British Accent Mastering

Before this workshop that I took today, my British accent sounded Indian. Don't ask me how, don't ask me why- I'm not Indian. But I significantly improved after this hour and a half. Now I am not even close to qualified to tell you how to do a British accent, but I though I'd post the handout I got that helped me so much. This is for RP British, I might post the Cockney one later. Hopefully I don't get arrested!

SOUND CHANGES

Vowels

1) OH

Sounds like EH-OO

Start with the EH (red, bed) sound, and slide into OO (who)

Practice Words:

Boat, Home, Wrote, Cone, No, Flow, Toast, Roast, Mope, Throne, Throw, Show, Crow, Stone, Hope, Toe, Alone, Thrown, Open, Sacramento, Ohio

2) AH

Sounds like AW

Substitute the AW (law, claw, bought) sound

Top, Stop, Hop, Potter, Cop, Prop, Shop, Tom, Hot, Mop, Dock, Pots, Mom, Sock, Rock, Rocket, Pocket, Odd, Body, Modern, Shot, Got, October, Oxygen

3) A

Substitute the AH (stop) sound when A falls BEFORE:

F          Behalf, half, staff, laugh

FT        Stagecraft, engraft, daft

NCE    Dance, chance, France

NT       Can't, plant

PH       Graph, epitaph

SK       Ask, task, mask

SP        Grasp, raspberry

SS        Grass, pass, glass, class

ST        Last, cast, nasty, mast

TH       Path, wrath

4) AW

Keep the same vowel sound, but round the lips over it (as if you're whistling)

Law, Straw, Thaw, Claw, Paw, Flaw, Crawl, Stall, Mall, Palm, Bought, Thought, Taught, Fought, Caught, Walk, Talk, Chalk, Beanstalk

Consonants

1) D's and T's

Make them EXCEPTIONALLY crisp and clear

Connect, Succinct, Tent, Part, Dent, Dent, Expect, Respect, Different, Parent, Mint, Heart, Hard, Hurt, Pit, Fit, Hard, Card, Forward, Ward, Bored, Flawed, Wasted, Worked, Pointed

2) R

a) DROP the R when it's the last SOUND in a word

Far, Near, Hear, There, Car, Floor, Under, Over, Door, Four, Stair, Glare, Where, More, Stir, Sure

b) DROP the R when it falls BEFORE a consonant

Hard, Heart, Forgive, New York, First, Morning, Afternoon, Person, North, Orphan, Hearth, Worth

c) Keep the R when it comes BETWEEN 2 vowels (or Y)

Around, arrest, irritate, Eric, torrid, sorry, berry, forest

d) Keep the R when it ENDS a word, and this next word starts with a vowel

Pair of, or else, for us, over it, order another

e) Keep the R when it BEGINS a word

Right, ready red, rain, river, run, rip, roast, rule, rust, root role

f) ADD the R when a word ends with A, and the NEXT word starts with a VOWEL

Virginia-R-and Maryland, Victoria-R-and-Bob

Melody

Add a "dip" in your voice at the ends of sentences

                               arriving

I expect we'll be                    soo-          oon.

                                                       oo-

 

Questions:

• Y/N questions USUALLY end on a DOWNWARDS swing:

                         home

Are you going             la-

                                          ter?

• Other questions, throw in the "dip" at the end.

                                  mo-           vie?

What's your favorite           oo-

Words to Practice

1) Brilliant: Amazing, awesome, incredible...

2) Dodgy: Sketchy, shady

3) Mental: Crazy

4) Bloody: Very, really

5) Cheers: Thanks, goodbye

Steps for Learning Dialects

1) Isolate the major sounds

Choose FUN, engaging examples that reflect the sound you're going for

(movies, TV shows, YouTube)

2) Listen for different melody patterns, vocal inflections, and stressing

3) Identify what sounds are EASY and HARD for you to duplicate

4) REAL LIFE PRACTICE

Play with the sounds in real life AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

(brushing teeth, folding laundry, studying)

5) Pick up a script and test yourself!

Great, right? Will be updating on plays I've seen and other workshops I'll do tomorrow!

Maison

International Thespian Society Festival

It's almost time for me and my troupe to compete at Nationals for ITS! Since I'm mainly there for the experience, I will be taking as many workshops as possible and I hope to share what I've learned each day with all of you, and maybe some pictures as well. It makes me nervous that our Group Musical only has a couple of rehearsals left, though.

But I'm excited!

My Technique for Getting Into Character

None of these techniques are my own, but I use a simplified version of them. This is what works for me, and feel free to try them! I use them once I get a part and can see it in the context of the play. I suppose it could work before an audition, if you want to find the script and get really in depth with your reading or monologue. I'll also show you with a past monologue I've done, where the character is a brat faking a note.

• First, I assign an action that my character is portraying with every line. A lot of times, when you are trying to go in depth with your character, you would say what your character feels, so that there is more behind what you are saying. But this part is purely what your character is trying to express in that line. Here's an example of what I did with my short monologue.

(to attract attention) Your mother wrote you a note that said, "(to extract pity) Mavis is allergic to plays. (to excite classmates) If she is in one, she'll break out into hives. Her legs will swell to five times their normal size and she'll begin to sneeze uncontrollably. (to show off) Please excuse her."

Now this is out of context, but basically in this show, 15 Reasons Not To Be in a Play, Mavis starts off hating plays and ends up liking plays. Everyone talks directly to the audience, but interacts with the other characters as well. In this monologue she is trying to show her superiority by her ability to pass off a fake note. But we go more in depth about that character in the next step. This technique works with normal dialogue as well.

• Next, I assign a superobjective. A superobjective is what your character is ultimately trying to accomplish through everything they say or do. This part is not as shallow as (to show off) or (to extract pity). When I do this, I usually end up with a couple pages of description leading up to it, because just figuring that out can change the way your character holds itself or speaks.

For Mavis, I was originally just calling her a brat. But then, I figured out her superobjective was to maintain stable power. She wasn't just a brat, she was insecure and afraid of losing power. This was shown through every line. She tried (to attract attention) to get power, and so on. Now this post isn't about my character, so think about it as yours. When you first read your lines, you will get a first impression, but figure out what lies between the lines and how your character feels apart from what they're saying. We lie, and a lot of what we say has an ulterior motive. Your character is a human and will act as such as well. This can also make a dull part come to life. On the page, Mavis is actually becoming ill with plays, but if I said it like that I would literally be reading off a page with no personality whatsoever.

• Then I attach the emotion and character to my life. I believe that when you play a character, it shouldn't be a whole new person, it can be a different part of you that's dominant. Now don't play every character walking and talking as yourself, but find the similarities. And also, if you have to portray a strong emotion such as grief or embarrassment, find it inside of you instead of assigning physical things to do. The physical acting part will come naturally if you can find yourself feeling what your character is feeling. Find a moment in your life that you can remember vividly and attach it to each line you are struggling with relating to. If your character is feeling embarrassed, think through a moment you can play through your head that makes you cringe with embarrassment and remember it every time you say that line. The audience wants to see real, relatable people with emotions on that stage, not someone who simply says, 'Oh, I'm embarrassed.'
• And this is a little thing, but refer to your character as 'I' instead of he/she. It makes a difference!

Break a leg,

Maison

 

If you are wanting a look into the amazing and exciting world of show business, you are in the wrong place. But if you are looking for some advice on the details of auditions, monologues, casting, etc., in your community or school, hopefully I can give you some insight. In the next few days, I will start with some substantial posting, but here is a little ramble about me.

• I am competing at the International Thespian Society national convention at the end of the month in Troupe #88975. (as a very ironically casted Horton, considering I'm a vertically challenged girl.)
• I was recently inducted into Troupe #6605, and I'm pretty freaking excited.
• I'm currently rehearsing for a little community theatre show called, The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet, as Narrator #1, just because the director is amazing and I want her to know me.

I would lovelovelove it if you would follow, because I will be posting soon!