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Helpful Links
For Accent Reduction
Helpful for Accent Reduction and learning
a Standard British English Accent/RP.
• Videos of sample sounds. This can be a very useful resource from the BBC - with little videos for each sound. Click the 'video' link, scroll down to the chart of phonetics symbols below and click the symbol to see the video. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/
• Sample RP Speakers. Try
here for BBC Newsnight interviews, also in video. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/newsnight_interviews/default.stmAt the time of writing Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley had interviews
which would be good for RP. Plus Attenborough (in more interviews
list at bottom) and Nick Clegg.
• Sample RP Speakers. American
interviewer Charlie Rose has interviewed a whole variety
of guests - including many with RP British accents that
you can listen to and imitate. Try his website www.charlierose.com.
The site is huge with people from every possible
background - so I would recommend searching for interviews
with: Tom Aikens (chef), Martin Amis (novelist), Eileen
Atkins (actress), Richard and David Attenborough (actor
and TV presenter respectively), Kenneth Branagh (actor),
Helena Bonham Carter (actress), Daniel Craig (actor), Ralph
Fiennes (actor), Helen Fielding (author of Bridget Jones),
Michael Gambon (actor), Emma Thompson (actress), Kate Winslet
(actress). All these are reliably RP - although they may
be interviewed alongside people who aren't...
• Sample RP Speakers. The
BBC has dozens of interviews with native RP speakers on
its website - www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews.
Look out for Anthony Minghella (director), Tony Benn (politician),
Roald Dahl (writer), Jennifer Saunders (comedian). NB THIS
WILL ONLY WORK WITH REAL PLAYER AS BBC HAS NOT UPDATED FILE
FORMAT!
For Actors
These links are useful for Actors wishing
to adopt specific accents for a role or audition.
Accurate and precise audio samples are the first
stage towards researching an accent. Factors such as age,
generation, exact location and gender can all have a strong
effect on an accent, and individual speakers can have peculiarities.
Ideally you want to listen to a very rich selection
of appropriate material, with 3-4 very close matches to work
in detail on. These sources will help.
•
British Library Accent Resource - This is an amazing
resource of over 25,000 recordings of different types. Great
for sourcing a rich variety of accent material.
Other Useful Links
• Central
School of Speech and Drama - MA in Voice Studies. The
course on which all Speak Easily's coaches were trained.
This one year, full-time MA in Voice is an
internationally recognised benchmark in Voice Teacher training.
Many of the world's leading Voice Specialists have been
trained or have taught on this course. It is the minimum
qualification you should expect from someone you are paying
to help you with your voice, speech or accent.
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