The death of Margaret Thatcher has brought up a lot of mixed emotions, for me and a lot of other people. As a girl, at a blue stocking girls' school, I was immensely proud and can still remember the day, vividly, when she was voted into power. The first woman prime minister and only a [...]
One of the techniques I teach for Public Speaking & Elocution, creating a bright, open, attractively toned voice, is a singing discipline I learned from my late singing teacher Ian Adam. He was a wonderful man whom believed and proved, as I have done using his techniques, that ANYONE can sing. And indeed using his [...]
Listening to well spoken English is essential for your progress, so I am sending you a link of a very interesting audio programme - all spoken in clear standard English - called Our Own Correspondent - a selection of audio articles submitted from BBC journalists working around the world. This an opportunity for you to [...]
I am becoming a geek... and loving it. I always secretly admired geeks. My ex was an electric organ geek, as well as a cycling geek and I happily listened to him for hours as he described in minute details the workings of a 1960 Hammond Organ and the gradients of another vertical mountain pass. [...]
Clarity is not about 'Class' or Regional Accents. You only have to watch Eastenders to learn about this. If those actors genuinely spoke as if they sold fruit on the North End Road in Fulham let alone London's Eastend - the BBC would not be able to sell that programme all around the world. And [...]
English T's and D's Keep saying your English T's and D's - really - just keep on, keeping on..... I was listening to one of the Olympic Bid Team youngsters talking on my beloved Radio 4 and he was recounting the advice the advice his friend and mentor, Olympic gold medalist, had given him. "If [...]
Public Speaking Help Public Speaking help needed is more common than you might think... This will sound shock you as it did me but research has found that people are more frightened of public speaking, than dying! It is the No. 1 fear! So, if this is your fear, you are not alone, in fact [...]
A Good Voice Coach Many, many years ago, I had an a very good voice coach called, Stewart Pearce. He taught me for three years at The Webber Douglas Academy of Art (alumni include Richard Boniface; Emma Chambers; Penelope Kieth; Julia Ormonde; Anthony Sher) and having studied with two Heads of Voice at RADA, I [...]
Skype Video Lessons Skype Video lessons are extremely effective and time and money saving for the student. And, the results are SO good! Doing Skype Video lessons with the computer camera focused on our faces, allows me and you, to watch very carefully where your tongue is being placed, the shape of our mouths and [...]
Speaking Clearly & Effectively Creates Self Confidence Speaking cleary & effectively creates self confidence and at last it is fashionable to speak clearly and effectively, which in turn, as my students know for sure, creates self confidence. For the last ten years or so, if I was recording an advert, I was frequently told, " [...]