One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.
Eleanor Roosevelt
archive
Here you will find former features from the Gallimaufry.
just ask amy: eight glasses a day?
Nobody knows where the “magic number” eight came from; it’s hardly an absolute rule! Personally, I believe you should make sure you’re adequately hydrated for your needs. If you have a large frame, maybe eight glasses daily really is the right number for you. If you have a small frame, you are likely to need less. You certainly don’t need to drink it in eight-ounce glasses at a time.
Speech pathologist Joanna Cazden, in her book How to Take Care of Your Voice: The Lifestyle Guide for Singers and Talkers, points out that the latest recommendation for voice health is to drink a half-ounce of water per pound of body weight. For “water” you can include all beverages except those containing caffeine or alcohol. Sipping slowly over time is recommended over gulping down your “ration” all at once.
Pay attention to your body and what it is telling you. If you are very physically active, if you live and work in a hot dry climate, you will probably need more water than if you are sedentary or in a cool moist climate. Lots of factors can make a difference. Of course you shouldn’t overdo it! Anything taken in excess, even something as generally benign as water, can be dangerous — even fatal! Even non-dangerous amounts can be more liquid than you need. If you feel bloated or find you have to take too many “bathroom breaks” during the day, maybe cutting down your water intake by a glass or two daily won’t hurt you. But since bloating and frequent urination can both be symptoms of medical problems, if you’re concerned about it, see your doctor. I’m not a doctor, and I can’t advise you on your personal medical issues.
Many nutritionists think that if you feel hungry, you are probably thirsty — and if you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. If that makes sense to you, and if you don’t feel like taking a water bottle with you wherever you go, a sensible way to make sure you don’t get dehydrated is to have one full glass of water with every meal, and try to fit in a few more during the day, perhaps whenever you take a break or have a snack.
If you read the New York Times, you may have come across an article in late April, 2008, with the headline, “Perceptions: Go Ahead, Put the Water Bottle Down.” Here’s an excerpt: “Drinking a lot of water is supposed to be healthy, but there is apparently little scientific support for the belief. A review of clinical studies has found no evidence that drinking eight glasses of water a day, the usual recommendation, is beneficial to a healthy person.… ”
Reader beware! If you didn’t have time to read and ponder the article carefully, here’s what you might have missed.
The Times article is “dumbed down” for the lay reader, and leaves out as much information as it leaves in — maybe more. Nothing is said about physically active people or professional voice users, and what specific benefits greater water intake might have for them.
The Times also doesn’t say how large or small the samples in the studies were!
What prompted the piece in the Times? A somewhat more detailed article in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
According to the ASN website, nephrology is “the branch of medicine that deals the kidneys, especially their functions or diseases.”
I don’t know anything about kidney function or disease, so I have no way of knowing how reliable the conclusions of the ASN are in that regard. The article does allow that various factors such as level of physical activity, or climate, might increase a person’s need for water. But careful reading makes it clear that the studies discussed in the ASN article were not studying, or even considering, the vocal folds (which you may know as the vocal cords).
Joanna Cazden says it so well that I can’t improve on it, so I’m just going to quote her:
There is good research that demonstrates that when the human body is dehydrated, the vocal folds are more vulnerable to fatigue, wear and tear, and/or bruising. Yes, it is good for the general public to stay on top of new developments in medicine and health care, but vocal athletes — which is what actors, singers, and public speakers, as professional voice users, are — are not the general public.
Voltaire once wrote, “Common sense is not so common.” (Le sens commun est fort rare.) So here’s some common sense for you:
To take care of your voice, take care of your health. Consult a doctor when you need to, see a voice specialist if you need one, get enough exercise, eat a balanced diet, and drink enough water to stay adequately hydrated!
just ask amy: r.a.q. (randomly asked questions)
Q: What's the difference between an accent and a dialect?
A: Dialect refers to a variant form of a language, as spoken by the members of a specific community. The community might be distinguished by geographical region, or perhaps by social class or ethnic origin. A dialect usually differs from the standard form of a language in its grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, as well as its pronunciation.
Some scholars consider the standard form to be simply one dialect among all those belonging to a given language; from that point of view, you might think of each dialect of a language as having its own rules, which may differ – a little or a lot – from that language’s other dialects.
Note that non-standard doesn’t mean sub-standard. If the members of a specific community communicate effectively with each other in a non-standard dialect, they are not speaking the standard dialect incorrectly, but their own dialect correctly.
The standard form is often spoken as a first language by only a minority of speakers of any form of that language; it is, however, likely to be understood by the majority, so it can be especally useful for communicating to a wider community, across dialect “boundaries.”
Accent refers solely to the pronunciation of a language (or dialect). If you speak aloud, you have an accent – it’s impossible to talk without one!
It is common to hear a standard form of language spoken with any number of accents, but non-standard dialects tend to have specific accents associated with them. So while one might easily hear French spoken with (for example) a Parisian accent, a Belgian accent, or a Swiss accent, it would be highly unusual to hear Cajun French spoken with a Provençal accent, or Puerto Rican Spanish with a Castilian accent, or Jamaican Patois with an Australian accent.
In theatre, film, and television (at least in the USA), these terms are sometimes defined differently. In performance jargon, accent may refer to pronunciation that derives from a language other than the one being spoken, and dialect may refer to regional pronunciation of the standard language. So actors may speak of a French accent for a role written entirely in English, but a Scottish dialect for a role written in standard English, but pronounced with a Scottish accent.
I usually use the first set of definitions; but what matters most is that all parties involved in a discussion can agree on terminology, and get on with the business at hand.
Q: What difference is there between the way you work with performers and with non-performers?
A: There is no significant difference when I am teaching how to distinguish and pronounce consonants and vowels (the “building blocks” of speech) with precision. Beyond that, it varies from client to client, not just performer to non-performer. For all of my clients, I shape our lesson plans with their previous experience and personal goals in mind.
Want to know more? Please for detailed attention to your accent, dialect, or other speech and text needs.
challenges
I’m sometimes asked what the hardest accent or dialect is to learn. Of course, there’s no one answer to this; it all depends on one’s frame of reference. But I can tell you what my most challenging assignments have been to date: Geordie, Ilson, and Fremont.
Geordie, strictly speaking, refers to the accent and dialect of Newcastle-on-Tyne, a city in the Northeast of England. But it is often used to refer to any accent from the larger area of Tyne and Wear (also called Tyneside), sometimes even extending as far south as Durham. Even lots of English people can’t get this accent right – it’s something of a local sport to make fun of those who try. Want some samples? Visit the BBC’s Fraudie or Geordie? page and click on the RealAudio links.
Amy was the dialect coach on Rutherford and Son, a play I did at the Mint Theatre, and she miraculously managed to teach the cast what is definitely the trickiest dialect I’ve ever had to learn! (Geordie, it’s called. Northeastern England.) She was thorough without being invasive, and her dedication was evident in the abundance of resources she made available to us. – Jurian Hughes, Performer
Now you can imagine what a challenge this would be for Americans! When I signed on to do the dialect design and coaching for Rutherford and Son by Githa Sowerby, I got lots of help from real-life Geordies, in addition to doing my book “larnin.” When we started rehearsals, none of the cast had ever heard a Geordie accent! (They’d never heard of Geordies, period.) We all worked hard on getting it right, and I think I can say it was worth the effort. (Despite opening on September 10, 2001, we played to full houses, who stayed for the full three-hours-plus at every show.)
Ilson is a corruption of Ilkeston, the largest market town in the Erewash Valley, which runs along the border of Nottinghamshire (to the east) and Derbyshire (to the west) in the English Midlands. D. H. Lawrence was born and raised in the valley, in the mining community of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. He wrote his first play, The Daughter-in-Law, in the local dialect, which is very specific. Most people in England have no idea how to do this accent. Don’t believe me? Check out the BBC’s Non-existent Nottinghamshire page and click on the RealAudio link to hear some Londoners take a crack at it.
Amy Stoller turned five New Yorkers into residents of a mining town in Britain’s Erewash valley for my production of D. H. Lawrence's The Daughter-in-Law – making an impenetrable dialect a seamless part of the actors – and comprehensible! Five Stars! – Martin L. Platt, Director
Of course I applied myself to my books, but more importantly, I received invaluable help from Nottinghamshire natives, including two genuine sons of Eastwood.
Well acted by an ensemble that has obviously worked hard and to good effect on the distinct (and difficult) Nottinghamshire accent … dialect coach, Amy Stoller. – Bruce Weber, The New York Times
Because the play was written entirely in dialect, with unfamiliar vocabulary, grammar, and syntax as well as accent, we knew we faced a special challenge – and so did our audience (we included an extensive glossary in the program). The cast rose to the occasion magnificently, and our audiences willingly joined us on our journey.
One can’t be other than awed by Amy Stoller as the dialect coach of this crew. It’s hard to be on stage for two hours and not falter a little putting such strange provincial sounds to English. I didn’t hear a single lapse. – Matthew Paris, XICCARPH: A Magazine of Prejudices
I was blown away by the dialect work in the production. I was in attendance at the evening performance of The Daughter-in-Law June 7th. It was a superb production. It was one of the finest examples of an entire ensemble of actors living in the same world vocally. Well done! – Lynnae Lehfeldt, Theatregoer
Fremont, New Hampshire is the birthplace of the Shaggs, one of the strangest groups in the history of rock-and-roll. I was asked to polish the accent work on The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, a musical based on their story.
Dialect coach Amy Stoller deserves a deep bow for keeping the whole cast in authentic-sounding accents, even when singing. – Robert Windeler, Back Stage
The cast had already worked hard on their accents, using original Shaggs recordings as their primary source material. My job was to break down the accent and guide the actors in keeping it authentic and consistent. In this case, the Shaggs tracks were clearly our most important resource, but I also found other sources to help confirm my own analysis of the sounds. I’m told we passed muster with some New Hampshire natives. Coming from the Granite State, that is praise indeed!
If you think helping American actors adopt an American accent can’t be too hard, visit this Shaggs fan site and click on the “Foot Foot” link. Now, imagine listening carefully to hours of similar material to figure out every nuance of the accent. (Want more? Amazon has samples of all the songs. Just click on an album cover and scroll down to find the links.)
Facing a challenge? Let me help! for detailed attention to your accent, dialect, or speech and text needs.
code-switching and you
No, it doesn't mean changing from 212 to 646! It’s something most people do naturally every day. But for you as an actor, code-switching provides a chance to refine natural ability into practical craft, and improve your chances of getting – and keeping – a wider range of parts.
Do you speak differently with your family from the way you do at work? With your friends at a ballgame? Do you use one accent or vocabulary set at job interviews and another when hailing a cab? You’re a code-switcher already! Now, how can you develop this skill further to help your career?
One way is to construct a “code-book” of accents and dialects with the help of a dialect coach. Your everyday speech is fine for everyday occasions. But what if you need to portray someone whose “everyday” is nothing like yours?
Good dialect work isn’t just changing a few vowels and consonants from the ones you’re used to. Pitch, placement, phrasing, and knowing how your character’s class or background affects his or her speech – all these play a vital part in telling your story. Yes, often the playwright builds a lot of that into the text. But in order to fulfill the work, you need to crack the code. It pays to learn what a writer’s language means, how to pronounce it, and what rules and resources there are for determining both.
That’s where I come in! Want to build your code-book? Need guidance for a particular project?
for speech and text coaching. I’ll see you through!
just ask amy: learning lines
Q: Sometimes I have trouble learning my lines. What can I do about this?
A: Ideally one learns one’s lines through ordinary repetition as one rehearses, relating them to the action of the play, and then nails them down word-perfect with the aid of a fellow actor, stage manager, rehearsal assistant, or friend some time before run-throughs begin. But we don’t always work under ideal circumstances.
The value of thorough text analysis, structural and non-structural, should not be underestimated. If you find that you are having consistent trouble in certain spots, you may need to work with your director to break through the block. Unless it is a very badly written play, there is probably a clue in the line itself, or in the surrounding text, that you are missing. Once you have a better understanding of the line’s meaning and purpose (and its relationship to the previous line, whether yours or someone else’s), the block should disappear.
Sometimes the problem is that a character’s lines are written in a rhythm very different from that of your own natural speech. In that case, you must first acknowledge the problem, and then will yourself to overcome it, using other methods suggested here. I don’t know of any magic solution to this one.
Try writing your lines down in longhand (typing and word-processing don’t have the same connection to memorization). Be careful to write them down exactly as the playwright wrote them, or you may memorize your lines incorrectly, compounding your troubles instead of eradicating them.
Sometimes your difficulty can be solved with an adjustment of physical business (perhaps your blocking, perhaps something you are doing with a prop) – but again, you need to work that out with your director. Do make sure that you are properly relaxed and centered, and that your weight is evenly distributed except when it absolutely needs to be otherwise. You’d be surprised how many line problems are solved by shifting your weight to the correct foot, or evenly to both!
Same for breathing – don't forget to do it! Although not all playwrights are as generous (and brilliant) as Shakespeare is in providing you with organic internal breathing cues (so that you can breathe in a natural place and come in on cue sans unwanted pause), in most plays you can usually find good places to set yourself up with an intake of breath – if you study your cues as thoroughly as your lines. That helps line memorization, too, by removing one more obstacle to making sense and keeping pace (rhythm, not speed) up … to say nothing of getting oxygen to your brain.
Don’t forget basic mnemonic devices. If your lines contain a series of words (or phrases) that you keep saying in the wrong order, try to find something you can use as a mental map to get you through from beginning to end. Do the words occur in alphabetical order? Or skip from A to D to B to E? Do they range from weakest concept to strongest? Relate to big objects, then small ones? From containers to the things contained? These mnemonics don’t have to make sense to anyone but you. Just pick some aspect of the words as words that you can relate to a consistent theme of some kind, whether spelling, grammar, rhetoric, number of syllables, flavor, smell, or whatever else may work for you.
If all else fails, here’s my Plan B for emergencies and tight time-frames.
Find a supremely patient friend to help you. Settle on a small section of text, read it through a few times (out loud), then hand the text to your friend. Your friend reads the cues, you say your responses. Your friend stops you every time you make even the slightest error, and you go back to the beginning of the section. Do this until you can get through the section without error two to three times in a row, or until your eyes bug out, whichever comes first.
Take a deep breath. Move on to the next section of the script. When you have pretty much mastered Section Two, start at the beginning of Section One and go all the way through Sections One and Two together.
Move on to Section Three. When you’ve mastered that, go back to the beginning of Section One, and go all the way through Sections One through Three together.
Take a deep breath, have a cup of coffee, eat a cracker or a piece of fruit, do some stretching exercises – take some kind of meaningful break. Don’t make it too long. Move on to Section Four; and so forth.
Make or buy your friend one heck of a nice dinner.
Take a full day off from memorization; your brain will need time to assimilate all the new material you’ve asked it to accommodate.
Go through the whole exercise again the day after that. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much you retain that you were sure you’d never learn.
This system is tedious beyond belief, but it has never failed me.
Once you have a reasonable grasp of your lines, you can cement them further by running through them in different accents and character voices; singing them; going over them while pottering around the room, standing on your head, or walking on a treadmill; or having your friend cue you with only the last five words of every cue line and no intervening text. Make up other games as you like. This should help prevent the following exchange from ever occurring in rehearsal:
You: But I knew my lines backwards last night.
Director: And that’s exactly how you said them today.
Want specific guidance for a particular project? for speech and text coaching.
just ask amy: punctuation
Q: Sometimes when I read a script, I find that the playwright hasn’t punctuated my lines the way I was taught at school. For example, there will be periods (full stops) where I would expect to see commas (pauses). What should I do about this?
A: Punctuation rules differ from era to era, country to country, and playwright to playwright.
Some playwrights punctuate according to rules for written composition (of their era), in which case, it’s useful to remember that spoken English differs from written English – sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. (Then, too, you must consider what kind of English the play is written in: American English, British English, Irish English, South African English, and so forth. Usage rules may differ.)
Other playwrights use punctuation as a (necessarily imperfect) way to indicate the intonation patterns – the “music” of the speech – they hear in their “mind’s ear” as they write each character’s lines.
We don’t know how Shakespeare punctuated his manuscripts. Editors have been changing the spelling and punctuation of the quartos and folios for centuries now, based on their pet theories and whatever rules of grammar they themselves grew up with. Even the best editors can only hazard an educated guess. They can’t know for sure.
If you try to apply 21st-century rules about commas when reading a Restoration script, my prediction is that you’re in for a headache in short order!
George Bernard Shaw drops apostrophes in common contractions (such as “dont”), and uses s p a c i n g instead of italics for emphasis.
When Harold Pinter chooses an em-dash ( – ) he means something different from an ellipsis ( … ); but I’ve seen plays by other writers where no such pattern can be easily discerned.
(By now you should have caught my drift, so I’ll spare you my thoughts on parentheses.)
My advice is to consider carefully what rules were used in creating the text you are working on; indeed, everything you know about the playwright and the play. That will help you determine whether (for example) a period indicates a change of thought, an intake of breath, a full stop, or something else altogether. Then act accordingly – and break a leg!
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