Hey there, Gabriel Barofato from GB Voice Academy, your accent reduction voice coach, to help you master the American accent.
This will be a practice video with actual vocal exercises to help you create these crazy American sounds that our bodies are just not used to making.
As I say in all my videos, in order to master these American sounds, we need to practice them over and, over and over again, like going to the gym.
Think of me as your personal trainer.
There's no way around it.
And if anybody tells you otherwise, lying.
It takes practice, and on this video and on my other videos on this channel, that's exactly what we're going to do.
If you haven't yet, subscribe to my channel so you can get access to these videos to get you one step closer to mastering the American accent.
So we're gonna be working on three specific American sounds that we are not used to making, no matter what your accent is.
These particular targets I guarantee are causing you problems.
We're gonna fix it here.
And I know I sound cliche, but I really mean this when I say you need to stick around to this whole lesson, because at the end we're gonna implement everything we're saying into conversations and sentences and word structures, so you get what I'm teaching you putting it into real practice in your everyday life.
So the first American sound I want to focus on is the sound.
Now this is extreme, isn't it?
Try it with me.
This is in words like doctor, dog, call.
Awesome.
You hear it a lot.
Now, obviously Americans don't make this crazy face I'm making because it's so ingrained in them that they don't need to make these crazy faces.
Watch.
I walk the dog in the beautiful autumn weather.
Ah, it's internalized.
That might not be very easy for a lot of people, so what we have to do here is over-enunciate these sounds.
So I want you to imagine that you're yawning.
That is a sound we're looking for.
You want to open it up from the inside, not just the out, because I could do this.
Ah, dog, doctor.
It's still not the sound I want.
It's got to open from the inside.
Let's do some exercises to help make sure that vowel structure is intact, no matter what our range is.
Whether I'm going doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, it's still there.
So try this with me.
Give me just a simple slide.
See how it's open?
I'm not closing as I go up.
No, no, you gotta keep it open.
Because when we're in a regular conversation, our range could be high or low.
Wow, that's awesome.
Fantastic.
I'm so happy for you.
I hope all of your wishes come true.
We're all over the map.
So that's why we need to practice this range, so you're able to create that sound, no matter what octave you're.
At same thing, keep it open.
Now, some of you of course you're not singers, it doesn't matter, as long as we're sliding that range and keeping that ah structure in place.
Good,
You don't want... Good.
Couple more.
That's all it takes.
Let's do some words with this particular sound.
You hear that, see how deep that is?
Versus gut, gut.
I'm not trying to have an accent, I'm just missing that target.
Versus ah, got.
Next one offer.
Hear that offer.
See how deep that is versus offer offer i got an offer, i got an offer.
It's got to feel uncomfortable and crazy and weird.
If it feels uncomfortable, crazy and weird, that means you're hitting the targets perfectly.
If it's comfortable, we're not there yet.
Awesome, Awesome.
Feel that?
Versus awesome.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Let's put that in a sentence.
I got an awesome offer.
You hear that?
Versus I got an awesome offer.
We really have to work to drop that sound and create that American sound that we're just not used to doing.
And trust me, your body's gonna fight you.
It's not gonna wanna do that.
And if you pay attention now, when you watch your American TV shows or listen to your American friends, you're gonna start hearing this aww sound.
Thank you all for coming on this Zoom call.
We've got an awesome plan for today.
You hear that?
Start listening for that sound.
Good, now stick around, because we're going to be implementing these sounds together with the other ones we're doing later in this video, putting them all together, so it will make sense to you and you could retain this information.
What's the point of doing all these videos if there is no retention?
The next sound I wanna work on, which is you hear it all the time.
Do you hear that?
All the time.
And I've worked on this American sound in many of my other videos and that's why I'm doing it again, because it needs more practice is the sound.
We all know this one, don't we?
It's like you're choking on your tongue. very prevalent sound.
The second we loosen that sound up, it sounds British.
Her.
I've heard of her.
The girl.
Furniture.
Versus her.
I've heard of her.
Furniture.
Girl.
You gotta really choke on your tongue, and I want your teeth to be really, really tight.
This resonation is back here.
The second you feel it loosen up, you're not there.
Okay, so now.
Now the key to this is to let the air flow.
As tight as this is, you have to let the air flow or else you'll be choking on your own tongue.
It's like you're a bear.
So, let's do the same thing we did earlier.
Working on that range, letting the air flow, but keep it tight.
You gotta keep your mouth tight.
Good, nice and tight. fight the temptation because your mouth is going to want to open.
You got to keep it tight.
The reason why it's imperative that we work on this range, because when we're in a conversation, we could be excited and we could be talking in this range over here.
Or we could be sort of maybe a little more melancholy and talking down here if it's something more serious.
So we have to be able to hit these American sounds regardless of the range.
This is how you practice it.
Voice is fluctuating in pitch, in rhythm, in speed, as it should be if we're talking organically to somebody, right?
I don't want you to get stuck.
I need to talk like this and hit all of the American accents I heard.
Then you're going to sound disengaged and like a robot.
We have to be able to hit these American sounds but have flexibility, fluidity to glide through these sounds, and that's what my videos do, as well as my five-star best-selling accent reduction course.
Link is also at the bottom.
That teaches you all of these exercises, puts it all into a nice little package for you to practice every day.
Good, let's work on some sounds and words with this er ready.
Really, Really right.
Nice and tight.
Turn.
Turn.
Fight the temptation to want to go turn.
Turn.
Clench.
Tight.
Turn.
Feel that resonation back here.
See how nice and tight that is?
Around.
Around. versus around, around, around.
Put that in a sentence, nice and slow.
Tight, but let the air flow.
We need to turn things around.
It's all about airflow and connection from one sound to the next.
And doing these exercises, will allow you to say this phrase in whatever pitch you want.
We really need to turn things around.
We need to turn things around.
We need to turn things around.
You see how I was all over the place?
I wasn't locked into, we need to turn things around.
We want fluidity, flow, freedom.
That is the key to this and all of my exercises on this YouTube channel, freedom.
Awesome job.
The third sound I wanna go through now is the ah.
That's right.
Believe it or not, this is the crazy face we need to make to hit this sound.
I want you to imagine you're smiling and going above your eye right here and a little bit nasally as well.
It's gonna feel weird.
Your neighbors are gonna think you're losing your mind.
But if you really listen to Americans, these are the sounds they make.
Wow.
Fantastic.
I'm happy for you.
It's in your face.
There's no escape.
We gotta get comfortable making these uncomfortable American sounds.
Fantastic.
Fantastic.
Ah, you don't want to open your mouth too much.
That's going to bring it down here.
You got to keep the resonation up here, all right, same as before.
We're going to keep that resonation here, no matter what pitch.
We're at ready Good.
It's nasty, right?
Nasty.
And if you don't got the pitches, that's fine.
As long as you're jumping from one octave to the next.
These are in words like happy, fantastic, absolutely.
And if we do these exercises, happy, happy, happy.
Happy.
As long as we are hitting those targets, you will never hear an accent.
But the second we veer off from there and drop a .
There's your accent.
Now let's work on some words.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Right?
Gotta resonate up here.
Nice and bright.
Versus thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That.
That.
Feel that?
Versus you miss it by this much.
That.
There's your accent.
Fantastic.
We have two of those targets.
Fantastic.
Versus fantastic.
Fantastic.
We're missing the target.
Accurate.
Accurate.
Versus accurate.
Right?
Application.
You gotta feel that resonation up here in your nose.
Let that air flow.
Just like the er, you have to let air flow.
Because if there's no air flow, it'll be hard to hit.
Let's string that together into a sentence.
Thank you for that fantastic application.
See, once you identify that target and you know your destination, it becomes easier to hit.
And when you do these exercises, that's a fantastic application.
That's a fantastic application.
That's a fantastic application.
No matter the range, you're able to flow in and out because of these exercises.
Excellent work.
Now, grand finale.
Stick with me.
Let's implement some phrases and words with these ahs, errs and ahs and see if your muscles could remember where to flow.
Okay?
And we're going to add some range in there as well.
Here we go.
First one.
That's a better offer.
Hear that?
Can you identify those sounds that we were working on?
That's a better offer.
See how extreme that is?
See the distance we need to travel from up here to down there to back here?
There are no shortcuts.
The second you start taking shortcuts, that's a better offer.
There's your accent.
Better.
Better.
Offer.
Offer.
That's.
That's.
Gotta reach for it.
Good, next one.
We acknowledge her application.
Hear that?
We acknowledge her application.
See how we're jumping back and forth?
Let me call and ask her.
Hear that?
Let me call and ask her.
Versus, let me call and ask her.
Shortcut, shortcut, shortcut, accent, accent, accent.
That's a tall order.
That's a tall order.
Hear that?
No shortcuts.
Versus... Excellent work.
Now remember, make this part of your daily routine.
Practicing the art of flowing in and out of these American sounds.
Link them together into phrases and so on.
I have other videos on this channel that will help you do exactly that.
Look, I understand the frustration we're going through.
You know what you want to say.
You can bring so much to the table.
Don't let this accent hold you back from expressing your full potential.
Take power back.
Take control of your life.
Speak from the heart, and it will never guide you astray.
