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FAQ questions #4

Question:

I would say it is a cross between Boston/Novia Scotia with some French thrown in in certain places. Biddeford=Biddiferd… it can be a pain. But really most people don’t talk like that. It is what people expect when they want to hear a Maine accent. I hate to tell them the Maine accent is just about dead unless you go way down east. To like Bah Harbah= Bar Harbor.

I still remember working the Tourist shop o’er here, and having this rather attractive girl walk in and ask of I had any "sacks"…  Not knowing what she meant, I said, here, these are some of our handbags.  She laughed and said "No no no..  you know.. sacks.. what you put on your feet?"  To which I replied, feeling stupid:  "Ooooooh!  SOCKS!" and her answer to that was.. "Yes.. ‘Sawks’…" in a slightly mocking tone.  She then apologized and said "Sorry, I’m from Shick-aa-go.". :) (was coser to "Shick-eh-go") Actually it was the easiest lesson in an accent if I ever had one. :) CJ.B

Response:

Great example. Something else that is useful is slang. First time I used the term PISSED around some British friends they thought I was talking about somebody that was drunk… I’ll never get used to the saying "Give me a fag."

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I would say it is a cross between Boston/Novia Scotia with some French thrown in in certain places. Biddeford=Biddiferd… it can be a pain. But really most people don’t talk like that. It is what people expect when they want to hear a Maine accent. I hate to tell them the Maine accent is just about dead unless you go way down east. To like Bah Harbah= Bar Harbor. I still remember working the Tourist shop o’er here, and having this rather attractive girl walk in and ask of I had any "sacks"…  Not knowing what she meant, I said, here, these are some of our handbags.  She laughed and said "No no no..  you know.. sacks.. what you put on your feet?"  To which I replied, feeling stupid:  "Ooooooh!  SOCKS!" and her answer to that was.. "Yes.. ‘Sawks’…" in a slightly mocking tone.  She then apologized and said "Sorry, I’m from Shick-aa-go.". :) (was coser to "Shick-eh-go") Actually it was the easiest lesson in an accent if I ever had one. :) CJ.B

Response:

Bill: THANK YOU!!! This is possibly the best information I have had regarding dialect. I am one of th ose annoying people that pickup dialects easily. In fact I have to work at keeping the ‘General American’ speech pattern I have. (if I don’t, I sound like the folks in whatever neighborhood of NYC I am living in. let’s see, a Brooklyn/russian/nuyorican/longgisland accent? OY!!!!!) Indeed, I had not heard of the book you reference in your wonderful post, and my query is: Is it still in print? I collect voice/speech books I have some dating back to the mid 19th century which include gesture. I never intended for my suggestions (such as they were) to be taken to mean learning a dialect sound for sound. what I meant by my comment was to listen to the speaker – I find it impossible to do anything more than what call "the music" of a dialect, since I have the ‘ear’ what I do is listen to the ‘music’ of the dialect.  In listening, I hear how the vowels are placed i.e. whether they are open or not if some words are pronounced a certain way, and using the words as ‘keys’ to the dialect.  I learned what the dialect of the 16th english may have been and I had to soften up to be understood  by the American ear so they would stop asking if I were Irish! Also while I was at the National Shakespeare Conservatory, I had the opportunity to work with Richard Blumenfeld in the area of dialect. Unfortunately, the blow to my head has made that one if the time frames I can’t recall. I know I studied with him. I just can’t recall what he said. damn – as matter of fact, all I CAN recall about that period is that I was there,  I portrayed Saturinus(!), La Criada in Bernarda Alba, and Georges Sand/Dorothy Parker. I can’t recall much else of that time – damn again…(and I start to cry) and here I was worried about my short term memory… Kelly http://members.tripod.com/shocktroupe AFTRA/Actor/Warrior Stage manager/Fool "The Theater is the last live place on Earth. We’ve got to keep it going." – Lauren Bacall  If at first you don’t succeed, then sky diving is not for you…

Response:

I find it impossible to do anything more than what call "the music" of a dialect, since I have the ‘ear’ what I do is listen to the ‘music’ of the dialect.  In listening, I hear how the vowels are placed i.e. whether they are open or not if some words are pronounced a certain way,

You’ve just described Dr. David Alan Stern’s Lesson Two of "Reducing your Regional Southern Dialect", entitled "Muscularity and Resonance". What you call music, he labels Muscularity and Resonance. I looked the terms up for my students, since this past Saturday we covered this.  (See later update post on class) Resonance– Means rich sounding Muscularity– The term to describe the resulting sound based on the use of various muscle groups working together. More in my post. — Opus (: "I wish the stage were as high and narrow as a tightrope so that only the most highly trained would dare to venture out upon it." –Goethe http://www.carla.coble.com -Acting site http://members.home.net/coble/OpusGraphics -Original graphics http://scoobydoo.acmecity.com/witchdoctor/345 -Alt.Acting Newsgroup Gallery

Response:

How do I learn a dialect?

One plea – do not use other films or performances as your starting point. There are far too many Americans who base an "English" accent on Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins, and far too many Brits who use John Wayne as the basis for "American". Actually for us Brits, the temptation seems to be to use Colonel Sanders (of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame) or Penelope Pitstop from the Wacky Races, but that’s another story. I have no idea why this is so but it is. To me it seems there are very few American film actors who can manage an English accent well. Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore seem to have done it pretty well…. you can no doubt find other examples. (I saw a recent interview with Mr Van Dyke where he acknowledges that his accent was a bit "off" so I forgive him, up to a point!)

Response:

Bill: Indeed, I had not heard of the book you reference in your wonderful post, and my query is: Is it still in print? I collect voice/speech books I have some dating back to the mid 19th century which include gesture.

Methinks we’re talking about THE USE AND TRAINING OF THE HUMAN VOICE by Arthus Lessac.  Yes, it is still in publication (in trade cover.) The David Alan Stern tapes Opus and I’ve been writing about use Lessac phonetics, side-by-side with IPA. Break a leg, Bill — THE ACTING STUDIO http://gvtg.com/theactingstudio

Response:

several ways to do this. there are dialect tapes available, but the best way IMHO, is to learn the vowel pronunciations from a person who is from the country (or region) your character is from. In larger markets (L.A., CHICAGO, DALLAS, NYC MIAMI, etc.) tis is not a difficult thing to do. Blount’s book on Dialect is quite good as well…

Respectfully, Kelly, I have to disagree (I’ve been teaching this work for 30 years.) We call it stage dialects, because we are capturing the ESSENCE of the dialect, without re-creating every single vowel and consonant substitution. You mention the available dialect tapes…. well here is my review, overview…. Machlin’s tape (which she created in the 50s and still is marketed) consists of nothing but native speakers.  Her Cockney samples (which I used to teach) are virtually indecipherable to American audiences, when re-created on the stage.  And while I still use some of her regional and dialect segments, I have long since discarded most of her work…. ’cause a native speaker is simply not what we want to bring to the stage or to the camera. Exit, Machlin, now on to Jerry Blunt (you misspelled his last name). Blunt, I still use….. from time to time.  He at least improved on dialect coaching by presenting a mix of native speakers with stage interpretations, the latter rendered either by Blunt or one of his students.  He, at least understood that we don’t do ALL of the substitutions (phonemes, diphthongs and consonants).  Rather, we select the basic few that give the essence of the dialect or regionalism, and we drop those substitutions that would make an actor’s delivery hard to understand.  Example:  I coached an actor in a generic New York-ese dialect a while ago, and of the dozen-plus substitutions we could have worked on, we selected roughly half…. to create the "essence" of the sounds and the lilt, and we selected them based on his character, and how effectively he could communicate to fellow actors and audience.  Alas, alack, Blunt, the narrator is pedantic and stuffy (imho) and he focuses on IPA — International Phonetic Alphabet — and while I was drilled and trained in this stuff as a young actor…. I don’t want to have to drill an actor in IPA before we move on to the substitutions of the dialect…. and most of my actors under-30 don’t have the patience….. they want quick solutions.  Also (fingers crossed that I am not sued for this)…. I’ve always been able to detect a Blunt trained actor, and I’ve always been able to detect an actor who has been trained in Blunt….. it’s a very theatrical style, in which dialect supersedes character.  Many of this alt.acting group are familiar with or have read Michael Shurtleff’s AUDITION…. my guy, that Michael, who identified a common acting problem in which actors are so intent on recreating the darn dialect, that they lose everything else in the process…. including playing intention and relationship. Dialect must always be somewhere in the background, NOT the foreground. I still use Machlin and Blunt (and yes, Opus…. from time to time…. good ol’ Herman)…. and there is one set of tapes by an Brit dialectician, Gillian Lane-Plescia that I use for fine-tuning in Midlands and Welsh…. but her tapes are not readily available in the States. The tapes I use most often are those created, produced and narrated by David Alan Stern.  The guy is brilliant in his explorations of the real…. versus the theatrical.  Stern is the best hands-on dialectician I’ve ever met and encountered….. he references IPA and he also references Lessac.  Few of the readers on this group know of Arthur Lessac, author of THE USE AND TRAINING OF THE HUMAN VOICE…. he mentored me….. and I’ve taken his work and over the decades made my effort to integrate voice/speech/movement technique with all of that good Stanislavski/Bobby Lewis stuff I do.  Stern’s use of Lessac was brilliant, because he shifts us actors from learning a dialect by ear (from whatever source) to experiencing a dialect by the feel…. the placement, the music, the lilt, the rhythm. And on TOP OF THAT…. Stern makes adjustments for the level of elevated, medium and common for any specific dialect/regionalism. And he opens the doors for actors to understand that character and relationship come first…. then, THEN, you find the level of dialect/regionalism that suits the character, the relationship, the moment, the play. And one of these days, maybe I’ll start producing my own voice/speech/dialect tapes…. and oh, gosh, I am so tempted. But in the meantime, I will suggest these cautions: When an actor calls me on a Friday about a Monday audition in which they have to do a perfect Queen’s English…. I will NOT set a session.  No one learns and masters a dialect in that span of time. Yeah, I keep a list of films, rentable videos for specific dialects…. and sometimes I have been known to recommend a film or two, in the spirit of it being the last-moment, but I really feel like I’ve prostituted myself and corrupted the actor when I do that.  What’s the actor gonna do but see the video and listen to a some actor’s idea of the dialect integrated with the character, he or she is creating. A dialect based on an actor’s dialect is like a subjective photocopy of an already subjective photocopy.  Which is real…. the original, the copy or the Memorex of the copy?  Hmmmmm. Some folks have an "ear"….. my former wife sounded like a "Brit" a couple of hours after we landed at Heathrow.  But then she was a sponge maybe a chameleon, and she didn’t even know it…. and that is very, very rare. Most folks (including actors) need some practice….. MANY HOURS of practice and guidance with a pro.  I cannot tell you how MANY actors I have coached who are trying desperately to to imitate the bad dialect of some inept actor in a bad film, or are trying to capture the dialect/regionalism of grandmama or a next door neighbor and have NOT A CLUE about how obvious it is that they are doing a bad imitation of something that was once real. It’s like Charades…. the old parlor game…. where friends and family don’t really do it…. whatever it is…. they mock it or imitate it badly. Break a leg, Bill — THE ACTING STUDIO http://gvtg.com/theactingstudio

Response:

I would say it is a cross between Boston/Novia Scotia with some French thrown in in certain places. Biddeford=Biddiferd… it can be a pain. But really most people don’t talk like that. It is what people expect when they want to hear a Maine accent. I hate to tell them the Maine accent is just about dead unless you go way down east. To like Bah Harbah= Bar Harbor.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Well I would have to add the caveat that I live in Maine now and I still haven’t learned there blasted accent! I think it is because it is fairly close to a southeastern accent that I have a hard time hearing all the subtle changes. Except the Ah’s and R’s as in Honder and Chowdah = Honda and Chowder That sounds pretty close to an East Coast Canadian accent.. I would say Newfoundlander.. but it’s probably closer to Nova Scotia. ;) Newfies have their own brand of English.

Response:

Well I would have to add the caveat that I live in Maine now and I still haven’t learned there blasted accent! I think it is because it is fairly close to a southeastern accent that I have a hard time hearing all the subtle changes. Except the Ah’s and R’s as in Honder and Chowdah = Honda and Chowder

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Questions #4: How do I learn a dialect? My answer would be the same as Greg’s; however.. living in a place where culture is kinda mish-mashed (there are a lot of Immigrants around here, as well as tourists) I would also add that you could simply listen and study what and who you hear.  It’s something I do often.  Dialects, along with accents, are easy enough for me to pick up (I’ve traveled around a good portion of the US, as well as living out here with a few people of different origins) however sometimes it takes that little extra OOMPH to get a good dialect/accent going.  Another good point of advice, is that once you have studied/listened regularly to a few accents/dialects…  PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. That’s how *I* do it anyway. :)  Although I am interested in hearing anything else anyone else has to add. Part of my ease of picking up accents and dialects is due to my years in French Immersion (Parents stuck me in it..  I stuck with it from Kindergarten to Grade 11, dropped it in Grade 12 when I dropped out of school).  Most of my teachers were from different French-speaking areas, so I acquired many different accents and dialects in French.  As well, my grandmother is a landed British Immigrant, having come here once she got married.  Actually, as a child, I used to have a twinge of an English accent. These days, most people think I sound American in some sense, or they can’t make out my accent.  I think basically, I’ve become so used to adopting accents that I’m pretty much a Heinz 57 of accents, dialects and I have a few sayings I’ve caught from all over as well. Just some insight from a little amateur such as myself :)

Response:

Questions #4: How do I learn a dialect?

My answer would be the same as Greg’s; however.. living in a place where culture is kinda mish-mashed (there are a lot of Immigrants around here, as well as tourists) I would also add that you could simply listen and study what and who you hear.  It’s something I do often.  Dialects, along with accents, are easy enough for me to pick up (I’ve traveled around a good portion of the US, as well as living out here with a few people of different origins) however sometimes it takes that little extra OOMPH to get a good dialect/accent going.  Another good point of advice, is that once you have studied/listened regularly to a few accents/dialects…  PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. That’s how *I* do it anyway. :)  Although I am interested in hearing anything else anyone else has to add. Part of my ease of picking up accents and dialects is due to my years in French Immersion (Parents stuck me in it..  I stuck with it from Kindergarten to Grade 11, dropped it in Grade 12 when I dropped out of school).  Most of my teachers were from different French-speaking areas, so I acquired many different accents and dialects in French.  As well, my grandmother is a landed British Immigrant, having come here once she got married.  Actually, as a child, I used to have a twinge of an English accent. These days, most people think I sound American in some sense, or they can’t make out my accent.  I think basically, I’ve become so used to adopting accents that I’m pretty much a Heinz 57 of accents, dialects and I have a few sayings I’ve caught from all over as well. Just some insight from a little amateur such as myself :)

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