Slug tongue releases tension, boosts articulation and is guaranteed to make you sound and look a bit silly.
Nic Redman is a voice coach who helps podcasters, voice-over artists and corporate players improve their vocal stamina and confidence.
But you won’t find her giving Henry Higgins-style lessons to get clients to modify their accent or speaking voice radically.
Instead, Nic’s goal is to help clients make better use of their own voice.
“I love all voices,” Nic tells the Singing Teachers Talk podcast. “They all have a place; they’re all intriguing, unique, authentic and real.
“Part of my job is getting people out of this space where they think ‘I need to sound like Morgan Freeman or Olivia Colman to be a good podcaster’. It’s not about that. It’s about what you’re trying to say and who you’re trying to impact and connect with.”
Warm-up and prep
Nic’s advice to anyone wanting to improve their public speaking skills is to warm up, prep the voice and focus on what you’re trying to communicate (as opposed to fretting about how you sound).
“It’s all about understanding that you’re trying to make someone feel something. You have to prep your voice so that it can go where you want it to go emotionally, and remind yourself what the emotion you’re trying to elicit is.
“Those two things together tend to free people up so that they’re not worrying about whether they sound like this, that or the other; they’re focused on what they’re trying to do.”
Slug tongue
So, we come to the unusually named voice exercise that Nic often uses with her clients. Yes, it’s slug tongue!
This exercise will help release tension in the body of the tongue, make more space at the back of the throat and help the tongue to move more freely. Here’s how to do it.
Let your tongue lie out on your lower lip (so it looks a bit like a slug) and recite:
- The days of the week
- The months of the year
- And count from one to ten.
Be warned: slug tongue can make people a bit dribbly. But it’s a good way to relax and can be a good icebreaker.
Learn more
Listen to the full interview with Nic on the Singing Teachers Talk podcast, where she discusses:
- Signs that suggest there’s a problem with the voice.
- Actioning – the acting technique she uses to help clients speak with impact.
- Another voice exercise with a weird name: sausage, burger.