--- title: "How to pronounce pianist | Murmur" description: "Pianist has three CMUdict forms, pee-AN-ist, pee-AHN-ist and PEE-uh-nist, so stress on either the first or second syllable is listed." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/pianist" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/pianist Pronunciation · Creative work # How to pronounce pianist Pianist has three CMUdict forms, pee-AN-ist, pee-AHN-ist and PEE-uh-nist, so stress on either the first or second syllable is listed. [Buy $49](https://murmur-licenses.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/checkout)[Download free for Apple Silicon (3-day Pro trial)](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/latest)Intel Mac? [Download here](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/intel).Not sure? Apple menu > About This Mac shows your chip. Free plan with Kokoro voices, 3,000 characters a day · 3-day Pro trial, then $49 once ## The dictionary sound sequence CMUdict lists these 3 North American English pronunciations for **pianist**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed. Dictionary variant 1 `P IY0 AE1 N AH0 S T` **Syllable estimate** 3 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 2nd vowel position Dictionary variant 2 `P IY0 AA1 N AH0 S T` **Syllable estimate** 3 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 2nd vowel position Dictionary variant 3 `P IY1 AH0 N IH0 S T` **Syllable estimate** 3 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 1st vowel position [Check pianist in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pianist). Syllable counts come from vowel tokens; CMUdict does not supply syllable boundaries here. Variant order follows the dictionary and does not rank correctness. This lexicon does not represent every accent or context. ## Use pianist in context Pianist turns up in concert programs, music journalism and film credits. Some speakers stress the second syllable and others the first, and both camps tend to correct each other. The dictionary lists both patterns, with two vowel choices for the stressed-second form. 1. The pianist played the encore without looking at the keys. 2. Our new accompanist is a jazz pianist from Chicago. ### A practice cue Choose one of the three forms and use it in both examples. Read the program line aloud and check the stress lands where you meant it. ## Read the sound tokens Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of pianist. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the [CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aria/Papers/MastersThesis.pdf#page=115). `P`sound in **pee**consonant`IY`sound in **eat**vowel`AE`sound in **at**vowel`N`sound in **knee**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`S`sound in **sea**consonant`T`sound in **tea**consonant`AA`sound in **odd**vowel`IH`sound in **it**vowel Take it to your next recording ## Make an audition worksheet Select a dictionary variant for your checklist. The two original sentences retain their normal spelling; this worksheet helps you review a recording rather than forcing a speech engine to use phonemes. Copying and downloading happen in your browser. No script upload or audio generation is needed. ## Dictionary source The phonemes on this page come from [CMU Pronouncing Dictionary](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict). The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters. 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Murmur generates speech locally on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 as a beta. Try your audition sentences with your chosen model and voice, listen for pronunciation, and review the result before exporting. A dictionary sequence does not guarantee a model’s output. [Buy $49](https://murmur-licenses.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/checkout)[Download free for Apple Silicon (3-day Pro trial)](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/latest)Intel Mac? [Download here](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/intel).Not sure? Apple menu > About This Mac shows your chip.[Explore Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/?utm_source=pronunciation&utm_medium=pseo&utm_campaign=wave1&utm_content=pianist#product)[Get Murmur free by sharing it](https://www.murmurtts.com/free?utm_source=pronunciation&utm_medium=pseo&utm_campaign=wave1&utm_content=pianist)