Recommended Reading
Elocution - just the word is sufficient to conjure up images of Victorian or Edwardian gentlemen getting their pupils to recite long poems and ridiculing them for their mis-pronunciation of vowels and consonants.
Perhaps the most well-known elocution teachers of the early 1900s were Samuel and Alice Hasluck. This married couple ran the highly successful Polytechnic School of Elocution situated on Regent Street, London. Gentlemen and gentlewomen of the day would enrol for instruction in elocution, which involved students learning to 'roll their r sounds' and to project dramatic verses to the back of the theatre.
Elocution still suffers from these old images and many people who would benefit - both personally and professionally - from speech and voice lessons are deterred by these old ideas. Indeed 'Elocution' is an outdated word and no longer used by speech and voice teachers.
There's been a great deal of research into linguistics, phonetics and phonology since the days of the Haslucks. Based upon my own research, I have developed an effective way to teach speech and voice which is both quick and easy. So now everybody can achieve a clear and confident speaking style.
