The Accent Gym is an ongoing small-group class and support for your dialect work. We meet weekly for accent instruction and practice, as well as group discussion. We cover 1-2 specific accents per month, in addition to a related general theme or skillset.
Topics may include:
Crash-course in IPA (phonetic alphabet) and diacritics
Parisian French vs. West African, French vs. German
NYC vs. South Boston, doing love scenes in NYC accents
Mastering the “broad a” [a] vowel and Mid-Atlantic
Is a Russian accent really different from Polish when speaking English?
how to do a “light” accent
gender and the voice
preparing an accent on one-hour’s notice
how to analyze and replicate the sound of a real person
voicing characters of a different ethnicity in audiobooks
collaborating with a director who doesn’t know what they want
the neuroscience of dialect work
why you hold you breath when you have to do an accent and how to fix it
etc. etc. etc.
Basically a smorgasbord of everything I know and am learning.
You will:
receive recordings of each class
receive supplementary dialect materials, including audio recordings for practice
become far more proficient with a variety of US and world accents and dialects
train your ear and become a better listener
develop a confident vocabulary for collaboration with authors and directors
practice, practice, practice your accent work on a variety of texts
get practical tips and feedback from other actors
laugh, hopefully a lot — this work should feel good and be fun
As part of your monthly membership, you may also send me one sound file (up to 10 min) of a dialect you’re working on and receive my audio feedback. This could be audition sides, an audiobook excerpt, or simply something you’re working out on. (24-hour turnaround, just like a good Covid test.)