FWIW, Monique, the Limeliters shortened the lyric phrase "pour apprendre à jouer de l'épinette" in the song "Le Jouer de Luth" to "pour apprendre jouer l'epinette," and when you listen to their recording, it sounds like [English 'phonetic' spelling] "poor apprahn joo-eh ...".
I.e., I cannot hear the "-dre" ending on "apprendre" or the "à" either.
The Limeliters were not native French speakers either, but their French pronunciation generally seems pretty good, and given the way they sound on that line, I wonder if Clooney was also singing "apprendre."