Ewes are all sheep 
Jamie
Every choral director I ever had told us that it was proper to soften the ârâ when itâs at the end of the word and when itâs part of an -rs ending.
âŚsuch that instead of singing âcarrrâ we would sing âcahâ or âcahrâ (soft r).
Grade school, high school and UW Concert Choir â they all taught the âsoft râ technique.
As for pop-music accents, many do seem to be a sort of âaverageâ American accent.
Some young American rock bands make me gag with their valley-girl Cali accents (occents), but they still seem to be a minority.
Now⌠of course US Southern accents are featured in Country music.
Alex
Americans of different geographical areas canât agree on the pronunciation of U. Check it out:
Upper Midwest: yoo
SoCal: yehâoo or yehâw
Southeastern US (but not new Orleans): yeeew
(racking my brain to represent the northeastern U⌠but I canât decide how to do it)
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If you had someone singing about âwaterâ with a South-Jersey/Philadelphia area accent, you might think they were singing about a lumberjack or a forest or something (i.e. the pronunciation of âwaterâ sounds like âwooderâ). :lol:
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Then, of course, there are all those people in London who end âUâ with an âEâ sound, so that âthroughâ sounds like âthrĂśeeâ and âdoâ sounds like âdĂśeeâ.
yah
or the phantom ârâ that comes at the end of a word normally ending in a vowel (like âaâ)
Thatâs common in many parts of New England. My brother-in-law does not pronounce any final Râs â unless the word ends with an A sound. (idea = idear, Maria = Marieer, etc.) :lol:
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yah
I always thought that they drop the Râs because itâs easier to enunciate the word when they have to stretch it, and sometimes in some melody, it sounds better, to my ears. Having trouble enunciating the Râs I have always noticed this and I did wonder why.
Imagine doing the la la la thing with an R.
La la la laa and Lar lar lar laarr.
The later is difficult right? And did not sound as harmonious without the R.
Hereâs a well known guy from Connecticut performing one of my favourite songs of my adolescent years - what do you make of his accent?
Hi Ralf
This guy is not well-known to me, but if heâs really from Darien, Connecticut, Iâd say he doesnât use any âphantom Rsâ. (I donât think he used any words that might âqualify forâ the phantom R while he was talking.) The âphantom Râ is probably more commonly found in parts of Connecticut which are very close to Rhode Island. Darien is probably too far from RI for the phantom R pronunciation.
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Hiya
Donât know about the silent r thing, but thereâs something about his acc thatâs faintly reminiscent of Ulster or Scotland. Canât put my finger on it though.
Hi Amy,
How come you have never heard of Moby? He is one of the most popular and successful American artists.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, question-response: Where do we keep the expense vouchers?[YSaerTTEW443543]
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Do you know the details of every single European artist, Torsten? Do you like every single type of music? 
By the way, what about the last PM I sent you? You never responded. Would you mind having a look at the thread I mentioned there, too?
Thanks!
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Maybe you know his music, but just havenât connected a name to the songs. Iâd say two of his biggest hits were porcleain and why does my heartâŚ.
Hi Ralf
Thatâs possible, I suppose. I hear lots of music on the radio, for example, and I often donât know who the artist is.
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Hi
Just found this cross over the pond duet between Montreal based Martha and Scots band Snow Patrol.
Martha is quiet BIG in the UK, just how big are snow patrol in the USn ow, since the theme tune âchasing carsâ for Grey´s Anatomy?
http:///www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPKDfBdxkMM&feature=related
Male/ female duets are hard to pull off I think. Okay it isn´t Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, but it has that air of tender tunes.
What are your favorite duets?
Funny you should say that, because the word âfunâ is pronounced the same both sides of the pond (in standard AmE and BrE, that is). Maybe youâve heard it said by Ralf? 