English Diction Blogs

As you mentioned, I too feel at this point we have pretty much covered all of the major themes/considerations for English diction.  As for the three songs, I think that they all do sound particularly American given their styles.   The first, by Rorem is very American in the sense that it sounds like a Roger's and Hammerstein, melodic sort of musical sound.  The second, by Charles Ives, (sung by Sandy Sylvan) starts with a classic western sound.  The accompaniment features prominent octaves in the baseline, accompanied by loud booming chords, similar to many of the songs one typically hears in a wild west movie.  Toward the middle it becomes increasingly dissonant however.  At times during this part, I felt that Sandy was a bit drowned out by the piano.  However, I love his dynamics and contrast when describing the fight, etc.  Finally, the Bernstein piece is very American sounding because of its jazzy styles.