Isn’t there something quite delightful about a good tongue twister? Always a crowd pleaser, and often the go-to solution for warming up your voice before recording and public speaking.
The thrill of mastering a tricky phrase and watching it twist and turn other people’s tongues into knots is secretly quite enjoyable. Plus, I enjoy the variety they bring to my vocal warm-up. It’s true! My favourite tongue twisters change all the time. Why, you ask? Well, my clients love creating new ones and sharing them with me but, mostly, because I get bored of ’em when they get too easy!
Now, if you’ve been doing the same tongue twisters for years, to the point where you can deliver them flawlessly without a thought, then they’re not serving their purpose anymore.
But they are an important part of your voice warm-up. Tongue twisters help with clarity of articulation, adding energy to our speech, and preparing our voices to communicate complex, emotional, and exciting thoughts to our listeners.
The trick is to approach them in the right way. Have a few tongue twister tips on me:
- When practising a tongue twister, the focus should be on each individual sound. It’s not about perfecting your pronunciation or modifying your accent, but rather about familiarising your body with the sounds that usually trip you up.
- Avoid rushing through them in a bid to make them sound hilarious or impressive. When you do them too fast, you’re likely to miss out on the details. And if you’re not correctly pronouncing the sounds, there’s no point in practising that tongue twister at all.
- Pick tongue twisters that contain the sounds you usually trip up on. The idea is to drill the problem sound so that it naturally blends into your speech and communication.
In short, don’t get complacent and stick with the same tongue twister once you’ve mastered it. Keep changing it up! Introduce new challenges to keep developing and improving your articulation. And while we’re at it, don’t just sit there motionless while you practice. Involve your body! Walk around, jump, dance – anything to keep it fun and prevent it from becoming a mechanical, effortful exercise.
For more warm-up tips before you hit the mic to record your podcast or voiceover, check out my book On The Mic here.