Stage Dialects

The book is an excellent introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet. It actually tells you which position your mouth should be in for the correct creation of these sounds. The accents shown in this book are great for the beginner, but lack real authority when going for accuracy. Blunt is just that...blunt. The accompanying tapes are crude to be nice. They should be re-recorded for an actual production value. The source material however is amazingly good in showing the beginner the differences in sounds between English and other accents. Woefully incomplete when dealing with African, Latin American, and regional United States accents. There is a second book entitled More Stage Dialects which would hopefully complement this problem.Needed in the desription are the accents covered; Russian, German, Italian, French, British RF, Cockney, American Southern, etc. All in all a good purchase for the price.

I am a drama student at the University of Montana, and we are utilizing Blunt's texts and tapes in our two-year Voice and Speech program. They are invaluable to learning and understanding the various accents and dialects of several major world regions, with or without the tapes. I recommend both books and the tapes to anyone looking for specific instructions on improving their regional voice.

I was exposed to this book through a dialect coach who used it to help myself and others in the cast of a production of "Crimes of the Heart" (by Beth Henley) master a Mississippi dialect. It was extremely helpful, giving examples of different words with vowel, diphthong, and consonant substitutions, and plenty of practice material. I am buying the book because it was such a good experience.