KCACTF: Dialogue

Debbi, Colin, and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to attend a dialogue workshop.  The three of us are part of the cast for The Importance of Being Earnest and we thought it would be beneficial to take any opportunity we can get to work on our accents.  To our delight, the man teaching the workshop actually used Earnest for multiple examples.  :)

He taught us how to change our vowel sounds.  Long "o"- lips say "o", rest of mouth says "a".  Short "o"-closed off and quick (got).  Short "a"- quick, such as "action" and "pack".  For words with "ary", drop the "a" (hereditary-hereditry, extroardinary-extroardinry).  Other pronunciatoins:  it is-tis, it was-twas, when-hwen, get-git.  For the sentence "Where were you today?"- "Hwer wer you today?"  Shape the "u" in duty, absolutely, during.

Americans speak with the sound further down in the throat  and tend to be very monotone.  The British speak with the tongue and teeth, they use a wide vocal range from falsetto to their lower register throughout their sentences.  "Keep the energy at the front of the mouth, annunciate, articulate."