Interviews – The Way We Talk

Elocution Lesson with Laura Field

Philippa Louise Waterhouse-Biggins / March 16, 2012March 16, 2012 / Contributors, Interviews

On Wednesday morning Sarah and I got the half 8 train to Nottingham, to record Laura Field teach Sarah how to speak with more clarity! Laura, a professional voice coach and founder of her own business Spoken Word, works from a studio in her home. She welcomed us with open arms, a warm cup of tea and a lovely chat discussing our project.

Before Sarah experienced her first elocution lesson, we spoke with Laura about her business and how important the way we speak is to each and every individual. Afterwards I recorded Laura work with Sarah for around half an hour, completing a range of exercises to improve her speech and overall confidence.

I’ve put edited together the best bits of Laura’s interview and Sarah’s lesson, to listen click the link below.

A Morning with Laura Field

Sarah and I would like to thank Laura for her hospitality and contribution to the documentary, it was definitely worth the early start and was a great insight into the world of voice coaching!

Spoken Word

Philippa Louise Waterhouse-Biggins / March 12, 2012March 12, 2012 / Contributors, Interviews, Meetings

On Wednesday morning Sarah and I are off to Nottingham to the Spoken Word Studio, to record Sarah participate in her first taster elocution lesson! Laura Field, the founder of Spoken Word, has kindly agreed to work with Sarah for the programme. We cannot wait to interview her afterwards, and listen to Sarah put her new skills into practice!

Liz Brewer

Philippa Louise Waterhouse-Biggins / March 12, 2012 / Contributors, Interviews

Last week Sarah and I conducted an interview over Skype with Liz Brewer, the Etiquette and Social Protocol teacher in the T.V series ‘Ladette to Lady’. Liz, who has two books published, spoke to us concerning her opinions on local accents when working in the business industry. Talking to Liz, it became clear that she has a love for local accents, but stressed they can become a problem if they are difficult to understand. Thank you very much to Liz for taking part, it was a great interview which we thoroughly enjoyed!

Sarah Sheperd; The Interview

Philippa Louise Waterhouse-Biggins / February 17, 2012February 17, 2012 / Contributors, Interviews

Whilst we were in London, Sarah and I managed to get some ace audio for our documentary!

Unfortunately two of our three interviewees couldn’t attend the original times planned for our interviews whilst we were in the capital, due to unforeseen circumstances. However, these have been rescheduled for next week, and we still had a fantastic interview with Sarah Sheperd, a voice coach based in Covent Garden.

Sarah spoke to us about how her love of talking and doing impressions ended up helping her towards her career, and what her favourite regional British accents were.

As always audio will be uploaded very soon, keep checking the blog to keep posted!

University of York

Philippa Louise Waterhouse-Biggins / February 7, 2012February 7, 2012 / Contributors, Interviews

Pip and Dom Watt — Pip with Professor Dominic Watt

Today Sarah and I had the pleasure of travelling to York to interview two of the Professors from the Languages and Linguistics Department, Paul Kerswill and Dominic Watt. We discussed a wide range of topics with both, such as the history of accents and dialects, the roles they play in our personal identities and which regional accents are perceived as the most (and least!) favourable.

Paul spoke to Sarah and I about a new phenomenon that we personally hadn’t heard of before, the Jafaican accent! He spoke to us about how this ‘new’ accent is starting to develop in the south east of England, click the link below to hear more!

Paul Kerswill discussing Jafaican

We would like to thank both Paul and Dominic for their contributions to the documentary, and for getting us even more enthused to learn more about different accents and dialects in Britain.