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Main Area => Odds n Ends => Topic started by: Jake D on July 01, 2005, 07:06:21 AM

Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Jake D on July 01, 2005, 07:06:21 AM
Why don't British singers have an accent when they sing?
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Roadstergal on July 01, 2005, 09:54:11 AM
Maybe they do, and we lose our ability to detect it in a musical context.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: chbix on July 01, 2005, 10:07:05 AM
I dont think really any one has an accent when they sing, well it depends on what type of singing they are doing,
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Roadstergal on July 01, 2005, 10:10:49 AM
Quote from: chbixI dont think really any one has an accent when they sing

Country music?

Harry Belafonte?

I think Americans and Brits meet halfway when we sing, so it sounds the same.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: indestructibleman on July 01, 2005, 10:12:27 AM
have you ever listened to The Beatles?  definite accent there, i'd say.

it is softened, though.  i think that when singing we tend to be more deliberate about enunciation.
Title: Re: Question for the Brits
Post by: starwalt on July 01, 2005, 11:13:05 AM
Quote from: Jake DWhy don't British singers have an accent when they sing?

Maybe it is just the record company's effort to find an "accent neutral" artist to market?
Title: Jamaican
Post by: The Buddha on July 01, 2005, 11:23:15 AM
OK brits do lose it ... why ... yea Try singing with that accent ...  :lol:
Now what I dont understand is how Jamaicans can understand each other ... I dont even think its even possible to talk in the language they sing in ...  :lol:  ... Love it though ... Since all I hear is "shake that thing" and the rest is un intelligible ... It can be anyhting I want it to be ...  :lol:
Cool.
Srinath.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Stephen072774 on July 01, 2005, 11:26:20 AM
Why doesn't Jim Nabors (http://www.jimnabors.com/) sing like Gomer Pyle (http://www.timvp.com/gomer.html)?
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: chbix on July 01, 2005, 11:33:24 AM
Quote from: Roadstergal
Quote from: chbixI dont think really any one has an accent when they sing

Country music?

Harry Belafonte?

I think Americans and Brits meet halfway when we sing, so it sounds the same.

thats why i said well it depends on what they sing.  country music the accents are purposely exaggerated.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: juno on July 02, 2005, 11:08:16 AM
Why do some American singers suddenly develop a British accent when they sing? :dunno:
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Cal Price on July 02, 2005, 01:17:27 PM
In the late 50s-early 60s (yeah I can actually remember) they used to call it the "mid Atlantic" accent, marketable both sides and you can switch to suit the rhyme.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Gofer on July 04, 2005, 12:13:25 AM
The accents are retained, to an extent. The rest is common to both sides of the pond, hence the Atlantic accent that Cal mentioned. Listen closely to some Beatles, Elton John, or Rod Stewart (to name a few), and you'll find that to be true.

American singers with at least a little classical training will sound a bit British because stereotypical British vowel sounds tend to be softer and more open than American vowels. A key to classical singing is getting your mouth open (otherwise the voice will have a distinctively nasal sound), and British vowels tend to help with that. It also keeps a singer from "slapping" a syllable or vowel.

Hope that explained it a little.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: cobalt135 on July 04, 2005, 12:45:46 AM
Quote from: indestructibleman.....i think that when singing we tend to be more deliberate about enunciation.

Couldn't say that about Bob Dylan...at least when he was on smack :?  Don't know what made me think of that...
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: 97gs500e on July 04, 2005, 01:19:43 AM
perhaps their incredible hygiene changes the sound of their voice...
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Cal Price on July 04, 2005, 01:50:43 AM
I'll agree about Bob Dylan, took me an age to figure "the pump dont work cos the vandals took the handle"

Gofer and Indy both allude to vowels annunciation, whilst mr Zimmerman might have been the exception plus a million rappers, listen to say, Nat King Cole and some of his words come out like upper-class Brit BBC English.
Title: Question for the Brits
Post by: Roadstergal on July 04, 2005, 06:22:13 PM
Quote from: Cal PriceI'll agree about Bob Dylan, took me an age to figure "the pump dont work cos the vandals took the handle"

I thought, when I was a little girl, that the Stones had a song - "Don't wanna be your pizza burnin'..."