Nailing The American Accent – Course & Recording Session

With Accent Coach CARTER BELLAIMEY  (BROADCHURCH, THE GET DOWN, NETFLIX) 
6 March 2018
The Umbrella Rooms, 239-241 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8EH

£167 (+£3 card processing fee)

Please note: the dates for this course has changed. 

We’re really excited to release our new course; Nailing The American Accent – Course & Recording Session.

Always wanted to land an American role? Well it’s another year and another chance to land that guest role in an American film or series. And with our help, you’ll ready for the call.

This is a four week course consisting of 3 hour weekly sessions ending in a professional recording session, where you get the chance to record material for your Spotlight page and/or Voicereel.

Listen to some of voice clips from our previous courses by clicking on the headshots below!

 

 

 

Course details below.


This 4-week course will explore the ‘General American’ Accent and how actors can learn to speak and act in the accent without self-consciousness or exaggeration. The course will be a combination of group work and individual instruction, with special focus on the physical actions needed to speak comfortably and accurately. Key exercises and activities will be focused on the sound, rhythm, and oral-posture shifts found in the accent and show how these shifts can help your acting work, rather than hinder it.

This course will be rigorous and require plenty of work and practice outside of the weekly sessions.  (It will also be great fun too!)

This course is limited to 12 actors only. 

Dates
Tuesday 6th March
Tuesday 13th March

(One week break)                                                                                                        

Tuesday 27th March
Tuesday 3rd April
Saturday 7th April (recording session)

Times
Workshop times: 6.30pm – 9.30pm
Recording session time TBC

Week One – The Basics
What do we need to do to sound ‘Generally American’? Also, what does that even mean?  We explore the Top Ten Giveaways for actors working in US accents, and how to avoid them at all costs. This session will have a  technical focus, building knowledge and skills that will then be applied to text and/or improvisation.
 
Week Two – Step-Up
In this session you will continue to apply and develop what you have learnt so far through a lot of text and/or improvisation work. You will also begin individual work on the speech/monologue that you would like to record.
 
Week Three – Text & Technique
Speeches/monologues are to be memorised for this session and ready to be rigorously worked through.

Week Four – Performance Conditions
How do you keep doing good accent work while acting well? What do you do when everything goes wrong? In this last workshop session, you will have monologues performance ready for the recording session and will be coached in not only the technicalities of the accents, but how the accent work can help your acting choices. 
 
Week 5 – Recording Session
Actors will have a 20 minute professional recording session where they will record a 30-45 second speech that matches their casting and showcases their General American Accent. This will then be professionally edited and sound balanced, and sent to you within 7 working days for you to use as a professional voice clip  on your Spotlight page or as part of a voice reel. 

Carter Bellaimey is a US-native Dialect Coach based in London. He has a BFA in Acting from Rutgers University and a MA in Sociocultural Linguistics from Goldsmiths University. He has been coaching professionally since university where he trained in standard and regional UK dialects at Shakespeare’s Globe and has been working with clients in London since moving back two years ago. He specialises in teaching actors from the UK American dialects (General American, Southern States [Rhotic/Non-Rhotic], New York, Boston, and The Midwest). He has coached actors from TV series such as Broadchurch and The Get Down; and theatrical productions such as War Horse (Lincoln Center), Thriller (UK National Tour), Dream Girls (West-End Premier), Antigone (The National Theatre).

Please take a minute to read our Terms and Conditions

“The best thing about this workshop is how well Carter catered to everyones specific needs and flaws when it came to the accent. He taught us how to sound natural and showed us examples of how there isn’t one specific way of doing a General American accent. He boosted my confidence and a timely American audition came just as the workshop came to an end. Actors Ascend always provide good workshops with substance that sharpen your skill set :)”

KIKE BRIMAH

“Thanks to Ascend Actors for running this. The course was useful and enjoyable, with a supportive atmosphere created by the team (producer, tutor, and students). The recording session at the end was great to have as a focus throughout without being a pressure or distraction. Definitely recommend. “

EVE PARMITER