British RP Accent Coach in London Shares Practical Poetry Exercise

Hello from a British RP accent coach in London! If you can find some peaceful and cool time away from this great heat we are having in the UK then let’s continue our Standard English, Received Pronunciation (RP) accent coaching journey through poetry!

I often find that the long vowels are often too tentatively used by students and so it becomes difficult for a listener to differentiate them from other vowels. A top tip: to help find this length, try swinging your arm forward, rather like an underarm swing in cricket, whilst voicing the vowels. This will guide you towards holding onto the sound for longer than is usual. Allow all the sounds to travel well forward.

Look firstly on your IPA pronunciation chart. Here are the long single vowels in the order they appear in the chart; those with the two dots at their side.

ee [as in] feed neat cheap eel eat
oo [as in] food true few route flute
err [as in] firm early work journey learn
aw [as in] fall cord caution awful walk
aah [as in] far army can’t artist large

Speak these vowels aloud x 3 and then place them within the practise words. Then move your cricket arm forward to direct your voice to maintain the length of the sound that is needed!

Take your time and relish these vowel sounds. As with any initial accent training it might seem you are doing too much, but our muscle memory needs a real commitment to stay with these new sounds, so go more than feels comfortable and they will gradually and confidently take their rightful place within your British RP accent!

Remember never to push the sounds forward in an effortful way but sustain the RP accent sounds in their correct position.

Be aware also of the differences the shape of your mouth will be making as you move through them. Let the lips shape the vowels and allow the muscles in the lips to have a muscular and enjoyable workout.

Below is the poem, A Rose Tree by Fleur Adcock. It’s deceptively simple but one with real heart. Speak it aloud and extend any long vowel you recognise. Her first name has a long vowel within! Mark each individual long vowel in the words as they appear and remember to sustain these vowel sounds fully.

In fact, please, lift out and isolate all the vowels you recognise as we discussed in the last blog. This will help enormously in recognising and becoming familiar with each different accent sound. Now, place them back into the poem and you will see how much more rich and muscular your words are becoming!

A Rose Tree by Fleur Adcock

When we went to live at Top Lodge
my mother gave me a rose tree.

She didn't have to pay for it -
it was growing there already,

tall and old, by the gravel drive
where we used to ride our scooters.

No one else was allowed to pick
the huge pale blooms that smelt like jam.

It was mine all through that summer.
In October we moved again.

But even never seeing it
couldn't stop it from being mine:

one of those eternal presents.
At the new house I had a duck.

Till next time, all the best with your continued RP accent training!

Ros