KIRSTY STRAIN

Given that a young person's voice is growing and changing before reaching puberty, vocal production work is not necessarily advised at this stage. However, young actors may be asked to perform in an accent other than their own and as such, may require coaching. I work with children as young as eight to help them achieve their chosen dialect. The techniques are much the same as working with adults but the sessions are tailored to make it engaging and fun for the young person and to help them find the sounds and changes in mouth movement with ease. They will be coached in the main vowel and consonant positions and accurate speech and intonation patterns of their key target accent. In addition, they will be given fun handouts and helpful audio-visual aids. The target accent can also be applied directly to any audition or performance text.

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Dialects Offered Include: American-Standard, American-California, American-New York, American-Southern States, Australian, Central Scottish, Cockney, Edinburgh, Essex, Fife, Glasgow, Highlands, Liverpool, London, Northern, Scottish-Standard, Yorkshire, RP and RP Varieties.

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Topics Covered Include:

• Regular practice of key tongue, lip and mouth positions on target vowels and consonants

• Key vowels of the target accent

• Key consonants of the target accent

• Practice material

• Transposition of target accent into audio/visual assist for auditions and castings

• Intonation patterns of the key target accent.

• TV and audio-visual examples and recommendations

• Skype sessions