Can you distinguish UK accent from US when singing?

Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:19 am GMT
Can you distinguish UK accent from US accent when singing? To me, it is difficult. It seems that accent differences melt down when a singer sings a song.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:22 am GMT
Singing is largely American accent.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:24 am GMT
Singing is a technical thing. Alongside the musical effect, you can hardly distinguish accent sources.
furrykef   Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:44 am GMT
Largely American? A lot of American singers adopt non-rhoticism when singing... in the U.S., such a feature only appears in speech in a few regional dialects and in AAVE (Ebonics), whereas it's strongly identified with Britain. I sing non-rhotically even though my speech is definitely rhotic. I wasn't really specifically trained to do so, it's just always been my instinct, because I think it sounds better.

I agree with the original poster: singing tends to significantly reduce the effect of accents. Even non-native speakers who speak with a heavy accent may have it seem to disappear when they sing. (One exception I know of: Nena's German accent is very apparent in the English version of 99 Luftballons.)

One reason may be that diphthongs tend to become single vowels. As a typical American, I pronounce "about" with a very apparent diphthong for the "ou", but if I sing the word "about" and hold the second syllable, the diphthong is much less apparent.

On the other hand... if you, say, tend to pronounce "something" as "zumting", then singing will not make it sound less foreign. But if all the phonemes are pronounced about right, then the differences tend to get blurred.

- Kef
Lazar   Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:55 am GMT
Yeah, accents often get blurred when people sing: I think singers from all over the English-speaking world often use a sort of pseudo-American accent with some non-rhoticism and some monophthongization of /aI/. Like furrykef, I like to use this kind of accent when I sing just because it feels better.
KC   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:16 am GMT
Well, firstly nowadays most English singers are advised/suggested/instructed to use the pseudo-american accent in order to appeal to USA, which is still the biggest market for music.

Secondly, I remember reading somewhere that the part of the brain which produces our normal speech (and also our accents) is different from the part of the brain which controls our musical ability (and thus our singing). Which is why accent differences are not quite as noticeable when people sing.
Skippy   Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:27 am GMT
Americans are encouraged to adopt a British-sounding accent when singing. I did choir for several years and our conductors always told us to attempt an English accent when singing (at least choral pieces).

And accents aren't always overcome in singing. The lead singer of Living End is definitely Australian, the lead singer of Dropkick Murphys is definitely from Boston, etc.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:00 am GMT
There seems a contradiction in the above posts.
Lazar says most English singers are advised/suggested/instructed to use the PSEUDO-AMERICAN accent.
But Skippy says Americans are encouraged to adopt a BRITISH-SOUNDING accent when singing. I did choir for several years and our conductors always told us to attempt an English accent when singing.

Which account is true?
Lazar   Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:20 am GMT
Well I think in some kinds of popular music, especially rock, there's a sort of levelling tendency where Americans tend to use more non-rhoticism, British might show some American influences like an opener /O:/, and people from all countries might show some Southern US influences like a more monophthonal /aI/. But of course there's still a great deal of individual variation with regional and national influences. And in choral music there's a preference for a more specifically British accent.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:29 am GMT
British accent is always obvious, in Beatles' or Rollingstones' songs for example. Some singers like Sophie Elis Baxtor don't even bother to try singing in a nonRP accent.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:28 am GMT
Backstreet Boys clearly sing in American accent.
Damian in Edinburgh   Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:50 am GMT
It seems to me that Americans, for the most part, sound distinctly American when speaking, while Brits sound distinctly British when speaking. When singling - it can vary, depending on who is doing the singing, what type of songs they are singing, and also the cultural class of the singers.

An American choir singing "America The Beautiful" or "The Star Spangled Banner" would, to my mind, sound extremely American I reckon. Similarly, an English British choir singing "Linden Lea" or "There'll Always be an England" would sound ever so English English, while the strong Scottish accent would come through ever so loud and clear when we sing "O Flower of Scotland" with full passion on the terraces.

Popular music songs usually sound as if they're being sung by people originating from somewhere around 40W : 50N. Happy medium guys.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:37 am GMT
Popular music songs usually sound as if they're being sung by people originating from somewhere around 40W : 50N.
What do you mean by saying somewhere around 40W : 50N, Damian in Edinburgh
?
furrykef   Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:11 am GMT
It's coordinates given in longitude and latitude. I checked on a map and, as I suspected, it's just about the halfway point between the US and the UK.
Guest   Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:43 am GMT
You mean, Icelandic accent ?...