Accents: A Manual for Actors (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A reference manual that offers instruction on how to do more than 80 accents, from Albanian to Zulu. For students as well as actors, it includes an audio CD that allows the reader to hear the various practice exercises.

About the Author

Robert Blumenfeld has been narrating books for 19 years and has recorded 280 fiction and non-fiction works. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Limelight Editions (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879102691
• ISBN-13: 978-0879102692
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,558 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

151 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive and invaluable tool for actors, October 22, 1998

By	Stephanie Cowell (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

The range and usefulness of this book is quite astonishing. Not only does the text provide important sounds, stress and pitch and mouth/tongue positions for more than 80 accents of English as spoken all over the globe, but the author illustrates them with great versatility on the accompanying CD. I learned the difference between several Irish accents, heard a Cockney Yiddish and the same phrase spoken in several regions of the American South. It is an invaluable book for the actor or anyone who finds accents intriguing. A vibrant plus is the erudite and highly readable introductory essays to each language group which give a history of the country and its language, and include many examples of recordings and films in which you can hear fine examples of English spoken with that accent. I now understand why my Swedish daughter-in-law and Southern husband speak as they do,and am looking forward to perfecting my Dublin accent. A gift for anyone in theater or film, or anyone who is fascinated by the many ways our language can be spoken.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INCREDIBLE, February 24, 2000

By	Guy D. Wells (Hollywood) - See all my reviews

Wow, when I went looking for a book to help me learn how to do accents I had no idea I'd find this. It seems to cover just about every American accent you could want. The CD that is included with it is invaluable. Within just a few days I was speaking like an English Gentleman. I have been trying to get that accent down for years. I work in a popular cafe here in Hollywood. We get many customers from London. I can even fool them. They ask me what part I'm from. They are amazed when I turn the accent off. Then, just for kicks, I'll start talking like I'm from Kentucky or the Bronx. This book is great for everyone who wants to add spice to their personalities, not just actors. Did I mention I get more dates when I use the accents I learned from this book?

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very very useful!!!, March 12, 2001

By A Customer

Robert Blumenfeld has made a reference for almost every conceivable accent the modern actor may be called upon to employ. British RP and Irish accents are listed here, as are French and Italian. However, Blumenfeld also includes Lithuanian, Basque, Gullah, and a host of others.

This is a bold attempt for a 320 page book. Blumenfeld has moved away from the standard practice of using monologues or pages and pages of sentences written down in a bastardized phonetic structure to teach these accents. Such approaches do have their place, but a work of Blumenfeld's scope would be need to become a series of several volumes in order to employ such methods.

There are small number of phonetic representations, usually several sentences per accent. Blumenfeld's focus, however, rests upon correct placement of the vocal apparatus and detailed descriptions of how the accent will change any text into which it comes in contact. This is perhaps the most important feature of the book. It describes a process of understanding and working with your brain and vocal instrument instead of simply memorizing how to say words differently.

However, I must stress that this is a practical book, not an academic book on accent theory. Blumenfeld provides this information with an end result in mind. This book will teach you how to employ your desired accent. You can apply its principals to any monologue or scene, even improvise, and it will work.

The CD is also very useful. While the it does not have examples of every accent the book covers, it does have a fair amount. All of accent work is done by Blumenfeld himself, and therefore you can see how one person's voice can change dramatically through this process.