Skip to main content
Short courses students are reading lines from printed scripts. They are in a rehearsal room.

Voice: Accents for Actors

6-week Short Course for Adults

Page Navigation

Book Now

Overview

This six-week course is designed to give participants, an overview of the skills needed for accent work and then applying those transferrable skills over four different accents. You will be involved in group learning and sometimes pair-work. This is designed as an overview to give participants tools to then work in more detail alone.

By the end of the course students will have:

  • Analysed their own accent to understand its components and how this relates to other accents
  • Studied some of the anatomy of speech to have a better understanding of how we form sound and words.
  • Listened to four different accents and begun to break them down into their rhythm, tune and pronunciation
  • Practiced the main sounds to acquire the basic sonic changes for each of these four accents
  • Honed listening skills and accuracy

Courses you may be interested in

We run a variety of different courses throughout the year, and update our programme regularly – you can find all courses by clicking here.

Mailing List

Sign up to our mailing list to receive the latest updates of courses, offers and news from Short Courses. You can do this by completing this short online form found here.

Contact us
If you have any questions about this course before you book it, please get in touch with us at shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk.

The important details

Age:
18+

Cost:
£150

Date:
3 November - 8 December 2025

Time:
Mondays, 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Venue:
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 100 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3DB

Course Information

In this course we will cover the following material:

During Sessions one and two the focus will be

  • Introducing the anatomy of speech and what it does
  • Listening to our own and others’ accents
  • Accent vs dialect
  • Consonant changes
  • Vowel changes
  • Beginning to recognise patterns of rhythm and tune
  • Introducing listening and how to se specific

Sessions 3 – 6

Each week we will take a different accent for analysis

  • Reporting back after listening to examples
  • Anatomical changes
  • Rhythm and tune
  • Pronunciation changes
  • Dialect observations
  • Practice and 1 to 1 feedback

There are no entry requirements for this course.

The course is designed so that motivated students will benefit from the training. We expect you to undertake a certain amount of self-directed study and preparation out with class times.

Students should be open, honest, generous, respectful, hard-working and willing to work as part of a team.

Please have listened to some examples of accents (eg  California, Liverpool, London and Glasgow)

Please come ready for practical work, dressed in comfortable clothing.

Bring a note pad/pencil in case you wish to make notes.

Please bring a bottle of water to keep hydrated during the course. Refilling stations are available throughout the building.

Please have to hand the KIT list and anatomical pictures went prior to the course

 

This course is suitable for students aged 18+, with some acting experience or training. Students should be keen to learn and plan to attend all classes.

Rachel Nicholson

After years of working as an actor Rachel went on to on to train as a voice teacher at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Over the last 15 – 20 years she has worked with lots of young actors in training to improve their vocal strength and help them with vocal demands for theatre or TV and screen roles. This also includes accent work or audition and self-tape preparation.

Rachel also has coached people in the business sector and anyone who needs to speak at public events. 

She has worked at several of the major London drama schools such as LAMDA, Mountview, ALRA and Rose Bruford.

More recently I’ve been working at The MGA Academy as well as Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Centre for Voice in Performance and Rose Bruford, Edinburgh.

​

This course will run in-person on Monday evenings for 6-weeks from 3 November – 8 December, 6:30pm – 8:30pm.

The course fee is £150 which is the equivalent to £25  per session, and can be paid in full or in instalments before the course end date.

Further Information

We want to ensure as many children, young people and adult learners as possible can access the performing and production arts education that is offered through Short Courses at RCS. Financial support options available for Short Courses include:

Agnes Allan Bursary

Agnes Allan was a teacher, passionate about inclusion, and this bursary scheme exists to offer support to students to participate in the performing or production arts.

The Agnes Allan Bursary provides some support to students who may require financial assistance to take part in a short course in dance, drama, music, production or screen.

Anyone who wishes to take part in our Short Courses and faces a financial barrier can apply for bursary support to help meet the cost of tuition fees.

James McAvoy Drama Scholarships

BAFTA-winning and Golden Globe nominated actor James McAvoy is committed to nurturing the creative potential of young Scots who experience barriers to access and participate in drama at RCS Short Courses.

James is a graduate of the BA Acting programme at RCS and Patron of the Junior Conservatoire of Drama. The Glasgow-born actor has funded the new James McAvoy Drama Scholarships to enable young people to experience the world-class drama training at RCS as he did.

The scholarship aims to support applicants who would otherwise find meeting the cost of tuition fees at RCS a barrier to accessing pre-Higher Education drama training at the Royal Conservatoire.

You can find more information about these funds on our Financial Support page.

We run various promotional offers for our Short Courses and Summer Schools. You can view our current offers on our Promotional Offers page.

You should contact us at shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk to request your discount code before booking a course.

Please note, only one promotional offer can be applied per course and should be used at the time of booking as we are unable to apply a discounts retrospectively.

Please see our Short Course FAQs for more information about all aspects of choosing, booking and attending your course.

Please see our Short Courses – Terms and Conditions for more information about your contract with Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Cancellation and Refund policies.

Sign up to our mailing list to receive the latest updates of courses, offers and news from Short Courses. You can do this by completing this short online form found here.

Short Courses
shortcourses@rcs.ac.uk

Summer Schools
summerschools@rcs.ac.uk

Credit-Rated
credit-rated@rcs.ac.uk

Bursary and Scholarship
bursaryscholarship@rcs.ac.uk

}

Short Courses Photo Gallery

+ View 12 images

Short Courses Photo Gallery

- View 12 images
Short Courses students are reading scripts in a rehearsal room.
Short courses music students are performing in the Stevenson Hall. A string quartet and an accordion player sit in a semi-circle while a pianist performs behind them.
A group of short courses students are playing accordions. They are sitting in a semi-circle.
A group of short courses students are playing saxophones.
A group of short courses students are playing string instruments.
Short courses students are reading scripts in a rehearsal room. They are smiling and laughing with each other.
Short courses students are using a film camera.
Short courses students are reading lines from printed scripts. They are in a rehearsal room.
A person is smiling off-camera. They are holding a pencil and a book. Another person looks on intently.
Three actors are performing on stage. They are standing next to two chairs that have been toppled over. They are gesturing off camera.
A group of actors are performing on stage. They are wearing brightly coloured clothes.
A tutor directs two short courses students. They are all smiling.