Italian Accent Intonation Tutorial
How to Learn an Italian Accent
When you're working on any intonation, which is the musicality of it, I always encourage you to start with a really strong version of it, because it's much easier to back off than it is to try to turn it up later if you haven't quite nailed down all those elements.
This is really true about any element of any accent. Start strong - over the top strong - and then you can back off.
So with learning an Italian accent in English - focusing on intonation for now - we want to start really really strong, and in fact we're going to lean a little bit into an Italian stereotype in order to indicate that.
And then we can talk about how you ease off of that, and you don't go quite that strong, but we're going to start very very strong with this.
Learning Intonation of Accents - Physicalize
One other thing that I want to say is that I find helpful with various aspects of an accent, but I'd say especially with intonation, is physicalizing that intonation can be incredibly helpful. So that's what we're going to do here.
In the video above, I show you physicalization for Italian accent intonation.
Italian Intonation Cycling
With a strong Italian accent, what I want to do is a focus on a cycling quality.
To do that, I find it very helpful to take my finger and draw a little bit of a circle in the air. In drawing this circle, what I want to do is actually to change the pace a bit, so it shouldn't just be regular. And the energy of the circle should be focused on upward and forward, which is essential for the Italian accent.
If you start to focus on the going back, you start to sound more Transylvanian and you'll feel the need to drink blood... so don't do that.
You want to keep an upward and forward sort of fling to the cycle or circle.
Greek & Arabic Accents
There's something similar to this that happens with a Greek accent, and it also happens with the Arabic accent intonation, with just a slightly greater fling or plosive quality to it.
It's almost as though it's the same intonation for Italian, Greek, and Arabic, but becoming progressively stronger in the fling of the operative words as you move through all three of those.
Though you may be learning just an Italian accent, as an actor, it's really helpful to keep connecting concepts from one accent to another. It's a big part of building up your accent repertoire or your accent toolbox.
Intonation on Operative Words
With all accents, the strongest of the intonation elements tends to happen on operative or stressed words, so I'm constantly focused on that both when I'm breaking down the elements of an accent, and when I'm teaching an accent to actors.
The intonation is strongest on operative words, the important words, the words that you stress the most. Those are the ones that you want to have this focus on when you're working on an Italian accent - or any accent for that matter.
Other Tips for Learning an Italian Accent
In the beginning, feel free to cycle far too many times. This means you'll also be stressing a lot more words, but too many cycles is better than not enough.
If you're not cycling enough, you'll likely find yourself stumbling over words at times.
Another element of an Italian accent is the insertion of a small schwa sound between consonant sounds - it's a part of the Italian language that carries over into speaking English with an Italian accent. Often adding more of those helps you to add more cycles, and helps you to get in sync with the intonation of Italian.
Again, too much, too strong is always a great place to start. It's good to give some indicators of it being Italian, and eventually you won't need to go full-on Lady and the Tramp...
How to Lighten the Italian Accent
Making sure you have some moments of "jazz hands Italian" is helpful, but then you can have times when you're being more vaguely European and someone can't tell where you're from. Then every once in a while if you just give us a little bit of a fling that indicates the Italian, then we can know, "Ah yes, she's Italian!" and then go about your "vaguely European" again.
If you are a fast talker, overdoing the cycling may be a way to slow you down, and once you're at the legal speed limit again, you can reduce how much the cycling is the central element of the accent. It can just be a momentary suggestion.
I like to use a general rule of strongly indicating the intonation a few times almost immediately, as the audience is learning you're Italian, and then remembering to do it about every third line or so.
Learning Any Accent
Physicalize! Physicalize the intonation, no matter what accent you're working on.
Physicalize it to an extreme, so you get the almost cartoon version of it, as you're getting started - and do this longer than you think is necessary. Then you can back off and make it more like a real human being. But if you skip that extreme, you'll likely not get a solid grasp on what tells the audience ITALIAN!
All of this relates to any accent you're learning...