Basic Diction for Choral Musicians

Dipthong a sound composed of two consecutive vowels in the same syllable, one sustained, the other treated as a vanishing vowel:

(stay on [e] through most of the half note) Examples of dipthongs:

- the schwa is an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in any language
used to make words sound more natural e.g. Ang[]ls and cru[]lby de-emphasizing their weaker syllable used also for articles, prepositions, and other words that should recede (a, of, the, etc.)

Vowel charts:

Rs: The: Pronounced th[i] before vowels Pronouced th[] before consonants Phrasing Carry words in absence of punctuation or rests. Breathe at commasexcept: o those setting off direct address (Lord, listen to your children ), o serial commas (glory, praise, and honor), o some parenthetical thoughts (He, watching over Israel, slumbers not). Breathe between examples of repeated text except where the last repeat continues through with the whole thought (and all flesh, (breathe) and all flesh (carry) shall see it together). never sing r before a consonant (whether following consonant is in the same word or begins the following word). do not sing r before a pause (e.g. a rest or a breath) sing R before a vowel (whether following vowel is in the same word or begins the following word) sometimes roll R for important words (i.e. Ruler, Reigns, Redemption, Righteousness) sometimes flip R within words borrowed from other languages (e.g. Glo[ ]y)

Conjunctions (and, but, or, nor) can cause a phrase to continue, even in the presence of punctuation

Phrases ending in a vowel take a breath on the rest: (breathe) Phrases ending in a consonant: pitched placed on the last eighth note of the phrase: (d on 4 &) un-pitched placed on the rest: (th here) Consonants within phrases place on the following vowels:

(Lor---dand) Phrase breaths (without rests) remove an eight- or quarter-note (depending on tempo) and follow rules for rests: (st on beat 2, then breathe)