Voiceover Exercises
Scroll down for Breathing Exercises * Articulation * Inflectional Changes * Tongue Twisters
Breathing Exercises
- Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose. Exhale slowly through the mouth. Repeat.
- Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose. Exhale slowly making the sound “ahhhh”. USE YOUR DIAPHRAGM
- Inhale deeply. Exhale in short explosive bursts (huh! huh! huh! huh!).
- Inhale slowly and count aloud clearly enunciating each number until you run out of breath. This is also a good warm-up exercise for your articulators.
- Read the following sentence as many times as you can on one breath. This sentence is filled with words that use air.
He hid at home and sobbed when his sister seized
whatever he had on top in the thin five-shelved closet.
- Take a deep breath and see how far you can read through this grouping of words. Make sure you are making each of the words come alive as you say them. Don’t just race through them — interpret!
Collecting and projecting, receding and speeding and shocking and rocking and darting and parting and treading and spreading and whizzing and hissing and dripping and skipping and hitting and splitting and shining and twining |
and rattling and battling and shaking and quaking and pouring and roaring and waving and raving and flowing and going and heaving and cleaving and foaming and roaming and moaning and groaning and dropping and hopping |
Articulation
Exercises to overcome “Immovable Jaw”, “Idle Tongue”, “Lazy Lips”, and “Too Much Speed”.
LIMBERING UP
- Spread the lips in a smile for “eeeee”, open them for “aaahh”, and close them for “ooooo”. Repeat.
- Rapidly say “fud-dud-dud-dah” several times. Now say “ira-ira-ira-ira-ira-ira”.
- Make believe you are a truck. Trill your tongue. Be a rattlesnake
TONGUE
Say each of the following words 5 times, trying to keep the tongue forward, just behind the upper front teeth. Listen for brightness and liveliness of tone.
Tea | Deal |
Tick | Dish |
Tail | Thick |
Nape | Table |
LIPS
A stiff upper lip is one cause of misarticulation. Say the words �pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat� many times. Try to pronounce the “P’s” and “T’s” very clearly. Now try to pick up the speed. DON’T LOOSE THE “P” AND THE “T”.
JAW OPENING EXERCISES
Say the following words while exaggerating your jaw opening.
Hack | Yacht | Dot |
Paw | Yard | Dart |
Tab | Tot | Dark |
Hah | Tat | Lad |
MORE LOOSENING UP EXERCISES
Repeat each of the following word groupings clearly over and over. Start slowly at first. As your articulators become more nimble and relaxed you will be able to pick up speed without stumbling. Do any sort of tongue twister that comes to mind. The more you loosen up before a session, the easier it will be.
Good Blood, Bad Blood
Bad Blood, Good Blood
Red Leather, Yellow Leather
Buttah, Guttah Guttah, Buttah
The Leaf Police Dismisses Us
Inflectional Changes
Record the following exercises and then listen critically to see if you can hear the difference in the way you interpreted the meaning of the words.
Say the word “YES” to indicate:
- Certainty
- Doubt
- Indecision
- Sarcasm
Say the word “NO” and, by changes of inflection, indicate the following:
- Definitely not.
- Well, maybe.
- I’m surprised to learn that.
- I’m annoyed to learn that.
- I’m pleased and surprised to learn that.
Say the sentence “I’ll be there.” so that the following attitudes are implied:
- Determination
- Pleasant agreement
- Surprise
- Annoyance
Say the sentence “I like Bill.” to bring out the following:
- A direct statement of fact. You mean literally what the words say.
- A contradiction of the literal meaning of the words. You definitely do not like Bill.
- Irritation and surprise that anyone could conceivably accuse you of liking Bill.
- Indecision as to your feelings about Bill.
- Specific indication that your liking is for Bill and not for anyone else who may be present.
- Your answer to the question “Who likes Bill?”
- An aggressive and emphatic answer to the question “Who could possibly care for a man like Bill?”
Tongue Twisters
Many of these tongue twisters are familiar. Some came from the “Speech 101, Voice and Diction Class at San Diego City College. Others are from actual scripts. Some are familiar. Some seem simple. Some will be the bane of your existence. Just remember to warm up your articulators before jumping in on them!
Rubber baby buggy bumpers
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells,
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
Five fresh fish specials daily
Unique New York
Six stick shifts stuck shut.
Another long block of non-stop rock
The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit;
and on the slitted sheet I sit.
A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk,
but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
A Tudor who tooted a flute
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to their tutor,
Is it harder to toot –
Or to tutor two tooters to toot?
I’m not the pheasant plucker,
I’m the pheasant plucker’s mate.
I am only plucking pheasants
‘cause the pheasant plucker’s running late.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?