Knight-Thompson

KTS Flloyd 2-small-24 — Warming up for Omnish

We are halfway through my final term of teaching voice in my current position, and this morning I had one of those magical moments that make teaching acting students so special.

Our first years are all taking turns at leading a short warm-up in class, and I’ve been at great pains to encourage them to be inventive, to mix and match exercises they may have learnt elsewhere, to make connections between their voice training and all their other classes and training. And boy, have they responded, with humming while doing squats and star jumps, different emotional sighs, singing rounds (including something from The Hunger Games), and an amazing range of tongue twisters – including “Benedict Cumberbatch”.

This morning, a student concluded his program by inviting everyone to speak in Omnish*, fully physicalising/embodying various emotional states as he called them out. Next, the instructions were to find your partner on the opposite side of the room and tell them how you felt in Omnish after the warm up leader called out various scenarios. The first was “pissed off”, the next was “you really love them, but you can’t actually touch them”. Then he selected one pair, who expressed their annoyance with each other (most vigorously!) until he sent in another actor to try and calm them down; then another walked past and attracted their attention, changing the dynamics of the scene until yet another entered and the mood and tone shifted again.

At this stage I suggested to the leader that he invite others to join in, one at a time, as if it were the situation of the monologue they are working on. They would begin speaking in Omnish and then slip into English whenever they felt like it.

So. Much. Fun. I would pay money to see that play.

*Omnish is the language, invented by Dudley Knight for Knight-Thompson Speechworks, which includes every sound that occurs in every language that is known to exist in the world at the present time.

How to Acquire an Accent

Flloyd Kennedy 30 September 2014 Performance Skills Training, speech accent training, accents, Knight-Thompson

Accents – believe it or not – are not easy. Let’s face it, if you’ve spent 20, 30, 40 years using your head and facial muscles and your tongue to speak words in a particular way, and tuning your voice to go up and down in pitch the way your friends and family do, it is going to take some degree of effort to retrain your ears and those muscles to do it differently on demand.

Dudley Knight and Phil Thompson have been working for many years to study the challenges of “Speaking With Skill” (Dudley’s book is a Goldmine). They devised a training methodology that integrates beautifully and effortlessly with any voice training system you care to name.

Last year I attended the KTS workshops in LA, “Experiencing Speech” and “Experiencing Accents”. I loved the rigour, the thorough practicality of the approach, the way it incorporates anatomical facts with imaginative play. So this year I went to New York and undertook the three-week teacher certification program. It was – as I’ve said before – intensely challenging, and utterly stimulating.

Below are the Class of 2014 photos. In the first one, a bunch of charming voice and accent coaches, in the second – we may look as if we are mucking about, but that is a Serious Exercise!

I am running the first, introductory workshop in Brisbane on 9th November (click for details). You’ll have the opportunity to learn about the principles and philosophy that underpin this approach to speech and accent training, as well as some of the exercises designed to allow you to learn ANY accent. Once you understand what’s actually involved in learning someone, or somewhere else’s way of using the language, you’ll be in a much stronger position to undertake the specific work you need to do.

Click here to contact me for more details, and to register your interest. And please do spread the word. This workshop is open to everyone who cares about their voice, communication and presentation skills and creative self expression.

Performance Skills Training, speech

How to Acquire an Accent Read Post »

The Magic of Omnish

How to Acquire an Accent