Advanced accent coaching | Watch me coach an actress on her American accent

hey everyone welcome back thank you so much for being here today you are going to watch a session where I coach one of my students on her pronunciation she is very Advanced she has a lot of experience working and practicing English and today you are going to see how I give her feedback and the things that I look for when working with my students actually this is part two of the conversation that we had in part one she shared her story and experience so please make sure you watch it as well I'm going to link to it below and if you like pronunciation whether you are a coach or a student I'm sure you are going to love this episode you can also listen to it on the podcast on the influence a podcast I'm going to link to it in the description below so thank you so much and let's watch our session hi again thank you so much for joining us if you missed it last week we had a conversation with my Myra one of my students she lives in New York City and she has a really intriguing and interesting experience with her English Journey so she shared a little bit about her story and some of the Transformations that she went through over the last few years so if you missed that episode we're going to link to it below but today we are going to focus on pronunciation coaching so we're going to do one-on-one coaching and I'm going to give Myra some notes based on the conversation that we had and then we'll practice it specifically and you can learn from that too and of course practice with us I'm going to mention some sounds and elements of speech and I have a lot of videos teaching those things so if this is all new to you go to the description and click on the links and check it out so you can go deeper and learn more are you ready no but let's do it [Music] okay so first of all let me ask you before I give you my notes what is the thing that you feel you still struggle with when it comes to pronunciation I feel that I'm exactly like I I sometimes get lazy on their feel versus the height e right and I like my laziness default is like the Israeli which is somewhere in the middle but it's not it's not like okay um it's not like it doesn't have the same quality as we have in English sometimes I catch myself uh say fell instead of feel uh and it's and you know um when it's really like shorty it's really Phil then I'm like oh no that was not what I was saying let's just resay it okay um but a lot of times I just let it like if it's if it's the middle a e what kind of eat then just let it slide and like I'm like okay they'll get it as long as it's understood and depends on the context but when it comes to acting specifically yeah then it's not good no no no and this is where I like all right let's feel it yes let's make it more into a habit so you don't have to worry about it and that you don't have to think about it right yeah good anything else that you notice like I want to say my my eyes sometimes your eyes and father yeah sometimes um like it's less of an issue for me I don't think it's a it's an issue I think you're awesome and your ah are pretty consistent okay so no I guess you tell me okay so um we are going to start with the E and A I do think it's every now and then I do notice that sometimes the E is not high enough so it's actually less about the lips and more about the tongue position okay so we'll talk about that and I also think that the a sound is sometimes not specific right the it could be a little high or too low like more of a schwa sound and that as well we want to make it crisp and again for those of you who are like what are you talking about she sounds amazing she does but as an actress it's important for her to have to be very clear about these things and to be able to control those because then it's going to prevent from her to feel free when she's working on a roll and obviously she is so you know like this is this is something practical that she needs but also I think it would be interesting for you to listen to a coaching session and notice those nuances because when you can start hearing it when we are working on it it's going to be easier for you guys to work on it as well so um we'll talk about the Sheep but another thing that I want to point out that I'm noticing two things and it's not just about specific sounds it's about your overall speech sometimes it feels to me like you tend to sink into your down in your voice to a very low note where it might make you sound a little less clear okay so it's not about the articulation of the sounds but because it's a combination of the articulation and something else that you're doing that I'll talk about in a second but sometimes you drop really low and and because of that yeah so your your pitch goes really low and it's great for certain situations like you know if we're having an intimate conversation then it's totally fine but of course on the stage it could affect right um how your voices carried so that is one thing that I want you to pay attention to because when you speak your voice we do want to use our voice on our Optimum pitch level so Optimum pitch level is where your voice is more comfortable in and usually it happens when just yeah say so see how high this is hello hello yeah and you use that voice you use this pitch here but sometimes especially like you know I noticed it at the beginning of our conversation that you went um a lot lower okay interesting okay like you just did now interesting yeah which is again it's not a bad thing it's a it could be a conscious choice but I want to make sure that like it's not something that is preventing you from being heard so for example let's take the okay interesting and move it up here okay interesting okay interesting yeah and what if you kind of like try to use your head voice a bit more and project your voice a bit more so it's not hiding an internal right like it's going outward a bit more okay interesting okay interesting hey hey you see how it's still like inside hey it's it's as if you're almost grabbing here hey hey what's up what's up hey hey right no now try imagine as if there is someone across the street from you and you want to grab their attention I want you to find that resonance here hey hey hello go to your North wow yeah right so when you bring your sound to your nose that's when you start using this the resonance here your facial your mask resonance hello hello hey hey hey hey hey that's mine that's mine don't take it don't take it yeah exactly right like your voice becomes a little brighter when you use this and not just here I just want to make sure that you don't substitute this voice with confidence do you know what I mean like that you don't perceive like this is how I'm gonna be perceived because you can speak up here and there is this uh thing about women you know like having that you yourself talked about not having the oh wanting to sound too childish but when you use your voice it's it's okay to kind of like bring it up here especially when you want to be heard okay so that's one thing something to think about and it's mostly about you know like you you using the voice the second thing is that um I think that you have an amazing grasp of Rhythm right you being an actress and also living in the US for so many years sometimes I feel like you like to reduce a lot of things and sometimes even the the the the keywords so in a sentence we have words that we tend to reduce and words that we stress and the words that we stress are longer and louder and higher in Pitch just like the primary stress and award and I want you to play with the Rhythm give yourself more permission to stretch some of the words that are stressed when you're saying because sometimes it feels like you're reducing those words as well why don't you tell me um a bit about your morning routine what what usually happens what do you usually do when you wake up in the morning okay a lot of things to take she's on the spot right now some usually waking up very early um like 5 30 a.m wow um because I'm going to work out at seven and I have to commute to Midtown um so I wake up I get dressed I don't usually eat okay um you know do the morning stuff um sometimes I grab an apple but that's pretty much it and then I walked to the subway good so I I think I I'm realizing that that tendency of dropping or reducing happens at the end of a sentence so you both drop in pitch and also you kind of like lower your voice and and reduce those words like doing those morning stuff right here the stress word is mourning but it didn't get the the presence that it needed got it doing all those morning stuff because I'm gonna this is yeah you're already thinking about the next thing right right so make sure you're not swallowing it okay and it's not a problem with the sounds it's not it's just like articulation and awareness just being present until the end so not doing the morning so like doing the morning doing the the morning stuff doing the morning stuff yeah so sustain the stressed word maybe use a little bit more pitch if needed depends on you know like again if it's a casual conversation we're not going to go high in Pitch when we stress something but you want to prolong that word the stress word let's keep going so I'm going to the subway I usually take the cube to 34th Street uh and walk to the gym good so make sure you don't swallow at the end walk to the gym yeah sustain it I walk to the gym and I think again it's both the voice and also kind of like the word and that right yeah so stay like remember that the ending sometimes has the most important information for us so make sure you don't kill it it's don't turn off the switch on your voice and um right and Clarity at the m is also important yes exactly I need to hear it until the end okay later today we'll practice a bit more like free speaking with feedback now let's talk about the Sheep ship you want to practice it and again I think I think you're already there you're already there we just need to tweak it a little bit let me hear the word sheep sheep good that's it like you know and I think you need to focus maybe your focus is too much on this because just how you explain it to me maybe it's just about like really thinking that this part for the e sound the tongue goes up right the body of the tongue almost touches the upper palate e e good now I want you to not move your lips at all as if you don't want someone to read your lips as you say sheep sheep good I want you to know that you can fully pronounce it without doing this okay sheep sheep reach reach season season good that was really good now we will add now because we do want to pull the lips a little bit but I wanted to see that you're capable of doing it now say season season reach reach sheep sheep complete complete completely completely good reality reality reason reason sneak sneak sneak peek sneak peek good um you know what's tricky um trick or treat trick or treat why is that so tricky these are two of them two of them right I know I know it's a great tongue twister because we have the lacks e and then the tense e let's practice the lacks if for a sec Rich simple simple Vision Vision go back to simple simple right your tongue is a little too low you want to raise it a little bit not some some but Sim simple raise your tongue even more simple right so you're attempt look at my tongue it is slightly higher than what you're doing right now yes simple simple that's really good delivery delivery good keep make the L is a little lighter yeah delivery right keep the tip of the tongue behind the teeth delivery delivery it's a little too heavy though delivering good delivery delivery now the a sound let's make it more specific delivery delivery delivery delivery I'm waiting for a delivery I'm waiting for delivery it what happened it was the end of the word the end of the sentence so that's the habit of just reducing it right sustain it and then your pronunciation will be there for you I'm waiting for a delivery I'm waiting for a delivery hahaha beautiful okay good um I finished it yesterday I finished it yesterday good so again I'm hearing finished finished which totally works right but if we want to fine tune it think as if you bring the sides of your tongue a little higher listen to the difference close your eyes that was good though a lower your tongue just a bit yes finish finish finished it finished it not for finished finished exactly don't be so afraid of moving it away from the neutral e sound it is pretty close but it's far enough I had because of the Hebrew I'm trying not to say finish I know and it's like I default to finish exactly like fish you're distinguishing it right quite a lot and as a result it is not that crisp clear sound which is like when I was in acting school I remember that my speech teacher would always describe the e sound as this bright crisp clean air you know the bright ear of English and I was like I had that it has to be bright I have to make sure it's bright and crisp right and I don't know it worked for me because I could like I could kind of like pinpoint it eh that's it it's so subtle yeah it's so close this is why it's it's challenging good finished finished simple simple Vision Vision image image good both of them both vowels are e image image right image image good the image the image look at that image look at that image good I imagined it I imagined it right imagined I imagined it yes I imagine that good this really helps like the hands right I immense stress and then you drop with your internet with your pitch at the end it's a simple Mission it's a simple mission mission it's a simple Mission not me somewhere in between mission mission imagine like a cog wheel here right that you just turn and that actually affects your tongue and as you turn it forward your tongue moves forward and all you need to do is just turn it a little bit yes right but the raise the tongue a bit more yes like this good what was the word that we were working on Mission thank you mission mission good okay let's compare the two sounds sheep ship sheep ship reach Rich reach Rich least list least list list you want to be able to stretch it yeah yeah it's almost like it's changed like it starts like an average switch into like we wanna yeah yeah I see what you're saying and yes if that helps then use that list okay now let's do something interesting let's go through the Forefront vowels okay set listen close your eyes yes sit sit set set sat sat right the Forefront vowels seat sit set sat [Laughter] sit sit sit no C Okay C sit sit good that was really good set good set again okay it's just a seat sit set set good um Peak pick pack pack pick raise your tongue a bit more Peck peek pick yeah take it from the e sound not from the a peek pick good notice her pee so good aspirated p Peak pick Peak pick oh good Peck pack pack pack good make a bit better distinction between them Peck pack pack pack Peak pick Peck pack pack good all right shake shake shake shake shake shake it out yeah okay um let's look at a few phrases it's a cheap computer chip it's a cheap computer chip right give me that spreadsheet give me that spreadsheet that was good I'll try to trick you trick you um trick or treat trick or treat good we went trick-or-treating we went chicken uh trigger trigger we went trick or reload we went we went trick-or-treating trick-or-treating trick-or-treating tricker trick or trick or treating trick or treating yes that's it trick-or-treating trick-or-treating right so you know you want to imagine as if it's different colors or think of a ladder inside your mouth and there is the high uh part of the ladder and then like a lower part where you kind of like switch between the two e e a you want to be able to tap into it on command e e good yeah a trick treat trick treat good do it again trick treat good trick or treat I'm like I'm almost like because the the E like it's like trek trek you know like it's almost like almost a track yeah sometimes yeah almost like well it's it's still far from track but it's closer to an end than words like bid bed right right let's let's do those four bead bead bid bid yeah bead wait hold on bid bid that's good bid you know it you have it yes bid bid again bead bid bead bid bad bad bad now bid bed bid bad bid bed bad bed bad right so I actually the third one the second one yes he did okay so now the I and the E right bid bed bed bed bed bed bed bed bed bed good now your bed is closer it's closer to the ah oh it's too open bring it back to egg closer to an Israeli ah bed bad bad bad bad bad bad that was good okay now let's take a break from sheep ship and work on the cup sound okay that is right there in the middle between the ah and the ah and just for fun we'll practice the three eyes even though I don't think it's a challenge but I think it's gonna be fun for everyone to practice with us okay we're good do you want more water uh later okay all right so the a sound for everyone you know you're going to be practicing with Myra and me um is the open a sound we've already practiced it as in the word cap cap happy happy last last passionate passionate the back ah sound usually spelled with the letter you the the co the ah the father's out of the father a either a sound or a lot of times we will find it with the letter O like coffee and job office office exactly so that is placed all the way in the back ah nice office office job job opportunity opportunity good follow follow um and honest honest so that's the back ah and the front ah and then in the middle we have the cup sound cup cup nice so a cup sound is like a schwa sound but it's always stressed therefore it's going to be a little higher in pitch and a little longer and the draw the jaw is a bit more open uh good cup fun fun love love good so sometimes you tend to swallow it a little bit oh right so like I think you um you hold some tension here love love yes good and notice that the L sometimes takes over the vowel when the L is at the beginning make sure it's not too dark when it's a little lighter because when it's heavy when we add tension it will affect your vowels after so this is great for dark owls because we want them to affect like in the word well well nice pool pool feel good perfect but then if we um if there's a lot of tension for the L as in the word love right if we use love love the the cup is going to be affected the UN sound okay love love [Laughter] that's good lust lust good lucky lucky good I'm lucky I'm lucky good so now let's talk about the three uh sounds lack lack luck luck good lack luck lock not bad do it again lack of something good luck luck luck lock the door lock the door good and when you pronounce the a sound make sure you don't allow too much air to come out through your nose you don't have a nasal voice but with the a sound you do get to some sound comes out it's very common with the a sound to make it nasal because the tongue position ah kind of like if you're not blocking the nasal passages what will happen is that air is going to come out and it's going to sound a little nasal cat can't right black so just be conscious of it again it's a choice there's no problem with it whatsoever but be conscious that it does sound a little different when you say lack lack right your voice changes because of the a sound so let's see if we can stay consistent with the voice just for the sake of practice lack lack luck luck lock beautiful stack stuck stock stack stuck stalk good stack stuck stock oh stack stock good so how do we keep the form even if we go faster and that's the thing right like that's the thing that we talked about before where sometimes because you want to go faster the pronunciation compromises a little bit for those key words so how do we keep the form because you know how to make the sounds so it's not a question of pronunciation it's a question of commitment to making those sounds always even if the word is not fully stressed does that make sense so it's like only these specific positions that should require your focus when it comes to working on things especially on specific roles and and you know when you when you work on tax and in auditions this should be your focus because all the rest is you know it's already there for you right yeah um now let's do again like this free speaking and I'll give you General feedback it is so I like let's just a round of applause because because it's so hard I know you're like you know you're thinking about it and but but let's try tell me about what you do at work uh okay um so in my high tech position um my current position is a senior customer success manager cool I help customers so this is a cup sound customers customers right so like it needs to be a bit more forward customers right you want to shoot the voice forward customers customers customer success customer success senior customer success manager senior customer success manager good senior senior right so we have the high e here and the Nashua senior senior good senior customer success manager good I help them Reach their goals good with our product so we're using our good make sure that you don't swallow the word product with our product with our product right sustain it you can keep your voice going as if like we do want to drop at the end but not completely until the word product is lost product right because then it's it's it's a matter of so I help them Reach their goals with our product with our product our product yes okay keep going so what does that mean exactly like what is your day-to-day um so I work with the company's most strategic customers strategic strategic t t strategic strategic no that's a heat say it again strategic strategic good so I work with a company's most strategic customers right and when there is a stressed word like this one then what we want to focus on is the primary stress of that word that's what we are focused on really right strategic strategic right and unlike Hebrew that is a you know where every syllable receives the same beat in English you know the there are some syllables that are longer and some syllables that are shorter and in strategic then the t is the primary stress strategic strategic good um and help them analyze their own goals and Implement our product to achieve those goals good to achieve those goals to achieve those goals right so don't drop all the way at the end to achieve those goals yeah yeah it's like almost like it's not an ex exclamation mark but it's like to achieve those goals period yeah like it's like I just how I imagine it to help me get to yeah yeah yeah yelling you know it's like right you're not yelling you're never at The Verge even of it's a statement right like it's it's there like the idea of putting in a full stop at the end a period right um also not a question mark right and at the same time not dropping the ending completely okay um good well done how are you feeling tired you're amazing it's great it's it's really helpful obviously I'm gonna go back to it and listen to it and practice um because these are the things where I catch myself like that didn't sound right but I don't know how to fix it yeah yeah so just to wrap up like the main thing that we talked about today uh we talked about the tense eat that actually is really good you just need to be more consistent and I think you're too focused on this and just focus on the tongue right so maybe some of those tongue transitions from just to kind of like get more specific about the positions the ear needs to be cleaned up a little bit okay whisper crispier exactly and then the cup sound we talked about the cup sound that it needs to shoot forward a bit more we talked about the L the light L that could be a little lighter sometimes it has that tension here that affects the vowel after okay um and then we also talked about making sure that you're not swallowing the yeah the ending the content words at the end because if it's a function word go ahead and swallow those words right like the vowels are reduced anyway but the vowels in content words even if they're not stressed they're not reduced to a schwa so we want to make sure that we are and you know how to make those vowels so I'm not worried about that and then the voice connects with the ending you know like use the full range of your voice right whether not just the chest but like you can also explore more of this area especially you know we tend to go down when we are nervous when you know like there's a lot to manage and all of that so just be conscious of it there's nothing wrong with it but again like you want to choose how to do it and not it happening to you without your awareness 100 yes yes Mara thank you so much it was great and we don't get to it in person that often so like that's this is lovely you can follow her on Instagram and uh we're gonna link to it below and I'm excited to see what's coming up for you and good luck in the show thank you yeah thank you come to New York if you're I know right have to go see this show okay I'm gonna book a ticket thank you so much thank you thank you thank you again Myra for this beautiful conversation and session thank you for being courageous and brave to practice with me and to share everything that you had to share and again if you haven't watched our initial conversation about her journey be sure to watch it I'm going to link to it in the description below and if you have ever practiced your pronunciation let me know in the comments I would love to know what you did and how you did it and for now that's it have a beautiful beautiful rest of the day and I will see you next week in the next video bye

Channel: Accent's Way English with Hadar

Views: 26,373

Keywords: hadar shemesh, accent coach, american accent, accent reduction, actors accent coach, accent coaching, pronunciation coaching, pronunciation coaching, english pronunciation coaching, English coaching pronunciation, english pronunciation coaching, english pronunciation improve, advanced pronunciation, advanced pronunciation practice, advanced pronunciation exercises, advanced pronunciation in english, speaking english advanced pronunciation, advanced american english pronunciation

Id: 2Rd4DODMS7Q

Length: 34min 54sec (2094 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 17 2023