Cardiff Speech and Drama

Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus

Helen Love — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:07:09 +0000

I went to see Ralph Fiennes’ film of Coriolanus last night. This has been my favourite play since I saw Mappa Mundi performing it at the Sherman Theatre many years ago. The true to life portrayal of a flawed man who will not bow to convention seemed so modern, and the homo-erotic scenes between Coriolanus and Aufidius were extremely moving.

What I found particularly well played was Vanessa Redgrave’s relationship with her son which is at the heart of the play. The medium of film enabled the intimacy of the dialogue to be played right into the audience’s ear, with detailed closeups showing every pore and wrinkle. I have to admit that I found Redgrave’s diction a little soft and her clarity left a lot to be desired.

I particularly loved Jon Snow’s performance as he read the news, and I thought it worked very well. The naturalness of the politicians’ performances made the text completely accessible, although I didn’t see the need for the citizens to have Balkan accents.

This play was a long held secret for many years. It was with great trepidation that I went along to see Ralph Fiennes’ adaptation. It did not disappoint.

WHAT IF IT SNOWS?

Helen Love — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:52:01 +0000

If you have problems with transport due to the snow, don’t forget that you can still have your lesson via Skype. Just send me an email to let me know and then make sure that you have made a Skype contact request.

It is always better to use a wired connection for better sound and picture quality, and make sure that all other internet applications are closed down for the duration of the session.

I will be running sessions here in the house as long as Cardiff Buses are still running, so hopefully there will be no problems and I will see you for your sessions as usual.

BUT EVERYONE USES POWERPOINT IN PUBLIC SPEAKING!!

Helen Love — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:09:33 +0000

Do you want to be the best public speaker in your organisation? Would you like to be the one that everyone looks forward to hearing? Is public speaking a mystery that you would love to solve? If you want to learn how to engage an audience and perform like a professional there are just a few simple rules you have to follow.
The most important rule of all is “DITCH THE POWERPOINT!”. I am confronted every single day by people who have spent hours lovingly preparing a dreadful pile of densely written slides, but who cannot string a single sentence together when they are called upon to speak. Public Speaking is just that – it is speaking not reading. The clue is in the title! Writing an essay, putting it up on PowerPoint slides and then turning your back on the audience to read it to them is not public speaking. It will not get you noticed in the way that you want.
Even in schools and universities students are REQUIRED to use PowerPoint in their assessed presentations. That is like teaching young people that you must not wash your hands after visiting the bathroom! It just spreads bad practice.
PowerPoint is a visual aid which can be used most effectively when the point cannot be made in words. Again, the clue is in the title. It is an AID and it is VISUAL. Only use something that you cannot show any other way ie pictures, maps, diagrams. And only use them if you absolutely have to. Remember, you are the centre of attention, and not your visual aid.
Learn more about making the right impression on our Public Speaking page.

ROMEO AND JULIET ACT 2 PROLOGUE

Helen Love — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:43:05 +0000

One way to practice the clarity and fluency of your RP accent is to use a beautfully written text. I have recorded this sonnet taken from the very famous Shakespeare play as a tool to help you in improving your speech.

Romeo and Juliet
Act 2 Prologue
Chorus

Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie
And young affection gapes to be his heir;
That fair for which love groan’d for and would die,
With tender Juliet match’d, is now not fair.
Now Romeo is belov’d and loves again,
Alike betwitched by the charm of looks,
But to his foe suppos’d he must complain
And she steal love’s sweet bait from fearful hooks.
Being held a foe, he may not have access
To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear;
And she as much in love, her means much less
To meet her new beloved any where.
But passion lends them power, time means, to meet
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.

Find out more about accent reduction and learning RP

CONGRATULATIONS ON OUTSTANDING EXAM RESULTS

Helen Love — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:25:41 +0000

Congratulations to Alaw Davies who passed LAMDA grade 5 Acting with 95%. A fantastic achievement.
Find out more about LAMDA examinations here.

EXCELLENT LAMDA EXAMINATON RESULTS ONCE AGAIN FOR CARDIF SPEECH & DRAMA

Helen Love — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:48:19 +0000

Congratulations to all clients who took LAMDA examinations at the end of November. The results have just arrived and the pass rate is once again 100%. What is more, nearly 70% of clients passed with Distinction, which means that they had 80/100 or over. The highest mark was 95/100.

Everyone did so well and you should be proud of your achievements.

PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS – HOW TO CONTROL NERVES

Helen Love — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:35:42 +0000

The best way to control panic is to use deep abdominal breathing. Panic stems from the anxiety felt by people who are afraid of social interactions such as public speaking. It can cause a dry mouth, shaking hands, embarassing flushing and shallow breathing.
To learn abdominal breathing watch yourself in the mirror as you take a breath. Don’t let your shoulders rise up to your ears, but let your abdomen expand as if the air is going into your stomach. Fill with air like a balloon slowly expanding. Then slowly exhale, aiming your navel towards your spine as you squeeze the air out. Keep your throat open so that the breath is silent.
This slow, deep breathing will help to control the panic so that your anxiety will lessen. You will be able to cope better in the stressful situation. Find out more about social anxiety training and Public Speaking training

ACCENT SOFTENING FOR CHILDREN

Helen Love — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:57:37 +0000

Concerned parents often ask “Can you do accent softening classes with children?”. The answer is “Of course!”. Whereas as many formal accent softening courses are not designed with children in mind, the training offered by Cardiff Speech & Drama is ideally suited to children. In fact, much of the work which the adults are required to do is designed for children and just adapted for the adults. Speech exercises are often written by the children, and poems, prose, acting and public speaking texts are available for children from age 4. The LAMDA examinations take children from age 4 right through to adulthood, and provide an ideal goal towards which to work.

What is more, work on accent reduction can be done via Skype, so children from other countries can benefit from our 34 years of experience working with children. LAMDA have examination sessions across the globe, so candidates can work remotely and then take their examinations at a centre in their country.

In this video, Santino demonstrates one of the LAMDA examination pieces he has been working on. He is working on accent reduction and speech therapy as well as his examinations.

HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE ENGLISH “H” SOUND

Helen Love — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:40:39 +0000

A problem that many foreign learners have is making an authentic English /h/. Often the sound is produced as a velar fricative – that is a sound which is made by placing the back of the tongue close to the roof of the mouth in a similar position to saying a /k/. Air is forced through the space and down the middle of the tongue, rather like a Welsh CH. It is a much harsher sound than the English /h/ and is very striking to our ear.

The English /h/ is much softer and is made by approximating the vocal cords and breathing air through them.

In this video you can learn how to produce the sound.

For more information about accent reduction training please click this link

WHAT IS A MINIMAL PAIR?

Helen Love — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:12:27 +0000

One of the greatest challenges for non-native speakers of any language is to differentiate between minimal pairs. A minimal pair is a sound or a word that only differs from another sound or word in one respect; “big” and “pig” are a minimal pair because the word is only different by one phoneme. However, B and P are also a minimal pair because they only differ in the voicing quality of the phoneme. The movement of the mouth is the same, but B uses sound coming from the vibrating vocal cords, and P just explodes air. The differences may seem slight to a non-native speaker, but they produce a totally different word to a native speaker.

Other examples are:
“back” and “bag”, where the K and G sounds at the end of the word have the same mouth position but difference in voicing
“pill” and “kill” where the difference between the two phonemes is the place of articulation ie the sound is made in the same way but the P is made with the lips and the K is made with the tongue on the soft palate.

Being able to accurately produce the difference between minimal pairs will greatly enhance your communication and skill in pronoucing English.