#11 in Vocal & singing books
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Reddit mentions of A Handbook of Diction for Singers: Italian, German, French

Sentiment score: 2
Reddit mentions: 3

We found 3 Reddit mentions of A Handbook of Diction for Singers: Italian, German, French. Here are the top ones.

A Handbook of Diction for Singers: Italian, German, French
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Found 3 comments on A Handbook of Diction for Singers: Italian, German, French:

u/keakealani · 7 pointsr/singing

Yeah... I really don't condone self-teaching for many reasons, but obviously you don't want to hear that right now, so this is just a bit of a disclaimer.

Personally, I think if you're going to study on your own, it's really worth it to get a good background in the "bookwork" elements of singing, like vocal anatomy and pedagogy, as well as language work.

On that end, I would recommend books like Doscher's The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice, McKinney's The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults, Miller's The Structure of Singing, and McCoy's Your Voice: An Inside View. These are really not easy reads, per se, but they should give you a really good foundation in understanding what's going on physically, and being aware of potential problems in vocal health and hygiene, which is arguably the biggest reason to study with a teacher. (In other words, a good understanding of the physical vocal structure can help prevent unknowingly contorting it in an unhealthy way).

I would also strongly recommend some study in language, diction, and text. Even for non-classical singers, it's worth it to know about how diction and articulation works. Diction for Singers, A Handbook of Diction for Singers, and International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers would be a good start. (And in general, a working understanding of IPA is crucial).

You can also work on text analysis - I'm not really a poetry/text specialist so I can't recommend any specific books, but I'm sure there are many out there.

Marchesi's Bel Canto: A Theoretical and Practical Vocal Method is another resource to look into, as it contains many exercises designed for technical practice - I liken it to the Hanon exercises commonly found in piano curricula. However, I will definitely warn that these exercises can be easily done incorrectly and can lead to the development of very bad habits, so please proceed with caution and be aware that there are many ways to execute the exercises, some of which are not healthy.

In addition, I would recommend a broad study in music theory, music history, and ear training. [Musictheory.net](http://www.musictheory.net] and Teoria.com are well-respected websites that offer lessons and exercises to learn beginner to intermediate level music theory concepts. Good-ear.com is another website I often recommend that focuses more on ear training. I would also recommend checking out the sidebar and FAQs over at /r/musictheory for more details.

In addition to these websites, some books worth mentioning include Berkowitz's A New Approach to Sight Singing, Music for Analysis, Caplin's Classical Form, Taruskin's Oxford History of Western Music, Grout's A History of Western Music, and Schoenberg's Structural Functions of Harmony. While of course you don't need to have a doctorate in music theory to begin singing, I think it can only be helpful to have a really broad basis of understanding in various parts of music, as they directly affect your ability to read, understand, and interpret music.

Anyway, that should give you a pretty decent start. Please feel free to post if you have any additional questions.

u/elerico · 1 pointr/singing

You should pick up a diction book! If you only sing in English, get this one, and if you're a classical singer, get this one. I'm not sure about other languages.

If you're isolating vowels and learning how to properly shape them, do it right and learn what the books say. They can help you think about vowels in different terms that you're used to.

u/Luguaedos · 1 pointr/languagelearning

There is a book that talks about diction for singers of Italian, French, and German. I thought it was pretty useful for Italian. Based on my experience with both languages, I am going to say it will not be directly applicable. But learning to sing in a foreign language will make you more sensitive to sounds in any language you learn after that. And the largest predictor of success in learning any skill is the learner's ability to detect their own errors. So it would be helpful to learn to sing in Spanish. IMO, you should find an accent reduction course for Spanish. I'm sure they exist. Here is the book I mentioned if you are curious.

https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Diction-Singers-Italian-German/dp/0195325591/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504119521&sr=8-2&keywords=diction