acapella = unaccompanied instrument

[Wilson Gray]

I agree.

I've never heard "a capello" and with any luck, never will.

OTOH, "a capella" is commonly used to describe singing by R&B/doowop
groups unaccompanied by any musical instrument by people without any
formal musical training. Indeed, it's a major niche among aficionados
of black singing. This is not to say that these aficionados are
necessarily without formal training. You never know.

-Wilson

On 2/10/08, LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: acapella = unaccompanied instrument
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> That's just a gross misunderstanding of the word, extending its meaning to
> instruments.
>
> Having conducted many amateur choirs, I've also heard the "a cappello"
> pronunciation mentioned in the other post, but also only from people with no
> formal music training.
>
> On Feb 11, 2008 10:18 AM, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> > Subject:      acapella = unaccompanied instrument
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBAQKZO6hrg  has the following description:
> >
> > ----
> > Jeff Hughes covering Foo Fighters "The Pretender" on violin acapella.
> > ----
> >
> > The performance is a violin solo, no voice.
> >
> > James Harbeck.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Randy Alexander
> Jilin City, China
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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