Please note: This lecture will be held in person and virtually on Zoom. The webinar is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Once you've registered, joining information will be sent to your email. Register for the Zoom webinar at: https://myumi.ch/G2NdP

This lecture builds on Park's Fulbright U.S. Scholar project (2024–2025, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany), which investigates the role of singing as a pedagogical tool in foreign language acquisition. The project demonstrates how combining Korean lyric songs (가곡) with culturally significant works such as Arirang and popular songs from the 1970s, valued for their simple yet artistic character, creates powerful opportunities for both language learning and cultural engagement.

Singing activates multiple cognitive processes—memory, auditory discrimination, and articulatory precision—that support vocabulary retention, pronunciation, and prosodic fluency. Through guided sing-along activities, participants will experience firsthand how these repertoires enable learners, particularly non-Korean speakers, to internalize language patterns in a memorable and embodied way.

Beyond linguistic development, the juxtaposition of lyric, folk, and popular song traditions illuminates Korea’s diverse musical and cultural landscape. This interdisciplinary approach—linking vocal pedagogy, musicology, and linguistics—underscores the efficacy of song as both a dynamic tool for foreign language acquisition and a meaningful pathway to intercultural understanding.

A native of Korea, Moon-Sook Park, soprano, has performed internationally across Europe, Asia, and the United States, including her U.S. debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 2001. Her repertoire encompasses German Liederkunst, art songs, chamber, and experimental music, and she has been honored with the K.A.A.D. Award and the prestigious Bayreuth Wagner Stipend Award for the rising scholar-artist in Germany. Park is currently Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Arkansas and was recently awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar fellowship (2024–2025, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany). Her scholarship includes co-authoring volumes of Korean Art Song Anthologies and interdisciplinary research on 15th-century Korean court music by Sejong the Great using AI technology and classical vocal interpretation.

Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at ncks.info@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.