11.

Diftong

Diftong ialah bunyi yang terdapat geluncuran semasa menyebutnya. Diftong dilambangkan oleh dua huruf vokal yang membentuk satu suku kata. Semasa bunyi diftong dihasilkan, berlaku getaran pada pita suara. Dalam Bahasa Melayu, terdapat tiga bentuk diftong, iaitu [ai], [au] dan [oi]. Bunyi diftong dihasilkan apabil sebuah vokal menggeluncur dan bergabung dengan sebuah vokal lain. Ini dapat dilihat dalam diftong [ai].

Bunyi vokal dimulai dengan cara penghasilan vokal depan luas [a], kemudian berlaku geluncuran ke arah bunyi vokal depan sempit [i]. Contoh perkataan ialah, [ rumpai ], [ sampai ], [salai]. Diftong [au] pula dihasilkan apabila vokal depan luas [a] menggeluncur ke arah bunyi vokal belakang sempit [u] iaitu bibir berada dalam keadaan bundar dan lidah berada di belakang. Contoh perkataan ialah, [ panau ], [ surau ], [ pulau ]. Pengujaran diftong [oi] dimulai dengan cara penghasilan vokal belakang separuh sempit [o], kemudian berlaku geluncuran ke arah bunyi vokal depan sempit [i]. Bibir berkeadaan leper dan lidah berada di hadapan dan bukaan mulut separuh sempit. Contoh perkataan ialah, [ dodoi ], [ boikot ].

Singing Better Vowels How many vowel sounds are used in the English language? A E I O U? 5 Right? Wrong! 12. Heres a visualization of the back of the tongue position in the mouth that produces them. The only variant from this is the long oo sound of boot which in addition to the tongue placement requires lip protrusion.

Here are some representative pix that may make this clearer.

Dont be confused by the way we say the vowel words A E I O U as we say A as a diphthong ay-ee, I as ah-ee and U as ee-oo:. Here we are talking about pure single vowels not diphthongs (2 vowel sounds).

Understanding the production position of the various vowels helps us to be clear and consistent in our diction and thus help our communication to our audience.

Vowel uniformity is very important in group singing. We not only come to the group with slight variations in dialects but also individuals are not consistent in producing vowel sound. For instance: For the word Mom. do we pronounce it Mahm or Mawm?

There are 2 particular vowel problems - both caused by the same thing - lack of long vertical mouth opening caused by the jaw not being down enough. 1. THE ER VOWEL Frequently we are lazy and just dont open up as much as necessary for optimum sound. Particularly the er vowel can be harsh if we dont open up enough. The graphic above of the position of the tongue in the mouth refers to the BACK OF THE TONGUE not the tip. The

tongue tip should generally be low. Sing the following word making sure the sound is free with a lowered jaw. ER: girl, sir, learn, turn, word, world OH-ER: for, (four), adore, more, soar, Lord, core, etc/

2. LOWER VOWELS We also tend to be lazy in opening up wide enough for the lower vowels of ah, aw, and aa A deep open jaw will give you a fuller and richer tone. AH Ma, Mom, Bob, John, sob, not, lot, hot. down, town etc. AW saw. call. fall. God. lawn etc. AA and, that, can, lad, mad, sad etc. Sing or say all these sound with both a high jaw and then a low jaw. Youll notice the difference in the quality of sound. Then try to remember to always keep the jaw down.

VOWEL SPELLING Dont be deceived by the spelling of vowel sounds as the spelling of English words is very irregular. Variant Spellings No Variant Spelling Problem

EE feet heat AY date wait

IH

EH bet dead UH but love

AA AH

ER jerk hurt learn myrrh AW OH saw haul bought dog no boat Joe OO (both short & long)

Or to look at it another way. Our 5 vowels make these sounds: A date and fall heat dead learn E feet bet Bert I sit sail dirt

O no mom love look moon U but hurt haul

Singing Better Diphthongs, Triphthongs, Quadthongs

An even more crucial aspect of vowels is when two or more vowels are combined together. We call them diphthongs, triphthongs and even quadthongs. The goal is to sound every vowel sound - otherwise we can be accused of having lazy mouth. We need to sort of chew every word to get every sound in clearly. This is a particular challenge when the -thongs are on short notes as each sound needs to be done quickly. There should always be a target vowel sound which is the sound that the note is held the longest, with the rest being performed quickly either at the beginning or and the end of the -thong word. Also be careful not to be accused of vowel migration where we move GRADUALLY rather than quickly between vowel sounds in these thongs. Sing or say the following words giving particular attention to the part of the word the category is about, as the categories point out what is often done incorrectly.

1. The End "ee" ay-ee: day say play may pray pay pain sleigh gay hay Ray tame ah-ee: I (eye) my cry mine time bye (buy) dry oh-ee: boy joy coin point voice toy Roy oo-ay-ee: way (weigh) oo-ah-ee: wise wine wh-oo-ah-ee: why (See 6. below) 2. The Middle Triphthong Sounds "oo" &"ee" ee-oo-er: your ah-oo-er: our (hour) flower tower power sour bower ah-ee-er: fire liar hire wire tire aw-ee-er: lawyer 3. The End "oo" ah-oo: out how now loud crowd cloud sound down town frown

oh-oo: go so (sow) hoe toe fro low 4. The Beginning "ee" ee-oo: you use cute few view cue beautiful ee-oo-er: your fewer cure 5. The Beginning "oo" oo-ee: we oo-uh: one once oo-ih: will women witch twitch oo-eh: well wed wet oo-aw: wall 6. The Beginning Aspirant, wh NOT "oo" 1. (The aspirant wh is whispered but oo uses the vocal cords.)

wh-uh wh-eh wh-ih wh-oo-ah-ee wh-oo wh-eh-er what when which why who where

7. The Quadthrongs - "ee" oo-ah-ee-er: choir er-ah-ee-ehn: Ryan

Practice singing the Triphthongs and Quadthrongs (Section 2 & 7 above) very quickly as they then take special attention.

Singing Better The Four Problem Words

There are 4 commonly sung words in English that are problems because they are triphthongs rather than diphthongs. They are your, our, (hour), Ill, while Its also because we allow lazy mouths to happen.

YOUR In common speech, your is spoken as a diphthong (2 vowels) ee-er rather than as a triphthong (3 vowel sounds) that it is. It should be sung ee-oo-er but that takes more work with the mouth. Especially since ee-oo-er goes directly from the farthest front vowel ee to the farthest back vowel oo which also requires lip protrusion. (Check this out on the vowel graphic 2 pages back.) You have to work to say your correctly especially when its thrown in quickly in a phrase.

OUR (HOUR) Not ah-er but ah-oo-er Be sure to get the middleoo sound in it. Again the problem is extreme movement - going from the low ah to the back oo then back to the middle er. The lazy way is to leave out the oo especially since the oo also requires lip protrusion. When its fast, you have to consciously work to pucker the lips. (Check this out on the vowel graphic 2 pages back.)

ILL Not ah-ll but ah-ee-ll. It takes more work to get the ee in as the middle vowel sound.

WHILE Not whoo-ah-ll but whoo-ah-ee-ll. Moving to the front ee requires more movement. Consonants

An important aspect of good singing is an understanding of the consonant categories and thus the ways of dealing with the different categories of the 22 consonants. Study the chart below thinking about their categories. 22 CONSONANT SOUNDS WHISPERED 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. VOICED SHORT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Explosives* 1. P 3. T 5. K Pat Ted kill Sub-Vocals* 2. B bat 4. D dead 6. G gill 8. J Jane

7. CH chain Whispered* 9. F fine 11. TH thigh 13. S sing 15. SH sure

SUSTAINED - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tuned* 10. V vine 12. TH Thy 14. Z 16. ZH zing (is = iz) pleasure

Semi-Vowels* 17. M men

18. N noon 19. NG sing

20. L love 21. R (Harsh so use uhr Keep tongue down behind the lower teeth) Note: The asterisk (*) means these are

Fred Warings Tone Syllable terms. Aspirants^ 22. H how W (oo) way (actually a vowel)

WH who when etc. The categories are the important thing. Particularly notice that those in the black rectangle are all singable whereas the Short consonants are never held but always precede a vowel sound. The left column are whispered whereas the right column use the vocal cords in their production.

The 4 (or 5) Semi-Vowels are particularly important as they can be sustained on a pitch and the length they are sustained is critical. When a sustained consonant starts a word, the length that it is held gives emphasis or less emphasis on that word and thus greatly affects expressive communication. For instance, sing the word love contrasting the emotional impact when you make the L long in contrast to short.

The Short Consonants and Aspirants interrupt the flow of sound so need to be carefully done. Yet they are important for diction of course.

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If you are interested in a detailed set of singing diction rules I would recommend you purchase the seven page pamphlet called Tone Syllables by Fred Waring from http://www.shawneepress.com/ ($1.75) . Happy Singing! . Music Ed Ted http://www.musicedted.info/SingingBetter2/Consonants.html