Light Accents

Often directors and/or actors ask for a "light accent" for a character or a production.

Why Learn a Light Accent?

This is often a necessity built into the nature of the script - "She used to live in Boston, but moved away and worked to get rid of her Boston accent, but it shows up whenever she's angry, drinking, or upset."

Sometimes it's also because the director feels the accent might be too intrusive and get in the way. "I'd like them to have a light Cockney accent."

It's not unusual for a director to think it'll actually be easier for the cast. "Just teach them to do a light Aussie accent for this."

Learning a Light Accent Is Usually Harder

If you're going to learn a Liverpool accent, you have to learn a Liverpool accent. 

If you're going to learn a light Liverpudlian accent, you have to learn a Liverpool accent. And then you work on how to modulate or moderate that accent.

There's not a shortcut to a light accent. You still need to learn all of those Scouse elements, and then you might reduce the intonation, or not go as far with the looseness of the K sound with some words, but the various elements of the accent still need to be present. This means that you learn them, and then you work to alter to what degree those elements happen, but they'd still be present.

Start Learning a Strong Accent

To get the intonation or musicality of an accent, you need to start strong, going almost Disney stereotypically with it. I always try to find various over-the-top examples of accents, which are often done for comedic effect. 

What quickly tells the audience where you're from? That Chicago hard R sound and the drag or press intonation gives it away... "Da Bears!"

But you also need to make sure you don't violate elements of a Chicago accent by doing a NYC rounding on the vowel in the word all when you say, "We're all Bears fans." Even if the accent is mild, you've got to know the elements and what slips up and tells the audience NOT Chicago.

You still need to learn a full-on Chicago accent to start with - and then you tweak it from there.

How Actors Learn Accents Faster

Lighter isn't faster. Heavier is faster.

You won't hear the intonation as clearly in a lighter accent, so you won't do it clearly and might do something else.

You can't hear vowel sounds as distinct in a lighter accent, so you might not replicate it accurately, and you might let it drift towards a vowel sound that might not happen for a speaker from there.

Accents of the Rockies, like my American West accents materials, have some Southern elements, but if you drop the second half of the PRICE diphthong because you tried to cut corners in your process, you're clearly not really from Wyoming...

And then the audience is distracted and stuck questioning what's up with you, when they should be following the story.

Go strong, go heavy, nail it, and then moderate those elements.

A "light accent" requires learning a heavy accent, and then adapting it. Don't cut the process short.