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I suspect more people back then were trained from a young age as singers (even if informally). That would reinforce habits of using various parts of their voice
by wayoutthere 7y ago
I suspect more people back then were trained from a young age as singers (even if informally). That would reinforce habits of using various parts of their voice; a soprano voice does sound lovely when used for singing but can be a bit nasal when used for speaking. Likewise, a bass would have been trained to keep his voice within a certain range that keeps the resonance in his chest, which can lead to a "flat" sounding voice when used for speech.
The accents and vocal qualities didn't really start to homogenize across the country until the 1920s when radio became widely commercialized, and likely didn't become common until the kids from that generation were adults.
- chrisco255 7y agoI think the homogenization came with interstates, jets, and the quicker movement of people around the country. Your accent tends to come from the peers you were exposed to as a child and teenager and is nearly fixed by the time you're an adult. I have noticed a generational decline in southern accents in my own family. But my grandfather was born well after the radio became widespread.