AccentHelp Blog

Breath Support = Abs

Ever heard of Breath Support? Think "Abs!" It's all about the abdominal muscles (or, more specifically, your Transversus - watch for a future post....

Breath Support at the Ends of Phrases

You need even more breath support (ABS!) at the ends of phrases than anywhere else, especially to avoid falling into vocal fry. Breath Support and...

Tongue Stretch to Open the Throat

I had an inquiry from someone about how to improve his sound. He had an issue that tons of people have: tongue tension and a sense that the sound i...

How to Speak Louder and Deeper

YouTube subscriber Ann made an inquiry about how she could learn to speak louder and deeper. Here's a quick run at the basics of breath support. ...

Flat-A Sound

More on the concept of “flat” with regards to voice and accents. Commenting on a question about the “Flat-A” sound and why even good speakers from ...

How to Speak with Thick Vocal Folds (Chest Resonance)

Recently I shared a vlog post about how to speak with thick vocal folds (as opposed to thin vocal folds) which increases chest resonance. A follow-...

Devoicing for Emphasis

I commented to a client about a tendency to devoice when emphasizing a word, and I thought I pass the clarification on to everybody on the blog. Th...

Nasality and the Soft Palate or Velum

More on the concept of “flat” with regards to voice and accents. Commenting on a question about the “Flat-A” sound and why even good speakers from ...

What does “flat” mean?

I mention flat intonation and vowel quality in the Boston materials, and a linguist wanted more detail on what exactly I meant by that, as the term...

Vlogs & Blogs