
MFA Voice Studies- The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
MEd ESL, French, Spanish- University of Oregon
Naomi does this with physical work to incorporate the accent into the body. She likes to first establish a connection to the overall feel of the accent, and loves teaching actors techniques to free themselves to play when first approaching an accent.
The next step in learning a dialect is listening. Naomi provides many different listening sources, and listens with the actor to create a framework for what they’re hearing.
The final step is physical familiarity. She teaches actors to consider their vocal tools as any other muscle, and sentences as a kind of free choreography. Once the muscles are familiar with the connections and transitions of an accent’s speech, the actor will feel comfortable and free. She tailors warm ups and exercises at every stage of the process to improve on these areas.
Naomi’s linguistic background helps her listen to and break down any voice or accent, and her teaching experience helps her communicate the information in an unintimidating way which feels achievable.