Today I learnt how to use diction in my singing. It seems that pronuncing 'wh' as 'hwh' would get the sound of the respective word more projected. It was interesting also to finally find out about the sound consonants and silent consonants, and how the 'sound consonants' at the end of words MUST be SUNG (e.g. songS, haVE, etc.). Also, for the vowel in 'I', lifting and dropping of the epiglotis would make the word sound better. While these techniques can be counter-intuitive (since we normally do not enunciate our consonants while we talk), it can be done as long as one is concious about the consonants and vowels while singing. It seems that it would be more practical to complete this step first (so that the brain is accustomed to singing with enunciated consonants), before focusing on the expression of emotions via understanding of the lyrics.
I also found the production of the 'e' and 'i' sounds (like the 'e' in 'never' and 'i' in 'sing') very difficult. The 'e' sound tends to make me spread my sound horizontally (rather than vertically like how it should be done), and the 'i' sound prevents me from making an open sound. However, it is the placement of the tongue (or rather, the behind end of the tongue) that does the trick without compromising the mouth shape and throat opening.
