MENC: The National Association for Music Education

"Vocal Diction": In a Nutshell

Author(s): T. Campbell Young
Source: Music Supervisors' Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Oct., 1932), pp. 28-29
Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3384144 .
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 "Vocal Diction"-In a Nutshell
T. CAMPBELLYOUNG
(London)

OME time ago, an English lady, after having deliberately separated, so that the ear can readily dis-
listened to a musical comedy in which several tinguish between them.
American artists were appearing, remarked upon COMPOUND VOWELS: When considering those vowel
the fact that she received a mild shock when the leading sounds which need special adaptation for singing, the
lady, after singing a song in "perfect English", began to following simple rule is well worth noting:
speak with a broad American accent. A citizen of New (1) All a's (pay) should be sung as eh's (pet).
York or Chicago might be expected to make a similar
(2) All i's (bite) should be sung as ah's
(tar).
observation when listening to an English actress.
It is true that the spoken word varies considerably, as But the eh and ah above, are to be sung as compound
the many dialects which are found among the English- vowels thus: eh - "eh-ee"; ah - "ah-ee." So that the
speaking nations will prove. It is equally true to say that complete rule is:
language, in song, has been standardized to such an (1) All a's sound "eh-ee."
extent that it has become universal and homogeneous. (2) All i's sound "ah-ee."
It follows naturally that when words and music are allied, To this must be added a further general rule, namely,
the former must be pronounced in such a way as to that compound vowels should never be sung as they are
conform with the accepted principles of good singing.
spoken; they must be twisted at the very end of the
Here one may venture to digress for a moment, to
word, or more rarely at the very beginning.
observe that there are many singers who, without having An example or two will make this clear. When one
attained proficiency in mastering the vocal dificulties of pronounces the word here, one actually says he-ur, and
their own language, have yet achieved the doubtful the twist occurs in the middle of the word. When sung,
accomplishment of singing, indifferently, in a foreign however, it should become he-e-e-ur. The final ur should
tongue. Perhaps the reader can recall the efforts of some not be sounded till the duration of the word is practically
of the great foreign artists who, often from a desire to completed, and the ee sound should be a pure "straight"
please an English or American audience, have conde- vowel until the termination is reached.
scended to "seeng in Eengleesh." Consider the word "quite." As spoken very slowly, it
There can be no doubt that the best language for sounds coo-ah-eet. When sung the twist occurs at either
American children is their own, be it for talking or extreme, thus: cooah- eet, and for practically its
singing. entire duration, the vowel ah is sounding. Pictorially, the
Vowels wrong way to sing the word is:
It is hardly possible to differentiate between the
various kinds of vowels without coining a word to cjOe ah eet
describe them. Such grammatical terms as "diphthong" and the right way:
and "digraph" would only tend to confuse, for we are
concerned at the moment with the sound of the vowel. cooX ah et
If the reader will pronounce the letter "i" in a very
slow and prolonged manner, it will become apparent Consonants-and Continuity
that he is saying ah-ee; in other words, the vowel sound Since vowels "carry" the sound, and consonants are
seems to "twist." This will be termed a "compound" essentially "noises," the continuity or fluency of a song
vowel. A vowel which does not twist will be described will depend upon the way in which both are employed.
as "simple" (e.g., aw, as in saw). Consonants should be short and decisive while vowels
SIMPLE VOWELS: The pure or simple vowels, such as should be as long as possible. The mouth should be
aw, ah (as in tar), ooh (as in too) should be sung in opened quickly so that the "ribbon" of sound is almost
much the same way as they are spoken. unbroken, as in diagram A, and not as in diagram B.
Great care should be takei,, however, to insure that vowel vowel
vowel
they are pure, and that each can be clearly distinguished
from the others. Ah, aw, and ur, for example, must be consonants consonants
A
NOTE: This is the second of a series of articles supplied by Mr. Young.
In a note accompanying the manuscript the author states, "Perhaps you vowel vowel vowel
will point out to the JOURNAL readers that my article, though complete, is
not exhaustive. I had intended to deal more fully with the subject of
singing, but this was so well treated by Frederick H. Haywood in the consonants consonants
March (1932) JOURNAL under the title, The Music Subject Superb, that I B
need not expand the vocal aspect. My article is written specifically for the
American director and teacher in an effort to provide 'in a nutshell' some- In diagram B the shaded portion represents the dura-
thing reliable on which to work. The maxims have been slightly adjusted
to allow for the natural faults which one meets and for the normal power tion of time during which the mouth is fully open. It
of response of the average pupil."

Page 28 Music SupervisorsJournal

will be seen that the "full" vowel is scarcely heard at all.
This is one of the worst faults with untrained singers.
Consonants at the beginning of a word (especially
those like br, th, cl, s, f) should actually precede the
musical accent, thus:
I br: i ng th ee
By this method, the accent is "struck" by the full,
open vowel. This is one of the true secrets of vocal
diction. Where the singer begins "right on the accent"
with a closed or partially closed mouth it will be readily
appreciated that the vital moment has passed before the
sound becomes audible, and the effect will be that of
continuous syncopation, slovenly in itself, trying to the
listener, and dragging all the time. It should be added
that apart from these defects, the sound itself will be
woefully deficient in carrying power.
Final Consonants
Those consonants which involve the complete stoppage
of the breath-such as d, t, p, b, etc., need a short vowel
sound after them, to render them audible. Thus the
word "went" is pronounced "wenta."
One must warn the reader against "over-diction," such
as the following: "Hea wenta ina backa-wardsa." This
is one of the commonest and most distressing faults of
trained singers. They should remember that the ear likes
to do a little work on its own account, and that it can
differentiate much more acutely than most people would
imagine.
When our friends talk rapidly and excitedly, at top
speed, the ear picks out the words quite easily from an
unbroken chain of successive words and syllables which,
if so printed, would baffle the eye completely.
This brings us to the question of CONSONANTSWHICH
CAN TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES. The final n, m and
nng
do not need a subsequent e or a sound, but should be
finished nasally. They will be found to carry quite well.
"Liaison"
Continuity-and
Where words follow one and other, in a phrase, the
question of what must be done to separate them-aurally
-may best be answered by considering the junction of
any two adjacent words.
There are only four possibilities, and if these are clearly
understood it may be said that the solution of these four
problems will constitute the key to the whole question of
continuity or liaison.
Where two words adjoin: (1) The first word may
terminate in a vowel or a consonant. (2) The second
word may begin with a vowel or a consonant. The
following possibilities, therefore, will occur:
(a) A vowel followed by a consonant: e.g., Go down.
(b) A consonant followed by a vowel: e.g., went out.
(c) A vowel followed by a vowel: e.g., go in.
(d) A consonant followed by a consonant: e.g., went
down.
October, Nineteen Thirty-two
At (a) foregoing, where a vowel precedes a consonant,
the words should be sung exactly as they are spoken.
The "d" marks the second word quite clearly, i.e., there
should be no break.
At (b), where the consonant precedes the vowel, there
is no need to separate the words. If they are sung as
spoken, the ear of the listener may be, and ought to be
relied upon to separate them.
At (c) the same may be said to apply, with the proviso
that the vowel change should be clean and precise. A
very slight accent on the second vowel will be effective
perhaps, but it would be better to omit this altogether,
rather than risk its being overdone. On no account must
this effect be confused with that which is termed coup de
glotte (shock of the glottis).
At (d) where consonant meets consonant, there must
be a definite opening of the mouth between them. It is
obvious that where consonants adjoin, unless particular
care be taken, only the second will be sounded. The care-
less speaker would say, for example, ajoin, or wendown.
To make these words perfectly clear to the listener,
therefore, they must be pronounced as "adajoin" and
"wenta down."
The break must be enunciated quickly and definitely.
This is the hardest thing to get children to do, for they
have "lazy eyes," "lazy lips," and "lazy ears."
It is a good plan, when considering a song, to go
through it, looking for adjacent consonants and say them
aloud. If the teacher takes care of these, the rest will
take care of themselves.
A Warning
A word of warning might be added about the letter s.
Once the children begin to stress their consonants, they
will surely turn all S's into "hisses." This letter should
be "underdone" and should approach more nearly to the
letter "z." The young singers should be encouraged to
say the "s" after they have stopped singing, i.e., with no
pressure of emerging air.
It will be found also, that when children are paying
special attention to their diction, there will be a tendency
to shorten their vowels. This must be corrected rather
than discouraged, for the fault is due to their fervor-
children are always "literal."
A further difficulty will arise, namely, that diction and
vowel discrimination will prove very difficult on ex-
tremely high--andl low-notes.
This, of course, can be cured, but one dloubts the advis-
ability of submitting such a specific medicine to the care
of the "general practitioner," without due consultation.
To conclude, it should never be forgotten that:
(1) THE TRAINED HUMAN VOICE IS BY FAR THE MOST
WONDERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL OFL ALL MUSICAL INSTRU-
MENTS, and
(2) ONE'S NATIVE LANGUAGE TRANSCENDS ALL
OTHERS IN BEAUTY, POWER, AND EMOTIONAL APPEAL.
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