6 Diction/Articulation

Diction refers to how clearly and correctly a singer pronounces words while singing. Often, extra emphasis must be placed on the consonant sounds of a word while singing. Consonants are all the letters that are not vowels, such as t, s, d, p, k, etc. Articulation is how these sounds are produced. Someone could sing the same word twice, with excellent diction both times, but with different articulation each time. Staccato, meaning “separated,” and legato, meaning “connected” are two different types of articulations. Other descriptive words can be used to describe articulation, such as light, heavy, smooth, gentle, forceful, etc. When singing the exercises below, practice using different articulations.

24. Dee-dee

25. Me Oh My

26. Red Leather Yellow Leather