Alisha Reeve MUSE 258 Citation Teaching Kids to Sing 1992 Chapter 10: Diction Kenneth H.

Phillips Diction The way in which language is spoken Word intelligibility is necessary for beautiful tone quality Areas of pronunciation o Enunciation-way a vowel or syllable is spoken Needs uniformity Deep-set quality High forward placement o Articulation-way a consonant is spoken Flexibility of the articulators Exaggeration of consonants Quick consonant production International Phonetic Alphabet o One symbol for each sound o No regards to spelling o Universal and used for foreign languages o Thirteen basic vowel colors and six diphthongs o Uses mostly the same consonants except for 9 special cases symbols Articulators o Jaw o Tongue o Teeth o Lips o Soft palate o Hard palate o Upper gum line o Glottis Classifications o Two Open and closed Dark and bright o Systems Physical origin classification Bilabial-p, b m Labiodental-f, v Linguodental-th Linguo-alveolar-t,d,n,l

Glottal-h, wh Linguopalatal-ch, j, soft g, r, sh, zh Velar- k, hard c, hard g, ng, q, x (ks) Similarity of sound Voiced, tuned, and voiceless Some consonants plosive-p, t, k, ch, b, d, g, j Opposite called continuants-m, n, l, r Sibilants-f, s th, sh Aspirates-h, wh Two schools of thought o Sung-speech diction-spoken language the listener discerns messages from the speaker in acoustical blends of vowels and consonants o Rhythmic diction-without an underlying rhythmic application of speech sounds in choral music vowel puritymay be seriously impoverished Fred Waring o Tone Syllables No visual space between words Each is joined to the next Two Associations striving to better choral music o ACDA o NATS Robert Shaw o Resurgence of rhythmic precision o Separates each sound into the rhythmic structure Don Neuen and Sally Herman o Building a Pyramid of Musicianship o Rhythmic precision breathes life into music Neither style is appropriate for every type of music o Up to discretion of director Singing in Foreign Languages o All students should participate o Instructor must be a good vocal model o Pronunciation Guide for Choral Literature Phonetic pronunciations for French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Spanish o Students must have a good translation Pronunciation Problems o List of common problems and how to solve them Diction Training o Three divisions-each with six divisions Vocal Tract Freedom Pronunciation Exercises Consonant Group Drill

Reflection This Chapter will be extremely helpful as an educator because it lists many sources to consult and many hints to make diction easy to manage. As an educator it is extremely important that I recognize good diction, and how to correct bad diction when it occurs. The section on common problems will be extremely important and from my experience in choirs previously I have seen many of the hints in use. I know that I will consult this chapter in the future when diction problems arise in my future classroom.