What Is Articulation In Music It's Types And Tips To Improve

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When we sing or play an instrument, the notes or the phrases get striked or sustained or released in a specific way. This phenomenon is called articulation in music. Singers need to get a hold of articulation just for the purpose of making a song’s emotion and intended meaning be communicated correctly.

Now let’s look into what is articulations in music theory and It’s types with images.

What Does Articulation Mean In Music Theory?

In simple words, articulation in music refers to the way musical notes and phrases are played or sung in terms of precision and clarity. While doing that it is absolutely necessary to protect the melody of the song and its intended emotion.

Articulations guides a performer on how to approach a note in a passage on the basis of its length, emphasis and smoothness. So it’s not only builds character but also shapes up the expression of the piece of music.

What Are The Articulations In Music Symbols?

The symbols of articulation provides instructions on how that particular articulation markings needs to be interpreted and played. These symbols graphically represent the indications to shape expression and emotion in that piece of music.

What Are The Types Of Articulations In Music ?

Like I have mentioned above, articulation in music helps in creating expression and emotional impact with the help of Dynamics. Here are the most common types of articulations.

Staccato

Staccato indicates that a note should be played or sung short and detached. This is one of a articulation that creates a crisp, separated sound.

Legato (Slur)

Legato refers to the technique where the notes are sung or played smoothly and connected without noticeable breaks. This helps in creating a flowing, continuous sound.

Accent

Accents show that a note should be stressed upon with an emphasis. This technique is used to draw attention to a note or make it stand out.

Marcato

Marcato a music articulation symbol looks like a caret. This articulation marking indicates that the notes should be played with force and an emphasis more than an Accent.

Tenuto

Tenuto is a small horizontal line placed above or below a note. It indicates that a note should be played for its full duration with a slight stress.

Portato

Portato is usually known as a slur with dots. It means that the notes should be slightly detached yet still connected and flowing.

Staccatissimo

Staccato music articulation indicates that a note should be played or sung very short and very detached. This creates a very crisp, separated sound.

Fermata

Fermata is an articulation technique that suggests a performer to hold a note or a rest longer than its usual value.

Phrase mark

Each melody has a number of phrases in it. A phrase mark, an articulation in a music example, is a long curved line that shows the group of notes that needs to be played as a musical phrase.

Pizzicato

Pizzicato is one of the types of articulation used for string instruments. Notes with Pizzicato symbols written above or below should be plucked not bowed.

Sforzando

In simple words, Sforzando directs a performer to make sudden, strong emphasis or an accent on a note or a chord – D.

Why Is Articulation In Music So Important?

Thus far, we now know that different types of articulations in music are important for conveying the message and emotion of a song. We also know that in singing, articulation makes it possible for listeners to understand the words and relate to the song’s message.

Moreover, articulation markings enhance the overall performance in terms of musicality and stage presentation. It enhances the beauty and expressiveness of the song by giving the melody a more definite and clear cut interpretation. For example, A vocalist contributes to the harmonious interpretation of the song by articulating each syllable with clarity and intention, just as a professional instrumentalist does with each note. All these makes articulation an important aspect in music.

Is Articulation Important In Singing?

Yes it is. Singing articulation helps a great deal in stylistic perception. We all know that different musical genres and traditions have their own unique styles and articulation techniques. For instance, western classical vocal music has crisp enunciation.

Singing in the Jazz music genre has loose phrasing, and think about hip-hop and rap. They have precise rhythms. For sounding authentic ,articulation must be understood by a singer to meet the stylistic demands of a certain genre. Now let us discuss the habits and techniques you can pick up to articulate your singing.

Did You Know?

Articulation is just not for singing and for musical instruments, it also has great effect in public speaking.

Tips for Improving Articulation in Singing

All you need is a variety of singing vocal range exercises and vocal clarity exercises, a bit of language awareness, and tons of practice to improve articulation in singing. These following methods and tips helped me a lot and I’m sharing them with you.

1. Proper Vowel Placement

Vowels is so important when it comes to articulation. To get that right, one must pay attention to the way vowel sounds are shaped. This also leads to a very good resonance. To improve your flexibility and control over the production of vowels, practice vowel placements through tons of articulation exercises for singers that are mentioned below.

2. Clear Pronunciation of Consonants

You should pay attention to accurately and clearly speaking consonants without compromising the flow of melody. Vocal clarity exercises like tongue twisters and consonant-vowel placement exercises are the best place to begin. Practicing these exercises helps you to focus on certain consonant sounds.

3. Correct Enunciation of Words

Learn how to pronounce the words in the song’s original language with at least almost perfect diction. A very important point to note is that you take regional accents and dialects into account while trying the local language. I recommend getting assistance from online sources for pronunciation and then try to sing the melody.

4. Dynamics and Articulation

Did you know that dynamics and articulation in singing go hand in hand. Singers try to modify the articulation’s clarity and intensity to meet the written dynamics for expressing the emotions. Try using different voice intensities while keeping your articulation clear.

5. Breath Control

This is yet another way to improve articulation in singing. You have to work on phrasing and breath control to correctly portray the lyrics natural flow while trying to protect the continuous flow of the melody. For proper breath control you can practice breathing exercises and techniques.

6. Precise and Consistent Flow of Articulation

The level of keeping up with the articulation through the entire performance is challenging. The trick is ,try to enunciate each vowel sounds, consonant clearly, and with the proper phrasing throughout the song. Also keep in mind the phrases need to be followed quite strictly to have a precise and consistent flow of clear singing articulation.

7. Expression of Emotions

We know that articulation in singing can be used to communicate feelings and the song’s mood. You can try a variety of articulation techniques like tone color, timbre, and voice texture and not just dynamics, to express any particular feelings or mood while singing.

8. Practice and Practice

Practice and try to use articulation techniques in both your warm-up exercises and get it right during your actual performance. Practicing vocal clarity exercises, singing diction exercises can help you in improving vocal articulation. Make a recording of yourself singing, then listen to it and try to find areas that need to be worked on.

Did You Know?

Artificial intelligence mostly relies on articulation structures while recognising speech.

What Are Vocal Articulation Exercises for Singers?

I must say that there can be nothing better than vocal articulation exercises for singers. Also trying to combine the above mentioned tips and subtleties can make your articulation 10x better.

Get your vocal cords warmed up with vocal warm-up exercises to improve the flexibility of your lips, mouth, jaw. increase the clarity of pronunciation with few tongue twisters. These are my go to practice tongue twisters.
- I slit a sheet, a sheet, I slit.
  Upon a slitted sheet, I sit.
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
  If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
- Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. A Fuzzy bear was Wuzzy. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?
- A really leery Larry rolls readily to the road.
Sing scales for improving vowels and consonant placements. Try to clearly pronounce and form each vowel sound (ah, ae, eh, oh and oo ). Pick any key and try to hold each vowel for at least 10 seconds to develop the habit of correct formation of the vowels.
It is always better to break the musical piece into segments and practice them separately to get the articulation accurately. While doing so, it is also easier to work on the words.
Try Lip trills and tongue trills along with other articulation exercises that help a lot by loosening your jaw muscles and lip muscles.

Conclusion

The main goal of articulation in music is bringing out the tiniest details of clarity and precision. We also say that it helps in communicating the intended emotions and feel of a writing and its melody. From pronunciation to phrasing and from dynamics to modulation, everything plays a vital role in articulation. To understand these kinds of musical concepts easier and better, enroll with us today!