BRAZILIAN-PORTUGUESE LYRIC DICTION

FOR THE AMERICAN SINGER

by

Melanie Anne Ohm

A Research Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Musical Arts

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

December 2009
 UMI Number: 3391977

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BRAZILIAN-PORTUGUESE LYRIC DICTION

FOR THE AMERICAN SINGER

by

Melanie Anne Ohm

has been approved

November 2009

Graduate Supervisory Committee

Jerry Doan, Chair

Robert Barefield
Ellon Carpenter
Judy May
Caio Pagano

ACCEPTED BY THE GRADUATE COLLEGE

 ABSTRACT

In Brazilian-Portuguese Lyric Diction for the American Singer, the author

created a lyric-diction guide for Americans interested in exploring Brazilian art

song. The heart of this document, the Guide to Brazilian-Portuguese Lyric Diction

for the American Singer, includes an introduction to the concepts, patterns, and

sounds of sung Brazilian Portuguese (BP). The influences upon the music and

language of Brazil are, in general, unfamiliar to Americans; therefore, this

document includes brief introductions to the language, music, and art song of

Brazil and a review of supportive resources identified in English and Portuguese.

The author also relates her discovery process and examines BP lyric diction for

singing with a focus upon the recent development of norms for lyric diction in

Brazil. By providing an annotated overview of current scholarly publications in

Brazil and the U.S. around BP lyric diction, the author offers insight into the

developmental process, compiling essential information for further study in a

single document.

The author's research is focused specifically upon diction in the context of the

Brazilian art song repertoire. It covers neither diction in relationship to popular or

folk music, nor diction associated with European-Portuguese music. Research

into or analysis of spoken Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and American

English are not the focus of this document, except as they directly relate to the

exploration of diction for singers.

iii
 To Jeffrey, the very best of men,

to Rubia, my sister in all ways that matter,

and to my parents, Jan and Jerry Ohm,

in loving memory.

IV
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The opportunity for study with Darleen Kliewer-Britton first brought me to

Arizona State University, opening many doors personally and professionally.

Darleen's approach to teaching inspired more than my singing. At the same time,

my dean at Herberger College, J. Robert Wills, provided a space for my work in

community arts for almost ten years, allowing room for my research and creative

work as a singer as well. To my supportive colleagues in the Dean's Office, thank

you.

Thank you to Rubia Souza Santos for an immense gift: for communicating

her passion for Brazilian art song, for hours of conversation and coaching, and

for opening the door to her homeland and a family I have come to treasure dearly

- Clementina, Rubens, Roberto, and Jose.

I have abundant respect and appreciation for the coaches and colleagues I

have come to know through this process. Those whom I interviewed are Adelia

Issa, Lenice Prioli, Martha Herr, Lenine Santos, Adriana Kayama, Caio Ferraz,

Horacio Gouveia, Jose Ferraz de Toledo, Anna Kiefer, Marilia Seigl, Achilli

Picchi, Carol McDavitt, Edmar Ferretti, and Fernando Carvalhaes Duarte (now

deceased). My gratitude to Ronaldo Miranda for the songs and coaching on my

maiden voyage in Brazilian song. To those who provided professional and warm-

hearted encouragement and supports through various stages of this process:

Maggie Mangini, Gail Novak, Stela Brandao, Mary Sue Hyatt, Pegge Vissicaro,

Marion Verhaalen, and the Phoenix Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon, my

wholehearted thanks.

v
 The challenge of moving me through the final months of this writing process

belonged to two special groups of people, the first, of course, being my doctoral

committee: Jerry Doan, Caio Pagano, Ellon Carpenter, Judy May, and Robert

Barefield. Thank you for cheering me on to the finish, and providing thoughtful

comment on this document. Special thanks to my chair, Dr. Doan, for his

commitment to helping me get this project done, and loving memories to

Margaret Jaconelli, long-time assistant in the School of Music graduate office.

I had a special forces team at work on my behalf, also; and this project

would not have been completed without them. By nature curious, generous, and

optimistically collaborative, each one made invaluable contributions. Dr. Dianne

Anderson-Nickel, friend and collaborator on so many projects, showed up on my

doorstep regularly, hand extended for the next installment to read, and never

wavered in her confidence in me. Dr. Martha Herr, an expert in this subject,

shared ideas, resources, and essential, substantive commentary on this

document as it unfolded - and warm friendship. And Dr. Jeffrey Stevens, my life

partner, has come full circle with me, since he was on this very journey when we

first met. We are finally a "pair-a-docs."

My end is my beginning. Thank you to my family and friends, who have not

always understood what compels me, but have accepted me as I am. Deepest

gratitude to Heidi, Sarah, Joel, Lon, Chad, Isabel, Shawna, Tsahai, Carol, Maja,

Sandi, Jocelyn, Doc and family, Malissa and family, Deanie, Ed, Patricia, Elaine,

and Judy for your day to day care and kindnesses that make such a work as this

not only possible, but also worth doing.

vi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION 1

Antecedents of Brazilian Portuguese 4

Influences on the Music and Language of Brazil 5

Brazilian Art Song 9

2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 19

Brazilian-Portuguese Diction for Singers 19

Brazilian Music Studies 23

Brazilian Art Song 26

Singers' Diction Resources 29

Portuguese Linguistics and Phonetics 33

Summary 38

3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRAZILIAN-PORTUGUESE LYRIC

DICTION FOR SINGERS 40

Resources for the Exploration of Brazilian-Portuguese

Lyric Diction 48

4 GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN-PORTUGUESE LYRIC DICTION FOR

THE AMERICAN SINGER 66

Table of IPA Symbols for Brazilian Portuguese 67

vii
CHAPTER Page

Preliminary Information: Phonology, Phonetic Transcription,

and Notation 70

The Portuguese Alphabet 72

Syllabification 78

Vowel Harmony 82

Diacritical Marks in Brazilian Portuguese 84

Diphthong, Hiatus, and the Glides 86

An American Sings Brazilian Portuguese 91

Dictionaries as Pronouncing Guides 93

Singing the Oral Vowels 94

Singing the Nasal Vowels 97

Singing Diphthongs 99

Singing the Consonants 102

5 CONCLUSIONS 108

REFERENCE LIST 111

VIM
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Diction training is a requirement for the accomplished singer of art song. An

American vocalist is expected to acquire facility in English, Latin, Italian, German,

and French, since these are the languages of the standard opera and art song

repertoire. While other languages are of interest, acquiring the tools to achieve

proficiency for singing in "non-standard" languages is more difficult. Resources

are limited and skilled teachers rare. At present, the resources for learning

Brazilian-Portuguese diction in the United States are limited to a few documents

and a select group of skilled coaches.

In Brazilian-Portuguese Lyric Diction for the American Singer, the author has

created a lyric-diction guide for Americans interested in exploring Brazilian art

song. The heart of this document, the Chapter IV Guide to Brazilian-Portuguese

Lyric Diction for the American Singer, includes an introduction to the concepts,

patterns, and sounds of sung Brazilian Portuguese (BP). The influences upon the

music and language of Brazil are, in general, unfamiliar to Americans; therefore,

this document includes brief introductions to the language, music, and art song of

Brazil in Chapter I and a review of supportive resources identified in English and

Portuguese in Chapter II. In Chapter III, the author relates her discovery process

and examines BP lyric diction for singing with a focus upon the recent

development of norms for lyric diction in Brazil. By providing an annotated

overview of current scholarly publications in Brazil and the U.S. around BP lyric
 2

diction, the author offers insight into the developmental process, compiling

essential information for further study in a single document.

The author's research is focused specifically upon diction in the context of the

Brazilian art song repertoire. It covers neither diction in relationship to popular or

folk music, nor diction associated with European-Portuguese music. Research

into or analysis of spoken Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and American

English is not the focus of this document, except as it directly relates to the

exploration of diction for singers.

Through research and study in Brazil, coaching with classically trained

Brazilian singers and pianists who perform the art song repertoire, personal

professional experience performing the repertoire, and participation in public

dialogue in Brazil regarding diction for sung Portuguese, the investigator has

explored the singing sounds of Brazilian Portuguese. The task of the author

was to investigate the issues and resources relevant to acquiring Brazilian

Portuguese for singing, specifically related to the art song repertoire, and to

discuss the findings in detail so as to best serve the American singer.

Despite its artistic depth and pedagogical value, the diverse repertoire of

Brazilian art song is largely unknown and infrequently programmed outside of

Brazil. Even in Brazil, entire programs of Brazilian art song were not common

until recently, although champions of the repertoire advocated for it, taught it, and

performed it all along. The repertoire is unfamiliar to the general Brazilian public,

so the demand that arises with awareness is absent. Of necessity, the

 3

professional singer performs the repertoire requested. Although manuscripts are

not easy to obtain in the United States for a variety of reasons, the greatest

barrier to acquisition of the music seems to be a lack of access to resources for

acquiring an understanding of Brazilian-Portuguese diction for singers.

The term "diction" generally refers to "pronunciation and enunciation of words

in singing."1 Because diction studies typically occur in isolation from a

language's social, historical, and linguistic contexts, the musical setting becomes

the thread that joins vowel and consonant, syllable and symbol. Diction for

singing demands different considerations than articulation in speaking. Nico

Castel, diction coach for the Metropolitan Opera, notes that "when the words are

set to music, the process immediately elongates the sounds of the words. . . the

singing process will homogenize many vowel sounds . . ."2 Elongating a vowel

should minimize the non-essential phonetic elements, focusing the listener's ear

as the singer intends. The musical setting further dictates word stress, rhythm,

articulation, and phrasing to a profound degree. In working with the text and

music of a song, the singer strives to meld clarity of language with beauty of

tone—a sometimes difficult process that is affected by the composer's text-

setting skill and the complexity of the language.

David Adams, professor of voice at the University of Cincinnati, makes the

point that "Every language has distinctive sound characteristics that result in its

1
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, s.v. "Diction."
2
Nico Castel, A Singer's Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction (New York:
Excalibur Publishing, 1994), 4.
 4

own unique color."3 Among the distinctive qualities of BP are a complex system

of rules regarding syllabic stress and an endlessly creative use of vowels, both

elementally organizing the language and colorfully expressing its rhythmic flow.

The large number of sound elements requires the singer to make many choices

about text and tone. Understanding the influences on the language and music of

the Brazilian people can inform those choices.

Antecedents of Brazilian Portuguese

As a Romance language, Portuguese has roots in Latin. The earliest

traceable antecedent is Galician, a dialect of northwestern Spain. In the eleventh

century, Christians from this territory migrated south to forcibly remove the Moors

who had invaded the land three centuries earlier. The Galicians captured

Coimbra in 1064 and resettled the area, persisting with the reconquest of

Portugal until the final expulsion of the Moors from that country in 1253. It was

during this period, in the year 1143, that the Kingdom of Portugal achieved

independence from Spain. Linguist James Giangola remarks that the language

could be considered Galician-Portuguese during years 1200—1350, and

thereafter clearly diverged toward Portuguese.4 Strong influences forge patterns

in language. In the development of Portuguese, those influences included

migration, contact with Moorish culture, the rites of independence, isolation

3
David Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers: Italian, German, French
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 1.
4
James P. Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese (Munich:
Lincom Europa, 2001), 1.
 5

resulting from the plague of 1348, and war. The Portuguese conquest in the

Americas would continue the cycle of language evolution. Joseph Greenberg

speaks to this in his foreward to John Schneider's Dictionary of African

Borrowings in Brazilian Portuguese:

Languages are constantly changing and when they change, in basic

independence of each other, the changes are rarely identical and such
differences accumulate. . . . However, there is another important factor
beyond mere separation in space and ceaseless differential linguistic
changes. Groups thus separated may have differing contacts with people
speaking other languages and will inevitably borrow words from them. 5

The following brief history of Brazil is dual focused, examining influences

on both the language and music of the new Portuguese colony. The language

and music of Brazil are the context for this research.

Influences on the Music and Language of Brazil

When settlers from Portugal arrived in South America in April of 1500, they

brought the music of Europe with them. Commissioned by King Dom Manuel de

Aviz to open new and competitive trade routes to the west, explorers built trading

posts on the Atlantic coast of present-day Brazil. Necessities provided for the

commissioned crews included priests to maintain the Roman Catholic rites—and

musicians. Music was important in both the church and the court household

during Dom Manuel I's reign. His music establishment was among the best in

5
John T. Schneider, Dictionary of African Borrowings in Brazilian Portuguese
(Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1991), xi.
 6

Europe, and music would have a strong presence in the colonization of the

Portuguese empire in the Americas as well. 6

Early accounts of music in the new Portuguese colony are sparse and

entwined with the activities of the Jesuits in the sixteenth century. The Jesuits

provided music instruction and religious education for the colony's indigenous

people, the Tupiniquim. By choosing Christianity, the Tupiniquim were spared a

life of slavery; however, through this cultural re-orientation, or "deculturagao," the

indigenous music and traditions of these people were all but lost. Tupi words

remain primarily as place names. Conversely, the millions of Africans imported

as slaves beginning in 1538 resisted acculturation and maintained identities that

influenced both popular and art musics, as well as the language of the new

colony.7

During the majority of the seventeenth century, chapelmasters of the Roman

Catholic Church dominated the musical culture in the settlements. The

development of religious societies called "irmandades" (brotherhoods) toward the

end of that century brought new social structures into play. These voluntary

associations built churches, hosted events, and supported social services.

Additionally, irmandades provided a guild-like support structure for trade,

6
David P. Appleby, The Music of Brazil (Austin, TX: University of Texas
Press, 1983), 2.
7
Schneider identifies the African language families as Bantu, West African,
and Chadic. Schneider, Dictionary of African Borrowings, xix.
 7

including that of professional musicians.8 The musical life of colonial Brazil

continued to revolve around church and religious festivals, but the monopoly on

music trade held by the chapelmasters was broken.

The 1808 arrival of the Portuguese court in Rio de Janeiro produced changes

that would exert a significant influence in Brazil. Prince Dom Joao and his family

fled before the threat of Napoleon's advancing army, leaving behind a city that

had provided them with modern comforts and cultural advantages. In

Rio de Janeiro Dom Joao would find a relentless economic and cultural poverty

that bore a direct relationship to the royal practice of centralizing political and

economic power in Portugal. Not only did royal policy change, but by 1815 Brazil

was a kingdom in its own right, with a vital cultural life that included an improved

education system, new libraries and museums, and increased support for the

arts exemplified by the founding of a School of Fine Arts.9 Musicians from

Europe traveled to Brazil to take positions and appointments as composers,

teachers, performers, and managers.

This cultivation of the arts suffered a temporary setback in the years following

Brazil's declaration of independence from Portugal in 1822, but with economic

development came increasing patronage for the arts. During the nineteenth

century, Rio de Janeiro saw the development of a Philharmonic Society and the

establishment of a Conservatory of Music. Musical activity, once centralized in

Appleby, The Music of Brazil, 6-7.

9
Ibid., 35.
 8

the church, shifted to the theatre, and the bel canto style appeared in the

Catholic mass. Public patronage of arts and culture became more pronounced

through the reign of Dom Pedro II, and continued to gain momentum after Brazil

proclaimed itself a republic in 1889. Dom Pedro was an ardent supporter of

Italian opera, and encouraged the development of native opera. In the midst of a

passion for European society and its customs, distinctively Brazilian literature

and music energized the theatres and salons. Appleby states, "European dances

. . . began to lose their original characteristics and to assimilate new Afro-

Brazilian elements."10

By the turn of the twentieth century, the Brazilian national movement was fully

underway in all the arts. Composers began writing in popular, African, and folk

idioms. Gerard Behague records the over-arching cultural influences of three

groups: the Luso-Hispanic Portuguese, the Africans, and the Amerindians. Into

these three groups is woven ". . . Amerindian with Portuguese, Amerindian with

Spanish, Amerindian with African, Portuguese with African, Spanish with African,

and the fusion of syncretism among all of these with native black Brazilian."11

With such a wealth of expressive idioms in both language and music, art song

composers enjoyed almost limitless resources.

10
Appleby, The Music of Brazil, 42.
11
Gerard Behague, Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, s.v. "Brazil,"
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/qrove/music/03894
(accessed October 16, 2009).
 9

Brazilian Art Song

The references to art song in this research refer to a broad category of

composition for trained voice that joins music and text, voice and

accompaniment. The mature Brazilian art song did not appear until the beginning

of the twentieth century; previously, Italian arias, French melodies, and

Portuguese songs, with their roots in European music traditions, represented

vocal art music.

At the turn of the 20th century in Brazil, two forms of song were particularly

popular, the modinha and the lundu. These forms were part of the cultivation of a

national identity in music. According to Appleby,

...two forms of popular music provided a mirror for the formation of national
elements and eventually provided a musical language with readily
distinguishable national elements that formed the basis for the nationalist
movement of the twentieth century. These forms are the lundu and
modinha.12

The lundu developed out of a song and dance form brought to Brazil by the

Bantu slaves, and later came to refer to certain poems and eventually

instrumental compositions. Appleby states, "As it lost its African choreographic

elements and folk character, it became the basis for nineteenth century salon

music."13 He also distinguishes the Brazilian modinha from the Portuguese

modinha. The Portuguese varieties were aria-like, reflecting Italian influences,

while the sentimental romantic ballads of Brazil were simpler, and the

12
Appleby, The Music of Brazil, 60.
13
Ibid., 68.
 10

accompaniments generally written for piano or guitar. The lundu and the modinha

provided the basis not only for the development of a national art song, but also

forms of urban popular music.

While these song forms captured popular attention, it was common practice

for Brazilian composers to pursue studies in Europe. The Brazilian composer

Antonio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896) dedicated himself to studying abroad. While

songs are among his works, he earned international acclaim for his opera

// Guarany based on a story by Brazilian novelist Jose de Alencar. Musicologist

David Appleby writes,

In the nineteenth century, twenty-one operas by Brazilian composers were

staged. Of the twenty one, nine are by one composer, Antonio Carlos
Gomes. Of the Gomes operas, none attained anything like the public acclaim
of // Guarany. II Guarany, therefore, occupies a uniquely important place in
the history of nineteenth-century Brazilian music.14

He also notes that, while the "subject and spirit" of the opera are Brazilian, the

libretto was in Italian, and the musical style reflects the tradition of nineteenth-

century Italian opera. In her dissertation, Maria Alice Volpe focuses on art music

from Gomes through Villa-Lobos and describes Gomes' influence.

It was virtually inevitable that composers of the following generations looked

at him, critically or not, as a model for success...He was a symbol of national
achievement, and was considered a national genius to be emulated or
superseded... The lionization process started in 1870 with the international
success of // Guarany, which bolstered nationalist feelings, and culminated
with boasting assertions such as "the first musical genius of the Americas."15

14
Appleby, The Music of Brazil, 47.
15
Maria Alice Volpe, "Indianismo and Landscape in the Brazilian Age of
Progress: Art Music from Carlos Gomes to Villa-Lobos, 1870s-1930s" (D.M.A.
diss., University of Texas-Austin, 2001), 134.
 11

Martha Herr, in her dissertation, addresses national identity in the music of

Brazil and the United States. She comments,

Sometime before the turn of the century, art composers all over the Americas
began to realize that...they did not need to think like Europeans...There were
enormous amounts of music in their own countries about which they knew
very little...This development did not necessarily have to do with patriotism,
but was related to the search among late Romantic composers for new
compositional material, and especially to the nationalist movement.16

Additionally, writer and musicologist Mario de Andrade (1893-1945) understood

that a socio-political element needed to be activated for artists to engage their art

in a uniquely national manner.17

Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) was a multifaceted musician and

composer, a prolific song writer, and an early catalyst for nationalism in Brazilian

music. As did Gomes, he studied in Europe. A vocal abolitionist, Nepomuceno

was willing to step into that socio-political arena identified by Andrade. As a

composer, he was not silenced by criticism about his determination to write

songs in Portuguese. Pointed disapproval simply engendered a response from

him that became a rallying cry for Brazilian nationalist music: "Nao tern patria o

povo que nao canta na sua propria lingua" [A people who does not sing in its

Martha Herr, "The Search for a National Musical Identity in Brazil and the
United States between 1890 and 1920 as Evidenced in Collected Songs by Five
Composers" (D.M.A. diss., Michigan State University, 1996), 14.
17
Ibid., 15.
 12

own language has no homeland].18 The Encyclopedia of Brazilian Classical

Music points to an 1893 visit with Grieg, during Nepomuceno's studies in Europe,

as the time when Nepomuceno's interest in working to form a patriotic Brazilian

music was animated.19 Laura Chipe notes the date differently, that in 1890

Nepomuceno "remained in Europe the rest of that year, convalescing in the

home of Edvard and Nina Grieg. This opportunity allowed him to take in the

masterful music of the national encourager, Grieg."20 Chipe also gives an

overview of Nepomuceno's compositional output in regard to the use of

Portuguese texts:

Of the seventy-one art songs he composed, fifty-one are settings of

Portuguese texts by twenty-seven Brazilian authors and one from
Portugal...His two operas are in Portuguese, one with a libretto written by his
close friend Henrique Coelho Neto, the other by the composer himself.21
Nepomuceno composed twenty-six choral pieces of which sixteen use his
lingua national (national language).22

Marcos Marcondes, ed., Enciclopedia da Musica Brasileira Erudita [

Encyclopedia of Brazilian Classical Music], s.v."Nepomuceno Alberto" (Sao
Paulo: Art Editora, Publifolha, 2000), 198.
19
Ibid., 197.
20
Laura Hammack Chipe, "Alberto Berio Nepomuceno: A Performer's Guide
to Selected Songs" (D.M.A. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
2000), 35.
21
Chipe indicates the source for this last information is Luis Correa de
Azevedo, Relagao das Operas de Autores Brasileiros (Rio de Janeiro: Ministerio
da Educacao e Saudade, 1938), 59-61.

Chipe, "Alberto Berio Nepomuceno," 50-51.

 13

This consistent use of Brazilian Portuguese is a large part of his contribution to

the development of a national music; and in the context of his life experience and

education, this was an intentional decision.

Martha Herr says of Nepomuceno, "Some writers believe that he would not

have dared to write works in the vernacular if he had not practiced in German

and French." 23 His compositional style in art song continued to be dominated by

the prevailing European orientation. In speaking of both Nepomuceno and

composer Luciano Gallet (1893-1931), Herr articulates, "These composers also

wrote long, through-composed songs in their native language, based on

European models. However, these songs tend to give way to simpler, strophic

songs as the composers spent more time at home."24 The composers of national

song contributed early on to the identification of a national music. The small

musical and poetic structure of song provided an opportunity to experiment with

style and form in a concise setting. In his introduction to the art song, Vasco

Mariz writes "Without exaggeration, the song may be considered the nucleus of

all forms of music."25

The music of Heitor Villa-Lobos is recognized as a synthesis of the elements

that established a national Brazilian identity. His work not only drew upon

Herr, "The Search for a National Musical Identity in Brazil and the United
States," 62.
24
Ibid., 63.
25
Vasco Mariz, A Cangao Brasileira de Camara (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria
Francisco Alves Editora, 2002), 27.
 14

classical techniques and traditions, but also upon the burgeoning urban and rural

musics at the heart of Brazil as well. The weaving together of these strands

became more and more evident as uniquely Brazilian "qualities" became part of

art music.

Dr. Martha Herr, chair of the vocal area at the Sao Paulo State University

(UNESP), commented,

In any culture I've experienced, European, there is the folk music, and then
there is the art music. And in Brazil, too...but there's a really fine line
between what is a popular song and what is an art song...There are many
popular songs by Villa-Lobos, for example, or these songs by Santoro, that
are at home in a popular idiom."26

An important event that anchored the nationalist movement in Brazil,

The Week of Modern Art, occurred in February 1922 in Sao Paulo. Stela

Brandao states that the event "crystallized philosophically the direction many

Brazilian artists would adopt."27 Villa-Lobos' compositions strongly reflected the

aesthetic ideals set forth for The Week of Modern Art, which brought him to the

forefront of critical attention. Writer, critic, musicologist, and poet Mario de

Andrade was the voice of the modernist ideology, and documented Villa-Lobos'

alignment with the unfolding nationalist aesthetic. According to Brandao, "Villa-

Lobos later referred to The Week of Modern Art as the landmark of Brazilian

26
Duo Braziliana, "Martha Herr on Brazilian Portuguese Diction for Singers,"
[Interview with Melanie Ohm] (Sao Paulo, Brazil: July 3, 2003),
http://www.duobraziliana.com/interviews/herr (accessed November 2009).
27
Stela Maria Santos Brandao, "The Brazilian Art Song: A Performance
Guide Utilizing Selected Works by Heitor Villa-Lobos" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia
University, 1999), 87.
 15

music independence. Paulo Renato Guerios, in Heitor Villa-Lobos: o caminho

sinuoso da predestinagao, quotes from the composer's own book the words of

Mario de Andrade, that following:

...a experiencia bruta da semana de arte moderna, Villa-Lobos abandonava

consciente e sistematicamente o seu intemacionalismo afrancesado, para se
tornar o iniciador e a figura maxima da fase nacionalista em que estamos.29

[...the brutal experience of the Week of Modern Art, Villa-Lobos abandoned

consciously and systematically his French internationalism, to become the
initiator and the primary figure of the nationalist period in which we exist.]30

A review of his compositions subsequent to the 1922 Week of Modern Art

reveals that Villa-Lobos composed almost exclusively to Brazilian texts with few

exceptions. In Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Life (1887-1959), David Appleby provides a

translated excerpt from Villa-Lobos' 1951 speech, "An Eternal Slave of Things

Brazilian," that speaks to the soul of nationalism that vitalized the movement in

Brazil:

Never in my life did I seek culture, erudition, knowledge or even wisdom in

books, doctrines, theories, or orthodox forms, never, because my book is
Brazil. Not a map of Brazil in front of me but the land of Brazil where I place
my feet, where I feel, where I walk. Each man that I meet in Brazil becomes a
part of my musical conception. Each birdsong that comes to my ears is a
theme that joins other invisible melodies and becomes sound and a part of
my music. Music that is as free as nature, as free as the land of Brazil.31

Brandao, "The Brazilian Art Song: A Performance Guide."

29
Heitor Villa-Lobos, A musica nacionalista no governo Getulio Vargas (Rio
de Janeiro: DIP, 1940), 44, in Paulo Renato Guerios, Heitor Villa-Lobos: o
caminho sinuoso da predestinagao (Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV, 2003), 124.
30
All English translations are the author's unless otherwise noted.
31
David P. Appleby, Heitor Villa-Lobos: A Life (1887-1959) (Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2002), 178-179.
 16

The work of Gomes, Nepomuceno, de Andrade, and Villa-Lobos, as well as a

number of their peers not mentioned here, opened the way for the cultivation of a

body of art song that is rooted in the diverse cultural forces of Brazil: the

languages, dances, poetry, symbolism, and a sense of place that reaches around

the world and returns to thrive in Brazil's urban and rural landscapes. Among the

first flowering in art song of the national ideology was the work of composers

Lorenzo Fernandez (1897-1948), Luciano Gallet (1893-1931), Francisco

Mignone (1897-1986), Ernani Braga (1888-1948), and Waldemar Henrique

(1905-1995). A mature manifestation of Brazilian song was realized in the artistry

of Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993). In Camargo Guarnieri: O tempo e a musica,

Joao Caldeira Filho describes Guarnieri's creative process as deconstructing the

overtly descriptive, poetic, anecdotal, ethnic, and documentary nationalist

aspects, and building "uma lingufstica propria, pessoal" [a personalized language

of his own].32

Vasco Mariz notes that, in spite of Guarnieri's stature, a good portion of his

206 works for voice and piano have not been published.33 In the investigator's

experience in Brazil, copies of handwritten manuscripts are the only means by

which many composer's works can be performed, and Guarnieri's stature does

Joao Caldeira Filho, "Camargo Guarnieri - Uma trajetoria," in Camargo

Guarnieri: O tempo e a musica, ed. Flavio Silva (Sao Paulo: Imprensa Oficial do
EstadoS.A.,2001), 17.
33
Vasco Mariz, "Obras vocais," in Camargo Guarnieri: O tempo e a musica,
ed. Flavio Silva (Sao Paulo: Imprensa Oficial do Estado S.A., 2001), 381.
 17

not spare the performer from this complication. Marion Verhaalen, a long time

friend of the Guamieris, quotes from Mario de Andrade:

Pela forca expressiva, pela completa assimilacao erudita dos elementos

caracteristicos populares, pela originalidade da polifonia acompanhante e
pela beleza das melodias, as cangoes de Camargo Guarnieri sao a sua
melhor contribuicao para a musica brasileira.

[For expressive force, for the completely skillful integration of characteristic

popular elements, for the originality of accompanimental harmony and for the
beauty of the melodies, Camargo Guarnieri's songs are his finest contribution
to Brazilian music] 34

Guarnieri founded a compositional school in the 1950's in response to a trend

away from nationalism in music. Rubia Santos, in her doctoral dissertation,

indicates that Guarnieri advocated "studying and applying Brazilian folk and

urban sources by composing within neoclassical structures and forms."35 His

legacy remains an influential force among successive generations of Brazilian

composers of art song.

One remaining event needs mention in this discussion of Brazilian art song.

Mario de Andrade assembled the 1° Congresso da Lingua National Cantada

[First Congress of the National Language as Sung] in 1937 to discuss problems

of setting Brazilian-Portuguese text in art music. This gathering was the

Mario de Andrade, "Camargo Guarnieri," O Estado de S. Paulo (January

1940), quoted by Marion Verhaalen, Camargo Guarnieri: Expressoes de uma
vida (Sao Paulo: Imprensa Oficial do Estado S.A., 2001), 243.
35
Rubia C. Souza Santos, "Selected Piano trios by Brazilian Composers in
the Succession of M. Camargo Guarnieri" (D.M.A. diss., Arizona State University,
2004), 4-5.
 18

beginning of an in-depth study by Andrade. He concluded that the primary

difficulties facing composers were:

1. the irreconcilable conflict of the spoken and sung styles of diction,

2. the phonetic accommodation peculiar to Portuguese,
3. the nasal quality of some sounds which are difficult to project,
particularly on the high pitches,
4. the hiatus and diphthongs which cause special problems where
there are repeated notes on the same pitch, and

5. the ligation of words or syllables.36

These issues remained central to the evolution of Brazilian-Portuguese

diction standards for singing, and have been re-engaged in the past seven-to-

eight years by the larger Brazilian singing community.

Marion Verhaalen, "M. Camargo Guarnieri: Brazilian Composer," (2000):

268, pre-publication document in English, private collection of Melanie Ohm.
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Several subjects converge in the development of this work: diction for

singers, linguistics and phonetics, art song, and the music and language of

Brazil. In this chapter, an overview of literature in the aforementioned subjects

establishes the research framework: examining the development of Brazilian-

Portuguese norms for lyric diction, discussing resources relevant to BP diction for

singing, and concepts and approaches to BP diction for American singers. This

review begins with publications about Brazilian-Portuguese diction for singing,

followed by Brazilian music literature and art song, then general singers' diction

resources, and finally linguistics studies.

Brazilian-Portuguese Diction for Singers

The current body of literature in English relating directly to Brazilian-

Portuguese diction for singers consists of three articles published in the

Journal of Singing; three doctoral dissertations (two by Brazilians studying in the

U.S.); one article in a Brazilian journal; and an essay in an anthology of Latin

American art song. At the time the investigator's exploration of BP diction began,

two dissertations comprised the number of publications in English engaging the

subject of BP diction for singers. The upwelling of interest, even passion, in the

subject area during the past seven years is significant as a rite of passage for

Brazilian art song and is essential in developing infrastructure for the future in the

recording and publishing industries in Brazil.

 The work and thought of many singers, teachers, and scholars from various

fields have contributed to the development of BP norms for lyric diction. In 2003,

Stela Brandao authored an article entitled, "Brazilian Lyric Diction: A Discussion

of the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos" for the Journal of

Singing.37

Much of the thinking underpinning this work is evident in her dissertation

about Brazilian art song and Villa-Lobos published four years prior. Brandao's

study of 1999, "The Brazilian Art Song," focuses on Villa-Lobos compositions in

two song albums, and provides an in-depth musical, historical, and phonetic

examination of each of the thirteen songs. Diction principles formulated by the

1937 1° Congresso da Lingua Nacional Cantada serve as the basis for Brandao's

discussion of diction. She also approaches the problems of access to the

Brazilian art song repertoire, explores the contributions of indigenous and African

people to the language, and differentiates European Portuguese from its

Brazilian counterpart. Through this discursive approach to the art song of Heitor

Villa-Lobos, Brandao indicates directions for further research into the diction,

language, and art song of Brazil.38

Another doctoral dissertation by Laura Chipe "examines Alberto Beriot

Nepomuceno's life and work as a voice for Brazilian nationalism, with particular

Stela Maria Brandao, "Brazilian Lyric Diction: A Discussion of the

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, by Heitor Villa-Lobos," Journal of Singing 60
(November/December 2003), 173-180.

Brandao, "The Brazilian Art Song: A Performance Guide."

 21

attention to his songs, and produces a guide for the preparation and performance

of twelve representative songs."39 The document includes Nepomuceno's

biography, which was supported by interviews with and materials acquired from

his grandson Sergio Nepomuceno Alvin Correa,40 an exploration of the cultural

environment at the time, the examination of a dozen poets from the Nepomuceno

songs selected for study, and the songs themselves. In the appendices, Chipe

investigates BP diction relevant to the work of Nepomuceno. Since he was from

Rio de Janeiro, Chipe chose the speech of that city, known as carioca, as the

framework for her discussion.41

Marcos Krieger, a musician of German birth and Brazilian upbringing

currently working in the U.S., wrote an article for the Journal of Singing in 2004,

"Portuguese Diction in Brazilian Vocal Music."42 His statement, "my personal

perspective is that the main goal of any diction pattern adopted in singing should

be clarity of communication, leaving regional and local accents for special effects

when called for by the text," is central to the article. He points out that this

approach supports good vocal technique as well, and continues, "Therefore, the

basic rules presented in this article are the result of a careful observation of the

Chipe, "Alberto Beriot Nepomuceno."

40
Ibid., 9.
41
Ibid., 160-166.
42
Marcos Krieger, "Portuguese Diction in Brazilian Vocal Music," Journal of
Singing 60 (May/June 2004), 479.
 22

best use of phonemes that provide clear understanding of the text, at the same

time that they offer the singer the most efficient means of articulating the

language."43 The remainder of the article addresses specific consonants, vowels,

and concepts key to BP diction.

Krieger also published "The North-American Singer and Brazilian Portuguese

Lyric Diction Issues in the Songs of Heitor Villa-Lobos" in English in the Brazilian

music journal Musica Hodie with his colleague Nina Tober from Susquehanna

University in Pennsylvania.44 This article is explored in Chapter III with the

remaining literature in English, including a dissertation by Marilia Alvares, Diction

and Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese in Lyric Singing as Applied to Selected

Songs of Francisco Mignone,45 and a more recent landmark document

developed out of the 2005 4° Encontro Brasileiro de Canto: Portugues Brasileiro

Cantado in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and published in 2008 in the Journal of Singing.46

Krieger, "Portuguese Diction in Brazilian Vocal Music," 479-480.

44
Marcos Krieger and Nina Tober, "The North-American Singer and Brazilian
Portuguese Lyric Diction Issues in the Songs of Heitor Villa-Lobos," Musica
Hodie 8 (2008) no. 2: 95-106, http://www.musicahodie.mus.br/8 2/05-
Pages%20from%20 Musica%20Hodie 82 Marcos Nina.pdf (accessed
November 19, 2009).
45
Marilia Alvares, "Diction and Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese in Lyric
Singing as Applied to Selected Songs of Francisco Mignone" (D.M.A. diss.,
University of Nebraska, 2008).
46
Martha Herr, Adriana Kayama, and Wladimir Mattos, "Brazilian
Portuguese: Norms for Lyric Diction," Journal of Singing 65 (November /
December 2008), 195-211.
Co-authors Herr, Kayama, and Mattos describe the background for the article

and offer an annotated table of BP Norms for Lyric Diction.

Brazilian Music Studies

Brazilian music studies encompass a broad group of literature related to the

research, with the standard music history in English being Appleby's

The Music of Brazil. The text is full of useful, but difficult to find, details about the

development of Brazil and its musical life. Because subject matter drives the

discourse, the chronology of events is frequently displaced. The endnotes and

bibliography are thorough, however, and encourage deeper investigation.47

The Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. sponsored a Music Series in

the 1940s to disseminate information about the South American republics.

Albert Luper wrote a concise history of Brazil and its music, attached an

extensive bibliography—mainly of Brazilian sources—and compiled a substantial

list of Brazilian music available in the United States at the time. Appleby does not

list this work in his bibliography, even though it excels as a research tool.48

Encyclopedias of music are one of the most readily available sources for

Americans interested in Brazilian music. Among these resources are the

Appleby, The Music of Brazil.

48
Albert T. Luper, The Music of Brazil, Music Series no. 9 (Washington, D.C.
Music Division, Pan American Union, 1943).
 24

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians;49 Grove Music Online and Oxford

Music Online;50 and The Oxford Companion to Music.5^

In Brazil, Vasco Mariz continues to edit and reprint his popular book,

Historia da Musica no Brasil. The author organizes the text in a broadly

chronological manner, telling music history through the lives of influential

composers and musicians. This work includes bibliographic data at the end of

each chapter.52 Musicologist Gerard Behague (1937-2005) specialized in the

music of Latin America. Having grown up in Brazil, he focused his doctoral

dissertation on early nationalism in Brazilian music,53 the precursor to Brazil's

development of a national school, and during his career continued to expand the

scholarship around Brazilian music in his position as head of Latin American

Studies at the University of Texas. In a memorial tribute to Behague, John

Schechter states, "If one seeks to encapsulate the essence of Dr. Behague's

49
Stanley Sadie, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
(London: Macmillan, 1980).
50
Grove Music Online and Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/qrove/music/03894
(accessed October 16, 2009).
51
Robert Stevenson and Christopher Webber, "Latin America," in The Oxford
Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e3866 (accessed
October 16, 2009).
52
Vasco Mariz, Historia da Musica no Brasil, 5th ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Editora
Nova Fronteira, 2000).
53
John M. Schechter, "Tribute to Gerard Behague," Latin American Music
Review 26 (2005) no. 2: 154.
 25

scholarly contribution, it might well be that he established the examination of the

art musics and traditional musics of Latin America as a legitimate endeavor of

musicology and ethnomusicology."54 Schechter comments on Behague's

scholarship, "Gerard Behague will be remembered for his special expertise in

nationalism in Brazilian art music; in Afro-Brazilian musics; in Villa-Lobos; and in

Brazilian and Latin American popular musics."55 Schechter's bibliography cites

several works by Behague of importance to the study of Brazilian music and art

song, including an article about a collection of Portuguese modinhas, a song

genre popular in Portugal and Brazil during the 18th and 19th centuries,56 as well

as his books Heitor Villa-Lobos: the Search for Brazil's Musical Soul and Music in

Latin America: an Introduction.57 Behague is also the author of the articles on

Brazil in Grove Music Online and Oxford Music Online,58 and a 1971 monograph

based upon his dissertation entitled The Beginnings of Music Nationalism in

Brazil, 59 in which he examines nationalism through the work of three composers:

54
Schechter, "Tribute to Gerard Behague," 144.
55
Ibid., 148.
56
The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed., s.v. "Modinha," ed. Michael
Kennedy, rev. by Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/
subscriber/article/opr/t237/e6881 (accessed October 16, 2009).
57
Schneider, The Dictionary of African Borrowings, 155-156.
58
Behague, Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, s.v. "Brazil."
59
Gerard Behague, "The Beginnings of Musical Nationalism in Brazil," Detroit
Monographs in Musicology, No. 1 (Detroit: Information Coordinators, Inc., 1971).
 26

Brasilio Itibere da Cunha (1846-1913); Alexandre Levy (1864-1892); and Alberto

Nepomuceno (1864-1920).

A student of Behague, Maria Alice Volpe re-identifies the period typically

described as early nationalism in Brazil, 1870s - 1930s, as the period of Brazilian

Romanticism during which composers Carlos Gomes, Francisco Braga, Henrique

Oswald, and Alberto Nepomuceno were all part of the nationalization of Brazilian

music. Volpe says of Gomes and Villa-Lobos:

Gomes established the major elements for the construction of nationalist

musical conventions representing a localized landscape closely associated
with the expression of national "feelings." Villa-Lobos reshaped nationalist
conventions of musical landscape established by Brazilian Romantic
composers, turning landscape into the embodiment of national "essence."60

Carlos Eduardo Audi in his dissertation surveys the movement toward

nationalism in Brazilian music on the way to establishing a framework for his

discussion of composer Osvaldo Lacerda's work.61 As part of this in-depth study

of Lacerda, in the fourth chapter Audi focuses some attention on the influences of

Guarnieri and Villa-Lobos. Lacerda is a prolific composer of Brazilian art song

and was a long-time student in Guarnieri's compositional school.

Brazilian Art Song

The articles and dissertations studying Brazilian art song in English during

the past twenty years add only five published documents (that the investigator

Volpe, "Indianismo and Landscape in the Brazilian Age of Progress," ix.

61
Carlos Eduardo Audi, "Osvaldo Lacerda: His Importance to Brazilian Music
and Elements of His Musical Style" (D.M.A. diss., Florida State University, 2006).
could uncover) to those mentioned above as being relevant to Brazilian-

Portuguese diction - a total of nine works.

Martha Herr's 1996 dissertation The Search for a National Musical Identity in

Brazil and the United States aligns the development of national identity in the two

countries through the art song of five composers. Three of the composers are

North American. The remaining two are Brazilians Alberto Nepomuceno and

Luciano Gallet.62

The Fourteen Serestas ofHeitor Villa-Lobos, a 1999 masters' thesis by

Noe Sanchez, is a detailed exploration of these art songs. In addition to an

introduction to Villa-Lobos and his work, the author provides scores, musical

analysis, background on the poets and song translations, and a discography; the

entirety of chapter one is devoted to the development of the modinha in Brazil.63

Stela Brandao's dissertation was previously mentioned as a performance guide

to works of Villa-Lobos; however, it is important to add here that the songs

studied in Brandao's work are his "Modinhas e Cancoes," Albums I and II. 64

The author is including a dissertation by a Brazilian pianist whose work

focuses on African influences in Villa-Lobos' music. In his fourth chapter,

Eduardo Conde Garcia gives an introduction to African influence in Brazil, then

62
Herr, "The Search for a National Musical Identity in Brazil and the United
States."
63
Noe Sanchez, 'The Fourteen Serestas of Heitor Villa-Lobos" (M.M. thesis,
University of North Texas, 1999).
64
Brandao, "The Brazilian Art Song: A Performance Guide," 8.
delves into Afro-Brazilian rhythms. This discussion connects with the dance

forms that ultimately inspire and stimulate classical vocal music. A second

dissertation from University of Arizona pianist Vitor Monteiro Duarte, during that

same year, examines Ronaldo Miranda's (1948 - ) compositional output for

piano.66 The importance to the singer is in Chapter III, "The Journey of a

Composer: An Overview of Miranda's Life and Works," in which the author

interviews the composer, and Miranda discusses his vocal works.

In 2003, Sarah Malia Hamilton contributed Uma cangao interessada -

M. Camargo Guarnieri, Mario de Andrade and the Politics of Musical Modernism

in Brazil, 1900-1950, in which she analyzes "the songs of M. Camargo Guarnieri

(1907-1993) to reveal the effects of local history and social determinants on

composition." Hamilton also defines Mario de Andrade's position and influence.6'

Jose Ricardo Lopes Pereira's 2007 doctoral dissertation centers on the vocal

works of Ernani Braga and includes a table of his songs and recordings.68

Eduardo Antonio Conde Garcia Jr., "Heitor Villa-Lobos' Quest for a Unique
Musical Style" (D.M.A. diss., University of Arizona, 2002), 44.
66
Vitor Monteiro Duarte, "Ronaldo Miranda's Solo and Four-Hand Piano
Works: The Evolution of Language Towards Musical Eclecticism" (D.M.A. diss.,
University of Arizona, 2002), 32.
67
Sarah Malia Hamilton, "Uma cangao interessada - M. Camargo Guarnieri,
Mario de Andrade and the Politics of Musical Modernism in Brazil, 1900-1950"
(Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 2003), ii-iii.
68
Jose Ricardo Lopes Pereira, "The Solo Vocal Music of Ernani Braga"
(D.M.A. diss., University of California-Santa Barbara, 2007).
 29

It should be mentioned that Gilbert Chase wrote a chapter in A History of

Song that included a section on Brazilian art song.69 The publication date was

1960, the content out-of-date, and the author exposed his bias on the topic. To

quote Mr. Chase:

To attempt to trace the history of song in each of the twenty Latin American
countries would require at least one long chapter, if not a whole volume to
itself. Furthermore, some of this material would be of only local interest, since
not all of these countries have as yet attained to international significance in
their musical production.70

Among the resources in Portuguese are the works of Vasco Mariz mentioned

elsewhere, and a growing number of theses and dissertations from Brazil's

universities. The number of earned doctorates is on the rise, and organizations

like the Associacao Nacional de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduacao em Musica

(ANPPOM) promote scholarly publication through OPUS: Revista Electronica da

ANPPOM.7^ A number of the universities also host journals.

Singer's Diction Resources

Diction guides for various languages enlarge the library of every classically

trained singer. Among the standards are: Odom's German for Singers;72

Gilbert Chase, "Latin America" in A History of Art Song, ed. Denis Stevens
(New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1970), 311-316.
70
Ibid., 305.
71
ANPPOM, OPUS: Revista Electronica da ANPPOM,
http://www.anppom.com.br/opus/numeros.htm (accessed November 9, 2009).
72
William Odom, German for Singers: A Textbook of Diction and Phonetics,
(New York: Schirmer Books, 1981).
 30

Marshall's Singer's Manual of English Diction;73 Grubb's Singing in French;74

Moriarty's Diction;75 Colorni's Singer's Italian;76 and finally, Adler's Phonetics and

Diction in Singing.77 All of the above serve as textbooks for diction and phonetics

in one or more languages, in part by providing written examples or exercises.

Several diction guides published in recent years provide a judicious balance

of text and example similar to that found in the guides by William Odom and John

Moriarty. The layout of the materials assists the learning process. Diction for

Singers is an oversized paperback with functional charts, clear definitions of

phonetic terms, and markers and notes in the outer margin for quick reference.

Although the bibliography contains helpful sources for further study, the

advantage to this text is that it offers an introduction to the six standard

languages of the art song repertoire in one volume.78 David Adams of the

Madeline Marshall, A Singer's Manual of English Diction (Mew York:

Schirmer Books, 1953).
74
Thomas Grubb, Singing in French: A Manual of French Diction and
French Vocal Repertoire, (New York: Schirmer Books, 1979).
75
John Moriarty, Diction: Italian, Latin, French, German (Boston: E.C.
Schirmer Music Company, 1975).
76
Evelina Colorni, Singers' Italian: A Manual of Diction and Phonetics (New
York: Schirmer Books, 1970).
77
Kurt Adler, Phonetics and Diction in Singing: Italian, French, Spanish,
German (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1967).
78
Joan Wall, Robert Caldwell, Tracy Gavilanes, and Sheila Allen, Diction for
Singers: A Concise Reference For English, Italian, Latin, German, French And
Spanish Pronunciation (Dallas, TX: Pst. . .Inc., 1990).
 31

College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati wrote a diction

handbook for Italian, German, and French that is invaluable as a resource to the

teacher and student of diction. Topical presentation is similar in manner to the

standard diction texts, but the combination of clear writing, use of bold text and

large fonts to highlight sections and words, and apparent authority make this

book a pleasure to read. Adams' "Index of Sounds by Spelling" is a useful

reference tool.79

Finally, Nico Castel's Singer's Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction models an

approach to diction research and pedagogy that is appropriate to research for

Brazilian Portuguese. The handbook introduces Spanish vocal music, provides

an overview of characteristic Spanish sounds, then addresses individual

phonemes and their symbols. The final two chapters explore variations found in

the Spanish-derived languages of Latin America and ancient Spain. Helpful

features include the glossary of uncommon terms, a partial listing of Spanish

vocal repertoire, and sample texts with phonetic transcription.80

Study of these commonly used texts brings to light variations in approach to

specific sounds, particularly vowels. Differences may be attributed to error, but

two other considerations must be made. First, does a commonly recognized

standard exist? Moriarty speaks to this issue: "Like English, but unlike French

and German, Italian has no "official" state diction. The following rules for

79
Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers.
80
Castel, A Singer's Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction.
unstressed e and o are arbitrary-merely an attempt to codify the current Italian

usage."81 Secondly, diction is an aural art, which demands a differentiating ear,

and individuals will hear differently. Donald Calvert addresses this point in

Descriptive Phonetics:

The prime importance of the individual's cultivated ear, and the talent for
what may be called the "power of analysis," are often overlooked in our
understandable urge to be scientific... Intuitive individual perception,
suspect as a means to derive immutable fact, has sometimes been
rejected as a worthy means to achieve a number of applied purposes.82

The above review of literature assumes knowledge of phonetic transcription.

Although a number of phonetic systems exist, professional singers commonly

use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Mastering the International

Phonetic Alphabet is a basic workbook available from Simon and Schuster.

International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers, however, introduces the

classification of speech sounds and provides meticulous descriptions of each

phonetic symbol. Authored by Joan Wall, this workbook functions as a

companion text to Diction for Singers. Answer keys in the back facilitate

individual as well as classroom learning.83

Two additional volumes worth mentioning in this category include Calvert's

Descriptive Phonetics and the Phonetic Symbol Guide by Pullum and Ladusaw.

81
Moriarty, Diction: Italian, French, German, 116.
82
Calvert, Descriptive Phonetics (New York: Brian C. Decker Division of
Thieme-Stratton, Inc., 1980), viii.
83
Joan Wall, International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers: A manual for
English and foreign language diction (Dallas, TX: Pst. . .Inc., 1989).
Descriptive Phonetics examines the history of orthographic systems and the

speech mechanism, followed by the expected materials on sound production.

Additional materials about language standards and dialects relate directly to this

research.84

In the Phonetic Symbol Guide, an intimate discussion of each symbol

provides usage and source information as well as elucidating commentary. The

introduction briefly reviews major developments in the phonetics field, and the

charts in the back present both traditional and non-traditional perspectives on

vowel and consonant patterns.85

Last but not least, Leslie De'Ath became feature editor for the Journal of

Singing column "Language and Diction" beginning with the September/October

2002 issue. The column is open to current research and thinking by engaging

diction and language topics relevant to the singing community. De'Ath's first

column illustrates his hopes for the subject matter, which have been fulfilled in

the almost seven years since.86

Portuguese Linguistics and Phonetics

General Portuguese linguistics studies in the form of histories, etymologies,

pronunciation guides, pedagogical tools, and dictionaries are critical to the

Calvert, Descriptive Phonetics.

85
Geoffrey K. Pullum and William A. Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986).
86
Leslie De'Ath, "Prolegomena to a Column on Language and Diction," in
Journal of Singing 59 (September/October 2002), no. 1: 57-64.
development of this research. Stavrou's Brazilian-Portuguese Pronunciation is an

often-quoted American text on the subject that has provided a solid base for a

generation of researchers. The text investigates the phonology of Brazilian

Portuguese—including elision, voicing, diphthongs, and stress and unstress—

and provides a pronunciation guide to 3,000 frequently used words. To establish

linguistic uniformity, Stavrou selected the speech of Rio de Janeiro as his

standard. Rio de Janeiro is a center for Brazilian culture, as is Sao Paulo with its

divergent speech standard. However, Stavrou's bias toward the Rio de Janeiro

speech, without discussion of other regional speech patterns, undermines the

usefulness of his work for the research. Recognition of the phonetic

discrepancies between regionalisms is one of the challenges in this arena of

study.87

The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese by James Giangola88 expands on

Stavrou's work. Giangola approaches the subject matter in detail, carefully

examining phonological and morphological principles of the Portuguese spelling

system to guide the pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese. Additional research

highlights the derivation of the language and its splintering into dialectal regions.

Giangola's phonology covers formal, colloquial, and non-standard speech

patterns. Elision receives thorough study, and three appendices treat complex

Christopher Stavrou, Brazilian-Portuguese Pronunciation including Word

List with Indicated Pronunciation (Philadelphia: David McKay Company, 1947).

Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese.

exceptions in pronunciation. The most exceptional aspect of this work is

Giangola's approach to the language as a system, identifying and describing

patterns that support a conceptual approach to pronunciation.

Waldemar Ferreira Netto, professor of languages at the University of

Sao Paulo, specializes in the study of Portuguese phonology and indigenous

languages. His recent book opens with an overview of the development of

Brazilian Portuguese. Ferreira Netto then introduces the language of phonology

itself in relationship to the production of Portuguese sounds. The straightforward

format, with the use of exercises at the conclusion of each chapter, renders the

book a beginning text for the study of Portuguese phonology. For the purpose of

research in diction, Ferreira Netto's book offers an invaluable introduction to the

terminology in Portuguese.89

Mateus and D'Andrade in The Phonology of Portuguese give "a broad

concept of phonology: syllable, stress and segments, as well as morphological

aspects implying phonological process. The work presents an overview of the

field...most of which have so far been presented in Portuguese only."90 While

the text primarily addresses European Portuguese, the authors present frequent

Waldemar Ferreira Netto, Introdugao a fonologia da Lingua Portuguesa

[Introduction to Phonology in the Portuguese Language] (Sao Paulo: Editora
HedraLtda, 2001).
90
Maria Helena Mateus and Ernesto d'Andrade, The Phonology of
Portuguese in the series The Phonology of the World's Languages (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000): preface.
 36

comparisons to BP to highlight both similarities and differences in the phonetic

structures.

The most recent work in English is Milton Azevedo's Portuguese: A Linguistic

Introduction,91 an excellent resource for engaging the fundamentals of phonology

and phonetics as related to BP. The text is a highly readable introduction to the

language historically and systemically, examining sound units to word and

sentence structures and devoting a chapter to sociolinguistic issues in BP. Of

particular interest to the English speaker are his frequent comparisons of English

to Portuguese.

Ethnolinguistical and etymological studies and dictionaries illustrate the deep

influence of African languages on the Portuguese of Brazil. The research of

William Megenney in Bahia traces the origins of tribes back to Africa and the

evolution of words from their African beginnings. His review of previous studies

provides detailed source information and critical commentary. Megenney strongly

states that the African language influence is lexical and not proven to be

morphological or syntactic in effect at the time of his research.92 John

Schneider's Dictionary of African Borrowings in Brazilian Portuguese provides

etymology, translation, and pronunciation in an eminently useful format. When a

91
Milton M. Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005).
92
William W. Megenney, A Banian Heritage: An Ethnolinguistic Study of
African Influences on Bahian Portuguese, North Carolina Studies in the
Romance Languages and Literatures, no. 198 (Chapel Hill, NC: Department of
Romance Languages, University of North Carolina Press, 1978).
word holds more than one meaning or etymology, a separate heading identifies

each usage. In the same manner, separate headings catalogue variant word

forms and parts of speech. Singers will find this a valuable resource for both

translation and pronunciation. For example, the word "moleque," which occurs in

a folk text set to music by Lina Pires de Campos, has seven definitions as a

noun, two as an adjective, and fourteen variant combinations.93 An English-

Portuguese dictionary may list two or three definitions.94 As Brazilian-Portuguese

art song joins the standard repertoire, Schneider's dictionary will become a

recognized resource for singers.95

Sociolinguistic studies offer an analytical and comparative means for

investigating the metamorphosis of a language. In The Urbanization of Rural

Dialect Speakers: A Sociolinguistic Study in Brazil, author Bortoni-Ricardo

analyzes language transformation by studying migrants' social networks. The

phonological comparisons of Brazilian to European Portuguese and observations

regarding lack of language standardization in Brazil support the need for diction

research.96 Additionally, Dennis Preston's study about dialectal perception in

Lina Pires de Campos, "Embolada," copy of composer's unpublished

manuscript, 1961, Private Collection of Melanie Ohm.
94
NTC's Compact Portuguese and English Dictionary, s.v. "Moleque."
95
Schneider, Dictionary of African Borrowings in Brazilian Portuguese.
96
Stella Maris Bortoni-Ricardo, The Urbanization of Rural Dialect Speakers:
A Sociolinguistic Study in Brazil, in Cambridge Studies in Linguistics
Supplementary Volume (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 26-68.
Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, yields indicators of issues with

which this research must contend. Although studied in an analytical framework,

the perception of language differences is largely subjective. Preston surveyed

individuals in Brazil to gather their sense of the speech of others, whether it is

"correct" or "pleasant." The interview techniques in this work are useful in the

exploration of diction for singing.97

Summary

This literature review predominantly addresses materials available up to

2003. During the past five years, literature supporting the study of BP lyric diction

and Brazilian art song has become available in Portuguese at a remarkable rate

considering the virtual silence of almost 60 years on the topic. Since many of the

advocates for BP norms for lyric diction - and the active conveners - received

doctorates in the United States, the information is also becoming rapidly

available in English in the United States. The documentation of this process is

part of the investigator's research, so the literature developed during the last six

years is addressed in Chapter III.

This being said, why is another dissertation in English necessary? This

document focuses on BP lyric diction from the view point of a non-native speaker

of BP, and intends to provide ways of thinking about BP lyric diction that will

facilitate study of the topic, both in the library and the studio. The majority of

97
Dennis R. Preston, Perceptual Dialectology: Nonlinguists' views ofAreal
Linguistics, Topics in Sociolinguistics, no. 7, ed. Nessa Wolfson and Marinel
Gerritsen (Dordrecht, Holland: Foris Publications, 1989).
papers and dissertations that address BP lyric diction are written by Brazilians.

The authors who published the 2008 Norms in the United States comprise: one

Brazilianized American,98 one Brazilian who grew up in the United States and

has returned to Brazil, and one Brazilian. While American "voice" is certainly

present in the writing of this article, the intent was to communicate the norms for

BP lyric diction to an American audience. The intent of this author is to utilize the

2008 Norms and other available resources to identify patterns that will assist

American singers toward acquiring a sense of the language with a starting place

for experiencing that language as sung.

Perhaps the best expression of this state of being is of an American who

has lived so long in Brazil that a dictionary is required for English as well as
Portuguese.
 CHAPTER III

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRAZILIAN-PORTUGUESE

LYRIC DICTION FOR SINGERS

This chapter is an introduction to the investigator's discovery process and

experience as an American singer, acquiring skills for singing Brazilian

Portuguese art song and accessing resources for understanding the music and

the language of Brazil. This individual process occurred simultaneously with

events in Brazil, which included early research, university engagement, national

convenings, and the distillation and refinement of thought around national norms

for lyric diction in Brazil. As a means of reflecting upon this course of events, the

investigator weaves the story of her journey with central moments in the

development of norms for lyric diction in Brazil. The remainder of the chapter is

given to a review of primary sources that contributed to the development of BP

norms for lyric diction and additional contemporary resources that contribute

specifically to this topic in Brazil and the United States.

In the spring of 2000, the author performed the art songs of Brazilian

Ronaldo Miranda with pianist Rubia Souza Santos during the Miranda's

residency at Arizona State University." Ohm and Santos continued to study and

perform Brazilian art song repertoire together in the year that followed. A trip to

Brazil became a necessity. Although the art song of Brazil is abundant, it is not

easy to access. An initial exploratory trip to Sao Paulo was arranged in

99
New Music Ensemble, The Music of Ronaldo Miranda, Katzin Concert Hall,
Tempe, Arizona, 6 March 2000.
 41

December of 2001. The two-week foray to Brazil's largest city provided

opportunity to receive BP diction coaching with singer and teacher Adelia Issa; to

collect music, books, and scores; and to begin to absorb urban Brazil - its

language, music, and varied cultures. A command of the sounds of the language

and knowledge of the Brazilian art song repertoire became a research focus at

that time. Rubia Santos and the author began to perform the repertoire more

frequently, and a second trip was planned for June and July of 2003.

In October 2002, between the investigator's first trips to Brazil, the Second

Brazilian Singing Encounter took place in Rio de Janeiro, sponsored by the

Associacao Brasileira de Canto (ABC, the Brazilian Association of Singing), the

organization in Brazil that parallels the National Association of Teachers of

Singing in the United States. The First Brazilian Singing Encounter convened in

Rio de Janeiro in 1995 in conjunction with the Third Congress of Laryngology

and Voice.100 At the 2002 Encounter, Martha Herr and Stela Brandao refocused

the attention of the Brazilian singing community to the lack of standards for

Brazilian-Portuguese diction, and their presentations were published in the

proceedings.101 Herr pointed to the increase of scholarship around Brazilian song

and its composers, and the more frequent performance of the repertoire.

100
Martha Herr, "Introduction to the conference schedule," 4° Encontro
brasileiro de canto: portugues brasileiro cantado [4th Brazilian Singing
Encounter: Sung Brazilian Portuguese] (Sao Paulo: Associagao Brasileiro de
Canto, 2005).
101
Martha Herr and Stela Brandao, "A problematica da diccao Lirica
Brasileira [The problem of Brazilian Lyric diction]," A VOZ No Seculo XXI (Rio de
Janeiro: Associagao Brasileiro de Canto, 2002): 31-35.
 42

Brazilians continue to sing this music in a popular style that is closer to

speech.102 She called for a convening to discuss the pronunciation of the national

language in art song, stating the importance of arriving at a consensus. How do

Brazilians want to be represented outside their country? In her words, "A nossa

resposta tern que ser 'Brasileiramente'!" [Our response must be 'Brazilianly'!]

Stela Brandao's address immediately follows, pointing directly to the challenge

for a foreigner who wants to study this music, a challenge with which Brandao is

thoroughly conversant, as one educated at Columbia University and residing in

the U.S.103

The pace of events engaging ideas relevant to BP diction norms accelerated

during this time. In May of 2003 Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil sponsored

Cantando a Poesia [Singing Poetry], which included concerts, papers, and

roundtables about poetry as song in its many forms. Cantando a Poesia featured

premieres of new songs, as well as an abundant roster of Brazilian performing

artists.

During 2003, the investigator was accepted into the Spencer Dissertation

Fellowship study course at Arizona State University. In this series of weekly

seminars, she was able to interact with an interdisciplinary team of professors

and a cohort of doctoral students pursuing content areas related to linguistics

and learning. The value in participation was exposure to current thinking and

potential resources in second language learning and linguistic studies.

102
Ibid., Herr, 31.
103
Ibid., Brandao, 35.
 43

A second trip to Sao Paulo in June and July of 2003 was designed for

information gathering. The investigator interviewed singers, coaches, and

collaborative pianists about their approaches to BP for singing and the context for

their experience. Interviewees were limited to those who perform and/or teach

the Brazilian art song repertoire. The framework for each artist's work was

explored through biographical information, including teacher lineage, influential

relationships with other Brazilian artists, career highlights, the role of Brazilian art

song in that career, and any research activity around BP for singing. The

interviews approached BP diction for singing through a variety of channels:

experience with learning and teaching BP diction, detailed discussion of a

rudimentary sound catalog provided by the author, and suggested resources for

further exploration. Those interviewed provided recommendations for other

individuals to interview, repertoire suggestions, books and documents, and

recordings of their work. The transcriptions of some of these interviews are

available to the public on the Duo Braziliana website.104

The following artists were interviewed in June and July 2003 in the state of

Sao Paulo, Brazil:

• Adelia Issa, singer, teacher

• Martha Herr, singer, university professor
• Lenine Santos, singer, teacher
• Adriana Giarola Kayama, singer, university professor
• Caio Ferraz, singer, teacher
• Horacio Gouveia, collaborative pianist, teacher
• Jose Ferraz de Toledo, choral conductor, teacher
104
Duo Braziliana, http://www.duobraziliana.com/interviews (accessed
December 6, 2009).
 • Anna Kiefer, singer, teacher
• Lenice Prioli, singer, teacher
• Marilia Seigl, singer, teacher

In addition to the interview recordings and transcriptions, a number of

valuable documents and books were acquired or identified during this trip. These

documents are included in the section below, rather than the Chapter II Review

of Related Literature, as "Resources for the Exploration of Brazilian-Portuguese

Diction for Singers," since they were part of the discovery process and serve as

potential resources for the American student of BP diction.

In August 2003, the 14th Congress of the National Association for Research

and Post-Graduate Studies in Music (ANPPOM) convened.105 The federal

universities belong to ANPPOM, and the group that reopened investigation into

norms for lyric diction drew on this membership to create a working group to

coordinate the research, spearhead the design, and ultimately finalize the

development of the new norms.

The Associacao Brasileiro de Canto co-sponsored the 4th Brazilian Singing

Encounter with the Post-Graduate Program in Music at UNESP - Sao Paulo

State University. Martha Herr, the vice president of ABC at the time, as well as

chair of the vocal area at UNESP, stepped forward as organizer and host. Four

days of events revolved around the BP language and singing, with the goal of

developing national norms for lyric diction. The schedule included presentations

ius ANPPOM, Anais of the XIV Congresso da ANPPOM [Proceedings of

ANPPOM Congress XIV] at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto
Alegre, August 18-21, 2003.
 45

followed by panels and discussions, masterclasses, concerts, small working

groups, and collective voting. The organizing group prepared a phonetic table to

focus discussion of the diction issues, and also tried to engage the most diverse

and representative group of singers, teachers of singing, linguists, historians,

studio teachers, collaborative pianists, conductors, and researchers from across

Brazil.

The investigator had remained in contact with Martha Herr about progress

toward diction standards in Brazil and was invited to participate in the

4th Brazilian Singing Encounter. Her participation included discussion, voting, and

singing a Brazilian art song in a masterclass. As a singer, the author felt herself

to be somewhat of a curiosity. She sang Embolada, a linguistically challenging

and not widely known piece by Lina Pires de Campos, a woman composer and a

student of Guarnieri.106 The masterclass was with Lenice Prioli, a highly regarded

teacher and advocate of Brazilian art song, who recorded all of de Campos' solo

voice works. Following the master class, a reporter asked the author for an

interview. As the only non-resident American to sing Brazilian art song at the

encounter,107 and having chosen a song full of humor and Brazilian character,

Pires de Campos, "Embolada."

Martha Herr and Carol McDavitt both have spent the entirety of their adult
lives in Brazil; hence, they are considered "Brazilianized Americans."
the author was a puzzlement to the reporter, who wanted to know Why Brazilian

music?" The news article is available via UNESP's online paper.108

A number of Americans were present at the 2005 Encounter, including

Laura Chipe who wrote one of the early dissertations in the U.S. on Brazilian art

song, and Marvin Keenze, the International Coordinator for the National

Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). The author was able to interview

several additional pianists and singers in regard to BP for singing while in

Sao Paulo for the conference, including:

• Achilli Picchi, pianist, composer, university professor

• Carol McDavitt, singer, university professor
• Edmar Ferretti, singer, university professor

• Fernando Carvalhaes Duarte, singer, university professor, now deceased

Additionally, around this time, the investigator interviewed Rubia Souza Santos, a

skilled collaborative pianist and teacher who is currently on faculty at the

University of Wyoming.

The importance of the process undertaken to develop lyric diction standards

in Brazil cannot be overstated. Language develops as a means to express

values, ideas, and beliefs, and our cultural identity. Language also anchors that

identity. Diction is not simply a cerebral matter, anymore than singing is. Good

diction minimizes phonetic distractions in support of beautiful singing. Why?

To promote expression, to enhance communicative power, to the interpreter's

fullest capability.
108
Portal UNESP, "Padronizagao Sonora" (February 21, 2005),
http://www.unesp.br/pgsst/ int noticia imqesq.php?artigo=705 (accessed
November 01, 2009).
 The very first day of the congress in Sao Paulo, the emotional investment of

many of the participants was apparent. Singers and teachers from across Brazil

stood and spoke passionately about their ideal representation of lyric diction. In

one of the focus groups in which the investigator participated, two zealous

singers stood toe to toe, gesticulating wildly, and speaking at the same time for

five minutes.

How was it possible to take a highly charged emotional and intellectual topic,

and arrive at norms that were approved, during the final day of voting, by a

strong majority? The author's work as a professional facilitator provides a basis

for identifying factors that contributed to this successful outcome. The organizers

were thoroughly prepared. Content development for the congress took place

during an eighteen-month period of time. A Grupo de Trabalho, the Working

Group mentioned above, represented universities from several states in Brazil.

This group gathered physically and by email to develop a tool for discussion in

the form of a phonetic table. The organizers were willing to entertain different

viewpoints, and the divergent views included for discussion and voting made this

apparent. The conveners also invited singers, teachers, linguists, historians,

educators, conductors, and others from across the nation in order to gain broad

representation. No one was excluded, and many personal invitations were

extended. Through different forms of interaction, the organizers created multiple

entry points to the subject matter: topic-centered panels followed by open

discussion, presentations, and small focus groups were separated by

 48

masterclasses throughout the day. Artists from different regions of Brazil sang

concerts of art song in the evenings, and individual approaches to BP for singing

were apparent, providing a reflective venue to consider the discussions that took

place earlier in the day. Expressing commitment to a completed process, the

Working Group compiled the results of the congress, and then worked together

to document the findings in a manner that would best communicate them to the

international singing community. Linguist Thai's Cristofaro Silva contributed her

expertise toward the challenge of identifying clear phonetic symbolism.

The intent of the process leading up to and out of the 2005 Encounter was to

bring together the broadest group possible for the difficult decision making and,

with a committed leadership team, to get the complicated detail managed so that

a final product was realized, Brazilian-Portuguese lyric diction norms. The

findings, as discussed below, were published first in Brazil, and then in the U.S.

Shortly after the 2005 Encounter, the investigator, Melanie Ohm, and pianist

Rubia Souza Santos formed "Duo Braziliana" to advance Brazilian art song in the

world through concerts, masterclasses, lectures, and Brazilian cultural

experiences.

Resources for the Exploration of Brazilian-Portuguese Lyric Diction

This section examines literature that is central to the unfolding development

of BP Norms for Lyric Diction during the last seven years. As a collective body of

work, the described literature has served as a vehicle to inform, propose, and

document the journey to establish norms. These publications have not only been
part of the investigator's discovery process, but also part of the Brazilian

community's research in this developmental work. Not all of these resources are

available in the United States yet, although some are available in university

collections, and many of the articles may be found online.

The Anais do Primeiro Congresso da Lingua Nacional Cantada109

[Proceedings of the First Congress of the National Sung Language] is an early

document focused on BP for singing. The First Congress was held July 7-

14,1937, sponsored by the City of Sao Paulo's Department of Culture at the

Teatro Municipal, and attended by a diverse group of scholars and artists,

including leading linguists, actors, singers and other musicians, composers,

representatives of cultural institutions, and teachers from across the nation.

The introduction to the proceedings points out that, while progress had been

made toward a Brazilian national music in 1937, neither in theater nor music

had care been taken to create a standard for diction, one that recognized the

particular modifications necessary for the artist in song. The intent of the

congress then was "para estabelecer as normas de como se deve cantar na

lingua do pais," [to set norms, or standards, for how one must sing the national

language].110 This convening occurred on the momentous tide of national

sentiment that swept the arts and humanities in Brazil, led by powerful public

figures such as Mario de Andrade. The approximately 800-page document

109
CLNC, Anais do Primeiro Congresso da Lingua Nacional Cantada (Sao
Paulo: Departamento de Cultura, 1938).
110
Ibid., 3.
 50

describes the findings in detail and addresses the following topics, which are

substantive in this discussion: "Norms for the Good Pronunciation of the National

Language in Art Song" led by the Department of Culture; "Composers and the

National Language"; Folk Maps of Linguistic Variations; "Sung Pronunciation and

the Problem of the Brazilian Nasal in Recording"; "Reflections on a Theme";

"Problems of the Carioca Phonology" (Carioca is the regional linguistic variation

upon which the Department of Culture's Norms were based); "A Brazilian

Singing School"; "Pronunciation of the National Song"; "Composers and the

Technique of the Song"; "Conflict between Word Stress and Musical Stress in the

Song"; and a final section, "Solemn Installation of the Congress," which provides

the schedule with participants, images, and reference lists, including maps. The

Proceedings of the First Congress not only prepared the foundation for standard

diction for singing in BP, but also documented an evolutionary period in the

development of Brazilian cultural identity. In spite of the intense work during this

time, the cultivated norms for BP diction did not become broadly recognized by

the mainstream singing and teaching community, which was not in attendance at

this congress. In the preparations for the 2005 Encounter, and during those

proceedings, however, the influence of the common language developed by the

1937 Congress was evident. This may be attributed in part to the work of Vasco

Mariz who published key materials from the 1937 Congress proceedings in his

book A Cangao Brasileira de Camara.^u

111
Mariz, A Cangao Brasileira de Camara, 277-319.
 51

The first publication of the proceedings was an abbreviated document.

Normas para boa pronuncia da lingua national no canto erudito [Norms for Good

Pronunciation of the National Language in Art Song] was published as a stand-

alone document prior to publication of the complete proceedings in which the

norms were incorporated.112

The Proceedings of the First Brazilian Congress of Spoken Language in the

Theater, which took place in1956 at the University of Bahia in Salvador, were

published in 1958.113 This almost 500-page document first focuses on minutes

and programmatic pieces, then presentations and responses, and finally the

norms for theater recognized by the Congress. As with the norms for sung

language, the spoken language norms are discussed in depth with supportive

examples. Since spoken language in theater is modified to address acoustic

requirements from the stage, these proceedings have invoked comparison and

study alongside the Proceedings of the First Congress of the National Sung

Language"*

112
CLNC, Primeiro congresso da lingua nacional cantada: Normas para boa
pronuncia da lingua nacional no canto erudite [First congress of the national
language sung: Norms for good pronunciation of the national language in art
song] (Sao Paulo: Revista do Arquivo Municipal No. 39, 1937).
113
Biblioteca Nacional e Universidade da Bahia, Anais do Primeiro
Congresso Brasileiro de Lingua Falada no Teatro (Rio de Janeiro: Ministerio da
Educagao e Cultura, 1958).
114
CLNC, 1938.
 In 1965, a collection of Mario de Andrade s essays was published as

Aspectos da Musica Brasileira.^5 Two of the chapters are directly from the

Proceedings of the First Congress of National Sung Language, making portions

of that work accessible to the general public. The book was reprinted as part of

Andrade's complete works in 1991.116

An article by Fernando Duarte from 1994 presents two models for

approaching BP linguistic norms in song, "modelo do canto" for stage and art

song, and "modelo da fala" for use with microphone and popular music, the latter

approach recognizing vocal demands closer to speech than the former.117

Vasco Mariz, a Brazilian musicologist, published his most recent version of

A Cangao brasileira de camara in 2002.118 The text focuses upon the Brazilian

art song repertoire from its early development as a national form through the

compositions of an older generation of still-living composers. It is the only

reference of its kind on the topic to date. The addendums to the book include an

annotated list of recordings by Brazilian singers, a chapter on the intent and

115
Mario de Andrade, Aspectos da musica brasileira (Sao Paulo: Livraria
Martins Editora, 1965).
116
Mario de Andrade, Aspectos da musica brasileira, in Obras de Mario de
Andrade, vol. 11 (Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Villa Rica Editoras Reunidas Limitada,
1991).
117
Fernando Jose Carvalhaes Duarte. "A fala e o canto no Brasil: dois
modelos de emissao vocal," ARTEunesp 10 (1994), 87.

Mariz, A Cangao brasileira de camara.

outcomes of the First Congress of National Sung Language, and Mariz's

interpretation of general norms for sung BP.

During the academic year 2003-2004, the Sao Paulo State University

dedicated most of the music portion of its annual journal Arteunesp to articles

about BP diction for singing.119 This important document is an indication of the

intense scholarly research and thoughtful dialogue that took place around this

subject in university environs during that time. Authors were included from

prominent Brazilian universities, including UNICAMP in Campinas, UNESP and

USP in Sao Paulo, and UNIRIO in Rio de Janeiro. The first article, by Adriana

Kayama, is "An aural-perceptive observation of the Portuguese pronunciation of

two television anchorpersons of Rede Globo," analyzing tendencies in broadcast

speech to neutralize regionalisms in a specific set of consonants with a view that

it "may contribute to the definition of norms of pronunciation of Brazilian

Portuguese in classical singing."120 Beatriz Raposos de Medeiros, in "Brazilian

Portuguese and the Pronunciation of the Art Song: Preliminary Reflections,"

advocates interdisciplinary exploration with phoneticists and sociolinguists and,

through the resources of acoustic phonetics, the establishment of a linguistic and

aesthetic relationship that bridges the form and content, then defines regional

119
Jose Leonardo do Nascimento, ed., Arteunesp 16 (2003-04).
120
Adriana Giarola Kayama, "Tendencias de neutralizacao de regionalismo
no protugues brasileiro do teljornalismo: uma observacao perceptivo/auditiva,"
Arteunesp 16 (2003-04), 24.
 54

color for a song, toward a more consistent approach to pronunciation.121 Martha

Herr follows with a comparison of the Proceedings of the First Congress of

National Sung Language published in 1938 and the Proceedings of the First

Brazilian Congress of Spoken Language in the Theater published in 1958. She

indicates that the theater norms served as a first revision of the norms from the

1937 Congresso, and suggests that this comparison serve as the basis for a new

set of norms for sung BP.122 Mirna Rubim delves into the challenges of phonetic

symbol representation in BP in "Controversies of Brazilian Portuguese for

Classical Singing: a Suggestion for Phonetic Representation." She states that her

research included a review of literature, norms in other languages, and

discussions of the subject with diction coaches Nico Castel, Dalton Baldwin, and

Martin Katz. Rubim provides a complete table of recommendations for

approaching BP for singing.123 Author Stela Brandao's article focuses on the

formation of the Working Group around BP lyric diction at the 14th Congress of

the National Association for Research and Post-Graduate Studies in Music

Beatriz Raposos de Medeiros, "O portugues brasileiro e a pronuncia do

canto erudito: reflexoes preliminaries," Arteunesp 16 (2003-04), 54.
122
Martha Herr, "As normas da boa pronuncia do portugues no canto e no
teatro: comparando os documentos de 1938 e de 1958," Arteunesp 16 (2003-
04), 57.
123
Mirna Rubim, "Controversias do portugues brasileiro para o canto erudito:
uma sugestao de representagao fonetica," Arteunesp 16 (2003-04), 80-82.
(ANPPOM) in August 2003. She identifies their findings, that BP lyric diction

norms needed to be revisited with broad input from the singing community. The

time had come for Brazilians to establish the rules for pronunciation and make

their literature accessible to others, and in doing so, to create an instrument in

IPA. Finally, Brandao suggests, a separate set of norms might be considered for

folk song and classical song.125 The next pertinent article looks at the 1937

Congress through the cultural and political structure of the city of Sao Paulo, its

Department of Culture, and particularly as influenced by Mario de Andrade, "to

identify an articulation between ideology and interpretation, as well as between

culture and politics occurring under the administration of Mario de Andrade as

head of the Department of Culture."126 A final article in this issue, by the now

deceased Fernando Jose Carvalhaes Duarte, focuses on the "Application of

phonetic transcription to singing in Brazil," his formulation for the sounds of BP

through "an investigation of the processes of articulation involved in Brazilian

speech, taken in a generalized idiomatic norm," and his personal interpretation of

Stela Maria Santos Brandao, "Normas da dicgao lirica brasileira: seis

decadas de defasagem e controversias - avaliando resultados e retomando o
primeiro congresso da lingua nacional cantada" Arteunesp 16 (2003-04), 85-98.
125
Brandao, "Normas da dicgao lirica brasileira," 95-96.
126
Maria Elisa Pereira and Dorotea Machado Kerr, "O departamento de
cultura do municipio de Sao Paulo e o congresso da lingua nacional cantada de
1937," Arteunesp 16 (2003-04), 115.
 56

the norms of the 1937 Congress and a present day view of norms in classical
127

singing.

The edition of Arteunesp described above was part of the conference packet

for the 4th Brazilian Singing Encounter. An important document utilized at the 4th

Encounter was a table of phonetic descriptions, "Tabela dos simbolos foneticos

para discussao previa."128 Initially, the nasal vowels were tentatively represented

as [§], [eg], [ig], [og], and [ug]. Oral diphthongs were tentatively represented as

Ua]> Ue]> [w°]> [ w e L [a'L [°u]> etc-> a n d nasal diphthongs as [§u], [§'], [e'g], [61], and

[u1]. Consonant transcriptions, which eventually changed, include III as [i] or [u]

and /nh/ as [X]. Participants were invited to contact the organizers with

suggestions regarding phonetic transcription.129

An initial briefing on the proceedings of the 4th Encounter was released in

the February/March bulletin of the Associacao Brasileira de Canto (ABC) with the

association president, Vera de Canto e Mello recognizing the participation of

Marvin Keenze, Laura Chipe, and the author from the United States.130 Mirna

127
Fernando Jose Carvalhaes Duarte, "Aplicagao de uma transcricao
fonetica para o canto no brasil," Arteunesp 16 (2003-04), 168.
128
Associagao Brasileira de Canto (ABC), "Tabela dos simbolos foneticos
para discussao previa," 17-20 February 2005 working document of the 4°
encontro brasileiro de canto, private collection of Melanie Ohm.
129
ABC, "Tabela dos simbolos foneticos para discussao previa.

130 A B C «Boietim No 26- Ano VII- Fevereiro/Margo 2005," Felipe Abreu,

ed., Rio de Janeiro: 1.
 57

Rubim notes the commission members who created the table used for discussion

at the 4 th Encounter: herself as the documenter, Martha Herr, Adriana Kayama,

Stela Brandao, Maria Elisa Pereira, and Flavio Carvalho.131

In the Spring 2005 issue of the NATS Inter Nos, Marvin Keenze wrote about

his experience at the 4th Encounter, providing images of ABC members who are

also NATS members.132

The fall 2005 bulletin of ABC serves as the proceedings of the 4th Encounter,

including detail of the voting with participant recommendations. Few symbols had

changed at this time in regard to the phonetic transcription of the norms. The

document also includes a table of ABC members who attended, indicating both

state/country of birth and state of current residence.133

After the release of the above proceedings, the Working Group committed to

addressing the transcription issues was able to attract the assistance of Thai's

Cristofaro Silva, one of Brazil's leading linguists. She gave a workshop during the

3rd Seminar of the Brazilian Song at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in

Belo Horizonte in 2005, and was invited to participate with the ANPPOM Working

Group.134 Her published paper "Some phonetic questions in regard to the table of

^ Marvin Keenze, "The World View," Inter Nos 38 (Jacksonville, FL: NATS,
2005), no. 2: 4-5.
133
ABC, Boletim N° 28-Ano VII - Outubro/Novembro 2005, ed. Moacyr
Costa Filho (Rio de Janeiro), 1-10.
134
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, "Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric
Diction," Endnotes: 2.
 58

norms for the pronunciation of sung Brazilian Portuguese" 135 opens with a

commentary on language as a dynamic, changeable system, which imposes

limitations upon "norms," and proceeds with a discussion of concepts in

phonology and phonetics. Cristofaro Silva then reviews the proceedings of the

4th Encounter as published by ABC, pointing to two factors that might be

considered in further developing a representation of the norms: the organization

of the table itself and "the adoption of phonetic symbols that more closely

represent the sounds in question."136 She emphasizes the importance of

consistency and offers specific recommendations for clarity and cohesiveness.

The Working Group convened in Brasilia during ANPPOM's XVI Congresso

in 2006 with two proposed goals: "to consolidate the phonetic table for Brazilian

Portuguese, and to examine new research related to the theme and its

interdisciplinary context."137 The following year the group released the finalized

norms in OPUS, the journal of ANPPOM, as "PB Cantado: normas para a

Thai's Cristofaro Silva, "Algumas questoes foneticas a cerca da tabela

normativa para a pronuncia do portugues brasileiro cantado," Per Musi 15 (Belo
Horizonte, 2007), 26-34, http://www.musica.ufmq.br/permusi/port/numeros/
15/Num15 cap 02.pdf (accessed December 5, 2009).
136
Silva, "Algumas questoes foneticas a cerca da tabela normativa para a
pronuncia do portugues brasileiro cantado," 28.
137
Flavio Carvalho, "Proposta de Grupo de Trabalho em Praticas
Interpretativas (Canto) [Proposal of the Working Group in Interpretive Practices
(Singing)]," XVI Congresso da Associagao Nacional de Pesquisa e Pos-
graduagao em Musica (Brasilia, 2006), 4, http://www.anppom.com.br/anais/
anaisconqresso anppom 2006/CDROM/GTs/GT2 PERF.pdf (accessed
December 5, 2009).
 59

pronuncia do portugues brasileiro no canto erudito" [BP sung: norms for the

pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese in art song].138 The article includes an

introduction to the process of defining the norms and the role of ANPPOM,

followed by a short history of BP norms and the presentation of the table. In line

with Cristofaro Silva's recommendations, the reorganized table better

accommodates the content, and a number of changes and additions to the

phonetic symbols provide a more consistent representation of the sounds for

singing.

A year later, the norms were published in the United States in The Journal of

Singing with the introductory article, "Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric

Diction," written in English by coauthors Martha Herr, Adriana Kayama, and

Wladimir Mattos.139 The authors state:

With the publication of Norms for Lyric Diction of Brazilian Portuguese, we

reach the end of our original intention to establish a standard pronunciation
for classical singing which is always recognizably Brazilian, without foreign or
strictly regional influences, leaving these, as well as historical variations of
the language and eventual corrections for future study.140

Adriana Kayama, Flavio Carvalho, Luciana Monteiro de Castro, et al.,

"PB Cantado: normas para a pronuncia do portugues brasileiro no canto erudito,"
OPUS 13 (ANPPOM, December 2007), http://www.anppom.com.br/opus/
opus13/202/02-Kavama et al.htm (accessed October 7, 2009).
139
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, "Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric
Diction."

Ibid., 196.
 60

In addition to presenting the table of norms, Herr, Kayama, and Mattos direct

attention to specific sounds in BP that need added consideration by the English

speaker.

Three other documents that address BP diction have been published in

English outside of the work of the ABC and ANPPOM since the 4th Encounter in

2005. The first, a prefatory article by Stela Brandao, "Phonetic Representation of

Brazilian Portuguese," appears in Patricia Caicedo's work The Latin American Art

Song: A Critical Anthology and Interpretive Guide for S/7igers.141 Brandao

mentions the work of the 4 th Encounter and addresses in particular the

challenges surrounding the BP Ivl phoneme. Two songs by Alberto Nepomuceno

and three by Osvaldo Lacerda were selected to be part of this anthology. Other

resources on topic in this text are brief articles about "The National Movement

and Art Song" and the two composers mentioned previously, all written by

Patricia Caicedo.142 IPA transcriptions are provided for the songs, however, they

are based upon the 1937 Norms rather than the norms described in 2008, as is

indicated by Brandao in her introduction.

In "The North-American Singer and Brazilian Portuguese Lyric Diction Issues

in the Songs of Heitor Villa-Lobos," Marcos Krieger and his colleague Nina Tober

not only discuss diction and Villa-Lobos, but also comment on the recently
141
Stela M.S. Brandao, "Phonetic Representation of Brazilian Portuguese,"
The Latin American Art Song: A Critical Anthology and Interpretive Guide for
Singers, ed. Patricia Caicedo (Barcelona: Trito, 2005): xli.
142
Patricia Caicedo, "The National Movement and Art Song," "Alberto
Nepomuceno," and "Osvaldo Lacerda," Ibid., xxvi and xxxii-xxxiv.
 61

published BP lyric diction norms.143 This article was not published in the U.S., but

rather, in Brazil. Krieger and Tober state, "This article addresses the diction of

the most challenging phonemes for non-Brazilian singers, dispensing particular

attention to the questions of Brazilian nasal vowels, diphthongs, and problematic

consonant pronunciation."144 The authors use two songs of Villa-Lobos as the

context for a discussion of BP lyric diction, noting that it is not only important to

distinguish Portuguese from Spanish, but also to be aware of the many linguistic

regionalisms that exist in the vast continent of Brazil. A pointed remark is made

and expanded upon in the endnotes:

Though the proper pronunciation of regular vowels and consonants has now
been described in English by a certain number of sources,6 the American
singer might find it difficult to find specific phonetic descriptions of the more
specific and problematic issues... [Endnote 6 includes the statement]: The
article by Herr, Kayama, and Mattos is a systematic description of Brazilian
Portuguese sounds appropriate for singing, without targeting specific
problems faced by the native English speaker. Moreover, the phonetic
transcriptions are often arbitrary and inaccurate, exposing a bias toward the
"Paulista" accent.145

This author can comfortably address Krieger and Tober's challenges in the

above statement. One, the intent of the article by Herr, Kayama, and Mattos was

to communicate the norms themselves, not to target problems addressed by the

Krieger and Tober, "The North-American Singer and Brazilian Portuguese

Lyric Diction Issues in the Songs of Heitor Villa-Lobos."

Krieger and Tober, 98 and 105. Reference to Herr, Kayama, and Mattos,
"Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric Diction."
native English speaker; although, they did provide recommendations in the

column "Complementary Information."146

Two, Krieger and Tober's expression that "transcriptions are often arbitrary

and inaccurate" is a general statement that lacks Krieger's usual clear expansion

on an idea. The Working Group deliberated with linguists on the best way to

represent the sung sounds of BP. Phonetic transcription as used in the singing

community is broad rather than narrow, and the 2008 Norms for BP Lyric Diction

hold true with this practice. At the same time, the transcriptions become more

specific, or narrower, in regard to sounds that capture the "Brazilianness" of the

language as a means to create distinctions about its character. Diphthong and

hiatus is such a topic, and the treatment of /r/ is another. To quote Krieger and

Tober in their article, "Phonetic symbols can do no more than approximate the

actual articulation of the sounds of a particular language, even when these

sounds are explained and marked with the most accurate diacritics."147

Three, all of the documentation presented throughout this investigation

reveals that the creation of the 2008 Norms was the endeavor of practitioners

and scholars from many regions of Brazil, each with their own linguistic biases

and preferences. An open participatory process engaged the opinions, practice,

and research of dozens of people rather than the voice of one or two. Authors

Krieger and Tober were welcome to participate and contribute. The scholarship

146
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, 199-209.
147
Krieger and Tober, 99.
and research undertaken specific to the development of the norms was

interdisciplinary and extended over a period of 5 years, consolidating many

previous years of research by individuals. One of the goals was to establish a

standard that is recognizably Brazilian "without foreign or strictly regional

influences."148

The standardization of language patterns is an accepted and valued practice

not only in classical singing, but also in network journalism. Kayama's

preparatory research revealed that Rede Globo de Televisao, a media giant in

Brazil, has been influential in the standardization of broadcast speech. This

standardization minimizes regionalisms without the intent of eradicating them.

Kayama quotes Feijo in Kyrillios,

Nao ha uma necessidade formal de se eliminar regionalismos, apenas de se

atenuar os excessos; por outro lado, quando o jornalista esta em jornal de
rede, o padrao mais neutro e sem duvida mais bem aceito.

[There is not a formal necessity to eliminate regionalisms, only to minimize

the excesses; on the other hand, when the journalist is in the network, the
more neutral pattern is without a doubt better accepted.]149

A similar intent was clear in the open discussions of the 4th Encounter, to identify

the common ground for a neutral sung language by minimizing regionalisms. The

point of the open forum was to provide a space for those interested in BP lyric
148
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, 196.
149
L. C. R. Kyrillos, C. Cotes, and D. Feijo, Voz e corpo na TV: a
fonoaudiologia a servigo da comunicagao (Sao Paulo: Editora Globo, S. A.,
2003), and L. C. R. Kyrillos Fonoaudiologia e telejomalismo: relatos de
experiencias na Rede Globo de Televisao (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria e Editora
Revinter Ltda., 2003), quoted in Kayama, "Tendencias de Neutralizacao de
regionalismos no portugues brasileiro do telejomalismo," 13.
diction to determine together what the neutral sung language would be - what

the "norms" would be - for BP lyric diction in an egalitarian process. Certainly,

individual sung sounds in the norms may be associated with various regions of

Brazil, including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The fact that such an association

exists did not exclude a sound from being recognized as the most neutral

representation for the purposes of BP lyric diction norms in February 2005.

All of this being said, Krieger and Tober's article identifies a number of the

challenges faced by an American singer. They address in particular "the

modification of final vowels, modification of consonants, and the nasalization of

vowels and diphthongs"150 through the text of two songs by Villa-Lobos in an

informative, clear, and engaging manner.

The final document for discussion here is a dissertation by Marilia Alvares,

Diction and Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese in Lyric Singing as Applied to

Selected Songs of Francisco Mignone.^ The author presents a history of

Portuguese in Brazil, the development of Brazilian-Portuguese standard diction

with a guide to BP lyric diction, and the life and career of Francisco Mignone

(1897-1986), followed by a performance guide to selected songs by the

composer. Alvares' work is beautifully organized and articulated, providing a

wealth of descriptive and thoughtful detail. The challenge in utilizing this guide to

BP lyric diction is that Alvares does not credit the research and practice of the
150
Krieger and Tober, 98.
151
Marilia Alvares, "Diction and Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese in
Lyric Singing as Applied to Selected Songs of Francisco Mignone."
 65

many scholars in Brazil whose work coalesced in the development of the 2008

Norms. She makes qualified statements about phonetic symbol choices in the

2008 Norms, and delivers an alternative phonetic table, stating, "The following

table is an attempt to improve on the 2007 Norms [The Norms published in Brazil

in 2007]."152

This recitation of documentation shows that many brilliant minds are at work

on the challenges of disseminating BP lyric diction inside and outside of Brazil,

and tension is inherent to the distillation process. The view of this author is that

the work is best continued in a spirit of collaboration, as it was begun in 1937.

Herr, Kayama, and Mattos acknowledged in the introduction to the 2008 Norms

that there is work yet to be done in lyric diction around foreign and regional

influences, "as well as historical variations of the language, and eventual

corrections."153 All that has been accomplished opens the door for yet more

research and study.

152
Ibid., 43.
153
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, 196.
 CHAPTER IV

GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE LYRIC DICTION

FOR THE AMERICAN SINGER

The author recognizes the IPA accepted for the Brazilian-Portuguese Norms

for Lyric Diction as described by Herr, Giarola, and Mattos in the November /

December 2008 volume of the Journal of Singing.154

In Table 1 below, the author divides the vowel sounds of BP into two

sections, oral vowels and nasal vowels, and the consonant sounds of BP into six

sections: fricatives, affricates, laterals, nasals, plosives, and vibrants, with the

addition of one consonant combination. Four sections provide a sample of oral

diphthongs, nasal diphthongs, hiatus, and triphthongs. In the section of

diphthongs, the semi-vowels and semi-consonants, also referred to as glides, are

incorporated. By arranging the phonetic table similarly to David Adam's

organization in A Handbook of Diction for Singers,^55 the reader is able to gain an

immediate sense of the complexity of BP diction, while also being able to

recognize that patterns exist and are helpful in gaining an understanding of the

language as a system.

154
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, "Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric
Diction," 195-211.
155
Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers, 1.
Table 1. International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Symbols for Brazilian Portuguese

> Oral Vowels • Lateral

[i] a w, paAt/V; n/Ve/ [1] Undo, fa[a
[e] seco, prazer, milenio [k] olha, briihante
[e] belo, cafe
• Fricative
[a] acre, caso, patria, a
[f] forte, ofensa
[o] oba, vovo
[v] vida, lavar
M bola, ngye, rotulo
[s] seja, celebrar, luz
[u] tudo, Peru, musica acai, sexta, excessp
[i] pele, doze [z] zona, mesa, exemplo
M sopa, papel IS] Qh&> peixe, xicara
M claro, primo [3] iunho, desep
[x] carro, roda
> Nasal Vowels
[T] incapaz, assim, • Affricate
mingua, m[na [03] dia, pode
[e] essericia, engenho, [tj] tipo, noite, tchau
femea, pena
[v] irma, canto, • Vibrant
ganancia, fama [r] carro, roda
[6] pontinho, sombra,
[r] mural, abraga
neonio, sono
[u] comum, assunto,
• Nasal
cumplice, funebre
[m] magro, amar
> Consonants [n] nascer, tenis
• Plosive
[ji] modinha, sonho
[p] gedra, rapido
• Consonant Combination
[b] boa, liberdade
[ks] taxi
[t] todo, barata
[d] dormir, cada
[k] casa, freguente, kiwi
[g] gpzado, segura
Table 1 continued.

> Oral Diphthongs:" > Nasal Diphthongs:13

• Falling (vowel + glide) • Falling
[i:u] mi[ (nasal vowel + nasal glide)
[e:i] re[ [e:i] homem, tambem
[e:u] meu [t?:i] ca[bra, mae
[e:i] papevs [t?:u] coracao, falam
[E:U] povareu [6:1] cangoes, compoe.
[a:i] ma[s, bajxinho [6:u] bom, som
[a:u] causa, pessoa[, caos [u:i] muito, ruin), pingu[m
[0:1] 60/, depo[s • Rising (glide + nasal vowel)
[o:u] ouro [wi] guinguenio (guinguenio)
[o:i] so/'s [we] freguente (frequente)
[o:u] so/ [wi?] guanto
[u:i] /u/ [je] arreliento
[u:u] culpa [je] amianto
• Rising (glide + vowel) > Hiatus:b
[ji] seY/e • Unstressed + stressed
[je] gu/efo i'a] d/abo
[je] of/ana i'u] m/udo
e'a] fceate
[ju] edificio, oleo e'i] atejsmo
Ijo] m/o/o a'i] sa/'r
[wi] tranquilo a'u] satvde
[wi] feni/e o'e] poema
[we] sueter, sequestro o'i] mo/do
[we] aqtva, magoa u'a] soave
[wa] quatro u'i] cu/ca, f/u/r
[wo] qtvofa • Unstressed + unstressed
[wu] vacoo e.a] be-a-ba
e.e] reagao
i.a] /aba
o.a] cgabitar
u.a] cupuacu
 69
Table 1 continued.

> Hiatus continued: > Triphthongs:"' c

• Stressed + unstressed • Hiatus and diphthong
'i/e] geografia. combinations, vowel-glide-
vowel and glide-vowel-glide
'i.u] rio
patterns
'o.a] boa
[i'Biu] opiniao
'o.i] doe
[i'e:u] fiel
'o.u] vgo
['e:i.B] areia
'u/e] stya
[e:i'o] Maceio
• Unstressed + nasal stressed ['e:iu] correio
i'B] piano ['a:i/e] praia
i'e] ciencia [a:i'a] ensaiar
i'6] biombo [a'i:^] Bahia
a'l] ainda, bainha [a'i:u] caiu
a'e] caem [a:u'e] aue
u'e] coentro [o:i'a] goiaba
u'S] arapua ['o:i.u] apoio
u'rj moinho, picuinha ['OII.B] jiboia

• Stressed + nasal unstressed [u'e:i] bueiro

['e.e] veern [u'i:u] diminuiu
[wa:i] Quaisquer
[wa:u] iqual

a
The orthographic y may also be represented by [i] in words borrowed from
indigenous and African languages.
b
The lists relevant to the diphthong, hiatus, and triphthong are not
exhaustive, but provide a broad sample of these vowel patterns. Many of the
words in the sections "Hiatus" and "Triphthongs" are borrowed from Giangola's
book, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese.^56
C
A triphthong is a vowel between two glides in a single syllable, as in
quajsquer [kwa:is'ker]. This list includes other three-vowel combinations as well.

Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 28-41.

 70

Preliminary Information: Phonology, Phonetic Transcription, and Notation

Phonology examines how the sounds of a language, or "phones," function

together as a system. BP is a phonological system, with essential phonemic units

signaling differences in meaning. Azevedo, in Portuguese: A Linguistic

Introduction, uses /ml, /n/, and /p/ as an example of how phonemes shift

meaning: mama 'breast,' mana 'sister,' manha 'guile'...,157 with the nasal

consonants creating the distinction that changes meaning. The meaning of the

word fila 'line' is changed to 'town' vila if the first letter is replaced by a similarly

articulated consonant. In a similar manner, the consonant [63] may be replaced

by another, [tfl, to form a different word: dia ['c^i/e] 'day' becomes tia [tfi.e] 'aunt.'

A language uses the phones in its own system in this economical mode; and it is

the work of phonology to analyze the underlying patterns. The phonological view

of a language focuses on detail inside of the larger systemic context and how the

details interrelate. Discussion of BP diction through fundamental concepts, such

as syllabification, the use of diacritical marks, and diphthong/hiatus, addresses

language patterns made visible through those concepts. Approaching diction

through linguistic concepts and patterns rather than relying on isolated detail aids

the singer in building a framework for study and practice.

Phonetic transcription aligns a speech sound, or phone, with a visual

representation, associating a phoneme - an element that determines meaning in

a language -with a symbol. In this document, a phoneme is indicated by

Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 35.

 71

virgules (/ /). Allophones, the variations of a phoneme, are noted in brackets ([ ]).

Other notational indicators in this document include the use of italics when

describing orthographic letters and spellings of words. The orthographic letter t in

BP is identified by the phoneme 1X1, which may be transcribed as the allophones

[t] and [tfl. Brackets also mark phonetic transcriptions. Syllabic stress in a

transcription is marked by a vertical stroke (' ) and separation of syllables by a

period ( . ) as in coragao [ko.ra'sT?:u].

Various systems of phonetic transcription standardize the representation of

phones; however, the system in use in the singing community - and in most

common usage - is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The detail of a

phonetic transcription may be identified as broad or narrow. A broad

transcription, according to Ladefoged, "designates a transcription that uses a

simple set of symbols."158 As a transcription becomes narrower, the phoneme is

identified with increasing specificity. The phoneme hi may be transcribed broadly

as [r] or more narrowly as [f] with the addition of a diacritical mark and also [J]

with the use of a more specific symbol. These are only two of a number of

narrower transcriptions for Ixl. In the Phonetic Symbol Guide, Pullum and

Ladusaw explain in regard to the transcription of/r/: "Being the easiest symbol to

type or write, out of the many that are used for "r-sounds," this symbol will often

be used in broad transcription to represent sounds other than the alveolar trill

Peter Ladefoged, A Course in Phonetics, 4th ed. (Orlando, FL: Harcourt

College Publishers, 2001), 38.
 72

that it officially represents in IPA terms."159 IPA as used in the singing community

requires an awareness of this concept of broad and narrow transcription. The

initial /--sounds of Italian, English, and German, varied as they are, are identified

with the broad

transcription of [r] in the singing community. Beyond the IPA transcription, more

specific information is needed to recognize the unique qualities of /r/ in a given

language. In an interview about BP for singing, Brazilian singer and teacher

Adelia Issa commented, "I do believe, speaking about diction, of course, that the

most important [aspect] really, is to be understood..."160 Issa continued by

describing a balance between producing a Brazilian sound in regard to diction,

and maintaining a beautiful resonance, that adjustments might be made in diction

choices for this purpose. The simplicity, or inclination to broadness, in IPA

transcription for singing allows for this idea of thoughtful interpretation. The 2008

Norms for singing specifically indicate choice for certain phonemes, the /r/ being

one of them, as will be discussed later.

The Portuguese Alphabet

Milton Azevedo observes, "The Portuguese alphabet has twenty-three letters

(a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, I, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, x, z) to which k, y, w are added

159
Pullum and Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide, 160.
160
Duo Braziliana, "Adelia Issa on Brazilian Portuguese Diction for Singers,"
[Interview with Melanie Ohm] (Sao Paulo: July 13, 2003),
http://www.duobraziliana.com/interviews/issa (accessed December 5, 2009).
to write words from other languages. Until January 2009, this statement was

true. As of that date, Brazil adopted spelling reforms based on an international

agreement among Portuguese-speaking nations. According to Nova Ortografia

da Lingua Portuguesa online,

O objetivo dessa reforma e sincronizar a ortografia de todos os paises que

falam portugues, acabando com as diferengas existentes entre eles.162

[The objective of that reform is to synchronize the spelling of all Portuguese-

speaking countries, ending the existing differences among them.]

For the student of BP, this means that any Brazilian-Portuguese dictionary

published prior to the adoption of the new orthography is probably inaccurate. In

addition to recognizing a 26-letter alphabet, a partial list of spelling reforms

includes:

• elimination of the trema [ " ], except in foreign language words

• elimination of accents over diphthongs on the penultimate syllable; over
/and u following a diphthong in the tonic or penultimate syllables; and in a
number of other scenarios
• numerous changes regarding hyphenation

The first two reforms indicated will most affect the singer's study of BP.

Further, Azevedo in his discussion of the BP alphabet notes that

several digraphs, or letter combinations that represent a single sound, expand

the consonant roster of the alphabet. These include ch [f], nh \p], rr [x], Ih [k],

and sometimes gu [g] and qu [k].163

161
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 24.
162
Nova Ortografia da Lingua Portuguesa, http://novaortoqrafia.com/
category/ noticias/ (accessed 13 November 2009).
 74

While Portuguese has five orthographic figures for vowels (/', e, a, o, u), those

vowels represent more than one phone, or quality of sound. Not including the

five nasalized vowels, the vowels represent ten phones [i e a o u e o u i u], with

[u i u] serving as the neutralization of [a e o] on unstressed syllables. The five

nasal vowels are p] incapaz, [e] embora, [v] irma, [6] sombra, and [u] urn.
Semi-vowel glides are included in the discussion of diphthongs. Giangola

remarks that "Portuguese is distinguished by the complexity of its vowel patterns,

which the language's spelling conventions rarely make explicit." He explains that

vowels pattern as oral versus nasal and monophthongal versus diphthongal.164

Consonants are classified according to three criteria: voicing, manner of

articulation, and place of articulation.165 "Voicing" is determined by response to

the question, "Do the vocal cords vibrate?" If the vocal cords vibrate, the

consonant is voiced; if not, it is voiceless. Examples of voiced consonants in BP

are /b/, /d/, /g/ [b d g], and their voiceless equivalents, in exact order, are

/p/, /t/, Id [p t k].

"Manner of articulation," the second criterion, describes the production of a

consonant by the way in which the airflow out of the oral cavity is obstructed,

which can be complete or partial. It responds to the question, "How is the airflow

obstructed?" In the case of a stop, or plosive, the airflow in the vocal tract is

163
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 25.
164
Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 61.
165
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 32-33.
 75

completely stopped before resuming. The plosives in BP are [p] pedra, [b] boa,

[t] todo, [d] dormir, [k] casa, and [g] gozado.

Most other consonants are produced by a partial obstruction of airflow. When

airflow is reduced by the close approximation of two articulators, the result

is a fricative: [f] forte, [v] vida, [s] seja, [z] zona, [f] cha, [3] jota, and [x]racfa.The

affricate consonants fully close initially, like the plosives, and then release a

partially obstructed flow of air like the fricatives: [CI3] dia or pode and [tfl tchau or

noite. Lateral and vibrant consonants are often included together under the

category liquids; however, they are separated here to focus the conversation for

BP lyric diction. With lateral consonants, the air literally flows over the sides of

the tongue, as in [1] legar and [X] brilhante. The vibrant consonants are produced

by the flow of air vibrating an articulator, and in sung BP include [r] roda™6 and

[r] mural.™7 Finally, in order for the nasal consonants to resonate, the velum

lowers and air flows through the nasal tract. In BP, the nasal consonants are [m]

magro, [n] nascer, and |ji] conhecer.

Azevedo's third criterion, "place of articulation," "concerns the location of the

obstacle [obstruction], and provides the following categories: bilabial, labiodental,

166
The reader may have noted that roda was also used as an example
above for fricative [x]. This was intentional and will be addressed under the
discussion of Ixl later.

167
In spoken BP, in certain regions, the voiced uvular vibrant [R] is used, as
well as the retroflex consonant [1], similar to the American /r/.
(linguo)interdental, (linguo)dental, (linguo)alveolar, (linguo)palatal, (linguo)velar,

uvular, and glottal."™8 The determining question here is, where is the airflow

obstructed? The progression from a labio-dental fricative to an alveolar fricative,

then to a palatal fricative can be experienced by speaking the following

allophones: [f], [s], [f].

A significant pattern in BP is that so few consonants are allowed to appear in

syllable-final positions, namely /, m, n, r, s, x, and z. In The Pronunciation of

Brazilian Portuguese, James Giangola expands on this point, referring to

syllable-final consonants as being in "coda" position: "...coda / is pronounced

exactly like offglide u, e.g. Brasil [bra.'ziw];169 neither coda n nor m is

pronounced...170 in many regions, coda r is weakened to [h] or dropped

altogether, e.g. amar [a.'mah] or [a.'ma];" ... and he refers to coda s and z in

colloquial usage being reduced to [h].171 The reduction, or softening, of

these consonants is also found in common regional usage in the words mais

['ma:ij"] and mesmo ['me^mu].

If a syllable ends in a consonant other than the above mentioned, epenthesis

168
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 33. Beginning with the
first term, Azevedo references lips, lip-to-teeth, tongue-between-teeth, tongue-to-
teeth, tongue-to-alveolar ridge, tongue-to-hard palate, tongue-to-velum, uvula,
and glottis as places of articulation.
169
In alignment with the 2008 Norms, [bra'zi:u].
170
For example, pan [pK\.

Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 143.

 77

may come into effect. An epenthetic vowel in BP, i.e. a vowel interpolated into a

word under certain circumstances, is transcribed as [i] as in ritmo ['xi.tfi.mu],

and sometimes [i] as in pneu [pi'ne:u]. In ritmo, note the [i] inserted between the

t and m in transcription and pronunciation. Giangola describes the environments

in which the epenthetic vowel, or "insertion vowel," may appear. To quote

Giangola:

• The insertion vowel may facilitate the pronunciation of certain "improper"

consonant clusters...such as pn and sm [which] are said to be improper
because their constituents cannot be syllabified together [constitute a
syllable together].
• It may prevent obstruent consonants [consonants that stop air flow] (other
than s and z) from falling into coda position, e.g. sob ['so.bi]...
• It may achieve both objectives in words like advogado and ritmo [insert
between c/and v, t and m].
• It prevents the b of the prefixes ab- and sub- from forming an onset
cluster with root-initial / or r, e.g. sublinhar [insert between b and /]. 172

The result of all of the practices in the above two paragraphs is that the

center, or nucleus, of each syllable is a vowel, and BP words most frequently end

on a vowel, creating open syllables. Consonants, therefore, appear most

frequently at the onset of syllables in singles and clusters.

Prior to plunging into a discussion of specific vowel and consonant sounds in

BP, we must address aspects of language structure that affect pronunciation,

including syllabification, diacritical marks, and the diphthong. The concepts of

diphthong, glide, and hiatus are dealt with as interrelated parts of the language

system.

Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 144.

 Syllabification

In The Phonology of Portuguese, Matheus and d'Andrade write, "...Speakers

intuitively 'feel' the real existence of syllables and this feeling is evident in some

kind of lapsi linguae."173 This sense of syllabicity, they explain, is evident in

misplaced syllabic stress, word games, and the construction of secret languages

using syllabic units. Not all branches of phonology view the syllable as an

important linguistic unit. Understanding internal and external syllabic

relationships, however, can yield important insights for the singer. Azevedo

explains that syllables are organized language specifically according to rules of

relationship between given phones: "Each syllable has a nucleus, which in

Portuguese must be a vowel or a diphthong. (In English certain consonants may

be a syllable nucleus...)."174 In BP, syllables most frequently end with vowels and

nasals, creating an open syllable structure.

Elizabeth Brodovitch points to the open syllable structure of the French

language as a factor in its "singability." In BP, syllables most frequently end in a
vowel or nasal vowel such as might "seek to free the vocalic substance of the
phrase from any impending breath constrictions or stoppages and to extend the

vocalic-musical sonorities."175 Additionally, a softening of consonants /t/ and /d/

prior to vowels lei and hi in most situations contributes to maintaining the flow of

Matheus and D'Andrade, The Phonology of Portuguese, 38.

174
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 47.
175
Elizabeth Brodovitch, "The Singing Qualities of the French Language,"
Journal of Singing 64 (September/October 2007), no. 1: 72.
 79

breath. The phrase noite e dia ['no:i.tji:d3i:B] and the word advogado

[a.d3i.vo'ga.du] exemplify both an open syllabic structure and the softening of

consonants. This softening effect is written phonetically for It/ and /d/. In the word

advogado, the softening effect is emphasized as mentioned above through a

form of epenthesis, the addition of the vowel [i], between 161 and Nl.

The presence of many diphthongs, nasal vowels, and nasalized diphthongs

are among the elements that create the characteristic rhythm of motion and

suspension of motion in BP speech. The pace of the language is flowing yet

irregular, with melody in the rise and fall of pitch.

Word stress in BP is indicated primarily by pitch and vowel length, avoiding

the emphatic use of consonants. In words of more than one syllable, the stress is

generally on the second to last syllable, unless accent markings direct otherwise.

The accent, however, is not always indicated. The regular exception to this rule

occurs in the infinitive verb forms and certain other conjugations, which receive

stress on the final syllable, such as Mar [fa'lar]. The BP language is infused with

words of foreign origin and others originating from indigenous and African

linguistic roots. Caqui [ka'ki] is a fruit, the word being Japanese in origin. Note

that the stress falls on the final syllable. Caqui ['ka.ki], meaning "khaki," is

English in origin, and word stress is formally indicated by an orthographic

 80

accent.176 The only differentiation in these two words is syllabic stress. A

dictionary is a necessary guide when accent is not indicated.

Word stress and syllabic position may also affect vowel quality. The

phoneme /a/ in a final, unstressed position is neutralized to [e], as is /o/ to [u],

and Id to [i]. In another instance, in the words cama ['ke.me] and camarada

[ka.ma'ra.de], the first two syllables are the same orthographically, but not

phonetically. Nasal consonants under certain conditions have the capacity to

change the quality of the preceding vowel. An a preceding a consonant cluster

beginning with a nasal consonant will always be nasalized as in cambiar

[ke'bjer]. The pattern that guides the nasalization of the first syllable in cama

['kti.me] is as follows: An a in a tonic, i.e. accented position, preceding

a nasal consonant and followed by another vowel, will be nasalized.177 An a in a

pre-tonic, i.e. unaccented position, also preceding a nasal consonant followed by

another vowel, will retain its unaccented quality, as in camarada [ka.ma'ra.dB],

which is non-nasalized.

Another relationship between word stress, syllabic position, and vowel quality

is concerned with non-nasal vowels in pre-tonic syllables. James Giangola

states, "Pre-tonic syllables (i.e. syllables preceding primary stress) generally

Antonio Geraldo da Cunha, Dicionario etimologico Nova Fronteira da

lingua portuesa, 2nd ed. (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Nova Fronteira, 1986), 152.

This condition does not apply to e,/' ,o, or u.

 81

disallow [e] and [o], which are neutralized to [e] and [o]."178 He follows with

numerous examples, among them guerra ['ge.xs] / guerreiro [ge'xe:i.ru] and

norte ['no.tfi] / nordeste [nor'des.tfi]. Observe the first syllable in both of these
word-pair transcriptions. Exceptions to this pattern are:

• before "word-like suffixes, such as -mente, -(z)inho/a, -(z)ao and -(z)oes

as augmentatives, and issimo/a,
• in compound words, such as novecentos and erva-doce, and
• before x [ks], as in oxigenio,179

all of which preserve pre-tonic [e] and [o]. In an extension of this concept,

"...pre-tonic e [e] and o [o] are commonly raised to [i] and [u] in familiar,

everyday words...These vowels are generally raised when in hiatus, when

preceding a syllable in /', in the prefixes ex-, de-, and des-, in root-initial es-, as

well as in a number of miscellaneous items."180 The author addresses this

concept because of her own confusion when learning BP lyric diction. How can

modinha [mo'd^i.jre] be pronounced with a pre-tonic [o], when moleque

[mu'le.ki] is pronounced with a pre-tonic [u]? The above patterns provide an

explanation. While the IPA in Larousse indicates that the pre-tonic vowel in

moleque is [o], Giangola notes that moleque falls under this pattern. Modinha is

an exception to the closed vowel pattern because of -inha. Both of these words

Giangola, The Pronunciation of Portuguese, 64.

Ibid., 66-68.
 82

appear in the text of Embolada by Lina Pires de Campos.181 In coaching on this

text, the author was assured that, in order to sound "Brazilian," the o's would

need to be modified as indicated above.

In BP, word stress frequently changes between base forms of words and

their derivatives; e.g. *fre.sco I frdscu.ra;'sim.pies /sim.pli.dda.de; and Bra'sil/

bra.shei.ro. Awareness of this tendency can help the student of BP avoid

assumptions regarding the pronunciation of these related words. In this same

category, certain suffixes always carry syllabic stress, including -mente, -zinho

and other diminutives, and -zao and other augmentatives.

A word final /, pronounced [u] following a vowel, also commonly indicates

syllabic stress, as in papel [pa'pe:u] and geral [3e'ra:u]. This is generally true of a

word final ras well, as in devagar [o^i.va'gar] and cantar [ke'tar]. An exception

occurs with both word final / and r when an orthographic accent draws the accent

to another syllable, as in defensavel [de.fe'sa.ve:u] and dolar ['do.lar].

Each of these concepts highlights the importance of approaching Portuguese

as a phonological system and understanding the relationships between linguistic

elements. Intelligent diction practice occurs through awareness and recognition

of linguistic elements in their varied relational contexts.

Vowel Harmony

Azevedo describes vowel harmony as: "A phonological process whereby a

vowel displays a feature that approximates it to another vowel in the same word,
181
Pires de Campos, Embolada.
 83

as when the first vowel of a word like menino is pronounced as [i], like the

stressed vowel in the syllable n/.182 In other words, when a vowel displays a

certain characteristic that links it with another vowel in the same word, an

underlying organizational process in the language system is activated. In the

case of the word menino, the pre-tonic e "harmonizes" with the tonic / producing

the word [mi.nl.nu], or in agreement with the 2008 Norms, [mi.nl.nu].

The term "vocalic harmonization" is used in the singing community and

should not be confused with the concept "vowel harmony" as described above.

The term is borrowed, perhaps, because the result is the same. Thomas Grubb

addresses the topic in Singing in French:

The practice of vocalic harmonization is utilized both for the sake of linguistic
refinement and of ease of production. "Vocalic harmonization" is the rhyming
of closely related vowel-sounds in the same or neighboring words. In French
singing diction, only two vowel-sounds are harmonized with two others: [e]
with [e], and [ce] (or [a]) with [0].183

Note that Grubb calls vocalic harmonization a "practice," an intentional act. In

BP, this harmonization happens because of phonological events, not simply as a

matter of linguistic refinement or ease of production. Examples of pre-tonic e and

o adjustment to [i] and [u] as a result of vowel harmonization in BP include the

following common words: teatro [tfi'a.tru] if pronounced with initial [tfl rather than

[t]; doente [du'e.tfi]; preciso [pn'si.zu] in lyric singing; and comigo [ku'mi.gu].

182
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 304.
183
Grubb, Singing in French, 138.
 84

This adjustment of the vowel that reflects vowel harmonization is called "pre-tonic

raising."184 From the examples above, the reader will note that it is the height of

the vowel that is matched, not necessarily the quality of the vowel.

Vowels in post-tonic, but not word-final, position also undergo harmonization.

Azevedo notes, "Post-stressed non-final vowels occur only in words stressed on

the third syllable from the last."185 The vowel /a/ is pronounced [e]; lei becomes

III in lyric singing; and lol becomes /u/, as in cagado ['ka.ge.du], pessego

['pe.si.gu], and dialogo [q^i'a.lu.gu] respectively.

David Adams remarks in his discussion of French diction that "dictionaries'

pronunciation transcription (whether I PA or some other system) will not reflect

vocalic harmonization.186 This is true of BP as well and emphasizes the necessity

for becoming familiar with the underlying patterns of the language.

Diacritical Marks

Five official diacritics modify letters in BP, the cedilla [cj, as in danga, and

five vowel accents: acute [' ] as in credito, grave p ] as in aquela, circumflex [" ]

as in avo, tilde [ ~ ] as in nao, and the dieresis ["] as in frequente. The reader will

recall that the dieresis was eliminated with the adoption of spelling reforms

in January 2009. The singer will continue to deal with it in musical scores

184
Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 69.
185
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 41.
186
Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers, 120.
published prior to 2009. The cedilla is pronounced [s] in BP as in lago [ la.su].

Note that it does not indicate accent. For those familiar with acute, grave, and

circumflex markings in French, the difference in usage is significant.

The primary accents in BP are the acute and circumflex, specifying syllabic

stress and/or vowel quality. The acute accent in BP is found as a stress marker

above a, e, i, o, and u. Additionally, over e and o, it indicates that the vowel is

open, as in credito ['cre.d3i.tu] and avo [a'vo]. A draws syllabic stress and

assumes that vowel quality, [a].

The circumflex occurs over a, e, and o. Over the e and o, it indicates the

vowel is closed, as in exito ['e.zi.tu] and avo [a'vo], also marking syllabic stress.

Additionally, if a, e, or 6 occurs before /m/, /n/, or /ji/, it is nasalized and carries

syllabic stress as in femea ['fe.mje], comico ['ko.mi.ku], and camara ['ke.ma.re].

As with a, the a shifts syllabic stress to itself, and the vowel quality is represented

by [a]. With acute and circumflex accents, the quality of vowels /and u remains

the same, and the diacritic denotes syllabic stress only.

The grave accent is rare; it occurs over a, and signifies the conjunction of

the preposition to with another part of speech: a + aquele = aquele [a'ke.li]. This

marking specifies vowel quality only [a] and is not an indicator of syllabic stress.

On the other hand, the tilde always indicates syllabic stress. Its unique quality is

denoting nasalization as in irma [ir'mtj] and cangoes [kt?'s6:is].

 Finally, the dieresis may appear over u, which is followed by an e or /', thus

ue or ui as in frequente [fre'kwe.tji] and exequivel [e.ze'kwi.veiu]. The singer

may find this diacritic over text in a score. Formerly, without the dieresis indicator,

the u would not be pronounced, as in quebra ['ke.bre]. With the official

elimination of the dieresis in Portuguese, a dictionary must be checked for the

appropriate pronunciation.

Diphthong, Hiatus, and the Glides

Ladefoged describes the diphthong as "a vowel in which there is a change in

quality during a single syllable."187 Expanding on this idea in reference to English,

he writes,

As a matter of convenience, they can be described as movements from one

vowel to another. The first part of the diphthong is usually more prominent
than the last. In fact, the last part...is difficult to determine its exact quality.
Furthermore, the diphthongs often do not begin and end with any of the
sounds that occur in simple vowels.188

His point that "the first part of the diphthong is usually more prominent than the

last," as in cow [ka:u], is completed later on in his description. Referring to "the

last diphthong [ju] as in cue" in English, Ladefoged notes that "the more

prominent part occurs at the end,"189 and that in English phonetic books it is often

considered a consonant followed by a vowel rather than a diphthong.

Ladefoged, A Course in Phonetics, 272.

Ibid., 76.
 The above statements are a good starting place for a discussion of BP

diphthongs for Americans, because they address a common manner of

describing English diphthongs, and suffer in application to Portuguese. In

English, many of our diphthongs derive from a single letter of the alphabet, e.g.

[e:i] as in ate, [a:i] as in kite, and [ju] as in cute. In BP, all diphthongs are

represented by two letters of the alphabet, e.g. [a:i] as in ma[s, [i:u] as in m//, and

[6:u] as in bom. Note that, in BP, spellings of diphthongs may include the

consonants n, m, and /, which in these contexts act as semivowels.

The inventive use of diphthong is one of the defining characteristics of the

Portuguese language. This point does not mean the subject of diphthong is

simple to address; rather, it is highly complex, and responsive to an environment

that includes syllabic stress, duration, word placement in a phrase, and other

factors. The concept of diphthong, two adjacent vowels forming a single syllable,

is best understood in tandem with hiatus, two adjacent vowels separated

syllabically. Depending upon the context, two vowels may be interpreted as

either diphthong or hiatus. Additionally, through a process called

monophthongization,™0 diphthongs may be reduced in speech to a single vowel;

[o:u] to [o] and [e:i] to [e] as in outro ['o.tru] and beijo ['be^u]. This is not a

general practice in lyric singing, in which the pronunciation is transcribed

as outro ['o:u.tru] and beijo ['be:i.3u].

Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 85.

 88

Other challenges for the singer are the management of triphthongs, nasal

diphthongs, and vowel combinations created by words juxtaposed in musical text

settings. In The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, Giangola muses on the

relationship between the vowel [i] and glide [y], the latter of which is denoted as

[j] in the 2008 Norms.

What makes this subject particularly interesting is the fact that a sequence of
two vowels in writing can be pronounced as a vowel plus a glide (VG, e.g.
[iw]) or as a glide plus a vowel (GV, e.g. [yu]), or as two vowels occupying
separate syllables (V.V, e.g. [i.u]), in which case these vowels are said to
stand in "hiatus."191

The most direct route to simplification of this topic lies in dealing with patterns

rather than codifying exceptions. Because diphthongs are the nucleus of many

syllables in BP, identifying patterns simplifies a complicated subject for the

student of BP lyric diction. Exceptions are unavoidable. Seeing and under-

standing patterns is a habit that can facilitate learning.

Along these lines, Leslie De'Ath's 2005 study entitled "Dittongo and lato in

Italian" sheds light on conflicting thinking around diphthongs, and leads the

reader through a set of tables that highlight and describe patterns focused

particularly on "two-letter-vowel sequences."192 The challenges noted here in

understanding the diphthong are as relevant to BP as they are to Italian. As with

Ladefoged's comment above, De'Ath outlines how diphthongs are described, and

191
Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 27.
192
Leslie De'Ath, "Dittongo and lato in Italian," Journal of Singing 61
(March/April 2005), 393.
remarks that what is considered to be a diphthong shifts from one expert text to

the next. This is as true in singer's diction discussions as it is among

phoneticists.193

Three main groups encompass De'Ath's categorization for Italian diphthong

and hiatus:

1. Falling diphthongs in stressed syllables

a) long nuclear vowel + semi-vowel
b) long nuclear vowel + short post-nuclear vowel
2. Rising diphthongs, a semi-consonant + long or short nuclear vowel
a) in a stressed syllable
b) in an unstressed syllable
3. Hiatus or two syllables
a) short unstressed vowel + long or short stressed vowel

b) two short unstressed vowels

Reviewing Table 1, the reader will note that diphthongs, hiatus, and triphthongs

are broken out into similar broad categories, with the emphasis here in

differentiating nasal from oral diphthongs:

1. Oral Diphthongs
a) falling (vowel + glide)
b) rising (glide + vowel)
2. Nasal Diphthongs
a) falling (nasal vowel + nasal glide)
b) rising (glide + nasal vowel)
3. Hiatus
a) unstressed vowel + stressed vowel
b) unstressed vowel + unstressed vowel
c) stressed vowel + unstressed vowel
d) unstressed vowel + nasal stressed vowel
e) stressed vowel + nasal unstressed vowel
4. Triphthongs, including hiatus + diphthong combinations
in vowel-glide-vowel and glide-vowel-glide patterns
De'Ath, "Dittongo and lato in Italian," 393.

Ibid., 395-396.
 90

Do patterns exist that help the student of BP determine whether two vowels

are a diphthong, or are in hiatus? Giangola identifies several situations in which

hiatus is indicated. The author provides a summary as follows:

• In closed syllables, when / or u is followed by a consonant other than s in

the same syllable, it stands in hiatus with a preceding vowel,195
e.g. ainda [a'l.cte], sair [sa'ir].
• When two vowels precede the nasal consonant nh, e.g. rainha [ra'T.je].196
• When two vowels come together at a prefix or suffix boundary, e.g. proibir
(pro+ibir) [pro.i'bir]. 197
• If two vowels stand in hiatus in a base form of a word, then they remain in
hiatus in a derived form despite the displacement of stress onto a suffix,
e.g. ciume [si'u.mi], ciumento [si.u'me.tu].198 Among the few exceptions
are pais [pa'is], paisagem [pa:i'za.3e:i]] and Bahia [ba'i.E], baiano
[ba:i'§.nu].199
• When preceding another vowel, the vowels /', e, u, and o are pronounced
as distinct vowels rather than as onglides, e.g. diabo [d^i'a.bu], except in
post-tonic position, e.g. magoa ['ma.gwe].200
• The onglides of loan words [borrowed from other languages] are usually
pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese as full vowels, e.g. iate [i'a.tfi], yacht
in English.201

While the singer may often rely on the composer to provide a text setting that

indicates the alignment of syllable and note, this is not always the case. BP set to

195
Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 31.
196
Ibid., 32.
197
Ibid.
198
Ibid., 33.

199
Ibid., 34.
200
Ibid., 37.

Ibid., 39.
 91

music has specific challenges. Evoking the complexity of diphthong and hiatus in

Portuguese was intentional, because a singer's choices in this area are critical to

acquiring "Brazilianness" in diction. For those situations in which the treatment of

vowel and/or glide is unclear in this study, it is the author's hope that the singer

will have the knowledge to ask practical questions specific to the text in question,

and thereby gain understanding.

An American Sings Brazilian Portuguese

While coaching the author in July 2003, Lenice Prioli remarked, "Uma

estrangeira que canta musica brasileira, ela vai penar!" [A foreigner who sings

Brazilian music is going to suffer!].202

The author recognizes that her singing diction is not representative of all

Americans. Therefore, just as a norm is recognized here as the basis for singing

Brazilian Portuguese, so also a norm is identified for American sung diction. That

norm, Standard American Diction, is identified by Geoffrey Forward in American

Diction for Singers, and "refers to a non-regional dialect spoken by an actor or

singer...Yet it is speech that is easily understood in all areas of the United

States...Its meaning includes good pronunciation and good articulation."203

The author also acknowledges that a number of scholarly papers and

dissertations have been written about Brazilian-Portuguese lyric diction in the

202
Lenice Prioli, spoken in coaching on BP lyric diction with Melanie Ohm,
Sao Paulo, 8 July 2003.
203
Geoffrey G. Forward with Elisabeth Howard, American Diction for Singers:
Standard American Diction for Singers and Speakers (Topanga, CA: Performing
Arts Global Publishing, 2000): 26.
 92

United States, mainly by Brazilians. The investigator diligently sought all

published materials, and these documents inform the thinking here.

She is, however, unique in her pursuit and practice of BP lyric diction for a

number of reasons. The longest continuous period of time she spent in Brazil

was six weeks; therefore, her learning experience occurred primarily while in the

U.S., removed from a desirable immersion in Brazilian culture and language. In

other words, the majority of the author's study of BP for singing happened while

she was living in the United States. The experience and challenges of the reader

are familiar to her.

Additionally, the author was not born in Brazil, did not grow up in Brazil, has

not lived in Brazil, and did not have a Brazilian parent or an experience of

Portuguese at a young age. Nine years ago, the sounds of Portuguese were

unfamiliar. She came to Portuguese, as an American, with an untried tongue. Her

resources for learning accumulated because of the kindness of colleagues and

strangers. The majority of her collected research - music, books, conference

proceedings, recordings, articles - came through generous Brazilians, as did

hours of coaching and dialogue. The author's background - or absence of a

Brazilian background personally - combined with nine years of deliberate and

thorough study, observation, practice, research, and performance, make this

author uniquely qualified to speak about Brazilian-Portuguese lyric diction to the

interested American singer. She comes to BP as a second language, and she

has had to tune her ear and tongue to a rich sound palate with unfamiliar

demands.

This summation of the investigator's discoveries also has a different

orientation than previously published documents on the topic. A refrain in all of

her searching and studying has been, "Where are the patterns relevant to singing

BP, and how do those patterns support thinking about and learning about BP in

order to sing it intelligently?" Intelligence demands information to support

meaningful choices. Intelligence in a singer demands information that supports

his or her interpretive role. An effort has been made in this document to address

phonetic detail inside of larger conceptual frameworks, by means of identified

patterns.

Dictionaries as Pronunciation Guides

Before moving forward into a discussion of the production of specific sounds,

an important tool needs to be mentioned, the dictionary. One of the immediately

apparent challenges in the study of BP diction is the lack of a good pronunciation

dictionary for the American singer - or even for the Brazilian singer. A number of

dictionaries are available with IPA transcriptions; however, the student of BP for

singing will need to understand the differences between phonetic symbols

utilized in the chosen dictionary and the BP norms for singing. A number of

symbols treated differently in Larousse204 include glides, vowels in unstressed

Luzia Araujo and Valerie Grundy, Dicionario Larousse atica avangado

(Sao Paulo: Editora Atica, 2003).
positions, and diphthongs. Note the word coragao as transcribed in Larousse

[kora'saw] 205 and then in accordance with the 2008 Norms [ko.ra'stJ:u].206 The

Larousse transcription of the /r/ is broader, and the final diphthong markedly

different.

A dictionary with IPA transcription is key to successfully navigating diction

studies; therefore, the student of BP diction will need to make distinctions and

connections between the symbols used in the 2008 Norms and the symbols

provided in the dictionary's IPA guide.

Singing the Oral Vowels

It was previously mentioned that the five orthographic vowel symbols in BP -

/, e, a, o, and u- represent 10 phones. In a simple vowel setting (i.e., not paired

with other vowels, semi-vowels, or preceding a nasal consonant), the

orthographic symbols on the left may be transcribed as follows:

/, / [i] vi, c[vico

e, e [e] seco, gemeo,
e [e] belo
e [i] pele
a, a, a [a] caso, sabado, aquela
a M sopa
o, 6 [o] domestica, volei
6 [o] otimo

Dicionario Larousse atica avangado, s.v. "coragao."

As discussed in Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, 199-209.

 95

o [u] grato
u, u [u] unir, musica

Tips for pronunciation:

> lil:
The /vowel in Portuguese will always be represented by [i], e.g. fila ['fi.te],

the only exception being when it is paired as a glide with another vowel in a

diphthong, or when it occurs before a nasal consonant.

> [el. rel. ftl:

The e vowel represents three phones in BP lyric diction: [e], [e], and [i].

[e] and [e] may or may not hold syllabic stress. Some of the guidelines for syllabic

stress are identified in the section on syllabification; however, it is important to

check a dictionary. One of the few examples of [e] in English is the a in chaotic

[ke'o.tik]. This vowel must remain pure in BP, e.g. pena ['pens], without the mid-

vowel migration of the tongue that generates the American diphthong [ei] as in

pain ['pein]. The [e] in BP pe ['pe] is familiar in the English word pet [pet].

By itself, [i] represents only the unstressed e, not /'. at the end of a word, e.g.

come ['ko.mi]. Note that the word uni is transcribed ['u.ni], not ['u.ni]. [i] is also

paired with another vowel as an offglide in diphthongs.

> laLM
The [a] vowel is correspondent to the bright Italian a. In English, the closest
 96

equivalent is the [a] in the context of the diphthong [ai]. David Adams'

suggestions in regard to the production of the Italian a apply here to the a in BP:

"English-speaking singers tend to center this vowel in the soft palate, which is

often rather collapsed as well, giving it a darker, "lower" color. The Italian sound

is oriented toward the hard palate, with the soft palate raised, and is

consequently brighter and higher."207

The BP [B] is not a schwa. It is differentiated from [a] by a slight shift to a

more central position in the mouth, still retaining a sense of height in the palate

without the dark quality or palatal laxness that can be associated with the

American schwa. Speaking the word sala ['sa.le] provides an opportunity to

experience the subtle shift between [a] and [v] in a Portuguese word. Contrast

sala with the English word saga ['sa.ga]. The word sala should feel higher,

brighter, and more forward in the mouth than the word saga.

> foi. roi. rm:

The o vowel represents three phones in BP: [o], [o], and [u]. [o] and [o] may

or may not hold syllabic stress, as was discussed in the section on syllabification.

It is best to consult a dictionary. The pure [o] of BP, as in popa ['po.pe], is without

the secondary rounding of the lips used to produce the English diphthong o, as in

pope [poup].

Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers, 9.

 By itself, [u] represents only the unstressed o, not u, at the end of a word,

e.g. primo ['pri.mu]. Note that the word hindu is ['T.du], not ['T.du]. [u] is also

paired with another vowel as an offglide in diphthongs. English has only an

accented [u], which is found in words like book. The unaccented [u] of BP may

best be practiced as an u with lax lips.

> M-
The u vowel in Portuguese will always be represented by [u], e.g. tudo

['tu.du], the only exception being when it is paired with another vowel as a glide

in a rising diphthong, or when it occurs before a nasal consonant.

Singing the Nasal Vowels

The nasal vowels are orthographically represented by the symbols on the left.

im, im, in, in: [i\ assirn, quimico, incapaz, dedinio

em, em,en, en: [e] sempre, femea, engenho, essencia
a, am, am, an, an: [u] irma, tambor, ambito, canto, circunstancia
0/77, on, on: [6] sombra, pgntinho, gondola
um, un, On: [u] comum, un, mediunico

Tips for pronunciation:

> m. rci, na rsi, rui:

The quality of the oral vowels in the previous section is frequently tied to

syllabic stress; however, syllabic stress does not determine the quality of a

nasalized vowel. Both [e] and [e] are nasalized to [e]; [o] and [o] to [6]; and [i], [a],

and [u] become [i], [B], and [u] respectively.

 James Giangola describes the situations under which a vowel is pronounced

nasally. The author provides a summary as follows:

• when it is followed by coda (syllable-final) n or m, e.g. cantar [ke'tax]

• when it is stressed and followed by onset (syllable-initial) n or m, e.g.
banana [ba'ntl.ne]208
• when it is followed by nh, regardless of stress, e.g. sonhar [so1 j i ar]
• in the case of written a, e.g. maga [ma'stl]209

Nasalization occurs when the soft palate lowers slightly and air passes

through the nose during vowel production. The technique for singing BP and

French nasal vowels is similar. As David Adams states, "The nasal quality of the

vowels should be light, unexaggerated."210 Herr, Giarola, and Mattos further

clarify that the "'m' and 'n' should be lightly pronounced, without an energetic

release as in English."211 The author recommends that the singer avoid

"pronouncing" these consonants, and rather allow a natural closing of the

articulators to the m or n position while singing to achieve the effect without over

pronunciation.

Initiating and then maintaining a sung nasal vowel may require planning to

accommodate the pitch or length of the vowel. The nasal vowel of the word

sombra, if sung fully nasalized for the duration of even one second, especially in

208
The word banana is officially transcribed [ba'ni.ire]; however, vowel
harmony, as addressed earlier, adjusts the pre-tonic syllable a to [E] or [t>].
209
Giangola, The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese, 93.
210
Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers, 136.
211
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, "Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric
Diction," 203.
the upper range, acquires an exaggerated quality. If the pitch is established with

the vowel open, then lightly nasalized, the listener first hears the resonant

underlying vowel and the nasalization adds color.

Singing Diphthongs

Information about how to sing two adjacent vowels is available in the text

setting and the musical context, which includes the tempo, duration of the vowel,

and placement in the singer's range. When two or more adjacent vowels are to

be sung, the author's first question is, How are they connected? Do two vowels

create one syllable, or two? If the two vowels are in separate syllables, they

stand in hiatus, and each phone is a vowel. If the two vowels are part of a single

syllable, one of the vowels will take the character of a glide, forming a diphthong.

A review of Table 1, I PA Symbols for BP, reveals the potential for two

particular vowels to interact in a variety of ways. For example, the vowel pair ia

may be a falling or rising diphthong, or a rising nasal diphthong. It may stand in

hiatus with the stress resting on either, or neither, vowel, and the a may be

nasalized. The pair may also appear in combination with yet other vowels. The

most important aid in dealing with this ambiguity is a pronunciation dictionary

since the first piece of information required is the location of syllabic stress.

Which vowel, if either, receives the stress? If one of the vowels does receive

stress, is it long or short? The following discussion addresses the potential

interactions between vowels with more specificity.

 100

> Falling diphthongs

A falling diphthong is a vowel followed by a glide, and the vowel may be oral

or nasal. When sung, it is the vowel that receives the stress. This is a stress due

to length, not weight. The experience of the author is that the glide of a falling

diphthong in BP reguires more definition in singing than does its American

counterpart. Hey Lou ['hei.lu] as spoken in English may be transcribed as

['he:i.lu] in the context of a song. The [i] glide is a slight motion of the back of the

tongue. In the BP word companheiro [ko.ptj'nen.fu], the execution of the [i] glide
is accomplished through a more forward articulation, engaging the mid region of

the tongue. In BP falling diphthongs, the singer should allow slightly more time

for the glide than in English. Examples are provided in Table 1.

> Rising diphthongs

A rising diphthong is a glide followed by a vowel, and the vowel may be oral

or nasal. When sung, it is the vowel that receives the stress. Again, this is a

stress due to length, rather than weight, with a brief articulation of the glide

opening into the vowel. Examples are provided in Table 1.

> Nasal diphthongs

In a rising nasal diphthong, the glide precedes a nasal vowel and is not
nasalized, as in quando ['kwtl.tu] and arreliento [a.xe'lje.tu]. In a falling nasal
diphthong, the trailing glide is colored by the nasalization of the vowel, as in
dicgao [di'ksi?:u] or [d3i'kstJ:u] and bem [be:i]. Both vowels are nasalized. The
considerations in singing the nasal diphthongs are the same as for the nasal

vowels. If the pitch is established with the vowel open, then lightly nasalized, the
 101

listener first hears the resonant underlying vowel and the nasalization adds color

to both the vowel and the glide. The longer the duration of the vowel, the longer

the open vowel may linger before resolving to its nasalized quality. By the same

token, a diphthong sung in an abbreviated duration, such as an eighth note at a

rapid tempo, may not allow time for this finessing of the vowel. An option the

singer may consider is to sing the vowel open and the glide nasalized. Examples

of nasal diphthongs are provided in Table 1.

> Triphthongs and Combinations

As noted in Table 1, which provides a sampling of this category, a triphthong

is a vowel between two glides in a single syllable, as in quaisciuer [kwa:is'ker].

The vowel combination gaio ['ga:iu] may be described as a vowel-glide-vowel

combination; however, defining it as a falling diphthong plus an unstressed vowel

gives the singer more information about how the vowels are related - and,

therefore, about how to sing them. Identifying the parts of a complex vowel

combination is not as helpful as connecting the parts in functional relationships

and prioritizing them. When the words gaio + em are adjacent to each other in a

phrase, sorting out relationships becomes even more critical: falling diphthong +

unstressed vowel + falling diphthong ['ga:iu.e:i] with the first diphthong receiving

the stress. This aggregation of vowels between words is not uncommon in BP,

and the singer must have a plan for working through the complexity to produce

understandable text.
 102

Singing the Consonants

The consonants are addressed in the following order: fricatives, affricates,

laterals, plosives, vibrants, and nasal consonants.

> The fricatives rfl. M . [si, fzl, fil. h i , and fxl

The fricatives are orthographically represented by the symbols on the left.

f [f] forte
v, w [v] vida, Walter
s, ss, sc, sg, x, xc, z [s] selo, excesso, nascer, des^a, proximo, luz
z, s, x [z] gozo, mesa, mesmo, exemplo
x, ch [f] enxurrada, cha
g, j [3] geral, pta, ha[a
r, rr [x] roupa, mono

Tips for pronunciation:

It was mentioned in a previous section that fricatives are formed when air

flow is restricted by the close approximation of two articulators. With the

exception of [3] as in jota and [x] as in roda, the BP fricatives are sounds in

English as well.

Note that [v] is not a passive sound in BP, but should be sung vibrantly.

In regard to s, z, and x, many patterns exist, so it is best to consult a

dictionary for pronunciation.

The standard for r was a point of intense discussion in defining the 2008

Norms. As a result, two options for the pronunciation of initial rand the diagraph
 103

rr are provided; the fricative [x] is one of the options. Herr, Kayama, and Mattos

remarked on the usage of both options in the 2008 Norms,

M
1. today, this is the most frequently used pronunciation of Brazilian
Portuguese.
[r]
1. for musicological and/or aesthetic reasons, especially those songs
composed prior to 1937 (the year that the first norms of pronunciation were
established, at the I Congress of the National Sung Language);
2. for technical reasons, when performing symphonic music, opera, and in
some cases, choral music.212

> The affricates fd^l and ftfl

The affricates are orthographically represented by the symbols on the left.

d [d3] dia, pode

t, tch [tfl tia, noite, tchau

Tips for pronunciation:

The affricate consonants begin fully closed, and then release a partially

obstructed flow of air like the fricatives. The 2008 Norms describe the situation in

which these two diagraphs may be used:

• When 'd' [or't'] occurs before the vowel T and its graphically accented
variables,
• In the final unstressed syllable, when 'd' [or T] is followed by the vowel 'e,'
• [And in regard to 'd' only] in words where the consonant clusters are
separated by syllables, an epenthesis tends to occur in the pronunciation
of these clusters.213

212
Herr, Kayama, and Mattos, "Brazilian Portuguese: Norms for Lyric
Diction," 207.
213
Ibid., 204.
 104

Although [CI3] and [tj] share a characteristic with plosive consonants, their

production is not explosive, but sweet.

> The plosives fpl, rbl. ffl. rdl. Ikl, fel

The plosives are orthographically represented by the symbols on the left.

p [p] pedra, rapido

b [b] boa, liberdade
t [t] todo, barata
d [d] dormir, cada
c, qu, qu [k] casa, freguente
g [g] gpzado, segura

Tips for pronunciation:

To produce plosive consonants, the airflow in the vocal tract is completely

interrupted before initiating sound. These consonants are familiar in American

diction, and therefore apparently simple to articulate. In regard to the voiceless

plosives [p], [t], [k], and the voiced [d], however, it is important not to use the

English aspiration. These consonants are pronounced like their Italian

equivalents. Produce the aspirated American [p] as in pope and feel the laxness

of the lips; then produce the unaspirated BP [p] as in popa and feel the slight

tension at the point of articulation. This increase in tension at the point where the

plosive forms is present to one degree or another in all of the BP plosives in

contrast to their English counterparts.

 105

> The laterals fll and IX!

The laterals are orthographically represented by the symbols on the left.

/ [1] [egado, falja

Ih [X] olha, brilhante

Tips for pronunciation:

The [1] in BP, according to Azevedo, is an alveolar articulation rather than

dental as in English,214 meaning that the tongue forms it off of the alveolar ridge

rather than the back of the teeth. The Ih will be familiar to students of Italian

diction. Rather than a muscular production, [X] is articulated with a smooth

gesture of the tongue. In describing the Italian equivalent of this sound, Adams

suggests a comparison to the [lj] of the English word valiant, but remarks that the

"English [lj] is considered two movements of the tongue and the two sounds are

in different syllables. Italian [X] is considered one movement of the tongue,"215 as

is true with the BP [X].

> The vibrants [rl and [rl

The vibrants are orthographically represented by the symbol on the left.

r [r] carro, roda

r [r] mural, abraga

Tips for pronunciation:

The choices of the singer in relationship to rare addressed above under the

214
Azevedo, Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction, 42.
215
Adams, A Handbook of Diction for Singers, 29.
 106

discussion of the [x] fricative. Intervocalic r, i.e. r between vowels, is always

pronounced [r], as the flapped r in Italian, as is r following another consonant.

The BP [r] must not be confused, however, with the Italian rolled r. The BP A-in

lyric diction is more lightly rolled, or trilled. The production of the diagraph rr,

which occurs between vowels as in carro, may be longer than the [r] at the end of

a word or syllable as in cantar or arma. Ladefoged describes the relationship

between trills and flaps: "In a trill, the tip of the tongue is set in motion by the

current of air. A tap or a flap is caused by a single contraction of the muscles so

that one articulator is thrown against another. It is often just a very rapid

articulation of a stop..."216 Mateus and D'Andrade quote Ladefoged as also

saying that the trill implies "usually three vibrating movements."217 The

suggestion in sung BP is to keep the trilled r light and short.

> The nasal consonants Tml, fnl, [nl

The nasal consonants are orthographically represented by the symbols on

the left.

m [m] rnagro, arnar

n [n] nascer, tenis
nh Qi] modinha, sonho

Tips for pronunciation:

The nasal consonants [m], [n], and [p] occur between vowels or in word-

216
Ladefoged, A Course in Phonetics, 150.
217
Ibid., 1975 printing, as quoted in Mateus and D'Andrade (2000), 5.
 107

initial position. While m or n may serve as indicators of nasalization in syllable-

final position as discussed previously, here the [m] and [n] are equivalent to their

English counterparts. Like the lateral [X,], the [ji] requires a single, fluid gesture of

the tongue.
 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS

Where to go from here? This study is interdisciplinary, providing an overview

of specific topics from the arenas of music, history, linguistics, and applied voice

practice, all in support of an environment for engaging conceptual and practical

information about Brazilian-Portuguese lyric diction. Care has been taken to

address this subject in such a manner that a singer who has studied diction with

IPA for a semester can approach and absorb the information here without

stumbling unnecessarily over the language. This is a first document rather than a

final document for two reasons. First, the investigator's learning is a process. Not

only is new information continually uncovered, but also fresh means are

discovered in the search to write simply and effectively about BP lyric diction for

American singers. Secondly, diction pedagogy, studies in language acquisition,

and technology have yet to form effective partnerships.

Lyric Diction and Learning

Every aspect of this study is related to learning, specifically learning with the

goal of competently singing Brazilian-Portuguese text in art song settings. With

learning for "competence" as a goal, this investigator's explorations included a

search for learning tools, both methods and resources, that might enhance the

process of learning Brazilian-Portuguese lyric diction. Diction pedagogy is an

entire arena in need of thoughtful inquiry and research, and of the development

of new instructional methodologies and tools that utilize interactive technological

environments. Interactive aural and visual learning tools for diction are glaringly
 109

scarce in this world of sound that is music. Linguistics is informing second

language acquisition in the classroom with educators addressing issues of

interest to diction pedagogy. Mastering the sounds of a language is a chapter-

worthy, even book-worthy, topic in the pedagogy of language instruction, as can

be seen in: Techniques of Teaching Pronunciation in ESL, Bilingual & Foreign

Language Classes by Edward Odisho;217 Second Language Listening: Theory

and Practice by Flowerdew and Miller;218 and Language Teaching Methodology:

A Textbook for Teachers by David Nunan.219 The singing community has many

resources to take advantage of in pursuit of new methods in diction pedagogy.

Publishing. Recording, and BP Art Song

Brazilian art song merits a greater expenditure of effort toward recording and

publishing. While more attention is being given to Brazilian music by publishing

houses in Brazil, the effort has just begun. The author spent many hours in

Livraria Cultura and FNAC, two of the major retail outlets for books and

recordings in Sao Paulo, and noted that U.S. publications and recordings of

popular appeal are readily available in these stores. In one of the larger

bookstores, an entire shelving system of music, including art song scores,

217
Edward Y. Odisho, Techniques of Teaching Pronunciation in ESL,
Bilingual & Foreign Language Classes 05 (Munich: Lincom Europa, 2003),
LINCOM Language Textbooks.
218
John Flowerdew and Lindsay Miller, Second Language Listening: Theory
and Practice (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), Cambridge
Language Education series, ed. Jack C. Richards.
219
David Nunan, Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teachers
(Hertfordshire, UK: Phoenix ELT, 1995), Teacher Education & Development
series.
 110

was dominated by U.S. publications. The message to the author is that the U.S.

holds a market space that can help to raise the visibility of this music and

generate more of a demand in both the publishing and recording industries.

Sing

Most importantly, this broad, amazingly diverse repertoire needs to be loved,

learned, and sung by many. For this singer, the experience continues to be

transforming, each foray into a new style or composer is as absorbing as

recovered treasure. Promoting, studying, and performing Brazilian art song will

continue to be the work of a lifetime.

Sing Brazilian.

Quern canta, seus males espanta.

[Whoever sings, frightens away her woes.]

~ Portuguese proverb
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 112
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