Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Herb Stahlke]

The reason has to do with articulation and sonority.  The American
retroflex r pushes the root of the tongue back into the throat cavity,
which is the largest resonator in the vocal tract.  This constricts
the throat cavity and reduces sonority, which, in choir director
terms, damps the sound.  Choir directors and voice coaches don't like
sounds that do that, hence the r-lessness of good choirs and singers,
including Motown.

Herb

On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 10:38 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation"
>              (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I recently had a choir leader classically trained that said swap that "r" for "uh" at the end of words.  No clue why.
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>
>
>
>
>
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Herb Stahlke
>> Subject: Re: Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation"
>> (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Of course, trained singers have undergone a lot of training on vocal
>> diction, and that determines their sung pronunciation as much as
>> accent. Moreso with more training. I remember noticing back in the
>> 70s the consistency with which Motown singers, who were put through
>> some pretty rigorous vocal training, all dropped post-vocalic /r/. I
>> don't think it was just an AAVE thing. I think it was training,
>> because these singers came from all over the country.
>>
>> Herb
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 10:33 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> > Sender: American Dialect Society
>> > Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
>> > Subject: Re: Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation"
>> > (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> > Caveats: NONE
>> >
>> >>
>> >> IMHO, if singers lose accents in songs, and I think they do, then it
>> > points
>> >> toward the great amount of tonality in accents that we are not aware
>> > of,
>> >> because the singing takes the tonality out from native speech and
>> > overrides it
>> >> with the notes of the song.
>> >>
>> >
>> > Isn't this [singing takes the tonality . . .] only one of many possible
>> > explanations for why singers may lose accents in songs? For example,
>> > Mel Tillis stutters while he speaks, but sings without stutter. I doubt
>> > the tonality has anything to do with this. But whatever process makes
>> > him not stutter while singing may also make accented singers sing more
>> > neutrally.
>> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> > Caveats: NONE
>> >
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>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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