Singing American English: Textbook for Diction for Singers

Book excerpt: Singing American English helps singers, teachers, and directors to negotiate the many difficulties involved in singing beautiful American English. Designed for use in diction for singers classes, this book is the fruit of more than a quarter-century of teaching by Dr. John T. Blizzard. Now in its second edition, Singing American English is useful also as both a reference and a workbook, full of drills designed for the student to master new information. Readers will learn how to use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as a guide to their understanding, singing, and hearing. Chapters include discussions of the International Phonetic Alphabet, vowels and consonants, diphthongs, triphthongs, glides, and several articles on the relationship of diction to many facets of the performance of songs and arias. Students learn about the concept of the Hellwag Triangle, which, the author states, may be the most important chapter in the entire textbook in terms of their own singing.