Diction - the neglected art

One thing that many students seem to find difficult, is to incorporate good diction into their singing.

There are several aspects to good diction that makes it fundamental to good singing. One aspect is of course the transmission of text and meaning in vocal music, and this is something that many students - and no doubt many professional singers - take too easily. To be frank, it is scary to see how many students that have little or no knowledge of the text they are actually singing, and that do not incorporate working on text and lyrics as a natural part of their daily routine.

The art of singing is unique in the sense that incorporates music AND text, and ignoring the text is ignoring an important part of the piece of art you are performing. Composers have put a lot of effort into finding and choosing words for their music, and into giving the text and the words an expression in music. To ignore the text is also to ignore the intention and the work of the composer (not to mention disrespecting the poet!). 

Furthermore - a good understanding of the text and a good pronunciation will make you a much more interesting and complete singer. A beautiful sound only can only take you so far.

But good diction is also important for your sound. There is no contradiction between good pronunciation on one hand, and a beautiful, resonant, legato sound on the other. 

Here are some thoughts on good diction in singing:

• Good diction in singing is more than good diction in daily speech. Your daily diction is far from enough for good singing!
  
  
• Good diction is hard work (but as always - the work has to happen in the right place). There are muscles in the lips and in the tongue that need to be trained. This means that good diction is something that has to deliberately and consciously trained and exercised every day.
  
  
• Consonants are called exactly that - CON-SONANTS. They are something that is supposed to resonate together with the vowels.
  
  Tomas Hampson points out in several masterclasses (available on Youtube) that all consonants should be sung. We usually divide consonants into voiced  (m, n, v, as example) and unvoiced (s, f, t), but they all should have an intonation and a resonance.
  
  
• The consonant should - must - already contain the vowel that comes afterwards. If you sing Mutter, the M must already contain the intonation, the resonance and the opening of the following vowel. When you go from the M to the U, you simply open of for a sound that already is in your mouth - the U is already there.
  
  And here is maybe the main point - clear and good diction - and clear and correctly done con-sonant - do not obstruct the legato line and the vowels. Quite the opposite - they support and help the vowels. If the m (in our example) is clearly pronounced with intonation and resonance, the u does not need to be established anew - it comes naturally and prepared out of the m.
  
  On the other hand - sloppy and unprecise diction is in my opinion difficult to reconcile with legato singing. First of all, you will often have air leaks and gaps in sound before and after the consonants. Second, if the vowels are not prepared in the consonants, the first fractions of each vowel will be without the proper resonance and clarity.

• For me, then, it seems fruitful to me to think of the relationship between consonants and vowels as that of a diphthong! When you sing "meine", there is no absolute place where the e ends and the i starts, it is a sliding transition. The same should be with any combination of consonant and vowel. Even with a combination like ta, the t should already contain the following a, and the transition between them should not be a stop-start, but a gliding transition like that of a diphthong.
  
  
• I am trying to make my students pay more attention to the feeling of the consonants, and not only "diction". Every consonant (and combination of consonants or consonant + vowel) has a physical feeling in your mouth: a tingling in your lips, a thrill in your tongue, a resonance in your nose. Pay attention to that feeling, what the diction feels like. Diction should be a sensual thing!
  
  
• Good diction requires good support! Clear diction is not pushed or beaten, but created in the mouth on a steady airstream.
  
  
• Much more diction than what you think is necessary. And an "airtight", gliding transition between consonants and vowels. These things demand quite a bit of concentration and hard work to get used to.

Claudia Friedlander is one of the most valuable singing teachers online, covering all aspects of singing through a long row of fantastic and instructive videos. I will come back to her a lot through my posts. This video on diction is very much worth watching,