- Exercises to improve diction
- 1. Exercises to relax and strengthen facial muscles
- 2. Speak with the joint closed
- 3. Speak tongue twisters
- 4. Reading of vowels
- 5. Gargle with water
Diction is the way words are articulated and pronounced and it must be clear and precise, and for that it must be trained, corrected and perfected.
To have a good diction it is necessary to have adequate breathing and warm up the muscles of the face and tongue, which can be achieved by doing some exercises. These exercises, in addition to improving diction on a daily basis, also improve the ability for those who want to sing more clearly.
Exercises to improve diction
There are some exercises that help improve diction, which can be done alone at home or with the help of a speech therapist.
1. Exercises to relax and strengthen facial muscles
Some people find it difficult to articulate the words because they have very tight facial muscles, such as the lips, tongue and cheeks, which is where the buccinator muscle is.
To relax these muscles, you can grimace, yawn, open and close your mouth with your jaw loose, throw your tongue out and rotate it inside your mouth with your lips closed and vibrate your lips and tongue.
2. Speak with the joint closed
A good exercise to improve the articulation of words on a daily basis is to speak with the jaw joint closed. To do this, you must close your mouth and teeth and read a text from a newspaper or book, moving only your lips and tongue.
3. Speak tongue twisters
Another way to improve diction is to speak tongue twisters, such as:
- "In a nest of mafagafos there are seven mafagafinhos. When mafagafa gafa, the seven mafagafinhos gafa" "The cobblestone street is all cobbled." "Knowing what I know and knowing what you know and what you don't know and what we don't know, we will both know whether we are wise, wise, or simply whether we are wise. "
To train these and other tongue twisters, the ideal is to start saying them slowly and then increasing the speed, always trying to say the words correctly and without mixing them up.
This exercise can also be done by holding a pencil or a stopper between your teeth.
4. Reading of vowels
To have a good diction it is important to respect each sound that is emitted, with special attention to the vowels. For this, you must choose a text or the lyrics of a song and read only the vowels, keeping the stressed syllable of the words:
" A p ri g p a n g a t o t tô t ô
M a s o g a t o t tô tô
M o rr e u r e u r e u
D o n a Ch i c a ca
A dm i r u e s e
D o b e rr o, d o b e rr qu e g a t o d eu:
M iau !"
At first you can start slowly and then read or sing faster and faster and you can also increase the difficulty of the texts.
5. Gargle with water
When gargling with water or an oral elixir, it is possible to work on the pharynx, the base of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, which are commonly used articulatory points. With this exercise, the movements of "ão", "dog", "gão", "uma" are also triggered, causing the sound to come out more from the bottom of the mouth, perfecting the pronunciation of the words.
Another way to improve diction is to correct the nasal voice, opening your mouth more to speak, doing exercises to strengthen your muscles and lowering your tongue more while speaking. See more about how to correct the nasal voice.
