I’m interested in how useful IPA can be in scores, and wonder if anyone would like to share situations where you’ve used it or come across it.
Two offerings from me below.
FRENCH
I’ve made an arrangement of Reynaldo Hahn’s “À Chloris” for voice, flute and piano. With the lyrics set in French and the IPA immediately below I can quickly see how liaisons are working, how to pronounce each vowel, and so on.
Here’s a clip:
Here’s the complete PDF and the Dorico file:
Hahn A Chloris arr voice, flute, piano.pdf (92.2 KB)
Hahn A Chloris arr CD.dorico (1.3 MB)
IPA source:
https://oxfordsong.org/song/a-chloris
(click the “View IPA” button)
ITALIAN
When teaching students to sing Italian I like to show them the 7 vowels in Italian:
/a/, closed /e/ and open /ɛ/, /i/, closed /o/ and open /ɔ/, /u/.
26 Italian Arias books edited by John Glenn Paton (published by Alfred) uses these 7 varieties of vowel when setting each song. The Alfred website has some sample pages at
Here’s one page:
Note, for example, “bɛlla” then “credi”, and “cɔr” then “dolce”.
At the start of each song they set out the complete song lyrics in IPA above the Italian lyrics and a word-by-word translation. Most useful!
INPUTTING IN IPA
If you’re interested, when writing in IPA I use the Android app Gboard which includes IPA. I write in an email on my mobile, then open the email on my computer and copy and paste. It’s free, speedy, and comprehensive once you’ve found your way around!
Chris