Frivolously fanciful Fannie fried fresh fish furiously
Swan swam over the sea; swim, swan, swim! Swan swam back again, well swum, swan!
A big black bug bit a a big black bear, made the big black bear bleed blood.
A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies
Six socks sit in a sink, soaking in soapsuds.
Don't drop the G!
Often when the 'g' sound is at the end of a sentence, it means we only use half (or less) of the sound. Here's a practice to make sure we can use those sounds with impunity!
The big goose goes wagging its tail while juggling grapes and grinning.
ch in use
The beach ball catcher reaches for peaches for lunch.
The 'ch' sound often gets lost in the use of all the various words we use every day. When giving speeches it's important to make sure we emphasize these words in a good way.
Zuh sounds
The sound of 'z' comes through in a variety of ways and words. Recognizing the need to emphasize and articulate the 'z' no matter the form it comes from.
Zucchini cheesecake and cookies tease babies endlessly.
Enjoy this one!
The emphasis game
Try to say this sentence aloud in a way that others can make sense of it:
The seaman sees seas that he hopes to seize.
Try to apply the emphasis in a way that it's not difficult to understand. Good Luck!
Puh is important too.
Playful puppies pounce around positively, purely, full of delight.
The Puh sound works the lips more than the tongue, so it's worth bringing into the practice routine on a reguar basis. All these sounds work together, and all these muscles do the same.
That illusive S
Simon the silly squirrel sat selling seal skin.
The s sound is one of the laziest. We use is a ton, it's included in a good number of the words that we use everyday. Because of that, it doesn't always get the love it should. Practice a few 's' warm ups to keep it sharp and ready for action.
The tongue to the top
Laura's little lamb loved lounging by the lizard in the low lying tree.
This week we are focused on the 'L' sound, which puts the tongue to the top of our mouths. Americans often get lazy with this noise, so practicing is a good way to keep it fresh and crisp.
Intonation Practice
Here's one of my favorites for working with intonation. Knowing where to put the emphasis and how to use the language you choose can really have a huge impact on your speech presentation. That's why this week is about emphasis. See if you can read the following sentence so that it makes sense:
"If two witches watched two watches, which witch would watch which watch?"
Now do it 3 times in a row, altering your intonation each time.
The 'nee' versus 'nuh'
Often when these two sounds are in the same sentence they can get a little muddied. The parts of the tongue that create these sounds are not used to being used in succession a great deal, so it's a great one to practice.
Know Ned nightly kneads his knuckles. When Ned kneads his knuckles nightly, he knows nothing about nice niches nuzzling Ned's nervous knuckle kneading habit.
The 's' and 'sh' sounds
These are sounds that often lose clarity in speeches - especially when they are close together and a speaker might be going a tad quicker than they should. Here's a warm-up to help with that:
Sally, the sea shell seller, sells sea shells down by the seashore. If Sally, the sea shell seller, sells sea shells down by the seashore, how many shells does Sally, the sea shell seller, sell?
This one can be really tricky for those who aren't practicing this area of articulation. There is a lot of competing sounds, and the switching between the 's' and 'sh' sounds easily just come with practice. The jaw is a muscle too, and that muscle memory is as important for articulation as it is for typing or writing.
The 'puh' Sound
I know it seems odd, but sometimes the oldies really are the goodies.
Peter Piper, the pickled pepper picker, picked a pack of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper, the pickled pepper picker, picked a pack of pickled peppers, then where is the pack of pickled peppers Peter Piper, the pickled pepper picker picked?
This sound and this exercise is all about lip movement, strengthening, and waking up muscles that aren't used a great deal. This is a good once a week exercise, to keep those parts of your mouth and tongue feeling sharp and ready to roll.
Week of May 22nd
This week we are staying traditional. (Next week we will begin getting into sound-specific exercises). Adding this warm-up to your routine helps to warm up all those muscles and get them ready for the day.
Red Leather. Yellow Leather. Lavender Leather.
Combining this one with the warm-ups from the last two weeks makes a nice, quick routine in the mornings. These three together would be about a 3 minute warm-up, perfect for the every day start up.
Week of May 15th
This week's warm up goes really well with last week's.
Chrysanthemum. Geranium.
Combining the two, doing both three times each, means that you've used the bulk of the muscles in your mouth and jaw, and in fact, making these combinations of sounds means that you have now warmed up all the speaking muscles in your mouth and jaw.
Week of May 8th
We've decided to begin a weekly tongue teaser! We know that prepping and keeping your enunciation and practices fresh are the key to wanting to continue to do them week after week. So, we're here to hopefully help with that a bit.
This week we're beginning with one of our favorites. This was one that I used to practice with when I competed, oh, let's just say a couple years ago ;)
Cinnamon. Aluminum. Linoleum. Petroleum.
This is a good one because it warms up almost all the muscles in your mouth and jaw, and gets them ready for the day. It's good to do this one even on a non-competition day, to just get you ready for the talking ahead. Think of it in the same way as getting out of bed in the morning and stretching your arms above your head. It just gets everything moving, and starts you on your way.
Say it 3 times. Ennunciating the words every time.