The five-minute warm-up

Wake up your breath, jaw, lips and tongue before you speak. Lesson 23 of 70: Articulation, every level.

Why warm up

Speaking is physical. Your breath, jaw, lips and tongue are muscles, and cold muscles mumble. Two to five minutes before a call, a meeting or a talk makes your voice steadier, your words crisper and your nerves quieter. Singers and actors never skip it; speakers should not either.
Hmm-hmm-hmm, mah, may, me, my, moh, moo. (A hum opening into vowels)
Hands at rest: Calm and ready. A good place for your hands to come back to between gestures.
Tip: Warm up somewhere private: a bathroom, a car, a stairwell. Nobody needs to hear the funny noises.

Posture: stand tall, feet hip-width apart, knees soft, shoulders rolled back and down. Breath: in through the nose for four, out on a long “sss” for eight, four times. Jaw: a big yawn, then chew slowly as if on toffee. Lips: a lip trill (“brrr”) sliding up and down. Tongue: circle it round the inside of your lips, five times each way, then “ta-ka, ta-ka, ta-ka”. Resonance: hum “mmm” until your lips buzz, then open it into “mah”.
Finish with one tongue twister, slowly three times, then quickly once, and read a few lines aloud at a steady pace.
Ta-ka, ta-ka, ta-ka, ta-ka. (Tongue tip, then back)
Red lorry, yellow lorry. (Lips and tongue together)

Do the whole warm-up out loud, start to finish: posture, four slow breaths, the yawn and chew, a lip trill, tongue circles and “ta-ka”, a hum into “mah”, one tongue twister three times slowly and once quickly. Then record the opening line of something you will say this week.
I did every step, out loud
My breath out was long and steady
My tongue twister was clean, not just fast
My recorded line sounded awake

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