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  • 1.  Cabaret German Accent

    Posted 09-19-2018 10:27
    Good Morning,

    My HS is producing Cabaret this fall and I need to get my students to do a German accent. They're trying really hard but its coming out French/Italian/Spanish/everything but German! Any tips for getting it right or videos we could be watching. The other director wants to cut the accent if it doesn't sound good and I think its important for us to keep it so I'll take any ideas! Thanks

    Jordanne 


  • 2.  RE: Cabaret German Accent

    Posted 09-19-2018 20:48
    Hello! Double major in Drama & German here :)

    As with many accents, German is most recognizable by the cadence and melody - they use fewer "notes" in their speech than Americans (and English use FAR more notes than Americans do!).

    Give your students a few key consonants to work on:
    V is pronounced F (or W if they're from the far south)
    W is pronounced V
    TH is pronounced S or D
    P is softened, and sound more like F

    And have them try their lines with no inflection for a runthrough or two, to see if that stops them from sounding so French.

    ------------------------------
    Emily Coalson Stamets
    CA State Chapter Board
    Life coach for theatrical women & grown up theatre kids.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Cabaret German Accent

    Posted 09-20-2018 18:36
    Hi,

    I would highly recommend you contact Adam Michael Rose at accentfun5@gmail.com. Adam is an EdTA member who often teaches in Lincoln, and many state conferences. He is excellent with kids and is able to do Skype/long distance workshops. 

    When I bring him in for my shows he goes way beyond the accent basics and gives the kids an excellent background of the region, the culture, and the people, as well as shows many examples of the accent/dialect.

    ------------------------------
    Krista Carson Elhai
    CA Educational Theatre Association, President
    Theatre Director
    Claremont HS
    An International Baccalaureate World School
    Claremont CA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Cabaret German Accent

    Posted 09-30-2018 22:24

    Hey There Jordanne!

    While bringing in someone to work with the students personally would be ideal, if you can't find someone to come in to coach I would recommend David Alan Stern's Acting with an Accent. I used his tapes for other accents when I was in high school and in college. It's incredibly in-depth dialect study that starts with general placement and moves to specific sound changes.

    Another resource I would recommend would be the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA). This has speakers of various ages/regions using the same text and you can listen to how real people speak with these dialects.

    Hope this helps!



    ------------------------------
    Nate Netzley
    Freelance Director/Stage Manager
    New York NY
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    Original Message


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