Full transcript
0:03enunciation proper diction for the
0:07singer look at these
0:12singers what do they all have in
0:17common look how open their mouths
0:26are the first two slides are of popular
0:29singers on the radio UC Fel Justin
0:31Timberlake Christina Aguilera Luke Bryan
0:33the last slide here is of Sarah
0:35Brightman on the right she was the
0:37original Christine from Broadway's
0:39Phantom of the Opera and Adena Manel of
0:41Frozen's Let It Go rent and wicked's
0:47alphaba they are musical theater people
0:50and they've put a lot of emotion behind
0:51everything they
0:57sing what is diction the definition of
1:00diction is the clearness of a person's
1:02speech or in this case the clearness of
1:04their song enunciation what it means to
1:07enunciate means to pronounce the words
1:09or parts of the words very clearly but
1:12it's more than just
1:14words here's some tips from vocal
1:16coach.com
1:17most people know that diction is all
1:20about making your message understandable
1:21to the listener but for the singer
1:23there's a lot more stake than just the
1:25message there are vocal issues too
1:28issues like tone quality keeping your
1:30pitch and vocal stamina these areas are
1:33more impacted by the way you pronounce
1:35your words here's an example if you're a
1:38mumbler there's a good chance your LX is
1:41working over time to fix the unclear
1:43words coming out of your mouth it can't
1:46of course since diction has to be taken
1:48care of with lips tongue and teeth and
1:50ear in order to know what to listen for
1:53clearing up your diction will reduce
1:54your vocal stretch and make you a better
1:57singer another example if you have
2:00Sloppy diction when you record and
2:02depend on fixing in the mix then you're
2:05building some really bad habits sure
2:07it's true that our popular artists
2:08nowadays allow the music engineer to
2:10correct their pitches reduce the amount
2:12of s and t harshness even more than
2:16syllable within the phrase but some
2:18things are better being done correctly
2:20in real time every time plus it's
2:23healthier for your voice and makes a
2:24better performer
2:30so how can we get proper
2:32enunciation we start with our vowels and
2:34consonants as you know vowels are for
2:38sounds formed in the throat with the
2:39assistance of the tongue and mouth that
2:42would be a e i o u and Y sometimes
2:46vowels can be spoken
2:48alone we use them in our warm-ups all
2:51the time we might go
2:55a or
2:58E and so on
3:00a good singer must understand the
3:02difference between vowel sounds and
3:04consonant
3:06sounds consonants are formed by
3:08controlling the breath flow and the
3:10shape of the mouth and tongue consonants
3:13cannot be spoken alone examples are d t
3:18p c and
3:25b when it comes time to sing the vowels
3:28you always want to find the
3:30a for almost every vowel we can find the
3:33A and open up the
3:36sound let's go back to these girls
3:39remember Sarah and Adena they've got a
3:42very open vow here don't they The Vow
3:45opens up from all the way down into the
3:47throat way up through your jaw and then
3:50in your lips
3:53finally these look familiar don't they
3:56we have our vows here listed on the left
3:59on the right side as you cross through
4:01the arrows you'll find what these vowels
4:03may sound like in the words that we use
4:05in singing a the letter becomes a or a
4:11the harsh
4:13a e is either e or the harsh
4:17e i could be e or
4:21i o is an open o or an ooh like who like
4:27a little owl or U
4:30can also be o or
4:37o let's look at these lyrics from lamees
4:40on my own in the Rain the pavement
4:44shines like silver all the lights are
4:47Misty in the river above the text you
4:50will see in blue the vowel open sounds
4:55so let's go through here in becomes n
4:59the the rain a the
5:05P shines like
5:09s so we've opened up each of these
5:12letters in the lyrics to these open
5:15vowel sounds we talked about right
5:19here here we have all the lights
5:25are n the r
5:30and I sound silly when I'm speaking it
5:32but when I sing this it sounds very
5:35clear
5:38and the pavement shines like
5:42silver you can hear me saying each of
5:45these vowels but it doesn't sound as
5:47funny as when we said shines like silver
5:50does
5:53it once you figure out how to do these
5:56vowels in the separate ways you'll then
5:58create a whole new language of text so
6:01here is the full verse that we were
6:03singing um we'll compare here the blue
6:05line which is our new vowel text with
6:10the original lyrics in white so we have
6:14in the
6:16Rain the pavement shines like
6:21silver so we've just connected all of
6:23the rest of the letters that we left
6:25behind in this
6:28slide to make silver silver
6:33silver all the lights are Misty in the
6:39river and so on take a few seconds to
6:42look at this yourself and say it out
6:44loud in your
6:50head be sure to look at the Blue Line
7:04so we'll go ahead and move to the next
7:06slide what do we do with the or the
7:10There are rules for the
7:12orth if you're going to use
7:15the you're going to say it before a
7:18vowel so you'll say it the
7:23Apple the airplane the
7:27elephant the comes before a consonant
7:31the river The
7:36Starlight here we've highlighted all of
7:39the these in this line from lay is we've
7:43just sang and we've changed them all to
7:45the to open it up so we don't want to
7:48say in the Rain the pavement it takes
7:51too long for a
7:53singer how about the
7:57endings a very common ending to a word
8:00is Ing we always want to open up the ing
8:04here's three different lyrics from three
8:07different
8:08musicals for your different
8:11examples I'm Singing in the
8:16Rain I wna see
8:19dancing and from L is again when
8:23everybody else is
8:25sleeping you see how we've opened up in
8:28where we would have sing
8:30dancing and sleeping other words are
8:33ringing running feeling they all have
8:36this ing sound but it can sound very
8:44closed how about the letter R that's
8:46another very common ending or middle
8:51consonant sha has some thoughts on music
8:53Ministry coach.com for the letter R she
8:56says Never sing the letter R before a
8:58consonant
9:00so think about the word charm in two
9:02ways first like you normally say it
9:04charm
9:06arm arm then with no arm charm now if
9:10you sing the word without the r with an
9:13open throat it becomes clearer CH it
9:16still sounds like I'm saying the
9:18r another is do not use the letter R
9:21before a pause so a pause could be
9:23considered a spot where you would
9:25Breathe or you come to a stopping or
9:27resting point in the music take out the
9:30r before the pause results in a good
9:32tone and naturalness so let's say the
9:35phrase when life is
9:37over but now let's say it without the r
9:40when life is over we become
9:45over let's try singing the phrase when
9:48life is over it doesn't sound funny when
9:52we sing it another example is fire
9:55versus far just soften those RS as you
9:58sing them
10:01another rule is to always sing the r
10:04before The Vow it's pretty much
10:06self-explanatory but some examples are
10:09Spirit which without the r becomes spit
10:12that doesn't make any sense and for us
10:15without the r becomes F us you see why
10:18the rule speaks for
10:21itself another important sound to carry
10:23in your song is completing your endings
10:26D's and T's are great examples of
10:28letters that have to have a a clear
10:30ending we'll also talk about in the next
10:32slide how to listen for the different
10:34sounds of our letter s we can either
10:36have a snaky s or the z
10:43s let's look it on my own again there
10:46are many T and d s and Z Sounds in this
10:50little snip you'll even see our R and
10:52Val examples here let's just read it in
10:56the Rain the pavement shines like silver
10:59all the lights are Misty in the river in
11:01the darkness the trees are full of
11:04Starlight and all I see is him and me
11:07forever and
11:10forever now take a few seconds to read
11:13through this in your mind and try to
11:14figure out what the lyrics are now
11:16Rewritten it looks like a completely new
11:19language doesn't it
11:40as you continue to read notice how we've
11:42taken the important endings and bolded
11:45and underline them these are the words
11:47that have to be closed and complete to
11:49keep them from sounding unfinish so if I
11:52was going to sloppily read the third
11:54line it would sound like all the lies
11:56are Missy in the river
12:03now with you adding your TZ and your m t
12:06sound you're opening the beginning of
12:09the word and closing it very clearly all
12:11the lights are Misty in the
12:16river try to say this part of the song
12:19in your head knowing our new enunciation
12:21language overexaggerating every syllable
12:42now speak it over exaggerated in your
12:44mind I have Rewritten it for you
12:47here and I know it's only on my mind
12:52that I'm talking to myself and not to
12:56him and although I know that he is blind
13:01still I say there's a way for
13:06us did you notice in this text how we've
13:08combined a few words to accident a
13:10certain sound look at and I know here at
13:13the beginning and I know we've combined
13:18the and and the word I to be creating
13:22and die it clarifies the two words
13:25sometimes you can take the end of and
13:27and move it to The Vow behind behind it
13:29on the next word and make it sound like
13:32this again in the second line that time
13:36talking to myself and not to him we've
13:40broken not to
13:43him as not to him instead of having two
13:47T's here we can say not to him not to
13:52him even though this might sound really
13:54silly I do want you to try this at home
13:57Begin by looking at yourself in a mirror
13:58and Li sinking the words to a song no
14:00sound but moving your lips face and
14:02tongue it will help you get in touch
14:04with all of the muscles involved in good
14:06diction then still with no sound be even
14:08more expressive as you sing the song and
14:11memorize the feeling of good diction and
14:14expression try to duplicate it once
14:16you've done these exercises and really
14:18actually sing it along with the
14:20music the more you practice this on your
14:23own the more you'll feel comfortable
14:24doing it in front of a group when
14:25singing pretend the queen has come for
14:27tea and use a British ACC ENT when
14:29practicing memorizing your lyrics by
14:31reading them aloud even going overboard
14:33and making yourself sound silly helps by
14:35going too far then you're able to bring
14:37yourself back to a balance you just have
14:39to realize that opening your mouth is
14:41the starting point to proper diction and
14:44being understood in performance