Arts & Entertainment, Music
Diction
Lesson time 08:05 min
Throw away your idea of sounding perfectly polished and learn how to use diction and enunciation to tell a story.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Articulation • Playing characters
Teaches Singing
Christina teaches you her unique vocal techniques in over 3.5 hours of voice lessons and exercises.
Get Up To 50% OffPreview
I don't like to get too caught up on diction and enunciation, and all of those things. Because, then, you're getting into the area of kind of over-critiquing yourself in a way. Whenever I'm all about feeling-- I could use fighter, fighta, as a reference. You know, would I sit here and say, I'm a fighter, or thanks for making me a fighta? No, I'm not going to say it like that. But when you're in the mode of singing, you know, you take on a different shape, and a different form. That's its own sort of a feeling. That's a beauty of singing, because you use that to sort of escape, and become maybe somebody that you normally wouldn't have an easy time being in front of other people. Maybe there's an inside part of you that isn't secure. And that's the beauty of music and singing. It's because you can express yourself in ways that you normally couldn't in maybe everyday life, or in a conversation. You know, that's why song is so powerful and moving. For me, placement of, you know, oh, where does my tongue go, or how should I phrase this according to specifics, like, that's just not my style. I prefer to sort of be more loose with it. And in reference to, you know, Fighter, when I sing, I will go, (SINGING) thanks for making me a fighta. You know, and that's a feeling and that's an emotion. But if I changed it, and I was like, (SINGING) thanks for making me a fighter. Like, that just sounds kind of weird to me. And that's not natural. Off the top of my head, from recently working with Resa, I think she's kind of a good example of sometimes whenever you don't want to over-enunciate in the case of the fact that she wanted to sort of rock out a little bit, and sing Fighter. And Fighter is all about an attitude. She was very enunciated, and you can tell she's had some former training in making sure she's fluid, which is great. I mean, those are things that will come in handy when you're singing a variety of different songs. But in the case of Fighter, she was starting the song with-- you know, the first two words are, "Well, I," and it's not a two thing. You know, the way I sing it on record, (SINGING) Well-I. You know, it's kind of like a throw it out there kind of thing. And she was going, (SINGING) Well I, well I. And she was I-- you know, her pronunciation of that was sort of more an, (SINGING) Well I. You know, it was more of that. And we got her to the stage of coming back and putting more of a stylistic approach on it, throwing it away and having an aggression about it. (SINGING) Well-I. Like, I'm going to dive into this story, and I'm going to tell you. You know, it doesn't have to be so proper, I guess, per se, whenever you're trying to give off a certain energy, or a feeling in a song. There are points of reference within Fighter. When you're saying things in a repetitive line that way, and you're using multiple words to express ...
About the Instructor
Christina Aguilera teaches you how to expand your range, find your voice, and master the techniques that have earned her five Grammy Awards. In her first-ever online singing class, you’ll learn warm-up exercises, breath control, vibrato, her signature growls, and hear Christina break down her biggest hits. You’ve never had vocal lessons like this before.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Christina Aguilera
Christina teaches you her unique vocal techniques in over 3.5 hours of voice lessons and exercises.
Explore the Class