Patrick White

Accents vary between three mixes of English, a wee bit of Scottish and Irish, all sorts of regional U.S. accents and dialects, and some weak Asian, Indian, and other Eastern accents. I'm learning German and some Slovic accents, can passably present French, and maybe do some Central American. Other accents only require time and study materials. Dialects of English include American slang from the East and North-East coast, Mid-West, a little Southern and possibly Northern. I'll need to study more British English to catch up on those dialects and word usages. Again, the Gaelic, Romance, Slovic, and other accents are from the American English perspective, so any terminology I don't know, I am willing to learn.

In high school, just like most people, I was in a production of Brigadoon. I played as the father of Fiona and Jean, Andrew McLaren. Unlike most people, especially there at the school, I was able to go the whole play/musical with a Scottish accent. It was too fun, and all the ladies loved it. I was awarded the Best Character Actor award for that part (I think they made it up to give me some sort of recognition). I've been practicing ever since. At one point I was playing with a marionette and discovered a wizened, absent-minded wizard (he'd forgotten his wand was in his hand). Hand puppet voices for the nieces are fun too. I try, when reading bed-time stories, to give real voices to the people in the stories. The kids find it too distracting though. I was never formally trained. I asked someone once about getting into voice over work and he told me there were no jobs available. I think he was afraid of my talent, or he thought I had none. All he ever did was natural voice overs. I plan on expounding my talents, reaching into other venues. Along the lines of music, I had training in High School choir from one Anne Herman, who now teaches at UMSL. She taught us proper breathing techniques, posture, and use of appropriate muscles. Since then I have maintained some skill by singing and playing guitar; I've increased my singing range to three octaves. Unfortunately, the top octave sounds bad for profesaional singing and should only be used for quirky characters. I have access to standard quality digital audio recording equipment, a soundboard, 'pop-filters', pre- and post- recording software. After reading through a script, to get to know the subject, and if the studio's well lit, I have no other problems. A bit of water and I can do any voice needed for as long as needed. The only professional use of my voice occurs when talking with customers. I have to talk with them face-to-face so having a confident tone and steady tenor is essential. I do this on a daily basis.