How do actors convincingly switch accents, and what happens when singing enters the mix? Voice teacher, researcher and spoken voice expert Louisa Morgan returns to explore the rich world of accents and dialects—from phonetics and oral posture to emotional authenticity and ethical considerations. Louisa dives into the challenges singers face when shifting from speech to song in character, how to manage biases, and why understanding your own “home” sounds is key.
WHAT’S IN THIS PODCAST
2:35 What actually are accents and dialects?
7:37 What makes an accent easier vs difficult to learn?
15:05 How can we understand accent mapping?
22:51 Speaking Vs Singing in an accent
30:58 What are the challenges of teaching a singer who has a different accent to you?
36:09 What ethical considerations are required?
41:16 Getting to grips with IPA
46:32 Louisa’s favourite resources
48:29 Live accent and dialect coaching
About the presenter click HERE
RELEVANT MENTIONS & LINKS
Singing Teachers Talk Podcast Ep.109 Mastering ‘Acting Through Song’ Techniques to Elevate Musical Theatre Performance
Singing Teachers Talk Ep.151 How to Sing with Twang
Singing Teachers Talk Ep.194 From Jersey to Bali: Relocating a Singing Teaching Business
How to Do Accents by Edda Sharpe and Jan Hayden Rowles
Phonetics by J D O’Connor
The Experiencing Accents Book Knight Thompson
Phonetics by Peter Roach
Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen by Paul Meier
International Dialects of English Archive
Killing Eve
ABOUT THE GUEST
Louisa Morgan is a lecturer, voice teacher and researcher, with a special focus on spoken and sung emotion. Louisa lectures with the Voice Study Centre (Spoken Voice Lead) and teaches Musical Theatre students on the MA/MFA course at the Guildford School of Acting (GSA). Previously, Louisa taught technical singing at Italia Conti, and she was also a spoken and singing voice coach for the Acting students at the Cygnet Training Theatre. Louisa also taught privately for fifteen years as a voice, accents, singing, and audition coach. Louisa has an MA in Vocal Pedagogy and is currently a PhD researcher at GSA through the University of Surrey, focusing on emotion research in Acting Through Song. She also holds a three-year diploma in Acting with Directing and a BA (hons) in English and Literary Studies. She is a Vocal Process accredited teacher, mentored by Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher and was the editor for AOTOS (the Association of Teachers of Singing) from 2023-2025. Louisa recently presented on ‘A text-based Approach to Acting Through Song’ at PEVoC (the Pan European Voice Conference) in Santander, funded as a recipient of the VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers Association) interdisciplinary engagement grant and will be speaking at the VASTA conference this Autumn 2025.
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Book a place on one of Louisa’s courses HERE
