Description
Book SynopsisActors and other professional voice users need to speak clearly and expressively in order to communicate the ideas and emotions of their characters and themselves. Whatever the native accent of the speaker, this easy communication to the listener must always happen in every moment, onstage, in film or on television; in real life too.This book, an introduction to
Knight-Thompson Speechwork, gives speakers the ownership of a vast variety of speech skills and the ability to explore unlimited varieties of speech actions without imposing a single, unvarying pattern of good speech. The skills gained through this book enable actors to find the unique way in which a dramatic character embodies the language of the play. They also help any speaker to communicate to a listener with total intelligibility without compromising the speaker''s own accent; and to vary speech actions to meet different language needs.Supporting audio provides 116 tracks illustrating the exercises described in th
Trade ReviewDudley Knight is one of the most respected voice and speech teachers in North America and highly regarded internationally. -- Janet Madelle Feindel, Professor of Voice and Alexander, Carnegie Mellon University, and author of The Thought Propels the Sound
Knight’s clear writing and the accompanying audio files make for an engaging independent learning experience … I fully expect that Dudley Knight’s excellent new book will become the dominant text in the speech classes of American acting conservatories in the years to come. Though the book challenges conservative traditions in actor training, the skills readers/students acquire through its processes are invaluable and essential. * Voice and Speech Review *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface Introduction
Part 1: Making Sounds 1 Silence 2 The space that shapes sound 3 From silence to sound 4 The muscles that shape sound: the tool kit 5 “Phthong” shaping 6 Obstruents: obstructing the flow
Part 2: Finding Language 7 Exploring the limits: Outlandish 8 Obstruents within language 9 The physical actions of obstruents in language 10 The empty obstruent chart 11 Making your own language An interlude: a daily articulation warm-up
Part 3: Phonetics 12 Writing it down 13 Writing the consonants 14 Sound to word 15 Writing the vowels 16 American vowel phonemes 17 New vowels for diphthongs 18 All the vowel phonemes 19 Combinations 20 Mid-central offglide diphthongs 21 Polysyllabic words 22 Connected speech
Part 4: The skills of intelligibility 23 Formal and informal speech 24 Consonant skills 25 Vowel skills 26 Putting it all together Index
