As singers our main goal is to communicate with our audience and one CANNOT do this without great diction.
Diction refers to the execution of the text and can be broken down to pronunciation, enunciation, and expression.
Pronunciation refers to how much our words are understood. It is what helps the audience follow along with the story or mood during a performance.
Enunciation is the sounds we use to deliver the text . This helps the audience understand every word that you are saying.
Expression the communication of the emotion. This is what convinces the audience of the message you are trying to convey to them.
Each of these three components are crucial for a good singer to become spectacular. Here are a couple of diction facts that will change your voice tremendously.
1. We pronounce words with our Articulators.
Our Articulators work together to form the words we speak and sing by producing Vowels and Consonants. Our five articulators include the jaw, tongue, teeth, soft palate and hard palate.
2. We produce Consonants in two ways.
Consonants are the ending or beginning sounds that we have on words. When we sing or speak we have two different kinds of consonants that we use.
We have Voiced Consonants and Unvoiced Consonants.
Voiced Consonants are produced by the vocal folds vibrating together.
This means that these sounds are on pitch just like our vowels. Some examples of these sounds would be [m], [n], [v], and [z].
Unvoiced Consonants are the opposite and are produced by the vocal folds opening and allowing air through. These sounds are NOT on any pitch. Some examples of unvoiced consonants would include: [p], [s], and [t].
3. We have multiple types of vowels.
Vowels in english are the letters A, E, I, O, and U. Just like consonants we have more than one type of vowel. We will talk about two different types of vowels Front Vowels and Back Vowels.
Front Vowels are produced with the front of the tongue and relaxed lips. When we sing these the sound will feel bright and forward due to the placement of the tongue. Some examples of these vowels would be [i] like in the word me, or [I] like in the word hit.
Back Vowels however use the back of the tongue and round lips. These vowels will feel darker compared to front vowels. Some examples include [u] like in the word food, and [o] like in the word soda. We also have neutral vowels in which the tongue and lips are both relaxed an example of this would be the classic [a] as in the word saw.
4. Learning IPA allows you to sing in ANY language.
IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. This system notates sounds with specific symbols. Utilizing IPA can help a singer with precise pronunciation, and can help them pronounce words they’ve never heard even in other languages.