What makes an accent?

Your accent is your particular combination of sounds and words in whatever language you are speaking. These vary greatly, as we know, and are a product of our DNA, region, education, climate, environment (city, rural, job) and at times our socioeconomic status or class. Most of us subtly change our accent depending on the context and company we’re in. I think you’ll find the way you speak in a pub with life-long friends is not the same way you talk in a job interview, or on the phone to the bank. Start paying attention to what changes in your voice when this happens.

When we’re learning another accent, we have to take many things into account. It's not simply ‘sound changes’. We’ll look at cultural markers, intonation, rhythm, musculature, emphasis and much more. Please try to smile and not be offended if I’m asking you to go to the extreme and to touch on some stereotypes. They are stereotypes because they are prominent sounds or expressions and working with these things can help us find triggers into the accent. In order to be able to sound natural and subtle, we first have to learn the movements in a slightly more exaggerated way. Then we can reel it in.

A big barrier I often encounter is that actors don't want to "offend anyone". Of course you don't. And you aren't going to. Now is your chance to experiment. Think of it like playing an instrument. If you want to play a scale, at first, it’s a little clumsy and clunky. Then you can smoothen it out, speed it up, and make it sing. 

Up next is your video class for today. Most of the videos will not be nearly this long, but as I said, today is our exercise/physical/basics day, so there’s a lot of information to get in there for you! I hope you enjoy it. You’ll find a write-up of the exercises here as well, so take notes if that's your thing, but if not, I've got you covered!