Blog

I’ve got a question for you…. do you know your fricatives? If you don’t, then I’d like to introduce you! Fricatives are consonants that are created with – you guessed it – friction! The common ones we use in English are f, v, th (both unvoiced and voiced), s, z, sh, and zh. Check out this week’s Articulation vid to l! earn about these sounds, how they work, and how to make them with more clarity. Plus you’ll get to channel being little teapot...

On my first Sunday night here in Bali, I went to a kirtan. For those of you who have never heard of it before, a kirtan is basically a Sanskrit sing-a-long. Perhaps the reason you’d be familiar with it is because you’ve seen Bhakti yogis sitting in orange robes in a park singing “Hare Krishna, Hare Krisha, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare…”

“Hare Krishna” is certainly one refrain that you can sing during kirtan, but the possibilities for melodies and...

t’s time for another Resonance exercise! I’m excited for today’s because it goes hand in hand with the two we’ve done so far in the How To Warm Up series. Today we’re covering Oral Resonance – the sound that gives your voice a rich, deep quality. This one is great for cultivating your radio announcer voice. So press play and check it out – it’s funny and silly as usual  (also… if you haven’t watched the other two Resonance vids...

(Warning: this post is gonna have lots of pictures and emojis )

It all starts last summer when I went to Burning Man for the first time. For those of you who haven’t gone or heard of Burning Man, it’s a huge week-long festival in the Nevada Desert that centers around radical self-reliance, expression, and love. It’s a place where you can walk up a stranger, hug them, and within seconds be in deep conversation.

Obviously, I made a lot of friends at Burning Man last...

Hey there crew! Have you ever heard of straw phonation? It’s using a straw to practice making sound with optimal airflow and pressure. The concept was popularized by renowned voice doctor Ingo Titze in this popular youtube video 7 years ago, and has been taken on board by singers, voice teachers, and professional voice users alike. Straws are an incredibly valuable tool for calibrating your effort to create Sound at the vocal folds – so pick one up and try this out!!

...

Calling all yogis and yoginis! Today’s How To Warm Up video is an awesome breathing exercise from yoga – a pranayama – called Kapalabhati (pronounced kuh-pall-uh-BAH-tee). Kapalabhati means “skull shining breath.” The idea is that when you practice this breathing technique, your skull winds up feeling all shiny and tingly from the energy you’re sending upwards. Sounds kinda nice, right? The best part about this pranayama is that it is another way to...

It’s time to warm up your Body! And today we’re going to be doing something more vigorous: exercises that use the momentum of swinging. These three simple exercises will warm up your spine, get your blood flowing, and get your breath moving. Best of all, they’ll only take you 2 minutes!. These are two of the best minutes you can add to your day, so check it out:

Check out the Swinging (Body) exercise here:

xo,

Today’s exercise is both really simple and also totally challenging. It’s called “Sound That Feels True To You” and it’s a way to help connect your impulses to the sound that’s actually coming out of you. You know that feeling when something comes out of your mouth and it feels totally fake? And your inner monologue is like: “That was b***s***!” This exercise will help you tap into making the sound that is truly authentic, which is of course the...

Last week in our Articulation exercise we practiced the nasal sounds M, N, and NG. Today, we’re going to put it all together into a few fun and silly tongue twisters that will get your soft palate and other articulators working in tip top shape!

Check out the Tongue Twisters with Nasals exercise here: 

Are these hard for you? Easy? Let me know!

xo,

Nasal sounds may not be the most obvious articulation issue, but if you can’t articulate nasals, you can’t articulate clearly. Why? Nasals require a lot of dexterity of the lips, tongue, and soft palate.

The three main nasal sounds we use in English are M, N, and NG. Check out today’s How To Warm Up Articulation video to learn how to make these nasal sounds clearly and easily!

Check out the Nasals Exercise (Articulation) here:

Are these hard for you? Easy? Let me know!...