The International Phonetic Alphabet is used to transliterate words into a group of sounds that can be pronounced without necessarily knowing the language. It is Latin-based, and European language friendly, but can be used for many languages outside of those parameters.<\/p>\n
Learning IPA is an important skill for any serious singer. Here are some resources to get you started.<\/p>\n
International Phonetic Alphabet<\/a> – This is the wikipedia page, and it is pretty helpful.<\/p>\n IPASource.com<\/a> is a site that sells accurate word-for-word translations of songs and arias, as well as IPA transcriptions. It \u00a0 is a pretty thorough collection of standard repertoire, so if you prefer not to do your own transliterations, this is a great place to start.<\/p>\n IPA Fonts<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0Many computers do not have the special characters needed for IPA installed on them. This link has a free font set for both PCs and Macs. I used the Mac version and it installed without a problem and worked beautifully.<\/p>\n IPA Palette<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0This software is specifically for Macs, and is designed to make the use of special characters easier. I have not tried it yet myself.<\/p>\n The Diction Domain<\/a> –\u00a0This is a fantastic site that is easy to navigate and contains links to many, many resources, including phonetic transcriptions, more Mp3 files, online dictionaries and more.<\/p>\n Coffin, Berton.\u00a0 Phonetic Readings of Songs and Arias<\/span>.\u00a0Authentic pronunciation of 413 Italian, German and French lyrics in International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions.<\/p>\n Challis, N.\u00a0 The Singer’s Rachmaninoff<\/span>.\u00a0Collection of songs with International Phonetic Alphabet for Russian in the introductory pages.<\/p>\n Colorni, Evelina.\u00a0 Singers’ Italian: Manual of Diction and Phonetics<\/span>.<\/p>\n Cox, Richard.\u00a0 Singer’s Manual of German and French Diction<\/span>.<\/p>\n Hines, Robert S.\u00a0 Singer’s Manual of Latin: Diction and Phonetics<\/span>.<\/p>\n Grubb, Thomas. \u00a0Singing in French<\/span>.\u00a0Manual of dicton and catalogue of vocal repertoire.\u00a0 Help on how to phoneticize the text and apply diction techniques to recitative.<\/p>\n Kenyon, John S. and Thomas A. Knott.\u00a0 A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English<\/span>.\u00a0A guide to pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet.<\/p>\n Marshall, Madeleine.\u00a0 The Singer’s Manual of English Diction<\/span>.<\/p>\n Moriarty, John.\u00a0 Diction: Italian, Latin, French, German<\/span>.\u00a0Comprehensive guide to the diction of four languages with 81 practical exercises for vocalization.\u00a0 A comparative approach based on the International Phonetic Alphabet and especially designed for American singers.<\/p>\n Uris, Dorothy.\u00a0 To Sing in English<\/span>.\u00a0 How to sing the sounds of English, its structure, sense and stress.\u00a0 Liberal use of musical examples and exercises for perfecting diction.<\/p>\n Wall, Joan.\u00a0 Diction for Singers<\/span>.\u00a0A concise reference for English, Italian, Latin, German, French and Spanish pronunciation.<\/p>\n Wall, Joan.\u00a0 IPA for Singers.<\/span>\u00a0A reference for learning how to use the International Phonetic Alphabet.<\/p>\n English Diction IPA<\/a><\/p>\nPrint Resources<\/h2>\n
Handouts<\/h2>\n