ABSTRACT
Good use of the voice is dependent upon good muscle control as much as anything else and like any other muscles the tongue, lips and throat need to be exercised. Breath control is also an essential element of speaking clearly. The following exercises are simple ways of warming up the voice. With all of them, it is important for the class to be standing up in a relaxed way with arms hanging loosely at the side.
Take in a deep breath through the nose, hold it for a count of five, then release the breath explosively through the mouth. Repeat this three or four times.
Imagine that you are holding a small feather above your head. Take in a deep breath through the nose, pretend to release the feather and blow gently out through the mouth to keep the feather floating in the air for as long as possible.
Take a deep breath through the nose, hold it for two seconds then speak aloud the months of the year as quickly and clearly as you can without taking another breath.
Take a deep breath through the nose, hold it for two seconds, then count from one to ten in a whisper.
Stand in a small circle and imagine that you are each holding one end of a bungee rope in both hands. The other end is attached to a ring bolted to the floor in the middle of the circle. Take a deep breath then slowly move out from the small circle stretching the rope and making a Zzzzzzzzzz sound until you have virtually no breath left. Imagine being pulled back into the ring by the elastic, yelling ZAPPPPPPP! as you go.
Practise individual letter sounds using just one breath for each. For example: 90T t t t t t t t t M m m m m m m m P p p p p p p p p A a a a a a a a a
