Tongue Twisters? Why?

TWO LIPS

“The flexibility of the lips is very important if speech is to be clear and projected. Vowels as well as consonants suffer from lack of lip mobility.” Sounds: p  b  m  w  wh

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

Where’s the Peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

A white witch watched a woe-begone walrus winding white wool

A poor pauper paused on purpose to pawn a porpoise

Big blue blisters bleeding badly

Which witch is which?

TONGUE-TIP AND UPPER-TEETH RIDGE

“The majority of English consonants are produced by approximation of the tongue-tip and upper-teeth ridge” Sounds: t  d  l  n  r  s  z

Six Sicilian seamen sailed the seven seas southward

Do drop in at the dew drop inn

Christopher Twistle was trying to whistle and Christopher twisted his tongue

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry

Twenty twisted tangled threads, twining taut the tree tops

BACK OF  TONGUE AND SOFT PALATE

“These help those people who find it difficult to pronounce the ‘ing’ on the ends of words such as ‘singing’ and ‘ringing’. It will also help those who suffer from nasality caused by a lazy soft palate” Sounds: k  g  ng

A skunk sat on a stump

The skunk thunk the stump stunk

The stump thunk the skunk stunk

How much caramel

Can a canny cannibal

Cram into a camel,

If a canny cannibal

Can cram caramel

Into a camel?

                                                                              

Quin’s twin sisters sing tongue-twisters

Three grey green greedy geese,

Feeding on a weedy piece,

The piece was weedy,

And the geese were greedy,

Three grey green greedy geese.

TONGUE-TIP AND UPPER TEETH

“Many people have difficulty with the ‘th’ sound in ‘think’ and ‘thought’. ‘Cockneys’ tend to pronounce these words as ‘fink’ and ‘fought’. These will help in correcting this” Sounds: th 

Freddy thrush flies through thick fog

I’d far rather lather father,

Thank father lather me,

Because when father lathers,

He lathers rather free

The Leith police dismisseth us

Whether the weather be fine

Or whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold

Or whether the weather be hot

We’ll weather the weather,

Whether we like it or not.

This thatched roof is thick

TONGUE-TIP AND UPPER TEETH

“Many people have difficulty with the ‘th’ sound in ‘think’ and ‘thought’. ‘Cockneys’ tend to pronounce these words as ‘fink’ and ‘fought’. These will help in correcting this” Sounds: th 

Freddy thrush flies through thick fog

I’d far rather lather father,

Thank father lather me,

Because when father lathers,

He lathers rather free

The Leith police dismisseth us

Whether the weather be fine

Or whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold

Or whether the weather be hot

We’ll weather the weather,

Whether we like it or not.

This thatched roof is thick

LOWER LIP AND UPPER TEETH

“If you trip over your ‘f’ and ‘v’ consonants then practice these amusing ‘twisters’,” Sounds: f  v

Five frantic frogs fled from fifty fierce fishes.

One smart fellow he felt smart

Two smart fellows they felt smart

Three smart fellows they all felt smart

A fat-thighed freak fries thick fish

I’m a fig plucker,

I’m a fig plucker’s son

I pluck figs till the fig pluckers come.

Vera valued the valley violets

Vigorous Vesta voiced voluble verse vociferously

TONGUE BLADE AND FRONT OF HARD PALATE

“These contain some of the sounds which trip many tongues. ‘sh’ and ‘s’ placed closely together are well-known hazards.” Sounds: ch  ge  sh  zh

A chilly sited click steel slitter sitting slitting a satellite’s charted site.

Chin-chin chinaman. Chop! Chop! Chop!

If a shipshape ship shop stocks six shipshape shop-soiled ships

How many shipshape shop-soiled ships would six shipshape ship shops stock

Once I hear a mother utter,

‘Daughter. Go and shut the shutter.’

‘Shutter’s shut,’ the daughter uttered.

‘For I can’t shut it any shutter’

The Duke paid the money due to the Jew before

The dew was off the grass on Tuesday

And the Jew having duly acknowledged it

said adieu to the Duke for ever.

OPEN RESONATOR

“’h’ is possibly the greatest single trouble-maker in speaking…I heard a nervous person drop the following verbal clanger: ‘Hi ope that you will support the harts in this harea.’ You can avoid a similar incident if you practise these examples” Sounds: h

He ate hot apples and halibut hastily

A haddock, a haddock, a black-spotted haddock,

A black spot on the black back of a black-spotted haddock.

If a hair net could net hair,

How much hair could that hair net net,

If a hair net could net hair?

Last year I could not hear with either ear

If a Hottentot taught a Hottentot to to talk ere the tot could totter,

Ought the Hottentot tot to be taught to say ‘ought’ or ‘naught’

Or what ought to be taught her?

-Exaggeration of vowels

-Thai Chi

-Lateral stretching

-Breathing in then breathing out with ‘colour’ e.g. “eeee” “aaah” “oooh”

-Humming

“ The voice is the means by which, in everyday life, you communicate with other people, and though, of course, how you present yourself-you posture, movement, dress and involuntary gesture-gives an impression of your personality, it is through the speaking voice that you convey your thoughts and feelings.”

This quote from Cicely Berry shows us that it is vital that we look after our voice and emphasizes the importance of maintaining healthy vocal chords. Some exercises that were widely popular amongst my peers were the tongue twisters. Tongue twisters have been used all over the world, by many different performers for years. This is because it so influential on articulation, diction, clarity and sibilance, amongst others.

Me doing some tongue twisters:

http://picosong.com/wMep

The tongue twisters I practiced were very, very helpful. They really helped with articulation, diction, clarity and sibilance as well as exercising various muscles in the body to help with our muscular control. They are exercises that can be used in a variety of situations and will help us throughout the course as well as any other performing routes we decide to take. The different tongue twisters focused on different parts of our voice; some focused on the pronunciation, lips and tongue whilst others focused on the guttural part of our voice. I found that the main problem I have with my articulation and pronunciation is controlling where my tongue is in the mouth, so placing it correctly. Because of this I plan to work a lot on particular tongue twisters that focus on helping with that specific problem. I know that this is not just an eay fix so I will continue to work on this to persistently improve my diction.

I am focusing on particular one such as:

Whether the weather be fine

Or whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold

Or whether the weather be hot

We’ll weather the weather,

Whether we like it or not.

Three grey green greedy geese,

Feeding on a weedy piece,

The piece was weedy,

And the geese were greedy,

Three grey green greedy geese.

Christopher Twistle was trying to whistle and Christopher twisted his tongue

More of me practicing the above specific tongue twisters: http://picosong.com/wMCC

EXERCISES FOR THE TONGUE:

·         Twist the Twine Tightly Round the Tree Trunks

·         Did Dora Dare to Deceive David Deliberately?

·         Kate Cooney Carefully Closed the Kitchen Cupboards

·         Gregory Garside Gained Good Gradings in Greek Grammar

·         Naughty Nora Has No Nice Neighbours

·         Little Larry Lester Lolled Lazily on the Li-Lo

·         Rosemary Wright Was Richly Dressed in Red Corduroy

“Exercising the back of the tongue is vital, not only for clarity of diction, but for the release of the sound as a whole.”

I am going to continue practicing these articulation exercise throughout the entirety of the course as well as during my time as a performer. Looking at my vocal skills from this angle really helps me to highlight what I need to work on in order to make the most out of my tool so that I can improve and develop.