By Ellen Rissinger
Practical Diction for Classical Singers
In this episode, Jason Nedecky is back to talk about unstressed vowels, the consonant cluster 'str', and triphthongs, using Purcell’s "Strike the viol". The Diction Police website offers phonetic transcripts of texts, with word-for-word and poetic translations, text readings by...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #33, Jason Nedecky talks about the long vowels that occur in British Received Pronunciation...
In Episode 114, Jason Nedecky leads us through the text to Purcell's "What can we poor females do?", talking about long vowels, the Daniel Sitteth rule, and the difference between the [ʌ] vowel and [ə]. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #32, Dr. François Germain explains the spellings 'u' [y] and 'ou' [u] in French. For...
It’s the start of the opera season and the school year in most places, and we’re kicking off our 9th Season with Dr. François Germain! Using Duparc’s "Phydilé", we focus on the final schwas in French, the '–ill' and '–il'...
Conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the tricky concept of "palatalization", the "softening" of consonants in Russian, as part of our mini-series on Russian Lyric Diction!
While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In this third installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the concepts of "ekanye" and "ikanye",...
While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In the second installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the concepts of "akanye" and "okanye".
While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In the first installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov compares the 'и' [i] and 'ы'...
This will be our last episode for this season, and we wanted to do something special—so this will be our first Russian episode with a video tutorial! Ekaterina Sapega-Klein leads us through the text to Olga’s aria from Yevgeniy Onegin, talking about...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #31, François Germain interviews Ellen Rissinger about the [æ] vowel in English lyric...
In this episode, baritone Christoph Pohl works through the text to "Ich grolle nicht" with us, talking about Ach- and Ich-lauts, a little bit about glottals, and painting the text by using all of the consonants. We also mention the...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #30, Bernhard Hansky talks about the assimilation of the consonants 't', 'd', and...
The Diction Police is just starting its 9th year! Thank you for being a part of it! This week my partner-in-crime, François Germain, talks about Sophie's aria from Werther, "Frère voyez... Du gai soleil", with an emphasis on consonants that should...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #29, Dr. François Germain talks about the pronunciation of the letter 'h' in...
Vocal coach Matteo Pais works through the text to Händel's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse with us, talking about open and closed vowels, glides and diphthongs, and a little about the sound of Italian! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !
In Episode 108, Christoph Pohl works through the text to "An die Musik" with us, discussing the open, flying [ʊ], spitting consonants, and how to get the consonants to be part of the legato. This is the audio version of...
In Episode 108, Christoph Pohl works through the text to "An die Musik" with us, discussing the open, flying [ʊ], spitting consonants, and how to get the consonants to be part of the legato.For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !
Since I am still recovering from the flu, we're a little off-schedule. This week will be another Diction Tip, and then the next two weeks will be the regular podcast. Thanks for your understanding! In Diction Tip #28, Matteo Pais talks about...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #27, Bernhard Hansky talks about the number 4 in all of its forms (1/4,...
This week, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with a lot of focus on French grammar and how that can affect pronunciation! This is the audio version of the...
This week, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with a lot of focus on French grammar and how that can affect pronunciation! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #26, Dr. François Germain discusses the pronunciation of the third person plural verb ending...
In Episode 106, Simone di Felice and I work through "Come raggio di sol" by Antonio Caldara, paying special attention to phrasal diphthongs (that is, when vowels come together between words), the pronunciation of the spelling GI, and some words...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In this Diction Tip, vocal coach Matteo Pais talks about how to pronounce those three letter...
In this episode, Dr. François Germain and I discuss the text to Paul Verlaine's "Clair de lune", which has been set by many composers, focusing on mixed vowels, the phonetic [k] sound, and some of the digraphs that make up...
In this episode, diction coach Elizabeth Brodovitch introduces us to the Auvergnat language, through the text to "Baïlero", one of the Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube. This is the audio version--the full video tutorial is available at dictionpolice.com !
In this episode, diction coach Elizabeth Brodovitch introduces us to the Auvergnat language, through the text to "Baïlero", one of the Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In this Diction Tip on Phrasal Doubling in Italian Lyric Diction, Matteo Pais explains how to...
Matteo Pais talks through the text to "Quando me'n vo'", Musetta's aria from La Bohème with us, talking about double and single consonants, some standard closed [e] endings, and pitching voiced consonants and glides. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #23, Dr. François Germain talks about the difference between "elision" and "liaison" in...
Since it's Messiah season, we wanted to post another aria for the basses! Jason Nedecky works through the text to "The people that walked in darkness" and it's preceding recitative, with an emphasis on handling 'r', the [æ] vowel, and aspirate 't'. This...
Since it's Messiah season, we wanted to post another aria for the basses! Jason Nedecky works through the text to "The people that walked in darkness" and it's preceding recitative, with an emphasis on handling 'r', the [æ] vowel, and aspirate...
Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #22, Bernhard Hansky discusses the concept of Auslautverhärtung (hardening of the final consonant) in...
In Episode 101, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "En fermant les yeux", the tenor aria from Massenet's Manon, focusing on nasal vowels and some normal spellings that may look complicated. This is the audio version of...
