Over the past couple of years, there have been numerous threads in GQ inquiring as to why British people sound American when they sing, etc. The short answer is that the way people pronounce words when they sing is largely dependent on what style of music they’re singing. At one point I commented that I would sound awfully strange if I were to speak with the same “accent” that I sing with. The fact of the matter, however, is that there are some words that I pronounce the way I sing them as opposed to how I pronounced them while growing up. Some examples off the top of my head are (keep in mind I have a Midwestern accent with a slight hint of Southern):
Word Old pronunciation After singing
glory glorr-ree* glo-ree
new nu nyew
amen ay-men ah-men
I’m I the only one whose speech has been slightly altered by singing? How about the rest of y’all?
[sub]*exagerating the 'r’s here, but you get the picture[/sub]
I generally find myself over-enunciating words, making sure there is a ‘g’ on the end of an ‘ing’ word, seperating words clearly. Of course, spending most of the time on the phone certainly contributes to clearer speaking, and having much of this drilled into me during voice class, it’s difficult to forget.
Now that I need it, I cannot find my diction books from college (it’s been [sub]mumblednumber[/sub] years since diction class): what was the acronym for the ‘yew’ words - DaNieL SiTteTH?
Dew = Dyew
New = Nyew
Lieu = Lyew
Sue = Syue
and the other words I forgot
(I still cannot, for the life of me, roll, trill or flip an ‘R’. Sigh.)
I generally try to speak clearly, though it usually sounds affected - I am told to get a job in radio (or been mistaken for working in radio) or to ‘talk like normal people’. I’ll enunciate, thankyouverymuch.
[I wish we could use IPA on the boards - I learned final ‘Y’ as more of an ‘ih’ than ‘ee’.]
I used to pronounce angel with “gel” sound at the end, but after singing in choir for so long, I now say it with more of a “gle”. That’s only one of coutless things I sat differently because of singing, and also my pronounciation of certain Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Latin words is a little funny.
When I sing, I enunciate carefully. When I speak, I don’t bother (I’d hate to spoil such a cool slur). Also, my accent (80% Philly, 10% Baltimore, er I mean Bawlmer) has something to do with is. For example, I would sing “get it on,” but if I spoke it, it would be closer to “gitalawn.” Likewise a sung “Saturday” becomes a spoken “Sadilay.”
I don’t know if it effects my speech as much. I do find myslef enunciating the ends of my words, instead of leaving off “T’s”. I have found though, that I can’t sinf with the radio with out “properly” singing and enuciating. All the while pointing out who has had poffesional singing lessons, and who hasn’t.
