Young performers face several challenges. For one, they must memorize lines. For another, they must speak loud enough for Grandpa to hear them in the 22nd row. But perhaps the most daunting challenge is learning how to slow down and enunciate.
No vocal warm-up is complete without reciting a few enunciation exercises. With that in mind, I present 26 fundamentally fun tongue twisters. Each one provides an “elocution work out.” Take a few for a test drive. Say each line three or four times. But remember, do not worry about speed. Focus on speaking clearly, even if you must over enunciate at first.
A – Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.
B – Big black bug bit a big black bear and the big black bear bled black blood.
C – Can I cook a proper cup of coffee in a copper coffee pot?
D – Don’t doubt the doorbell, but differ with the doorknob.
E – Eight gray geese in a green field grazing.
F – Fine white vinegar with veal.
G – Grab the groundhog from the glazed grass.
H – High roller, low roller, lower roller.
I – Inexplicably mimicking him hiccupping.
J – Jingle jungle jangle joker.
K – Knit kilts for nasty cold nights.
L – Lucy likes light literature.
M – Monkeys make monopoly monotonous.
N – The Next nest will not necessarily be next to nothing.
O – Octopi occupy a porcupine’s mind.
P – Peter Prangle, the prickly pear picker, picked three perfectly prickly pears.
Q – Queen Catherine wakes the cat, and the cat quietly cries.
R – Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers!
S – Some shun sunshine. Do you shun sunshine?
T – Three thick thistle sticks.
U – Unique New York, Unique New York, Unique New York.
V – Venti, Grande, Tall - Very Grand Words for Large, Medium, Small.
W – Will’s wetsuit is round and wet and rough and wide and ready to go on a watery ride.
X – Xylophones exist or so existentialists insist.
Y – Yoda met a Yeti on the Plains of Serengeti.
Z – Zoologists illogically love to read astrology.
