Voice Warm-ups for Actors

That's right! FREE vocal warmups to improve diction!

Got your tongue twisted? Untwist those tongues with a totally twistable tongue twister. Learn one or more of these every morning. Say it when you can throughout each day. There are twenty six of them. After saying each of them throughout the day for twenty six days, recite them all out loud, from memory. See how many you remember. Just try it. Assign one a day to yourself.

Actors, vocalists and other speakers that need a "pick-me-up" before a business presentation, warm-up your voice before they perform or deliver! Here are some tongue twisters that you can use as a diction warm-up! Learn to speak clearly. These mouth moving exercises will work for the beginner through advanced-level vocalist. Make up your own rhythm and make the sentence work for you! You can make each sentence into "your own" little jingle. Each one could become the start of an improvised scene. You could even become inspiration to write a fantastic novel, or write a story based on one of the following warm-ups.

You may say these warmups however you like. Find your own rhythm and speed. I recommend starting slow and then increase your speed gradually. Admittedly, some of the warmups may seem kind of odd. Some may even look stupid to you at first. Don't worry about that. Do them anyway. They have been designed to have both simple and quite complex patterns and are easy to remember.

Ready? Give it a shot. Don't forget to breathe!

Free Vocal Warm-ups — Set 1

1. Ah-blah, alligator; blah-blah, anticipator
2. Beckoned Becky, boasted Bobby, believed babbling Brooke.
3. Can't David Eat Fish, Gail?
4. Honduras has horrible hamburgers.
5. In Jeffrey Kemp's last meeting, no one presentation remained solid.
6. Trust the tongue twisters to tickle that tongue.
7. Ugly vampires wear extraordinarily yellow zippers.
8. Alligators - Baboons - Cats - Dogs - Elephants - Fish
9. Gorillas - Horses - Iguanas - Jaguars - Kangaroos
10. Llamas - Monkeys - Newts - Octopus - Porcupines
11. Quail - Rabbits - Snakes - Turtles - Unicorns - Yaks - Zebra

Free Vocal Warmups — Set 2

This set of free warm ups are to be used for practicing pure vowel sounds. They are to be said rhythmically with breaths after each line. Good luck and have fun!

A (pronounced ah)
ah - zah - ah - zah - ah - zah - ah
bah - yah - bah - yah - bah - yah - bah
cah - xah - cah - xah - cah - xah - cah
dah - wah - dah - wah - dah - wah - dah

E (pronounced eh)
feh - veh - feh - veh - feh - veh - feh
geh - the - geh - the - geh - the - geh
heh - seh - heh - seh - heh - seh - heh
jeh - reh - jeh - reh - jeh - reh - jeh

I (pronounced ee)
kee - nee - kee - nee - kee - nee - kee
lee - mee - lee - mee - lee - mee - lee
mee - lee - mee - lee - mee - lee - mee
nee - kee - nee - kee - nee - kee - nee

O (pronounced oh)
poh - joh - poh - joh - poh - joh - poh
roh - hoh - roh - hoh - roh - hoh - roh
soh - goh - soh - goh - soh - goh - soh
toh - foh - toh - foh - toh - foh - toh

U (pronounced oo)
voo - doo - voo - doo - voo - doo - voo
woo - coo - woo - coo - woo - coo - woo
yoo - boo - yoo - boo - yoo - boo - yoo
zoo - oo - zoo - oo - zoo - oo - zoo

More about Warmups Set 2.
By doing each of the warmups in Set 2, you will speed through the entire alphabet. Go through them all just 5 times and you'll actually go through the alphabet 10 times. Truly a great workout and warm up for the vocalist/actor/speaker! I'm not going to say that this is a full vocal warm-up. You should spend 15 minutes or more on warming them up. However, this is a great vocal warm-up tool. Feel free to remember them! Anyway, much success on your Voice and/or Public Speaking Adventures. Don't forget to print this out or bookmark it so that you can practice these and commit them to memory.

Free Vocal Warmups — Set 3 — Tongue Twisters

Tip - Try your best to say the tongue twisters as briskly and as crisply as possible.

Top of the day. Tip top. Tippity toppity snip snop.
Babbling, Ben brought Babs to behave badly.
David tried drying tomatoes daily, due to Dina's tremendous diet.
Paul pruned Penelope's pansies leaving Penelope perplexed.
Mable had a maple tree. Mable's maple tree didn't make maple syrup for Mable. Is Mable's maple unable?
Twenty little leopards laughed at two lofty lions.
Imagine having an imaginative imagination.
Many mice are mighty mice.
Thirty-three times three plus one is me.
Sure, Sally sold sixty shells at the sea's shore, but Sue sold seventy seven! Sally, surprised at Sue's success, screamed and shouted seventeen times; "Sue's shells are shabby! Sally's shells are chic!" Sue said to Sally, "Say what?" Then Sue shouted, "Sally sold sixty six shells, so she's upset. Sorry for shouting!"

It takes time to truly treasure the twisting of the tongue, huh?

Tongue Twisters are Great for Warmups, and...
All things speech related, to put it simply. If you speak in front of people, if you speak on the phone and even if you sing, tongue twisters can get the blood flowing to the right places in your mouth, jaw, cheeks and even other important facial muscles!

Tongue twisters take a toll on the tongue. Your goal should be to make the tongue tired, but to make the tongue wired! (This will come with practice!)

Free Vocal Warm-ups — Set 4

(Just to have fun with!)

Warming up and warming down is worth a little time.
Much can be accomplished with some rhythm and some rhyme.
They will help your voice to get itself to maxi-range.
Even though the sounds of each may be a little strange.

Free Vocal Warm-ups — Set 5

Mashed Potato. Smashed Tomato.
Baked Tomato. Burned Potato.
Lunch with Potatoes. Dinner with Tomatoes.
Potato, Tomato. Tomatoes, Potatoes.

Free Vocal Warm-ups — Set 6

(Start pianissimo. End fortissimo.)
(That means start very soft, end very loud.)

Mini me. Mini me. Mini me. Mini me.
Medium, medium, medium, medium.
Maxi, maxi, maxi, maxi me!

Free Vocal Warm-ups — Set 7

Directions: Start on an easy-to-sing note: perhaps C. Sing every word (and syllable) on that note. Then work your way up, chromatically and then down, chromatically.

Laugh a little -
Laugh a little -
Laugh a little louder.

Ha! He-ha! He, ha!
Ho-hu, he.

(Repeat.)

Free Vocal Warm-ups — Set 8

a. Another annoying ant ate all of Aunt Annie's apples at Anna's abode.
b. Ben boasted about Brenda's baking buns.
c. Cindy carried coffee to Carla Cummings.
d. Diana danced on a date.
e. Effortlessly, Elvin even eats every berry.
f. Frank's effort, firm and frank, was fine.
g. Grandma's gaudy garb gave Gary gusto to get going.
h. Howard Hopkins helped hire Henrietta Henry; however, Henry Howard helped hire Harry Hinkley.
i. Irma invited India and Ingrid inside.
j. Jimmy Johnson is joyful in Jakarta.
k. Katrina kept kindness close for karmic causes.
l. Lorna, Lena and Lewis loved living in Lithgow.
m. Morning Glories morn in glory in the morning, Glory.
n. Nancy knew nice was nicer than not nice.
o. Ottawa offered Omar a home.
p. Patrick provided Paula with purple petunias.
q. Queenie quivered from cold, quietly, in Canada.
r. Ramifications of not readying required reading requires readers to be re-remediated as re-remedial readers.
s. Surely Sandy Somers sought sight-seeing in San Sabastian.
t. Three tasty treats were treated to Tanya in Taiwan.
u. Under an upside-down umbrella, Ulmer undoubtedly gets un-dry.
v. Vincent vengefully "va-roomed" the Viper at Violet.
w. Watch out while witches wander in winter, wondering whether the weather is a rather.
x. Exhausted, Xena zapped Xona.
y. Yabba Yebba Yibba Yobba Yubba. Yappy, yeppy, yippy, yoppy, yuppy.
z. Zanga, zenga, zinga, zonga, zunga. Zigga, zugga, zagga, zebba, zooba.

Tip of the day - When you are warming up the voice with any of the above warm-ups, or any other vocal warm-ups for that matter, have plenty of water or other clear liquids handy. Being hydrated is easier on vocal cords, causes less strain and is simply healthier for you. Don't drink milk! Milk coats your throat and you will not get a "pure" sound. Well that about wraps it up for my advice today.

An original work by FreeSchoolPlays.com, free to perform -- attribution the only requirement.

Audition prep notes

Full piece: 29 beats, ~1394 words -- extended (7+ minutes), about 9 min at a natural pace.

Start with the objective

Before you run it, name your character's objective in one sentence: what do they want in this moment, and what is in the way of getting it easily? Pace, volume, and movement all follow from that one sentence, not the other way around.

Map the beats

The current text breaks into 29 spoken beats. Use those breaks as a starting map, but test each one: a beat ends where the character's tactic changes, not merely where the paragraph does -- two paragraph-breaks may play as a single acting beat, or one may split into two.

Pacing for this length -- extended

Build in real transitions between sections: a breath, a small physical reset, or a shift in tempo at each beat change. At this length, contrast between beats is what keeps you and the audience oriented.

Delivery approach -- Comedy

Comic timing lives in the pause before the turn, not the punchline itself. Find the setup-and-turn shape in each beat and hold a beat longer than feels natural before you land it.

Framing for All ages

This piece is written to read across age groups. Start from the plainest version of the objective -- what the character wants, and why now -- before layering in the nuance your own age and experience bring to it.

Forensics eligibility -- Humorous Interpretation

This piece reads as Humorous Interpretation. That classification is illustrative only -- not official, not an NSDA, NCFL, or UIL certification. Always verify current eligibility with your event's own published rules before entering it in competition.

Generic coaching guidance for actors preparing this piece -- not a substitute for your director's or coach's notes.

Read it here, or print it (or save it as a PDF) straight from your browser. It is free.