Help With A Southern Drawl
Help With A Southern Drawl
ThatTheatreKid.
Swing Joined: 8/23/08
#1Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 4:56pmI have been cast as Mrs.Beauregarde in Willy Wonka Jr. and I have been asked to put on a southern accent. I don't know how to do one without sounding over- exaggerated and fake. I'm hoping someone can help me by telling me the right pronounciation, or if someone even knew a text-to-speech thing with accents, that would be great. Thankies.
You're At Destiny's Crossroads...
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#2re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:08pmNothing beats listening to real accents. It sort of depends what type of drawl you are looking for. If you want country twang (which many times plays as comic uneducated) listen to Reba McEntire or Dolly Parton. If you want more refined (which reads as genteel educated) listen to Tallulah Bankhead.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#2re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:11pmAlso, what southern region? A Texas accent is very different from a Georgia accent.
Current Avatar: Me.
Current Saying: What do you mean it isn't enough being pretty? Have you seen my headshots?!?
Current Saying: What do you mean it isn't enough being pretty? Have you seen my headshots?!?
TheCharleston
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/18/08
#3re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:13pmAnd a Georgia accent is very different from an Alabama accent... and so on and so forth..
ThatTheatreKid.
Swing Joined: 8/23/08
#4re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:16pm
Oh, sorry.
I'm supposed to be from Georgia.
You're At Destiny's Crossroads...
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#5re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:21pm
#6re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:39pm
Most people's image of Georgia accents was formed by "Gone with the Wind." Watch it, only don't copy Clark Gable, who refused to change anything about his speech.
More recently, "Designing Women" comes to mind.
I'm not saying that these are accurate or scientific examples, just fairly popular and available.
And as a Tennessean who went to school in Texas and Florida, I agree that there are MANY, many different Southern accents. Dont't sweat it, just get in the groove.........
#7re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 5:52pm
Being from Georgia myself, I would definitely recommend Designing Women.
Also, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (not Kevin Spacey, but some of the supporting cast's accents are perfect Savannah accents.)
Also, Fried Green Tomatoes -- good rural accents.
"Like the good Lord says . . . Ya gotta take the rough with the smooth, Baby!" Madame Rose
nydirector2
Featured Actor Joined: 10/4/05
#8re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/19/09 at 11:10pmHonestly...if it's on stage and you're not from the region, I wouldn't worry too much about it. When I was in high school in Alabama, the drama teachers spent the entire rehearsal period trying to get rid of our accents, so I think it's ironic that you're trying to gain one(I actually lost mine when I was about 13 but can recall it easily). All in all...it's a high school show. The only people coming to see it are your friends and parents...so it's a no pressure environment. They're going to love you no matter what. Just have fun with it.
SweeneyPhanatic
Broadway Star Joined: 1/4/06
#9re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/20/09 at 12:26amI actually could have used these pointers last fall when I played the collector in "A Streetcar Named Desire." I've lived in the south my whole life, but after 5 years of theatrical-training, my southern accent is gone, and it actually sounds really fake/forced when I do try to put one on.
-- SDG
#10re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/20/09 at 11:29am
I definitely agree with using Designing Women as a guide, especially Dixie Carter and Annie Potts. The accent from those two is the most natural on the show.
One thing that might be helpful is that a southern accent and speach pattern tends to make a one syllable word into a two syllable word.
For example: Fork would be pronouced as fo-ork (Yes, I know that this is a line from "The Foreigner", but the still fits the example)
Current Avatar: Me.
Current Saying: What do you mean it isn't enough being pretty? Have you seen my headshots?!?
Current Saying: What do you mean it isn't enough being pretty? Have you seen my headshots?!?
#11re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/20/09 at 4:33pm
http://web.ku.edu/idea/northamerica/usa/georgia/georgia.htm
Good resource.
#12re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/20/09 at 5:19pm
Kevin Spacey's accent in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was so off that I didn't realize the movie was supposed to be set in Savannah until I read it on IMDB.
I think it's hard to put on Southern accents after you've lost it, but I find it really, really easy to unintentionally pick it up again after hearing someone speak with one.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
Timmer
Broadway Star Joined: 2/21/06
#13re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/21/09 at 7:53pm
"Violet, you're tunrning violet, Violet!"
Listen to Southerners talk. If you must, sit through C-SpAN and listen to some of the Southern members of the House and Senate. Or try to do a female George W. Bush.
Where is Mrs. Beauregard from? Remember that in general, Southern accents tend to get thicker and heavier as you go further south. Virginia and the Carolinas have what I would call a "light" Southern accent. The Deep South is more heavily Southern.
Get shows that feature Southern characters and mimic them if you can.
And remember, in the South, there is no such thing as a one syllable word (except perhaps for "y'all".) (Pronounced "yawl".)
I had an uncle from Mississippi, so I learned Southern at a young age. (I'm also a pretty good mimic.)
#14re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/22/09 at 2:06am
I'd say there's a one-syllable word in that famous sentence. "You're" would be pronounced "yer", wouldn't it?
"Vaah-lit, yer ternin vaah-lit, Vaah-lit!" is the way I'd hear it, with the vowels of the first syllable of Voilet almost having the same sound as the word "at".
You're reminding me of people you hear at the movies asking questions every ten seconds, "Who is that? Why is that guy walking down the street? Who's that lady coming up to him? Uh-oh, why did that car go by? Why is it so dark in this theater?" - FindingNamo on strummergirl
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
#17re: Help With A Southern Drawl
Posted: 2/22/09 at 8:29am
Actually, "you're" can be pronounced "Yoo-er," making it two syllables. Or "Yoh-er." As in "Days of Yoh-er." Well, that's "yore," of course. See also, "Pronunciations of 'Your.'" Because even in the South, these three words are homynyms.
Just because one is being tongue in cheek, doesn't mean one isn't being accurate.
Videos