Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to know what diction in singing is? In any vocal style, diction is central to a good performance, at least if you want your audience to understand you. However, if you’re not careful, you can overdo it and make your performance sound stiff and artificial. Keep reading Understanding Basic Diction in Modern Singing to learn what it is and how it works.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Understanding Basic Diction in Modern Singing: What Is Good Diction?
What is diction?
- It’s how you pronounce your words.
- When you have control over your vowels and consonants, it allows your lyrics to come across to your listeners so that they understand every word that comes out of your mouth.
- However, different styles of music will pronounce words differently.
For example, classical music grew up on the concert stage:
- Therefore, classical vocalists emphasize the ability to project their words clearly.
- That way the people in the last row will still be able to understand you.
- In other words, crisp consonants will help you have clarity in a concert hall setting.
Video: Classical Diction
In the video above, Alexander Armstrong gives an excellent performance:
- However, the music does sound as if it’s being sung by the opera equivalent of a Shakespearean actor.
- His clarity is superbly suited for the concert stage.
- But it’d be out of place in a pop song.
Broadway vocalists land somewhere in between classical and pop vocals:
- They’re aware of their vowels and constants but soften them so that they don’t come across sounding unnatural.
- Likewise, singers for commercials, TV, and films will also straddle this line.
- The opening credits to the late ‘70s/early ’80s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati gives an example of soft rock styled music with clear, intelligible lyrics but without the Shakespearean vibe.
Video: Broadway, Commercial, TV, and Film Diction
Understanding Basic Diction in Modern Singing: What Is Bad Diction?
Unlike classical and musical theatre, pop and rock music grew up in the recording studio, where crisp consonants aren’t critical:
- Why? Because rounded vowels and exploded consonants feel unnatural when recorded.
- This explains why it’s a cliche that rock vocalists have such bad vocal technique that they’re almost unintelligible.
- Once again, we’ll return to WKRP whose closing credits satirize incomprehensible rock lyrics followed by some real rock lyrics.
Video: Bad Rock Diction (Satire)
Video: Bad Rock Diction (Actual)
Understanding Basic Diction in Modern Singing: How Do You Fix Bad Diction?
If you don’t want to sound like the Kingsmen or the WKRP closing credits, you’ll need to understand how both vowels and consonants work. Click on the following links to learn the secrets of singing with good diction (which includes sing-along soundtracks):
- Performing Schwa Vowels
- Performing Tongue Vowels
- Performing Lips Vowels
- How to Sing R-Controlled Vowels in English
- An Easy How to Guide for Performing Diphthongs in English
- Learn the Secret of How to Sing Consonants
- How to Produce Powerful Vowels and Consonants
Once you’ve mastered the techniques at the above links, you can start to unravel the sound of your song’s lyrics:
- Look for similar vowel and consonant sounds and try to be aware of tricky phoneme combinations.
- A fun exercise is to play around with tongue twisters to try to boost your phonetic dexterity.
- Things like “rubber baby buggy bumper” and “she sells seashells by the seashore.”
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Classical diction emphasizes the ability to project all the words clearly.
- Pop and rock music grew up in the recording studio, where crisp consonants aren’t critical.
- Musical theatre vocalists land somewhere in between classical and pop vocals.
- If you want a basic understanding of modern singing diction, you’ll need to practice producing clear but balanced vowels and consonants.
- A fun exercise is to play around with tongue twisters to try to boost your phonetic dexterity.
Have fun!
Related Posts:
- Please Explain Vowel Modification to Me Like I’m a 5 Year Old
- 10 Elements that Impact Performing in Tune
- Melodic Intervals
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
Glossary
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