Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's joy,
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixt power employ,
Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce;
They may be " Sphere-born harmonious Sisters" but voice and verse are two of the most difficult parts of the choral jigsaw that we as English-Speaking choristers have to fit together. English is a complicated enough language on paper, without beginning to think about the myriad nuances of pronunciation and subtle inflection that one finds among the living and spoken language of our singers.
Whilst these different sounds are part of the rich heritage of our British Isles, they do play havoc with our choral sound; the problems are twofold - differing pronunciations upset the blend of the choir and they have a seriously detrimental effect on the tuning. How's that so then?
Think for a moment about a simple word that appears in some of our songs - "flower"
Too often I hear choirs pronounce this word as two sounds "flao-were" - or something like that - (phonetics are difficult aren't they). In addition to sounding really unsophisticated there is a real problem with the "chewing" of the vowels that inevitably occurs with this - with each chew there is a subtle (or not so subtle) change in the pitch of the note that will cause a problem with our tuning.
I want you to think about each word that you sing in simple terms
· Identify the first consonant sound - Good diction requires the crisp, clear pronunciation of consonants, but remember don't chew on them - consonants should always be crisp!
· Each word has a "core vowel sound" - that should be the longest sound and should be completely open. Keep the vowels simple - remember there are only five sounds to worry about! They are EH-EE-AH-OH-OO.
· Eh= raised eyebrows a "pleasant phizog"
· Ee= “trumpet shaped lips”, lips out, not horizontal - keep relaxed.
· Ah= Mouth very open but still relaxed, jaw dropped.
· Oh= lips rounded, but still open and relaxed.
· Oo= lips rounded more closed but still very relaxed.
· Identify the closing consonant and diphthong and make them short and crisp.
This is a really important starting point - now think about our word "flower" - I think the answer is clear! I hope this is a useful piece about the words that we sing in the hope that we "with undiscording voice, May rightly answer that melodious noise."
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,
Wed your divine sounds, and mixt power employ,
Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce;
They may be " Sphere-born harmonious Sisters" but voice and verse are two of the most difficult parts of the choral jigsaw that we as English-Speaking choristers have to fit together. English is a complicated enough language on paper, without beginning to think about the myriad nuances of pronunciation and subtle inflection that one finds among the living and spoken language of our singers.
Whilst these different sounds are part of the rich heritage of our British Isles, they do play havoc with our choral sound; the problems are twofold - differing pronunciations upset the blend of the choir and they have a seriously detrimental effect on the tuning. How's that so then?
Think for a moment about a simple word that appears in some of our songs - "flower"
Too often I hear choirs pronounce this word as two sounds "flao-were" - or something like that - (phonetics are difficult aren't they). In addition to sounding really unsophisticated there is a real problem with the "chewing" of the vowels that inevitably occurs with this - with each chew there is a subtle (or not so subtle) change in the pitch of the note that will cause a problem with our tuning.
I want you to think about each word that you sing in simple terms
· Identify the first consonant sound - Good diction requires the crisp, clear pronunciation of consonants, but remember don't chew on them - consonants should always be crisp!
· Each word has a "core vowel sound" - that should be the longest sound and should be completely open. Keep the vowels simple - remember there are only five sounds to worry about! They are EH-EE-AH-OH-OO.
· Eh= raised eyebrows a "pleasant phizog"
· Ee= “trumpet shaped lips”, lips out, not horizontal - keep relaxed.
· Ah= Mouth very open but still relaxed, jaw dropped.
· Oh= lips rounded, but still open and relaxed.
· Oo= lips rounded more closed but still very relaxed.
· Identify the closing consonant and diphthong and make them short and crisp.
This is a really important starting point - now think about our word "flower" - I think the answer is clear! I hope this is a useful piece about the words that we sing in the hope that we "with undiscording voice, May rightly answer that melodious noise."
