How come english people that talk with an accent dont have an accent when they sing???

Question

I was listening to the radio and pocket full of sunshine came on by Natasha Benningfeild came on and I have heard her talk on like talk shows and stuff and she has an accent but when she sings she sounds like an american!!!

Answer 1

Actually... can you name any music artist that sings with an accent? =|

I don't know if it's possible to maintain an accent when you sing, as your accent makes you pronounce words at different pitches, speeds and phonetics and when it comes to singing you have no choice but to follow the pitch + speed of the song and make sure your phonetic is correct with the timing. And plus, the American accent generally doesn't involve varying pitch and phonetic unlike the English accent... so I guess the American accent is more default?

And btw, even though I just fancy English-Graduate words there, I'm no way an expert - it's just a theory =P

Answer 2

My understanding is that people who speak with an English accent use different facial muscles when speaking than Americans.  However, when we sing, the sound comes from the throat and in order to really project the sound, the mouth/face has to be shaped in a different way than when we speak.  The English and Americans, therefore, have to shape their mouths in similar ways in order to project a singing voice, which means they use the same muscles.

Answer 3

They take voice training so that they're more appealing to a country's citizens.

Answer 4

they work with vocal/diction coaches to "equalize" their accent- they are taught to pronounce the language of the song phonetically (by exact sounds)

there are many different English accents in Northern America alone

accents come from placing the vowels of a word in different parts of the mouth/ nasal cavity, the coach will work with them to add/ or subtract one accent and replace it with the accent of the intended audience; in fact anyone can learn to sing in a language they may or may not speak fluently

it is the same process that an actor goes through when trying to remove an accent or add one for a part- just part of show business

you can play with accent by simple exercises

say the word "coffee"- now say it in the front of your mouth near your lips and teeth it will sound more like a NYC or Boston accent- move it again toward the back of the throat and draw out the vowels long and it will sound like a southern drawl; high in the throat can sound like a cockney (street british) accent

there are many tape/cd series on these to train yourself

chorus teacher :)

Answer 5

People have been asking this question ever since the British Invasion in the 1960s. The Beatles were perfectly understandable when they were singing, but when people heard them speak in interviews, they could barely understand them. The movie A Hard Day's Night almost needed subtitles in the U.S.

This was pretty much true with the other major British bands of the time. The Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, The Animals and many others.

The exception was Herman's Hermits. Peter Noone sounded the same when he was talking and singing. There was no doubt that "I'm 'Enry the Eighth I Am" was sung by and Englishman.

I don't think anyone has ever come up with a good explanation for this phenomenon. Some people have said that The Beatles and their contemporaries listed to American music when they were growing up and emulated this sound when they made their own music. This is probably partly true, but I doubt it completely explains it.

Interesting question. I wish I had a better answer.

Answer 6

Some do. Listen to Oasis and some other Manchester bands. They all sing in North West accents. Blur have a real London twang, too.

And the Scots... Listen to The Proclaimers' I'm Gonna Be'!

Answer 7

actually i've been wondering that too

same with coldplay and muse and most canadian bands as well

i guess they're trained to sing without accents? i'm not sure

Answer 8

ciao,ok|

http://www.trasalimenti.blogspot.com/

Answer 9

i guess that english and american people dont sound that different and because they are singing in a certain key and at certain pitches and that they are just making their voice make that sound, so everybody sounds similar

Answer 10

well, when people sing, they have their voices going high and low and stuff, there voices change- their language is very similar to ours, and when they talk, there voice doesnt go as high or - thats when they have the accent-lol- just like leona lewis- she has an accent too-