As most people who have acted would probably tell you, there’s nothing like a good tongue twister to get yourself warmed up. Vocal warm ups are very important, especially when your voice is your means of art. Lines can be super tricky. They can mess you up. Sometimes there will be one particular line that you’re having difficulty with. Tongue twisters can help a lot with that. There’s a reason they’re so difficult.
But let’s backtrack a little. I’ve been taking acting classes since I was six years old, and I can’t remember a time where we didn’t learn a tongue twister, or work on one that we’ve been trying to get down. It helped in a lot of later classes where there were a lot of the same people from class to class. We’d be given a tongue twister to learn, to master, to perfect. I couldn’t even tell you how many tongue twisters I’ve had to learn over the years. I’ve actually got some pretty impressive ones in my arsenal.
Using your mouth as your art isn’t an easy thing to do. There are a lot of “rules” to acting, like annunciation and projection. It’s a big piece of making art. And tongue twisters help with both of those things. We’re always told to stretch out your mouth. Make funny faces, get your mouth and face stretched out and ready to use. It especially helps with annunciation. And tongue twisters can make all the difference in getting your words out.
Tongue twisters come in many shapes and sizes. There are the basic ones, such a “red leather, yellow leather”, which is a lot easier to read than it is to say, especially when you have to say it over and over, as quickly and precisely as you can. Seriously, just try saying it out loud. Now try saying it out loud with every syllable and word hit, so that it makes sense. It’s easy to drive yourself crazy with something like that.
Of course, it’s even easier to drive yourself crazy with some of the other ones. Some tongue twisters tell a (very complicated) story. These are going to be the ones like, “What to do to die today?” These are very involved tongue twisters, and when we learn them, we start learning them very slow. Especially when there are many pieces to the tongue twister. Lots of the longer ones that do tell a story have to be put together very precisely, otherwise they won’t make any sense (I know, a tongue twister that makes sense sounds like a bizarre thing). But once you get them down, you can hear the story being “told”.
Other tongue twisters are purposefully meant to trip you up. My most absolute favorite tongue twister is “I am a pleasant mother pheasant plucker”. It shouldn’t be too hard to see where they’re going with that. If you ever want to truly master a hilarious tongue twister, look no further. I was taught that one when I was 15 or 16 years old. Imagine a room full of teenagers just trying to figure out this tongue twister where half the words end up a variation of “fuck”. We were all in hysterics, and our teacher was jokingly scolding us for excessive use of the word “fuck”. It was truly a joy to perfect that one. I can still do it flawlessly to this day.
Okay, you guys, let’s definitely be honest about this. Tongue twisters can be pretty damn silly. Yes, they are important for warming up and getting our mouths moving, but when you really look at most of them, they’re nonsensical and humorous. Why is this? I really wish I had the answer to why. But I think that’s just a part of the fun with the whole thing. It makes it easier for kids to swallow (though of course, I really hope kids aren’t learning “I am a pleasant mother pheasant plucker”). I know I always had a lot of fun learning tongue twisters with my class mates in acting classes. It was all a part of the experience.
In the end, I really think tongue twisters have many uses and are good for so much. There’s the practical use, like for a warmup, or learning how to annunciate. But they can also bring together a class full of teenagers, laughing together as we all try not to repeatedly say the word “fuck” with getting our words out. Tongue twisters are really a part of theatre that may be overlooked, but I can’t imagine a childhood in acting without them.
Full tongue twisters used in this post:
What to do to die today at a quarter or two to two? A thing distinctly hard to say, but harder still to do. For they’ll beat a tattoo at a quarter to two, a ra-ta-ta ra-ta-ta ra-ta-tattoo, and the dragon will come when he hears the drum at a quarter or two to two today, at a quarter or two to two.
I am a pleasant mother pheasant plucker. I pluck mother pheasants. I am the most pleasant mother pheasant plucker to ever pluck a mother pheasant.
Comments