This dissertation, which takes the form of a creative project as is sanctioned by the Doctor of Arts Curricular Program, is a self-instructional course in solo singers' English diction. It is designed for Freshman-level voice majors and no prior knowledge of diction is assumed. The course attempts to achieve three basic goals: to serve as an introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), to alleviate the often overburdened Sophomore-level diction course, and to raise the concerns of English diction to a level comparable with those of Italian, German and French.The course falls naturally into three main divisions:Chapters III-VIan introduction to the IPA, the identification of allvowel and consonant sounds in English, the correctIPA symbols for those sounds, and simple transcriptionof English words into IPA;Chapters VII-Xa detailed analysis of the rules of English dictionand the IPA, including linkage, poetical and musicalstress, and declamation;Chapter XIthe preparation of complete song texts, applyingall the knowledge and skills learned in the course.Each chapter has accompanying exercises which require the student to use information contained in that particular chapter; self-tests for each chapter are provided at the end of the course. Answers for all accompanying exercises and all self-tests are included in the Appendixes. The Appendixes also include a listing of the sources for the extensive musical examples, a pitch nomenclature chart, and a quick-reference guide to the IPA symbols as well as the vocabulary introduced in the course. / School of Music

This study is an initial attempt to identify the most common Afrikaans diction challenges experienced by non-Afrikaans mother tongue speaking choirs, and to explore means of confronting these challenges. No dedicated source exists for choral diction in Afrikaans as a foreign language. This study reviews personal views and literature from various fields that would inform several key elements necessary for the creation of such a source. The primary data for this study was collected through study questionnaires, completed by expert choral conductors who are highly regarded for their success in teaching and performing Afrikaans diction in non-Afrikaans mother tongue speaking choirs, in performance settings such as the ATKV-Applous Choir Competition. Through its proposition of methods for the improvement of Afrikaans diction practices in the non-Afrikaans choral setting, the study promotes the prolific composition of Afrikaans choral literature, and its ubiquitous inclusion in choral repertoire both in South Africa and abroad.

The purposes of this study were (1) to categorize examples of vowel sounds by means of subjective evaluation, (2) to ascertain by spectrographic analysis the distinguishing characteristics of the acoustical properties of the examples in the categories, (3) to determine the similarities and dissimilarities which exist within and between the categories, and (4) to analyze the implications of the findings for the teaching of choral singing.

This dissertation is designed for Japanese singers to aid them in mastering correct American-English singing diction. Many Japanese singers of college age or older have knowledge of English through high school programs. However, they often lack the communicative ability to hear and speak English. This study enables those singers to sing American-English repertoire with more precise diction.Chapter 1 contains introductory materials. Chapter 2 presents a pronunciation guide for American English and Japanese using IPA symbols, which includes the sounds that are common to Japanese and American English, the vowels and consonants found in Japanese only, and the vowels and consonants found in American English only. Chapter 3 contains the analyses and approaches to problems in learning American-English singing diction, including the comparison of speech and singing and the analyses of Japanese word structures. Chapter 4 incorporates the previous chapters and introduces approach and solutions to the successful performance of American-English repertoire. Chapter 5 consists of the IPA transcriptions of selected American-English songs. / School of Music

Specialized training in English diction for singers became increasingly prevalent in the twentieth century. Along with this growth, a small but significant literature on the subject developed. There are divergent practices recommended for American singers, displayed by nine authors in ten books published between 1900 and 1971. A comparative study yields pedagogies of vowel and consonant production. Issues of sounds in context, including proper linkage and stress, adjustments from speech to song, and practices dictated by musical style, are paramount. The literature demonstrates an increased use of International Phonetic Alphabet symbols as a pedagogical tool. The areas of kinesiology and acoustical research are suggested for further study.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an auditor's past musical training and experience on the intelligibility of selected vowel sounds at differential pitch levels. The specific problems of the study were to investigate the effects of extensive vocal music training, extensive non-vocal music training, and limited or no music training on an auditor's ability to discriminate accurately selected vowel sounds performed at various pitch levels. The effects of pitch and vowel sound on auditor recognition of vowel sounds in singing and the ability of each singer to be intelligible to auditors was also investigated.

A single subject, diagnosed as having severe oral apraxia and dysarthria, participated in an eight-week research experiment designed to study the effects of singing on speech articulation. A simultaneous treatment design was used in which the subject participated in both the e xperimental and control conditions. In the control condition spoken words were repeated by the subject, while in the experimental condition the words were sung. The words used were the lyrics to two popular folk songs. Articulatory accuracy (intelligibility) was judged by two graduate level speech therapists, based on audiotape samples of the subject's responses, recorded on a "Language Master" machine. Judges were also asked to rate their degree of confidence about their judgements. Results indicated significantly higher scores at the .05 level for the singing condition than for the non-singing condition. Degree of confidence ratings were similar for both conditions. It was also observed that a significantly greater number of consonant blends were correctly articulated in the singing condition than in the nonsinging condition.

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