It’s January, the parties are done, you’ve probably done some fine singing in of the New Year. That is behind us once more and now is the time for reflection about our new year’s resolutions.
I’m a great fan of keeping things simple and achievable. So here’s a great plan to improve your voice and your speech this year This is a new year’s resolution which is easy to keep.
Doing more exercise is a great new year’s resolution and you can improve the quality of your voice and speech just by doing exercises.
Let’s look at this in two parts.
Part One: how to improve your voice.
Part Two: how to improve your speech
Part one: your voice needs to be used properly each day for it to work well for you. Your voice needs to be warmed up, so you can reach a wider range of notes as you speak, more easily. Using a greater range of notes in your spoken voice can mean that your voice sounds more interesting.
Let’s see how this new year’s resolution for voice exercise can be achieved. Take a full breath of air, being mindful of your diaphragm moving down towards your boots, your ribs opening and expanding and your lung volume being increased. It’s a good idea to do this with your mouth closed if possible, to allow the air to be warmed and cleansed as it passes into your lungs via your nose.
Allow the air to gently release from your lungs through your nose or lips until it’s gone. Close your lips immediately and feel and new ‘bounce’ of air entering your nose then lungs and continue until the same ‘full’ feeling is experienced.
Practise this mindful breathing several times, gently and peacefully, noticing the lifting of your ribs and the way your stomach moves gently outwards, as your air-filled lungs take up the space.
After breathing in and out a few times, add your voice to the outbreath on a low-ish note so that you are humming out. Keep the note and volume constant as your breath supports your voice. When your lungs are comfortably empty, repeat the breathing in pattern again and hum out on a slightly different note (higher or lower, it doesn’t matter) again until your lungs are comfortably empty.
This gentle, relaxing way of warming up your voice will pay dividends in how your voice performs for you. Using notes slightly higher and slightly lower than your usual range will help extend your range naturally.
Part two: how to improve your speech using tongue-twisters. Articulation is a key part of good speech and finding accuracy with your tongue will help your words be understood correctly.
You may have trouble with key sounds that you have always found difficult to articulate, like the TH sound or the R sound, or even S and Z may be tricky for you to say.
Finding the right place to use articulation might need to be something I help you with, to ensure you’re practising correctly, but it’s always a good idea to use tongue twisters to warm up your articulators. Saying tongue twisters can also improve your sight-reading techniques.
Here are some for you to try:
TH practise:
Thirty thousand thrilling feathers on a thrush’s throat.
R practise:
Red lorry, yellow lorry
Round and round the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran.
S and Z practise:
Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
Does a busy buzzing honey bee have a fuzzy cousin’s honey tree?
There are lots of tongue twisters around for you to try out and if you really want to improve your clarity and articulation, these exercises will definitely help you. Make saying tongue twisters out loud, part of your everyday routine to develop clearer speech.
There you are – nice and easy new year’s resolutions to help your speech and voice performance!
Every good wish for 2023!
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