What is a Diphthong?

Music Education: The Diphthong

A diphthong is two different vowel sounds that “glide” together, as in the case of the words cow (CAH-oo), eye (AH-ee), and my personal favorite, light (LAH-eet).  Admit it, you’re practicing those words right now, aren’t you?! I knew it!

Diphthongs present an easily remedied problem for unison singing.  I mentioned earlier that unification of vowel sounds is crucial in choral singing, initially more important than making sure consonants are articulated.  Right now is not the time to discuss breath control; to be sure, it plays an important role in the formation of vowels, but we’ll talk about that later.

To the unintiated, giving the second portion of a diphthong equal time (or more, depending on the length of the note) to the first vowel sound is very common.

Let’s take the word “light” (it is my favorite diphthong, after all).  All too often, it is sung as “lah-eeeeeeeeeeet“.  It’s a simple fix: everytime a word containing a diphthong is sung, concentrate on the first vowel sound: “laaaaaah” keep it pure and then, just as the duration of the note comes to an end, just hint at the second vowel sound: “LAAAAH-eet“.  As a matter of fact, you might even direct your choir to ignore the second part of the diphthong altogether, and go directly to the consonant without it.  Hence, “light” now becomes “laaaaaaht“.  Your audience will certainly hear the word “light“, and your choir will have a nice, unified tone.

Remember just “hint” at the second part of a diphthong,  and a very messy phrase will instantly clean up very well.

Ooh, by the way, never, NEVER sing a diphthong as two separate vowel sounds when the word is sung in two or more pitches; keep the first vowel pure over the slurred notes, and then just hint (or ignore – up to you) at the end.  A great example is the word “Hour”; too often it is sung “Ah – wer” over two notes.

Next time:   Avoiding sloppy consonant combos!  See you then.

 

Thanks to all the supportive comments below!