VOCAL SKILLS AND HOW TO IMPROVE

1. NAVIGATION

You can simply look through each support page using the icons at the bottom right of the page. You could also navigate to specific sections using the contents box on the left. 

2. IF YOU OFTEN MUMBLE

Work on opening your mouth more by loosening up the back of your jaw.

The joint of your upper and lower jaw is in front of your ear on each side of your face.

There is a muscle that joins the two jaws together and it can easily get tight, especially when you are nervous.

Massaging this muscle helps to release it.

• Place your fingertips in front of your ear lobe on each side and massage that area,
• To find the right place, bite your teeth together and you will feel the muscle knot up on the bottom jaw.
• Release the bite and massage that area.

Exercise

• Massage the joint of the jaws in front of your earlobes with your fingertips. 
• You may feel this release into your throat.
• Massage your face, hairline and back of the neck.
• Relax your jaw and let your top teeth separate from the bottom teeth.

 Exercise

Breathe in and make a long, slow, sustained S.

• When you run out of breath, allow the muscles that you have contracted as your breath goes out to release so you can breathe in again.
• Repeat the slow S.
• Release, breath in and repeat the slow S 

Exercise

• Repeat the exercise using a Z.
• You will probably feel the vibrations of the Z right down into your abdomen.  Enjoy this feeling.  It means you are supporting your voice.
• Breathe in and make a long, slow sustained Z.
• Release, breathe in and repeat the slow Z.
• Release, breathe in and repeat the slow Z,
• That’s three breaths for each sound.

 Exercise: Speaking from your abdomen and supporting words.

Feeling putting the breath into words.

As you do this exercise, allow the feeling of your speaking voice to come from your abdomen. 

• Breath in down to your abdomen.
• Count to 10 out loud, but not too loudly.
• Release and breathe in again.
• Count to 11.
• Release and breathe in again.
• Count to 12.

 Do not tighten your throat.

Keep the voice steady and with energy – but again, don’t push for volume.

Exercise: Exploring the range

This exercise is to open up your voice using the whole range, from high to low.

• Breathe in, then release your voice on a long slow Ha, sliding from the very top of your range down to the bottom.
• Don’t push up the high note at the beginning.  Take it from that gentle, child’s voice you used in Exercise 3.
• Repeat as many times as you like, but always choose to breathe into your lower ribs, diaphragm and abdomen first.
• Send your voice away from you into the distance.  Look at a spot across the room and focus the energy of your voice to that point.  Try to keep the vocal energy up and out without pushing it.
• Choose to keep your throat and mouth open all the way to the end of the sound.

Articulation – exercising the muscles of your face and tongue.

Articulate to ensure that the words you speak have energy and clarity.

Exercise:  Back of the tongue

Open your mouth enough to get two fingers between your teeth, one above the other.

Put the tip of your tongue behind your bottom teeth.

Take your fingers out but keep the space.

Try to move only your tongue at the back and not the jaw.

Make fast, repeated G sounds.

Make fast, repeated K sounds.

Repeat kiggley koo, kiggley koo, kiggley kiggley kiggley koo several times.

Exercise: Tongue twisters

It is to practise tongue twisters until you are accurate and clear with all the consonants.

Then gradually speed up, repeating each sentence over and over without missing any consonants.

Then speak them aloud.  Gradually go faster and faster – but always accurately.

Try some of the following:

• Big, bad, bold brilliant Brown
• Bewildered in Wimbledon
• A pretty, pink petticoat
• A practical proposition to propagate the appetite
• Many merry mandolins
• An incredibly incongruous incriminating cryptogram
• Down in the Delta doing dreadful deeds deliberately
• Dan drank the drink and got drunk
• Ten tonnes of tarmac tumbled out of the truck
• Tick tock, tick tack, tick tock, tick tack
• Seventy-seven sailors standing sentry on the strand
• They strung a strong string straight across the street
• Rhetorical philanthropists are generally lugubrious
• A luck, little stickleback

3. IF YOUR VOICE IS TOO QUIET

• Support your voice properly with your breathing, as breath is the energy of the voice.
• Use your mouth effectively for speech sounds to shape the energy of the words you use.
• Work on discovering the resonance of your voice.

Exercise: Finding resonance in different parts of your body

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your weight balanced on the centre of your feet.

Start humming with your lips closed but not pressed together and your teeth apart.  While you hum, do all the actions below to stimulate the feeling of resonance through your body.  Listen to the sound and you will hear the changes.

Chest

Firmly pat and message around the chest area. 

Lower ribs

Rub and massage the lower ribs at the front and the sides. 

Lower Back

Rub, pat and massage the back of your lower ribs and the top of your pelvis. 

Abdomen

Bounce and shake the humming down into your abdomen. 

Legs and feet

Shake the humming out of each leg and foot.

Spine

Shake and bounce the humming through your spine. 

Stand still again.

Face

Drop your head down towards your chest and hum into your face – the forehead, nose and lips.  Gravity will help to release the sound. 

Lift your head as you hum. 

Move the face muscles around and move your voice around so that you are sliding through different notes.

Head

Hum into the top of your head using a high-pitched, gentle voice

Exercise: Resonance through the whole range of your voice

Still humming, slide down slowly and smoothly through your voice from the highest note to the lowest.  Don’t strain or reach for the high notes.  Allow the voice to start the slide quite gently.  Don’t worry if you hear a jump in the middle of your range.  It is quite normal.

• As you slide, gradually, think the sound forward and away from you in the distance.
• Repeat several times.
• Allow a few slides, try speaking something – you could just count to 10.
• Is your voice beginning to feel freer?
• Does it sound more resonant and colourful?

 Exercise: Opening the voice – releasing the sound and exploring your range.

 Rib Stretch

• Take a wider stance and bend your knees a little.
• With your right arm up, stretch over to the left side, with your left arm wrapped around your body to hold the stretched right side.
• Drop the top hand on to the top of your head and relax your shoulders.
• Breathe a couple of breaths into the stretched side and feel the ribs swinging out.  Try dropping the lower arm.  You will feel more stretch.
• Drop the right shoulder and elbow forward and you will feel the stretch opening up the back of that side of your rib cage.  Take a couple of breaths,
• Come up, drop your arms and take a breath, you will feel how the ribs move more freely on the stretched side of your body.
• Repeat the whole exercise of the other side.
• Finally, stand up straight again and bring your feet back in under your hips.  Be aware of the movement of the sides of your ribs as you breathe normally.

Throat stretches

Yawning

Yawning is a great way to stretch all the areas involved with speech: the throat, tongue, lips and face muscles.  If you stretch your body in response to the yawn, you will open up the ribs and shoulders as well.

Stifled Yawn

Try another yawn but this time don’t open your mouth – as if you were trying to stifle the yawn.  Do you feel that big stretch at the back of your mouth?

Standing straight again, let the breath fill the sides of your ribs, and be aware of the movement of the diaphragm down into your abdomen.

Exercise: Exploring the range

This exercise is to open up your voice using the whole range,
from high to low.

• Breathe in, then release your voice on a long slow Ha, sliding from the very top of your range down to the bottom.
• Don’t push up the high note at the beginning.  Take it from that gentle, child’s voice you used in Exercise 3.
• Repeat as many times as you like, but always choose to breathe into your lower ribs, diaphragm and abdomen first.
• Send your voice away from you into the distance.  Look at a spot across the room and focus the energy of your voice to that point.  Try to keep the vocal energy up and out without pushing it.
• Choose to keep your throat and mouth open all the way to the end of the sound.

Articulation – exercising the muscles of your face and tongue.

Wake up the muscles of articulation in your mouth to ensure that the words you speak have energy and clarity.

Prepare by giving your face muscles a workout.

• Scrunch and stretch the face but be careful not to tighten your neck.
• Move your tongue around in your mouth and with the tip explore every corner.
• Stick the front of your tongue out of your mouth – just as far as it’s comfortable.
• Make a point with the tip, then flatten it.  Alternate between pointing and flattening a few times.
• Make small circles with the tip in both directions.
• Make big circles using the whole tongue.
• When you have finished, relax the jaw and connect to your breathing.

Exercise: Tip of the tongue

• Make a rolled R, moving around the whole range of your voice.
• Make fast, repeated D sounds.
• Make fast, repeated T sounds.

Exercise: Sides of the tongue

Repeat Yoh yah, Yoh yah several times.

Repeat red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry several times.

Exercise:  Back of the tongue

Open your mouth enough to get two fingers between your teeth, one above the other.

Put the tip of your tongue behind your bottom teeth.

Take your fingers out but keep the space.

Try to move only your tongue at the back and not the jaw.

Make fast, repeated G sounds.

Make fast, repeated K sounds.

Repeat kiggley koo, kiggley koo, kiggley kiggley kiggley koo several times.

Exercise: Lips

Lift your top lip off your top teeth like a sneer, then let it drop down again.

• Repeat several times: up and down, up and down.
• Now try that with your bottom lip, dropping it down off your bottom teeth.  Try not to tighten your neck.
• Repeat several times: down and up, down and up.
• Now one after the other: lift the top lip then return your lips together.  Drop the bottom lip, then return your lips together.  Top, together, bottom, together, top, together, bottom together.
• Blow air through your lips and enjoy making them flap.
• Make motorbike engine sounds with your lips by blowing your voice through them.
• Make fast repeated B sounds.  Bounce them around the room.
• Make fast, repeated P sounds.  Make them sharp, popping sounds.
• Make fast, repeated W sounds.  Work the lips quite hard.
• Make fast, repeated M sounds. Enjoy the buzz on the lips.

4. IF YOU GET SHORT OF BREATH

Exercise: Organising your breathing muscles to support your voice

This exercise will help you to feel the breath carrying sound steadily through your body, supported from deep in your abdomen.

Exercise

Massage the joint of the jaws in front of your earlobes with your fingertips.  You may feel this release into your throat.

• Massage your face, hairline and back of the neck.
• Relax your jaw and let your top teeth separate from the bottom teeth.

 Exercise

Breathe in and make a long, slow, sustained S.

• When you run out of breath, allow the muscles that you have contracted as your breath goes out to release so you can breathe in again.
• Repeat the slow S.
• Release, breath in and repeat the slow S

 Exercise

Repeat the exercise using a Z.

• You will probably feel the vibrations of the Z right down into your abdomen.  Enjoy this feeling.  It means you are supporting your voice.
• Breathe in and make a long, slow sustained Z.
• Release, breathe in and repeat the slow Z.
• Release, breathe in and repeat the slow Z,
• That’s three breaths for each sound.

 Exercise: Speaking from your abdomen and supporting words.

Breath in down to your abdomen.

• Count to 10 out loud, but not too loudly.
• Release and breathe in again.
• Count to 11.
• Release and breathe in again.
• Count to 12.

 Exercise: Calling outCall to your mum when she is in another room.

Mum! Mum!

Try it again quite loudly.

Now try Stop! Stop!

You may feel a slight tightening in the area around your diaphragm and also some sensation lower down, near your groin, as the muscles of support kick into action.

Exercise: Hand pressing for support

Press the heels of your hands together in front of you, just at the height of your diaphragm.

Breathe.  You may feel your breath drawn in very deeply and your rib cage widen.

Take some time with this to allow your body and thoughts to come together.

• Mum! Mum!
• Stop! Stop!

 Exercise: Extending the call

Check your posture, breath and space between your teeth.

• Breathe in through your mouth and call out One from deep support, letting your voice find a pitch a bit higher than normal speech.
• Breathe in through the mouth and call One, Two in the same way
• Breathe in through the mouth and call One, Two, Three
• Breathe in through the mouth and call One, Two, Three, Four

Continue counting in the same way until you have reached the limit of your breath support without tightening your throat.

Exercise: Shouting

Check your posture, breath and space between your teeth.

• Try this exercise with and without hand pressing (see Exercise 30)
• Breathe in through the mouth and shout out NO! from deep support, letting your voice find a pitch a bit higher than normal speech.
• Breathe in through the mouth and shout out NO DON’T in the same way.
• Breathe in through the mouth and shout out NO DON’T GO!

It is very common for people to lose confidence and support at the end of a phrase.

• Finish the exercise by sliding down through your voice on a hum a couple of times.

5. IF YOUR VOICE IS TOO BREATHY

• The voice can sound breathy if you are using the muscles of your throat to control your voice.
• This habit tightens your throat and interferes with the action of your vocal folds.
• Make sure that you are using the resonance of your voice properly.
• Use breath support through a relaxed throat. 

Exercise: Find resonance in different parts of your body

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your weight balanced on the centre of your feet.

Start humming with your lips closed but not pressed together and your teeth apart.  While you hum, do all the actions below to stimulate the feeling of resonance through your body.  Listen to the sound and you will hear the changes.

Chest

Firmly pat and message around the chest area. 

Lower ribs

Rub and massage the lower ribs at the front and the sides.  See if you can get a sense of your voice dropping into your lower body.

Lower Back

Rub, pat and massage the back of your lower ribs and the top of your pelvis.  Loosening resonance into your lower back has a very powerful effect on the quality of your voice.  Can you hear it?  Can you feel it inside you? 

Abdomen

Bounce and shake the humming down into your abdomen. 

Legs and Feet

Shake the humming out of each leg and foot. 

Spine

Shake and bounce the humming through your spine.

Stand still again.

Face

Drop your head down towards your chest and hum into your face – the forehead, nose and lips.  Gravity will help to release the sound. 

Lift your head as you hum.  Imagine bringing the resonance up too, keeping it forward in your face and then releasing it out into the space ahead.

Move the face muscles around and move your voice around so that you are sliding through different notes.

Head

Hum into the top of your head using a high-pitched, gentle voice. 

Exercise: Resonance through the whole range of your voiceStill humming, slide down slowly and smoothly through your voice from the highest note to the lowest. 

• As you slide, gradually, think the sound forward and away from you in the distance.
• Repeat several times.
• Allow a few slides, try speaking something – you could just count to 10.

 Opening the voice – releasing the sound and exploring your range.

Throat stretches - Yawning

Yawning is a great way to stretch all the areas involved with speech: the throat, tongue, lips and face muscles. 

Stifled Yawn

Try another yawn but this time don’t open your mouth – as if you were trying to stifle the yawn.  Do you feel that big stretch at the back of your mouth?

 Exercise:  Throat resonance – single notes

Stifled Yawn

• Try another yawn but this time don’t open your mouth – as if you were trying to stifle the yawn. 
• Standing straight again, let the breath fill the sides of your ribs, and be aware of the movement of the diaphragm down into your abdomen.
• Separate your top teeth from your bottom teeth with your lips together. 
• Hum gently into the throat space on a comfortable note. 
• Try this on several different notes.

Exercise: Throat resonance – slides

Slide the hum down through your voice, starting with your high child’s voice.

• Repeat several times

Exercise: Throat resonance – speech

Simply count aloud or speak some words, feeling the resonance in your throat, especially in the vowels,

Exercise: Using the floor for resonance

• Lie face down on the floor, with your forehead on your hands or arms.
• Hum gently on a comfortable note.
• Focus that note and then others into your face,
• Focus some notes into your chest.
• Focus some notes into your abdomen.
• Let gravity help you to release the sounds and resist any desire to push your voice forward.

Exercise: Resonant words throughout the body

• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your forehead.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your nose.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your lips.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your chest.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your abdomen.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance on to the top of your head.
• Repeat and try to feel the resonance in al the areas at once. 
• You should now feel that your voice is fuller and more colourful.
• Count to 10 in a ‘sing-song’ way swooping and sliding around all the notes of your voice.
• Use the whole range: high middle and low notes.
• At the same time, imagine the resonance of your voice moving all around your body.

6. IF YOUR VOICE GETS TIRED EASILY

If you aren’t breathing feely and deeply enough.  If you don’t support your voice with your breath your voice will tire.

Any unnecessary tension in your throat or jaw will also tire your voice.

Exercise

• Massage the joint of the jaws in front of your earlobes with your fingertips.  You may feel this release into your throat.
• Massage your face, hairline and back of the neck.
• Relax your jaw and let your top teeth separate from the bottom teeth.

 Exercise

• Breathe in and make a long, slow, sustained S.
• When you run out of breath, allow the muscles that you have contracted as your breath goes out to release so you can breathe in again.
• Repeat the slow S.
• Release, breath in and repeat the slow S

Exercise

• Repeat the exercise using a Z.
• You will probably feel the vibrations of the Z right down into your abdomen.  Enjoy this feeling.  It means you are supporting your voice.
• Breathe in and make a long, slow sustained Z.
• Release, breathe in and repeat the slow Z.
• Release, breathe in and repeat the slow Z,
• That’s three breaths for each sound.

Exercise: Speaking from your abdomen and supporting words

• Breath in down to your abdomen.
• Count to 10 out loud, but not too loudly.
• Release and breathe in again.
• Count to 11.
• Release and breathe in again.
• Count to 12.

 Exercise: Resonance through the whole range of your voice

Still humming, slide down slowly and smoothly through your voice from the highest note to the lowest. 

• As you slide, gradually, think the sound forward and away from you in the distance.
• Repeat several times.
• Allow a few slides, try speaking something – you could just count to 10.

 Exercise: Exploring the range

This exercise is to open up your voice using the whole range, from high to low.

• Breathe in, then release your voice on a long slow Ha, sliding from the very top of your range down to the bottom.
• Don’t push up the high note at the beginning. 
• Repeat as many times as you like, but always choose to breathe into your lower ribs, diaphragm and abdomen first.
• Send your voice away from you into the distance.  Look at a spot across the room and focus the energy of your voice to that point. 
• Choose to keep your throat and mouth open all the way to the end of the sound.

7. IF YOUR THROAT SOMETIMES ACHES OR FEELS SCRATCHY

As with any form of prolonged physical exercise, the muscles may start to feel tired of achy. 

If you have a scratchy feeling inside your throat then you are not using a properly supported voice, with easy access to breath.  This means your throat has to work too hard to create the voice you want.

• Keep practising putting breathe into your body and support your voice from your abdomen.

• Yawning or the stifled yawn to find immediate release of throat tension. 

• Then you could shrug your shoulders to release tension there. 

8. IF YOU NEED MORE AUTHORITY IN YOUR VOICE

Exercise – Tongue Twisters

Find any tongue twisters.

Make physical contact with the ground will help you to feel strong and rooted, both physically and vocally. If you lock the knees you will lock the breath.

9. IF YOU WANT YOUR VOICE TO BE MORE INTERESTING

To keep people’s attention, you need to have a voice that moves easily over your whole range in a natural way.  Working with the resonance exercises throughout your range will help you to achieve this.

Exercise:

• Breathe in, then release your voice on a long slow Ha, sliding from the very top of your range down to the bottom.
• Don’t push up the high note at the beginning.  Take it from that gentle, child’s voice you used in Exercise 3.
• Repeat as many times as you like, but always choose to breathe into your lower ribs, diaphragm and abdomen first.
• Send your voice away from you into the distance.  Look at a spot across the room and focus the energy of your voice to that point.  Try to keep the vocal energy up and out without pushing it.
• Choose to keep your throat and mouth open all the way to the end of the sound.

Articulate the words you speak – make them have energy and clarity.

Exercise:

Move your tongue around in your mouth and with the tip explore every corner.

• Stick the front of your tongue out of your mouth – just as far as it’s comfortable.
• Make a point with the tip, then flatten it.  Alternate between pointing and flattening a few times.
• Make small circles with the tip in both directions.
• Make big circles using the whole tongue.
• When you have finished, relax the jaw and connect to your breathing.

 Exercise:

• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your forehead.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your nose.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your lips.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your chest.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance into your abdomen.
• Count to 10 aloud and focus the resonance on to the top of your head.
• Repeat and try to feel the resonance in al the areas at once. 
• You should now feel that your voice is fuller and more colourful.

Exercise:

• Count to 10 in a ‘sing-song’ way swooping and sliding around all the notes of your voice.
• Use the whole range: high middle and low notes.
• At the same time, imagine the resonance of your voice moving all around your body.
• Then count to 10 normally and you will feel that you have more range in your voice.
• It will sound more interesting and expressive.

10. IF YOU HAVE CONSONANT WEAKNESSES

Exercise:

• Practise making an L.

• Do you feel the tip of your tongue hit the roof of your mouth, close to your front teeth?

• Make sure you feel that every time you make an L.

• Try not to round your lips at the same time, unless there is an O before the L.

11. IF YOU HAVE WEAK R’S

To make a clear R, your lips must come forward to allow your tongue to make the right shape. 

This usually happens just before the R. 

Try it and you should feel the sides of your tongue come up to the inside of your teeth ridge for support.

If you can feel the tip of your tongue it should be pointing up towards your palette.

12. IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH S’S

S often slides back to SH when followed by other consonants, especially TR

Practise the differences between S and SH.

For S, the tip of your tongue is very close to the roof of your mouth, near your top teeth.

For SH, you will feel a bit of pressure in the sides of your tongue.

Go quickly from one to the other:

S-SH

S-SH

S-SH

S-SH

Then quit slowly practise sliding from S to TR.

Your lips should come forward as you move into the R to give room for the tongue to make the proper shape.

13. IF YOU HAVE MISSING T’S

T at the end of a word is often missed in connected speech, which can be acceptable but not if it causes a lack of clarity.

T is the most commonly missed when it comes before a vowel, either in the middle of a word or between words.

Try saying the following:

• That apple

• But I

• What if

• Later on

• Better

• Hotter

• Daughter

• Wanted

14. IF YOU PRONOUNCE TH PRONOUNCED AS F

Exercise:

Practice the difference between F and TH.

For F, your top teeth touch your bottom lip.

For TH, the tip of your tongue almost touches the back of your top teeth.

You can make TH in two different ways: one is all breath and the other is vibration.

The breath TH is in the words:

• Theatre
• Through
• Thief
• Wealth

The vibrating TH is in the words:

• This
• Then
• Feather
• Breathe

Go quickly from one to the other:

TH –F

TH -F

TH –F

TH -F

15. IF ING SOMETIMES LOSES ITS G, BEING SPOKEN AS JUST IN

Exercise:

Make an ING, the back of your tongue lifts up to the roof of your mouth.

Practise a series of them: 

• ING
• ING
• ING
• ING

ING, ING, ING, ING