1.  Stand up. Shake out your arms. Shake out your feet. Now gradually raise your arms up as far as you can, elevating to your toes as you stretch up. Lower your arms and return to your starting position. Jump up and down loosely. Shake all over like a dog.

2.  From a standing position roll both shoulders slowly front, up, back, and down in circles. Repeat several times. Roll in the opposite direction and repeat.

3.  From a standing position drop your head down to your chest. Now roll it in a relaxed circle to the right shoulder, back, to the left shoulder, and back down to the front. Repeat several times. Try to touch your left ear to your left shoulder and vice versa. Don’t strain. Repeat. Reach your left arm over your head and place your index finger in your right ear, pulling your head down to your left shoulder. Repeat on the opposite side. With your left hand on your head behind your right ear and your right hand at the lower left of your jaw, turn your jaw gently right. Repeat, switching hands.

4.  As you do each of the following, it’s okay to have fun and be a little silly. But do get the job done at the same time.

5.  Stand erect, shoulders back comfortably, stomach in, and breathe from the diaphragm. (The muscles and tendons of your diaphragm are directly below your ribs in your midriff between your chest cavity and your abdomen.) As you breathe, your chest and shoulders should not move. Breathe in slowly through your nose to 90% capacity and then fast for the last 10%. Breathe out slowly through your mouth. Then contract your diaphragm to force out the last bit of air.

6.  Lay on the floor on your back. Tighten your whole body, every muscle that you can. When your body is as tense as possible, start to relax, one small area at a time. Start with your forehead, your eyes next, and then your nose. Ease your mouth and tongue. Relax your ears. Next loosen the muscle around your neck and throat. It may be hard to isolate some of these muscles, and they may refuse to wait their turn. Continue on down your body relaxing your shoulders, chest, stomach, and buttocks. Ease one upper arm, lower arm, hand, and fingers. Move on to the other. Loosen one thigh, a lower leg, a foot, and toes. Finally, relax your other leg and foot. Make a quick mental check. Is anything still tense? When you’re completely relaxed, lie there for a minute thinking calm thoughts. Watch out! If you lie there too long, you’ll fall asleep!

7.  From a standing position flop down until your head and arms are hanging in front, as low as they will comfortably go. Your knees should be slightly bent. Relax. Bounce easily a few times as you hang there. By now you should be completely relaxed, no tension left. Now start to unfold gradually upward by rolling your spine up to a standing position. Keep your head hanging as you do. Unfold slowly so your spine rolls flat, vertebra by vertebra, tucking in your pelvis as you do. When you’re erect, roll your shoulders up and back. Pull in your stomach, and stand up straight, but comfortably, breathing from your diaphragm. You’re ready to go!

1.  Piano exercises

2.  Visualize colors to lower your voice and raise it again. You might want to start in a midrange with red and lower to purple, blue, and black. From red you might want to raise to orange, yellow, and white. Keep your chin up while you’re in the lower voice range and push your diaphragm out. You need to control the air flow. Next use your arms and hands to raise and lower your voice and help visualize where the pitch is coming from. Visualize it way up in front of you to throw your voice up higher. Identify a character in the lower range (like an elephant). Raise your pitch up to an elf.

3.  As you say “Ah” or “Oh,” swing one arm slowly out and up in an arc. As your arm goes up, raise the pitch of your voice easily up too. Lower the pitch of your voice as your arm goes back down. As your arm falls, visualize your voice coming from the top of your head when your arm is high, then shining out from your eyes as your arm is level with your eyes, then from the area of your sinuses (the mask region) as your arm continues down, then your mouth, chest, and finally deep down in your diaphragm.

4.  Slowly say “Ming,” “Mang,” “Mong.” Draw out the sounds. Let them resonate through your nose, sinuses, and throat. The neck should be relaxed and the nasal passages clear to get the best effect.

5.  Say these vowels, working your lips and face muscles, exaggerating as much as possible as you do:

  “A – E – I – O – U”

  Repeat five times.

6.  Do the following exercises in a singsong chant. (Symbols for these exercises are International Phonetic Alphabet, or I.P.A., vowel symbols.)

  “Bay” (ƅeɪ), “Bee” (bi), “By” (ƅaɪ), “Boh” (bo), “Boo” (bu) “Cay Cee Cy Coh Coo”

  “Day Dee Dy Doh Doo”

  Continue through the alphabet, using all the consonants with the vowels. Try to make the m and n sounds resonate throughout your head. Watch the c, d, g, k, t, and especially b and p sounds so that they won’t blast out and pop into a microphone. Then be wary of the hissing of the c, g (as in George), s, and z sounds. Make them brief and controlled to minimize the hiss (unless, of course, you’re providing the voice of a ssssnake).

7.  If the following is too much of a tongue twister, then break it up into two separate exercises:

  “Baw” (ƅɔ), “Bay” (be), “Bee” (bi), “Boo” (bu) …

  “Bah” (ƅɑ), “Beh” (be), “Bi” (bɪ), “Buh” (ƅʌ)

  “Caw, Cay, Cee, Coo … Cah, Ceh, Ci, Cuh”

“Daw, Day, Dee, Doo … Dah, Deh, Di, Duh”

Continue through the alphabet, using the sounds just given with each consonant.

8.  This is the Bugs Bunny exercise: Put a baby carrot between your teeth. Read a few paragraphs from a magazine with the carrot in that position, articulating distinctly as you do. This exercises your facial muscles and provides a healthy snack as your reward.

9.  Trill your tongue briefly up and down the scale.

10.  Read some copy with your tongue extended out between your teeth.

11.  If you wish to extend the lower range of your voice, one way is to try reading superhero copy in as low a pitch as you can just before you go to bed. Stretch your range down just a bit. Don’t read too loudly. Then gargle with hot salt water and go to bed.

1.  When you’re reading copy, your posture should be good, but relaxed and not forced. You should be standing up erect with your pelvis tucked under and plenty of room for your diaphragm to expand as air fills the lungs. Your eyes should remain on your copy.

2.  Don’t be afraid to use your body. Physicalize. It helps your acting. We can hear the difference in your voice. However, remember that your mouth needs to stay put in front of the microphone so that the sound is consistent.

3.  Take in enough air in order to avoid running out of breath at a bad time. But don’t take in so much that you have to exhale noisily or take in air so vigorously that we hear you suck it in. Release the breath in a controlled way as you read the copy. The breathing process should become so natural that you don’t need to think about it. If you’re having trouble with your breathing at first, then mark breathing places on your copy.

4.  Your body should be relaxed so that you don’t strain your voice. But we need to hear alertness and energy in your voice. The sound should be strong, which is not the same thing as loud.

5.  Use your vocal instrument. Keep the throat open (unless you are deliberately producing a character sound that requires something different). Use your lips, your teeth, and your tongue. Open your mouth wide enough.

6.  Use a pitch that is consistent with your character. Let your voice range up and down the scale to give interest to your acting. Normally, you want to end sentences down and questions up.

7.  Use contrasts. Try different textures. Contrast a fast line with a slow line. Raise your voice and lower it.

8.  Remember pace. Vary your pace so that we don’t fall asleep. We want to hear it in your voice when we’re having a chase, when you are sad, when the scene is coming to a climax or ending. Comedy scenes have a fast pace.

9.  Keep the volume reasonably consistent for the sound engineer. If you need to yell for the sense of the script, back off a bit from the microphone and yell. We do want variety. Otherwise keep your face in front of the mic so that the audience gets consistent sound. Let us hear all the sounds; don’t drop the ends of words.

10.  Don’t overlap the words of another actor unless you’ve been given permission to do this. In animation, dialogue may be edited.

11.  You’ll want all sounds to be clear so that they are easily understood, but you also need to speak normally and believably. Practice and improve your speech during your daily exercises so that it becomes second nature. Then forget the techniques.

12.  Make choices and then commit to those choices with confidence.

13.  Think in character. We can’t see your face, so everything has to be expressed in your voice. We want to hear attitude. Most of all we need to hear good acting.

A
Anna Armstrong ate her applesauce with abandon and abruptly accosted the Afghan ambassador.

B
Billy Beedle bought bad butter and bartered it for bread. But Billy Beedle has no better butter for his spread.

Billy Bailey bought a bag of better buns.

Yum! Big black baby back beef ribs, buttery baguettes, blueberries, and baked brownies!

C
Call Cedric Campbell quick to come canoeing with Clyde Cisneros on Cape Cod Bay.

We’ll all chitchat and catch up before curfew comes.

Kate caught the cocky cat on cue and chivalrously cleaned the chow off its cheeks.

Caught a cold. Ketchoo! Who knew that coughs and colds as caught by a few would carelessly go into the flu. Did you? Who knew?

D
Dear Doctor Dietz, do not dare to dither dather in Dubrovnik while the duke and duchess are going daft in Denver.

Doddering dukes dangled dainty daisies down into deep and dim dungeons.

E
Eleven emus and eight enormous kangaroos eloped with enthusiasm early on Easter Eve and honeymooned under the eucalyptus trees.

F
Fearsome Freida fried fritters for four fluffy furry foxes playing fat fiddles.

Fireman Fred fakes a farewell and fiddled while Fluegelsville burned.

G
Great galloping guppies! Get Gloria and guess what? Granny Gilda’s gone to Generations a Go-Go Cabaret and Grill. Good grief!

H
Humphrey Hepplewhite had a hard time hunting hippos higgledy-piggledy during the High Holidays.

Harry danced a hoedown holding heavy hogsheads as the hyenas howled humorously. Hogwash, you say?

I
Immature Irwin was ill advised to urge Irma to get involved in that imbroglio after ignoring her for eons. Irma ignited Irwin’s passion for iambic verse once, and Irwin imagined her eminently immersed in verse.

J
Jo-Jo Johnson joined a jiving jazz band and sang the jellyroll blues. Jo-Jo jammed and jitterbugged just to hear the crowd shout. Was Jo-Jo any good? The jury’s too busy jumping, and it’s still out!

K
A kooky kitty carried curry in a clean knapsack to creepy critters keeping watch.

Katie Kidoo from Kokomo kissed Kenneth Kessler from Kansas City while kayaking on the Kuskokwim.

L
Lean Lorelei lounges along the lazy lagoon lulling lizards to sleep with lilting melodies.

Leaping Lizards! Lean Lucy Landers is lollygagging again.

M
Manny Minx makes marvelous music. Manny’s meticulous moves on the mandolin are magnificent, darling!

At the dark of the moon Moo-Moo the Cow was in the mood for milking.

One Monday Mary Melrose milked the moo cow and marched down the mossy path to market. My! My! The moist drops of milk smelled magnificent! But nary a meek maiden a-marketing managed to meed out the money for the milk. Miffed, Mary Melrose meandered home from market that Monday, moody and morose. No money. No mojo. No matter!

(See how much you can speed that paragraph up. Can you do it in one breath? Now try it as a character. Finally, read it again giving the character a dialect.)

N
No nasty nephews need knock needlessly on nutty Ned’s nodding noggin.

No new news is never good new news nor it is necessarily bad news neither.

Nobody nibbled naughtily on Neva’s nutritious nuts.

O
Onyx and opal and opulence, olay!

Opalescence and pearl essence, ostentatious, okay!

P
Pedro Pilar from Puerto Rico probably preferred the pumpkin pants with the pockets to the pungent pink. Would I put you on?

Pretty Paulie Peters plucked a pair of pricey PJs from the pile and prepared to pay. But whoa! Pretty Paulie Peters’ credit card was in another purse that day.

Peggy Pat is a pickin’ and a lickin’ Poppy’s puffy chicken.

Pare a pair of parboiled pears and put them in a pot of pickling juice. I have a passion for hot peppers, so I pop in a pack of peppers as well. Pickle your pears with your peppers. Be patient. Peek at the pears, every once in awhile, until they’re perfect. Never permit your pickled pears to pucker up in the pot. It perturbs me that some people prefer their pickled pears without peppers, but I try not to take their preferences personally. Please pass that pot of perfect pickled pears! Pig out!

Q
The quiet queen of quails quivered and quoth no more.

Queasy crickets quarreled over quivering quarry, then quickly crept away.

R
Ring around a red raspberry bush and rue the day red rover came over to play.

Rigorous rebukes and wry retorts rarely repair a rollicking ruddy ruckus.

Rivers of red roses rippled and flowed over rushing rapids.

S
Silly Sally sucked sweets for supper and got so sick.

She sells seesaws by the sea shack.

She sheared the shaggy sheep with shears she stole from Sheridan, then shimmied up the shimmering shittah and shivered in spite of the bright sunlight.

Sister Susie sipped a sup of the shivery shake.

Selfish Susie sallied forth and slipped upon a soft and slimy shiitake, slicing her skinny shin skin.

T
The tree trapped the three-toed twittering thrush.

In tears Tabitha took rough and tumble Tom to task after tearing him away from the tittering team.

Ted Tannen tussled with Todd Turner until he flipped the tippy canoe.

U
Under the unleashed thunder and rain Ursula said, “Ugh!,” shut her umbrella, and ducked into the ultra urban Utopia.

V
Very vulgar vagabonds vocalized with vigor in Vallejo.

W
Welshmen in wigs waddled and wobbled wonderstruck in a Wuhan wrestling ring.

Why not wretch the wands away from the wispy witches whoshing and wailing in Warwickshire?

X
Zero xylophones were X-rayed before X-mas. Zero xylems were Xeroxed.

Y
Yuk-yukking youths refused to yield to yellow yawning yaks in Yunnan.

Z
Zebras munching zucchinis in Zaire zigzagged around the zoo.

  Red pillow, yellow pillow

  Big feathers, little feathers

  Blue blanket, black blanket

  Call for catsup

  Light lather, legendary lather

1.  Exercise your entire body.

2.  Eat healthy foods.

3.  Get plenty of rest.

4.  Try to keep your life as stress-free as possible. Avoid stressful relationships and verbal abuse.

5.  Yawn to relax your throat.

6.  Avoid very heavy lifting as it strains the neck and throat.

7.  Drink plenty of water to moisten your vocal cords. This will help relax the throat muscles. Lubrication keeps the vocal cords healthy and prevents mouth noise. Try adding a little lemon juice to your water. The flow of saliva is stimulated by the tartness. Stress can dry out your throat and mouth. Avoid air conditioning, excess heat, decongestants, antihistamines, salty foods, sugar, energy bars, alcohol, and coffee. Drinking green or black tea during a session can also dry out your voice. Try chewing sugarless gum between takes instead. Avoid anything that might dry you out. There are over-the-counter sprays and mouthwashes for dry mouth. Some voice-over artists like a product called “Entertainer’s Secret.” It can be purchased online at some voice-over sites such as Susan Berkley’s.

8.  Avoid menthol and eucalyptus cough medications. They freeze and shrivel your vocal cords. You want well-lubricated vocal cords that are warm and full.

9.  Caffeine can cause the sinuses or throat to constrict.

10.  Avoid drugs and the overuse of alcohol.

11.  Avoid dairy products, especially prior to a recording session. Dairy can cause mucus problems for about two days. So can chocolate.

12.  Carrot juice, grape juice, orange juice, and other juices can cause mucus problems for some people.

13.  Avoid smoking and staying in close quarters with others who smoke.

14.  Avoid harsh coughing and throat clearing whenever possible. Drink water instead.

15.  Avoid straining your voice by loud or excessive speaking or pushing your voice beyond its limits. Give yourself regular breaks during practice to rest your voice.

16.  If you are going to yell, avoid taking aspirin prior to your session. Aspirin is a blood thinner, and it can cause vocal cord hemorrhage. If you need a pain killer, use an aspirin substitute such as Tylenol instead.

17.  Restrict or stop your speaking when your voice is hoarse. Don’t whisper, write instead.

18.  Wash your hands often, especially before you touch your face, to help avoid colds.

19.  Wear ear muffs in cold climates to keep your inner ear passages warm and help avoid ear and throat infections.

1.  Rest your voice.

2.  Get a good night’s sleep.

3.  Keep a green apple with you when you’re recording. Taking a small bite helps both lubricate your mouth and also dry up excess moisture.

4.  Drink a warm cup of lemon herbal tea for minor irritations. Use no sugar as it dries the mouth, but honey may help.

5.  Use raspberry-flavored zinc lozenges for a sore throat.

6.  Licorice is a quick fix as it helps you retain fluid.

7.  Another quick fix is a handful (only) of potato chips, followed by water. The salt cuts the mucus; the oil helps lubricate.

8.  Boil sliced ginger root with lemon rinds in water for a few hours. Strain the liquid. Drink the liquid warm.

9.  A decongestant helps allergies. It breaks up the mucus and dries you out. A spray may be better than capsules or tablets. However, decongestants can dry you out too much. Some actors feel that a histamine barrier spray is better in avoiding excess mucus. In either case, effects can wear off during recording. Over time immunity can build up.

10.  Put a buffered hypertonic saline nasal solution in a container with a micromist nasal sprayer, inhaling eight times per nostril. Lean over and allow the mist to flood the sinuses. When upright again, the liquid drains down into the throat. Spit it out. Do not blow your nose. Use enough salt in the water to be uncomfortable the first time you use it. One recipe requires one cup of filtered water, one quarter teaspoon kosher salt (no iodine), and an eighth of a teaspoon of baking soda. This will help prevent sinus infections.

11.  Instead of the misting, you might want to try another form of nasal irrigation. Microwave the saline nasal solution just described for a few seconds to warm it. Pour some of the water into your cupped hand, leaning over the sink. Snort it up one nostril as you hold the other nostril shut. The liquid will drain down into the throat. Do this three times in each nostril. Do not blow your nose. Try this when you have an allergy problem. The solution can also be applied with a syringe, bulb, Waterpik → or Neti Pot ™.

12.  The best remedy is to call your agent and try to reschedule. Using your voice when you are ill can damage it permanently. Also, the other actors do not want your cold.

1.  Drink two large glasses of water when you wake up before eating or drinking anything else. The water will hydrate your vocal tissue within a couple of hours.

2.  Sing in the shower. It’s a good warm-up for your voice, and the moisture will help those vocal tissues.

3.  Play your favorite CD or turn on the radio and hum along. Hum loud enough to feel a tingle around your mouth and lips. For faster recovery, avoid dairy and all fried or greasy foods.