Dialect Training
Dialect Training for Actors
Dialect Training for Actors tends to be role specific. Most actors need dialects from time to time for roles or auditions.
Training is also available in HOW to learn a dialect - this is the best bang for the buck over the life of your career.
One-on-one coaching - in person or via skype/facetime
Private sessions, Contact for rates.
Dialect Modification for Professionals
Dialect modification for Professionals tends to be about being understood.
This type of training can be useful for news anchors, business people, professors, and those from other walks of life who may have grown up with strong regionalisms (distinctive regional accents) or for whom English is a second language.
My tendency is to work toward intelligibility and effective communication of ideas. I will not try to get rid of your accent unless that is what you desire.
EVERYONE has an accent, so in Dialect Modification we are ideally learning a NEW accent that we can use when we choose, not getting rid of our original accent.
One-on-one coaching - in person or via skype/facetime
Private sessions, Contact for rates.
Production Coaching - Voice & Dialect
Hiring a coach is the difference between a good production and a great production.
♦ Dialect Design
♦ Dialect coaching and instruction
♦ Extreme and expressive voice work for individual actors or an entire cast
♦ Audibility and articulation
♦ Text coaching and analysis
♦ Vocal health issues
The focus of my work is helping to tell the story through effective vocal and dialect choices. As the primary shaper of the story, the Director's artistic vision is my guide. For more information on my coaching philosophy and guiding principles, and for an idea of what it is like to work with me, you may read the document I provide to directors when we begin our work together.
Why do voice training?
Why would a "regular person" do voice training?
Actor/Communicators require vocal and dialect skills for various reasons:
♦ aesthetics
♦ expression
♦ ability to perform difficult vocal feats and represent persons from
different parts of the country and world in an authentic, respecttful
manner that enhances the telling of the story and/or our empathy
with people who are different from us
♦ dialect work - accents and dialects of people from various parts of
the country and the world must be performed in a seemingly
transparent way, so the humanity is not obscured by an imposed
vocal requirement
Actors have the additional challenge of doing all of these things while sounding good and remaining physically and emotionally available to the audience and their scene partners.
The complexity of these tasks require a particular type of vocal athleticism - flexibility, strength, adaptability, openness, and bravery. And mastering voice and dialect work for actors requires the opportunity to attempt new challenges on a regular basis in order to make trying unfamiliar choices feel "normal".
Why would actors do voice training?
Voice Training that meets the standards of professional Actor training can be incredibly valuable for those on any life path.
We all wish to affect those we interact with in a way that achieves the results we want. And for many of us this affects our material livelihood.
Some of us received negative messages about our voices or our methods of expression from a young age or we have physio-vocal habits that arise under stress that we'd like to change (like sounding derogatory or angry when tired or under stress). Some of us are transitioning into new ways of being in the world. Or maybe we would like to be present for the people in our lives in a more supportive way and we aren't sure how to do that.
Voice training can be particularly useful for those on a growth path who are interested in learning new ways of living and working and expressing.
