English Diction Blogs

As you mentioned, I too feel at this point we have pretty much covered all of the major themes/considerations for English diction.  As for the three songs, I think that they all do sound particularly American given their styles.   The first, by Rorem is very American in the sense that it sounds like a Roger's and Hammerstein, melodic sort of musical sound.  The second, by Charles Ives, (sung by Sandy Sylvan) starts with a classic western sound.  The accompaniment features prominent octaves in the baseline, accompanied by loud booming chords, similar to many of the songs one typically hears in a wild west movie.  Toward the middle it becomes increasingly dissonant however.  At times during this part, I felt that Sandy was a bit drowned out by the piano.  However, I love his dynamics and contrast when describing the fight, etc.  Finally, the Bernstein piece is very American sounding because of its jazzy styles.

A Little Lerner and Loewe with a Mozart Kicker!

I really enjoyed watching all three clips.  I completely agree that a lot of the difficulties with being clear diction as a singer is producing a full and rich tone without compromising the vowels or consonants.  It takes a lot of vocal control (the right kind of control) in order to produce a steady stream of sound, without much interruption from consonants, in addition to maintaining the proper placement of vowels.  What I noticed the most about Stephen's singing is that he produced most of his words with a round shape to his mouth, without compromising the placement of the voice.  This undoubtedly came from many years of practice and training.  However, even in the production of [i], or other highly placed vowels, he did not draw his lips back but maintained a round shape with his lips (something that I am currently working on with my teacher).  The effect is that the sound remained completely forward and clear to the listener.

Music/Words - wedded bliss

What is most noticeable about both Dawn Upshaw's and Kristen Chenoweth's commitment to their words in these particular clips is their wonderful acting.  They are so expressive with each word that they utter (Kristen almost over the top), that you are essentially pulled into what they are saying.  Also, both singers avoid any dark covering, with primarily forward placement of their words.  Kristen in particular sings almost in an American vernacular....which is most noticeable on the word "France".  She says it just an a mid-western American would say it, so that it is very understandable.  She does not cling to using tall vowels (as singers tend to do for tone) which oftentimes ends up sounding British.  This doesn't mean that she doesn't use a lot of space when creating her tone, but she has a way of doing so, while creating American sounding vowels.  In addition to good placement, and clear consonants (noticed a couple of Choral "Ts" on Dawn's Clip), but they sing the words as though they are talking.  They make it seem as though this is the first time they are singing this song because it is conversational, rather than a prepared piece.

English Diction - Marian Anderson and Elvis

Both Marian Anderson and Elvis employ the use of portamento to create a type of affect to their performances.  Marian Anderson, particularly on the words, "sometimes", "feel" and "way".  "Way" in fact has a pretty prominent glide down.  In addition, the vowel is very dark, perhaps to emphasize how far from home the singer feels.   While I like the effect, this part actually strikes me as being a bit old fashioned, however, I think it is appropriate for a negro spiritual.

Elvis uses portamento throughout "Love Me Tender," however the difference is that he seems to let the energy fizzle a bit more at the end of his phrases. It still manages to be enjoyable, as it adds a tender quality to the song.

English Diction - It seems so easy!

Besides the clarity of Mr. Raitt's diction, what is most noticeable (and impressive) about his performance is his acting.  He is able to convey the emotions behind every word he sings, and every section of the song has it's own motivation.  When singing about the prospect of having a son named Bill, his posture is erect.  He talks about how tough and strapping his son will be. When he talks about the "flat footed" adversaries, or a potential "snooty" daughter in-law, he even adds a bit of a snarl to his words, which conveys how distasteful both of these scenarios are.  In contract, when he speaks of having a daughter, his tone is more tender, the way a father would approach raising his daughter.  He stays in character throughout the entire performance!

In the second clip, I noticed that despite having fairly exhaustive runs in the Purcell piece, Mr. Daniels is able to maintain a pure vowel throughout.  He essentially keeps his mouth in the same position until the end of the word, so that it is easy to understand what is being sung.  Many young singers would have a more audible [h] when singing these, which would muddle the ability to follow the word being sung from beginning to end.  In addition, he uses wonderful phrasing.

English Diction - "O Mistress Mine"

As noted, in the first clip, the young singer David gives equal weighting to every syllable he sings.  The result is that the song seems almost as though he is plodding through a march, rather than singing a song to his mistress.  He has a nice voice, however, the song becomes boring because none of the words stand out, and the audience therefore does not pay attention to what is being said.

In contrast, Anthony Rolfe-Johson sings out the stressed syllables, and makes the speech pattern more natural and closer to spoken English so that the words are more clearly heard.  However, beyond that, what makes him sound professional is the phrasing he uses.  In the first line, "O mistress mine," there is a crescendo, as well as a bit of a build up in tempo leading into the word mine.  Hence, the word mine is emphasized, and the romantic tone behind the words is conveyed.  He does this consistently and effectively throughout the song.  The effect is that the listener hears the song as if it is being sung for the first time by the singer.  It makes the message more compelling, and the listener is therefore drawn in.  Whereas the younger singer sounded very deliberate, as though he has sung this song a thousand times.  There is nothing spontaneous in his delivery.

English Diction - Lemieux vs. Pears

Admittedly, upon first listening to Lemieux's version of "The Ash Grove", I thought that it was a very nice sound.  While I had a hard time deciphering her words, I probably would have found her diction to be acceptable prior to hearing the version by Pears.

Pears' version is notably easier to understand from the first bar.  This is undoubtedly because he sings primarily on his vowels, while only lightly touching the consonants.  In addition, his vowels seem to be placed much more forward, and also are very pure.   In contrast, Ms. Lemieux seems to sing on her consonants more.  For example, she sings the word "tremble" as "tremmm-bllll".  As a result, her vowels sound more swallowed.  While she has a beautiful tone, it is harder to understand her.