Nov 22 2008
How Now Brown Cow?
OK. This can be a lot of fun. Have you ever been around an acotr or a singer who uses tongue twisters when they warm up? Well, I have. In fact, I’ve done that myself. It’s true that one can seem a bit odd when practicing in this way, but there is actually good reason to do it. It helps create more clarity.
Clarity is one of five aspects of voice that I am going to discuss over the next couple of weeks. The other four are pace, pitch, cadence and volume. The reason to become aware of them is because, as I’ve said before, your voice gives wordless clues about who you are and if you want to have more vocal impact, you need to be aware of what your voice is saying about you beyond your spoken message.
So we’ll start with clarity: Clarity of sound is created by the effective use of articulation mechanisms, mainly your lips and tongue. If your speech is not clear, neither is your message. Use tongue twisters to achieve greater clarity. Here are some to try:
- Unique New York
- Three free throws
- Brad’s big black bath brush broke
- The myth of Miss Muffet
Maybe you know of some others that you would recommend. If so, please write a comment to let us know.
