Rowles - How to Do Accents 2nd

HOW TO DO ACCENTS

HOW TO DO

ACCENTS

Edda Sharpe & Jan Haydn Rowles

OBERON BOOKS
LONDON

First published in 2007 by Oberon Books Ltd
521 Caledonian Road, London N7 9RH
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7607 3637 / Fax: +44 (0) 20 7607 3629
e-mail:
www.oberonbooks.com

Second edition (revised), 2009
Reprinted with corrections and additional sample accent tracks, 2012

Copyright Jan Haydn Rowles and Edda Sharpe 2007, 2009, 2012

Edda Sharpe and Jan Haydn Rowles are hereby identified as the authors of How to Do Accents in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The authors have asserted their moral rights.

This book is sold subject to the condition that no part of it shall by way of trade or otherwise be circulated without the publishers consent in any form of binding or cover or circulated electronically other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on any subsequent purchaser.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-84002-957-4

Printed by Replika Press PVT Ltd, India

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS

For their help with the making of this book we would like to thank: Arsher Ali, Laura Caroll, Kevin Coe, Steve Cooper, Trevor Cuthbertson (also one of our test readers), Sid Dixon, Louise Dolan, Katie Draper, Joanna Gaskell, Darren Halley, Wilbur Heynes, Donna Humphries, Dylan Kennedy, Martin Larmour, David Lyons, Jorel Mitchell (also one of our test readers), Channelle Owen, Catrin Picand-Jones, Nora Ryan Taylor, for their accent samples; Matt Walters at Quince Studios; Rachel Williams, Mariele Runacre-Temple and Gill Sharpe for the drawings and illustrations; our test readers, including Richard Ryder and Julie Legrand, for their comments and input, and Professor Valerie Hazan (Professor of Speech Science and Head of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London) for her input and advice.

A huge thank you to all past and present students of ours, especially to those at East 15 Acting School, who have continually deepened our understanding of working with actors; to all those professional actors and directors who have fed our passion over the years; and finally to all at Oberon, especially our editor Stephen Watson.

Jan would like to thank Lyn Darnley, Head of Voice at the RSC, Jeanette Nelson, Head of Voice at the National Theatre; good friends and colleagues, and other fellow voice teachers who have inspired and encouraged Thanks also to friends and family for the regular check-ins.

The biggest thanks to my very dear friend, colleague and fantastic co-writer Edda: thank you for the most fun-filled, laughter-led and inspirational times.

Edda would like to thank Jackie Maxwell, Christopher Newton and Neil Munro, of the Shaw Festival Theatre, Canada; David Willis, Sarah Shippobotham, Christina Gutekunst and John Gillett for their friendship, professional support and integrity; my friends and family, and of course, an enormous thank you to my very special friend and professional soulmate, Jan.

INTRODUCTION

HOW THIS BOOK CAME ABOUT

Acting with an accent can be a dream or a nightmare for an actor. The pressures to get it right to sound authentic, honest and connected grow as audiences become more demanding and the world gets smaller.

In How to Do Accents we offer actors a new approach. Speaking with an accent is a skill just like any other: it can be learned and developed, and it is our aim with this book to provide you with the tools to do just that.

Actors sometimes get the feeling that before they can approach an accent they must understand the phonetic alphabet. Although this approach provides some people with a sense of security, it deals with only a small part of what makes up an accent. Moreover, the vast majority of actors find this approach at best alienating and at worst simply boring. Unfortunately this can lead them to ignore the essential structure inherent in accents, believing this leaves them free to learn on a more intuitive level. The results are accents that are extremely hit and miss to begin with, and once the actors emotions kick in the accent flies out of the window. It simply isnt in their muscle memory, and how can it be? Intuition is essential, but so is structure. The very word structure may be causing you to glaze over, but, if you think about it, it is hardly an alien concept to actors. They use it every day in their craft. They learn the structure of lines, of moves, even the structure of emotions. The structure of accents can be part of this: it simply needs to be accessible.

What is desperately needed is a simple, reassuring system for both learning and teaching accents: a system that allows the actor to use their gift for intuition in tandem with their ability to retain structure; a system that liberates the nervous while developing the skills of the keen; a system that teaches actors not just one accent, but the underlying structure inherent in all accents. This book provides such a system.

Using solid technical know-how, clear practical steps, real-life examples, and the occasional dose of humour, the Haydn/Sharpe System brings to the surface the underlying structure of accents, sharing the processes that we, as specialist dialect coaches, have developed, to give you the insight, tools and confidence to work with any accent.

WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT

This is not a linguistic or phonetic textbook, but it is completely compatible with them. We have taken the language of the linguist and translated it into the language of the actor. We have distilled the very detailed work of phoneticians and extracted the elements relevant to the specific goals of the actor at work.

So whos this book for?

WHATS IN THIS BOOK