Lavaska Anna (ed.) Russian in Song

Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1949. — 80 p.In my experience as a teacher of the Russian language, I have come more and more to rely upon, and appreciate, the song as a teaching instrument. Through the song (especially the folk song) the student 1) enlarges his vocabulary, 2) acquires a knowledge of the Russian diminutives and of other forms of Russian speech which are not often found in textbooks, 3) masters idioms essential to everyday conversation, and 4) improves his pronunciation, for singing more than any other form of speech requires accurate use of speech organs. My teaching program comprises twenty-four songs, old- and new. They are not the songs commonly known in the United States but are in my opinion the most representative and useful to be found for the purpose. Each song is presented in a unit consisting of the poem, i. e . , the text of the song; an itemized vocabulary of that poem, and the music.