? Doesn't the saying go - 'Variety is the spice of life'?
Since beginning the Arts and Languages module I have renewed my appreciation of my Warwickshire heritage and ancestry. I am proud to have been born in Shakespeare country.
And so, Blog, next week we begin studying in earnest the beguiling world of poetry. Ma raison d'être.
Bring it on...