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The Diction Police

by Ellen Rissinger

Practical Diction for Classical Singers

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Episodes

  1. Episode 115-SDU Tutorial (audio)

    In this episode, Jason Nedecky is back to talk about unstressed vowels, the consonant cluster 'str', and triphthongs, using Purcell’s "Strike the viol". The Diction Police website offers phonetic transcripts of texts, with word-for-word and poetic translations, text readings by native speaking...

  2. Episode 115-SDU Tutorial

    In this episode, Jason Nedecky is back to talk about unstressed vowels, the consonant cluster 'str', and triphthongs, using Purcell’s "Strike the viol". The Diction Police website offers phonetic transcripts of texts, with word-for-word and poetic translations, text readings by native speaking...

  3. Diction Tip #33

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #33, Jason Nedecky talks about the long vowels that occur in British Received Pronunciation and explains why we don't need to mark...

  4. Episode 114-SDU Tutorial (audio)

    In Episode 114, Jason Nedecky leads us through the text to Purcell's "What can we poor females do?", talking about long vowels, the Daniel Sitteth rule, and the difference between the [ʌ] vowel and [ə]. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  5. Episode 114-SDU Tutorial

    In Episode 114, Jason Nedecky leads us through the text to Purcell's "What can we poor females do?", talking about long vowels, the Daniel Sitteth rule, and the difference between the [ʌ] vowel and [ə]. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  6. Diction Tip #32

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #32, Dr. François Germain explains the spellings 'u' [y] and 'ou' [u] in French. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of...

  7. Episode 113-SDU Tutorial (audio)

    It’s the start of the opera season and the school year in most places, and we’re kicking off our 9th Season with Dr. François Germain! Using Duparc’s "Phydilé", we focus on the final schwas in French, the '–ill' and '–il' spellings, plus the pronunciation of the third person plural as opposed to...

  8. Episode 113-SDU Tutorial

    It’s the start of the opera season and the school year in most places, and we’re kicking off our 9th Season with Dr. François Germain! Using Duparc’s "Phydilé", we focus on the final schwas in French, the '–ill' and '–il' spellings, plus the pronunciation of the third person plural as opposed to...

  9. Diction Tip--Russian Series #4

    Conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the tricky concept of "palatalization", the "softening" of consonants in Russian, as part of our mini-series on Russian Lyric Diction!

  10. Diction Tip--Russian Series #3

    While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In this third installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the concepts of "ekanye" and "ikanye", the reduction of certain vowels in...

  11. Diction Tip--Russian Series #2

    While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In the second installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov explains the concepts of "akanye" and "okanye".

  12. Diction Tip--Russian Series #1

    While the podcast is on vacation for the summer, we wanted to bring you something special--a short series of Diction Tips on Russian Lyric Diction! In the first installment, conductor and coach Yury Ilinov compares the 'и' [i] and 'ы' [ɨ] vowels, and gives us some exercises to practice [ɨ]!

  13. Episode 112-SDU Tutorial

    This will be our last episode for this season, and we wanted to do something special—so this will be our first Russian episode with a video tutorial! Ekaterina Sapega-Klein leads us through the text to Olga’s aria from Yevgeniy Onegin, talking about devoicing consonants, palatalized consonants…

    more

  14. Episode 112-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    This will be our last episode for this season, and we wanted to do something special—so this will be our first Russian episode with a video tutorial! Ekaterina Sapega-Klein leads us through the text to Olga’s aria from Yevgeniy Onegin, talking about devoicing consonants, palatalized consonants…

    more

  15. Diction Tip #31

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #31, François Germain interviews Ellen Rissinger about the [æ] vowel in English lyric diction. For more Diction Tips visit the...

  16. Episode 111-SDU Tutorial

    In this episode, baritone Christoph Pohl works through the text to "Ich grolle nicht" with us, talking about Ach- and Ich-lauts, a little bit about glottals, and painting the text by using all of the consonants. We also mention the problematic letter 'L' in German—we recently posted a Diction...

  17. Episode 111-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    In this episode, baritone Christoph Pohl works through the text to "Ich grolle nicht" with us, talking about Ach- and Ich-lauts, a little bit about glottals, and painting the text by using all of the consonants. We also mention the problematic letter 'L' in German—we recently posted a Diction...

  18. Diction Tip #30

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #30, Bernhard Hansky talks about the assimilation of the consonants 't', 'd', and 'z' in German Diction. For more Diction Tips…

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  19. Episode 110-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    The Diction Police is just starting its 9th year! Thank you for being a part of it! This week my partner-in-crime, François Germain, talks about Sophie's aria from Werther, "Frère voyez... Du gai soleil", with an emphasis on consonants that should not be pronounced by often are accidentally, the...

  20. Episode 110-SDU Tutorial

    The Diction Police is just starting its 9th year! Thank you for being a part of it! This week my partner-in-crime, François Germain, talks about Sophie's aria from Werther, "Frère voyez... Du gai soleil", with an emphasis on consonants that should not be pronounced by often are accidentally, the...

  21. Diction Tip #29

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #29, Dr. François Germain talks about the pronunciation of the letter 'h' in French Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the…

    more

  22. Episode 109-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    Vocal coach Matteo Pais works through the text to Händel's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse with us, talking about open and closed vowels, glides and diphthongs, and a little about the sound of Italian! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  23. Episode 109-SDU Tutorial

    Vocal coach Matteo Pais works through the text to Händel's "Ombra mai fu" from Serse with us, talking about open and closed vowels, glides and diphthongs, and a little about the sound of Italian! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  24. Episode 108-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    In Episode 108, Christoph Pohl works through the text to "An die Musik" with us, discussing the open, flying [ʊ], spitting consonants, and how to get the consonants to be part of the legato. This is the audio version of the video tutorial. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  25. Episode 108-SDU Tutorial

    In Episode 108, Christoph Pohl works through the text to "An die Musik" with us, discussing the open, flying [ʊ], spitting consonants, and how to get the consonants to be part of the legato. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  26. Diction Tip #28

    Since I am still recovering from the flu, we're a little off-schedule. This week will be another Diction Tip, and then the next two weeks will be the regular podcast. Thanks for your understanding! In Diction Tip #28, Matteo Pais talks about initial 's' in Italian Diction. For more Diction Tips...

  27. Diction Tip #27

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #27, Bernhard Hansky talks about the number 4 in all of its forms (1/4, 14, 40) in German Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the...

  28. Episode 107-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    This week, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with a lot of focus on French grammar and how that can affect pronunciation! This is the audio version of the full video tutorial. For more information, go to...

  29. Episode 107-SDU Tutorial

    This week, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with a lot of focus on French grammar and how that can affect pronunciation! For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  30. Diction Tip #26

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #26, Dr. François Germain discusses the pronunciation of the third person plural verb ending "-ent". For more Diction Tips visit…

    more

  31. Episode 106-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    In Episode 106, Simone di Felice and I work through "Come raggio di sol" by Antonio Caldara, paying special attention to phrasal diphthongs (that is, when vowels come together between words), the pronunciation of the spelling GI, and some words with intervocalic Ss that are technically considered...

  32. Episode 106-SDU Tutorial

    In Episode 106, Simone di Felice and I work through "Come raggio di sol" by Antonio Caldara, paying special attention to phrasal diphthongs (that is, when vowels come together between words), the pronunciation of the spelling GI, and some words with intervocalic Ss that are technically considered...

  33. Diction Tip #25

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In this Diction Tip, vocal coach Matteo Pais talks about how to pronounce those three letter words like "mio", "dio", "tuo" and "sua" in Italian!...

  34. Episode 105-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    In this episode, Dr. François Germain and I discuss the text to Paul Verlaine's "Clair de lune", which has been set by many composers, focusing on mixed vowels, the phonetic [k] sound, and some of the digraphs that make up French spelling. This is the audio version of the video tutorial. For more...

  35. Episode 105-SDU Tutorial

    In this episode, Dr. François Germain and I discuss the text to Paul Verlaine's "Clair de lune", which has been set by many composers, focusing on mixed vowels, the phonetic [k] sound, and some of the digraphs that make up French spelling. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  36. Episode 104-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    In this episode, diction coach Elizabeth Brodovitch introduces us to the Auvergnat language, through the text to "Baïlero", one of the Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube. This is the audio version--the full video tutorial is available at dictionpolice.com !

  37. Episode 104-SDU Tutorial

    In this episode, diction coach Elizabeth Brodovitch introduces us to the Auvergnat language, through the text to "Baïlero", one of the Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com !

  38. Diction Tip #24

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In this Diction Tip on Phrasal Doubling in Italian Lyric Diction, Matteo Pais explains how to handle it when several vowels come together on one...

  39. Episode 103-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    Matteo Pais talks through the text to "Quando me'n vo'", Musetta's aria from La Bohème with us, talking about double and single consonants, some standard closed [e] endings, and pitching voiced consonants and glides. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

  40. Episode 103-SDU Tutorial

    Matteo Pais talks through the text to "Quando me'n vo'", Musetta's aria from La Bohème with us, talking about double and single consonants, some standard closed [e] endings, and pitching voiced consonants and glides. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

  41. Diction Tip #23

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #23, Dr. François Germain talks about the difference between "elision" and "liaison" in French Diction. For more Diction Tips…

    more

  42. Episode 102-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    Since it's Messiah season, we wanted to post another aria for the basses! Jason Nedecky works through the text to "The people that walked in darkness" and it's preceding recitative, with an emphasis on handling 'r', the [æ] vowel, and aspirate 't'. This is the audio version of the video tutorial....

  43. Episode 102-SDU Tutorial

    Since it's Messiah season, we wanted to post another aria for the basses! Jason Nedecky works through the text to "The people that walked in darkness" and it's preceding recitative, with an emphasis on handling 'r', the [æ] vowel, and aspirate 't'. For more information, go to dictionpolice.com

  44. Diction Tip #22

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #22, Bernhard Hansky discusses the concept of Auslautverhärtung (hardening of the final consonant) in German Diction. For more...

  45. Episode 101-SDU Tutorial (Audio version)

    In Episode 101, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "En fermant les yeux", the tenor aria from Massenet's Manon, focusing on nasal vowels and some normal spellings that may look complicated. This is the audio version of the podcast. For all of The Diction Police's resources, come to...

  46. Episode 101-SDU Tutorial

    In Episode 101, Dr. François Germain and I talk about the text to "En fermant les yeux", the tenor aria from Massenet's Manon, focusing on nasal vowels and some normal spellings that may look complicated. For all of The Diction Police's resources, come to dictionpolice.com!

  47. Diction Tip #21

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #21, vocal coach Matteo Pais talks about final vowels in Italian Lyric Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of...

  48. Episode 100-IPA Revealed: an audio guide

    For our 100th episode we wanted to do something really special, and here it is! In "IPA Revealed: an audio-guide" we work our way through the phonetic alphabet, with examples of native speakers in each of the four main languages that we sing in, English, Italian, German, and French. Both Ellen…

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  49. Diction Tip #20

    Since the podcast comes out every two weeks, on the off-weeks we post Diction Tips--very short tutorials focusing on a specific topic in Lyric Diction. In Diction Tip #20, Ellen Rissinger talks about shadow vowels in English Lyric Diction. For more Diction Tips visit the videos section of our...

  50. Episode 99-SDU Tutorial (audio version)

    This week, Mirko Roschkowski is with us to discuss the first song in Die schöne Müllerin, "Das Wandern". We talk about how to handle strophic texts, as well as long and short vowels and the different possible pronunciations of R. This week’s Diction Lesson on the Facebook page also covered the...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Practical Diction for Classical Singers

HOSTED BY

Ellen Rissinger

CATEGORIES

arts performing

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does The Diction Police have?

The Diction Police currently has 191 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is The Diction Police about?

Practical Diction for Classical Singers

How often does The Diction Police release new episodes?

The Diction Police publishes regularly with 191 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.

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You can listen to The Diction Police on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts The Diction Police?

The Diction Police is created and hosted by Ellen Rissinger.
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