IPA for singers: what the International Phonetic Alphabet is and how to use it

Every language in the diction section is written here in IPA. This page explains the alphabet so the tables on those pages make sense, and points you to the charts and libraries singers use.

What the IPA is

The International Phonetic Alphabet is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script¹. The International Phonetic Association devised it, starting in the late 19th century, as a standard written representation for the sounds of speech¹.

Classical singers use it widely during preparation because they are frequently required to sing in a variety of foreign languages¹. Vocal coaches teach it to perfect diction and to improve tone quality and tuning¹.

One symbol, one sound

The rule that makes the IPA useful is that one symbol always stands for one sound². A singer can then name the exact vowel or consonant they are aiming for, independent of spelling².

Singers use it because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation, especially across languages like Italian, German and French². With the IPA you mark the precise target sound once and sing it the same way every time². Linguists developed it in the late nineteenth century².

English spelling is the reason this matters. Though, through, cough and bough each end with a different vowel or consonant sound, despite looking similar on the page². Spelling cannot be trusted, so you work from the symbol.

Reading the vowel chart

The vowel chart is a map of the mouth. The horizontal axis shows front-to-back tongue placement, and the vertical axis shows how open the mouth and jaw are².

Vowel counts differ between languages. Italian e and o each have a closed and an open form, four vowels where English speakers often hear two: closed [e] and open [ɛ], closed [o] and open [ɔ]². Singers also meet three different “ah” vowels across languages: [a] (bright, front), [ɑ] (dark, back) and [ä] (central, between the two)².

The consonants are the larger group: pulmonic consonants make up the majority of consonants in the IPA¹. A well-formed trill, as in Italian double rr, requires loose, buzzing tongue contact².

What the IPA does not do

The IPA does not replace the ear. It sharpens what the ear is already doing, and it does not prescribe how a sound should be colored, shaped or styled².

The marks that matter in singing

Beyond the letters, a few marks carry a lot of weight:

• A primary stress mark [ˈ] appears before the stressed syllable².
• A tilde above a vowel, as in [ã], means the vowel is nasalized, which is central to French².
• The length mark [ː] means the vowel is held longer, which matters in German, where [iː] and [ɪ] are distinct phonemes².
• Slashes indicate a phonemic transcription; brackets a phonetic one².

The pages of this site use square brackets, the form for a phonetic transcription.

Singers’ charts

A chart built for singers pairs each symbol with English example words. The Indianapolis choir’s chart, titled “International Phonetic Alphabet”, lists consonants this way: k with cork, kiss and chord; the sh symbol with sheep and sugar; θ with thin and maths; x with loch, and the affricate symbol ʤ with judge and general⁴. The same chart gives baby for b⁴. Its vowel page, “International Phonetic Alphabet-Vowels for Singers”, gives example words for each symbol, such as machine for [i], and Früh for the German version⁴.

The University of Iowa guide links an IPA chart with sounds, where you select a phonetic sign and hear what it sounds like³, and a video channel that explains the uses of the IPA with examples of phonetics in action³.

Ted’s Voice Academy offers a free interactive reference for singers, voice teachers and choral directors, billed as a complete guide to the IPA covering symbols, sounds and the languages singers sing².

Where to find IPA texts

You do not have to transcribe everything yourself. IPA Source is a library of IPA transcriptions and translations for both operatic and art song texts in French, Italian, German, Spanish, English and Latin³. Opera translation collections are held in the Iowa library under the call number ML 48³.

Opera librettos are also transcribed in IPA in volumes such as Nico Castel’s libretti¹. When you do need to make your own, follow how to transcribe an aria into IPA.

Using it in practice

Two habits follow from the sources above:

• Name the sound before you sing it. Because one symbol is one sound, you can tell a coach exactly which vowel you are unsure of².
• Check the length and nasal marks in French and German texts: the length mark means the vowel is held longer, and the tilde means it is nasalized².

Do not worry about display: web browsers generally do not need any configuration to show IPA characters¹.

For a first language to read in IPA, see Italian diction for singers.