Elocution from Midwinter Tuition: Recent Episodes
Pauline Midwinter
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/citizens-for-uyyakondan-chart-a-new-course/article30490765.ece
https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/two-of-viswabharati-school-students-bag-prizes-minister-kodali-venkateswara-rao--593434 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/fatima-mujawar-gets-awards-in-national-pharmaceutical-congress/articleshow/72948681.cms https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/accent-reduction-newcomers-ottawa-1.5402451 https://news.sky.com/story/voters-dont-care-if-labour-leader-has-ovaries-or-northern-accent-says-ex-mp-jenny-chapman-11888948 https://www.engvid.com/how-to-remember-ipa-phoneme-symbols-my-tricks/
This time of year we're gearing up for concerts of all sorts, or maybe just singing round the Christmas Tree, or in church, or by the photocopier for the office party. Wherever your debut will be, ensure good articulation by using these tips!
Go to my website www.midwintertuition.co.uk and check out the shop page for my free Tongue Twisters course! There's also a course aimed at families and those aiming for RP.
Thinking about how to say these words - using the last sound of the verb, rather than relying on memory!
This is an episode to help people Keep In Touch with me - I just briefly go through some ways you can contact me if you need any help. Short and simple!
A child asked me this week - "Can I change my voice forever?" Here are some tips to help you towards this aim...
Have a listen to some examples of contracted words (such as I'm, he's, she'd etc) and listen to some of the common mistakes people make. Listen and repeat the smooth transition from vowel to consonant. The list will be available on my website - www.midwintertuition.co.uk
Jennifer and Christopher sing a song they've learned at school, which leads on to me talking about sharpening up those word endings. A short and sweet one as the school run is impending!
Let's stretch out the vowel sounds that we should begin our vocal training with. A simple set of sounds that we use all the time.
Listen to Pauline warming up her voice on a freezing cold January morning. Hear the difference between the start of the podcast and the end as she goes through some simple but effective warming up techniques. Use these exercises after the breathing exercises that you learned with the previous podcast.
Breathing. The power behind the voice. Let us begin from the very beginning and remember how to breathe, why we breathe, use our breath effectively and efficiently.
A discussion of the differences and similarities between the two alveolar sounds. Go to www.midwintertuition.co.uk for more details 7shi64cf
Written by Julia Donaldson, this book is a beautiful read. Reading aloud is a fantastic way to improve your pronunciation and rhythm.
I use Voice Box exercises for this episode - fantastic tongue twisters designed to exercise to increase precision in rapid change. Some of them are quite a challenge!
Let's try some words that begin with w followed by the short oo sound. It's very tricky! Take it slow. Use a mirror if needed.
Amateur Alert: I thought I had started recording, so apologies if the podcast leaps straight into the poem! I did do a lovely introduction! Listen to the lovely rhythm of the poem, to the rhyming and overall the beautiful sentiment. Read it yourself and try it out. Try learning it off by heart too to increase your off text confidence.
A revision aid for current students although listeners can hear the intonation and pronunciation of many common sounds, words and phrases. It's at a bit of a pace and split over two podcasts.
A revision aid for current students although listeners can hear the intonation and pronunciation of many common sounds, words and phrases. It's at a bit of a pace and split over two podcasts.
I forgot to say - I wear a scarf ALL the time in the winter to try and keep my vocal folds nice and warm. I'm not sure how scientific that is but it makes me feel better! Listen to some tips gathered from my experience and some online research.
This week, Pauline goes through some reasons why good Elocution is essential for Jobseekers.
We use Ed Miliband's speech at the Labour Party conference as our starting point, then discuss repetition in speeches followed by disfluencies in everyday conversation.
Here we briefly examine the sound made by er/ir/ear/ur in words like 'bird'. See my website www.midwintertuition.co.uk for a list of words.
Here I go through some ideas for ways in which you can improve the volume at which you project your voice.
Thankyou for listening to my podcast - now at 65k downloads and 50 episodes long. Today we look at 'air'.
A refresher for previous and current students and an introduction to how an Elocution lesson might work for newbies.
Pauline demonstrates how and where to make the L sound, gives some example words and a training technique. It is all about tongue strength this week!
Pauline and her daughter Jennifer briefly explore linking words. We are both snotty and poorly so it's short today!
Today we examine the semi-vowel / consonant sound 'W'. We look at words then sentences that use the sound. Listen and repeat to practise the sound.
Today I talk through some examples of how to say 'Well done' or 'really?' type phrases. Listen through then listen with lots of pausing and repeating! Practice copying the intonation until your vocal pattern matches mine.
A simultaneous podcast / vodcast this week! I recorded the audio of my youtube channel video this week, where I examine the CH / DZ sound.
Together we can practice list making using intonation. I give some guidance regarding how to make a list then we examine how to show the items are equally important or related to each other.
A contentious sound - some people pronounce this in slightly different ways so be prepared to practice it and pronounce it differently to your peers!
A simple concept - the Greeting. Get the intonation right and make the best first impression possible. Listen and repeat.
Pauline uses four different resources to explain how to pronounce the two consonants so that they sound different.
In this episode Pauline gives some examples of commonly-used reassuring sentences, taken from Thompson's 'Intonation in Practice'. We look at where the rise and fall occur. Listen to Pauline and repeat slowly. Secondly Pauline gives some examples of how we contradict people, either by disagreeing or correcting them. The intonation pattern is different so listen carefully and repeat. Email for copies of PDFs, for more info or to book an Elocution lesson - info@midwintertuition.co.uk
Using both Thompson's 'Intonation in Practice' and www.home-speech-home.com for a list of wh questions - we look at how the intonation of wh questions really, really, really does have a rule! That rare gem in the English language! For more information on intonation, for copies of the PDF I used or to book a lesson please email me info@midwintertuition.co.uk
To avoid saying 'nothink' instead of 'nothing' listen to this podcast! We talk through actual production of both sounds then try some words and a rhyme or two. Then it is up to you to practice! This week I use the ACE Spelling Dictionary - which I bought second hand.
Using two different sources, we examine the fall in intonation when we give information in a sentence. Several examples are cited and repeated. Try repeating them after me and see how you get on. If you need the texts used, email me info@midwintertuition.co.uk or visit www.midwintertuition.co.uk
This time we use Bell's Standard Elocutionist as our starting point - to examine the neutral sound of 'schwa'. This is most commonly found as the 'e' in 'the'. Then we look at other unstressed sounds using English Pronunciation in Use (Advanced).
We look to internet forums and a fantastic textbook "English Pronunciation in Use: Advanced" for some help with pronunciation of compound nouns - particularly 2 or 3 part nouns.
"Dearest creature in creation, study English pronunciation."
For the full text go to www.midwintertuition.co.uk or email info@midwintertuition.co.uk for a copy
Pauline demonstrates how to make and drill the T and the D. She looks at a few examples of past tense regular that use ed and which t/d/id sound it makes. She finished with her favourite rhyme that uses both sounds! Email info@midwintertuition.co.uk for more info or look at www.midwintertuition.co.uk
This episode looks at the minimal difference between the production of certain consonants. If you want the list of consonants email me info@midwintertuition.co.uk
A tricky sound for many of my students - here we create the z sound and use it in some words and a couple of tongue twisters
SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep, Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
So this week I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to speak on radio and television. I was a guest on Monday Matters on a Community radio station in Sittingbourne, SFM, then I was filmed for a slot on an ITN Tonight show which will be aired at the end of this month. For both pieces I was equally nervous. It doesn’t help that I have two more weeks until my periodontal surgery appointment, so I have a lot of pain in my mouth, plus I had the usual cycle of housework, childcare and work issues on my mind. So I thought this week I would talk about taking care of your voice, using your voice and hearing your voice.
In this podcast Pauline demonstrates the three sounds and describes mouth placement for the sounds. She gives some example words and sentences, a few rhymes and tongue twisters too.
In this podcast we are going to repeat sentences several times, changing the emphasis one word at a time - when you listen to me reading it see what meaning you think the sentence has. I will use three different sentences. Then I will give you some examples of statements that change meaning depending on the position of the punctuation.
I was lucky enough to attend Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts last week. My voice has suffered from the heat, dust and exhaustion so this week I have found some clips of the use of voice at Glastonbury to discuss with you. Next week I will return to pronunciation tips when my voice is back to full strength!
This time Pauline gives some examples of how you understand the changing pitch in your voice when you are speaking. She demonstrates this change in many ways, finishing with an excerpt from 'If' by Rudyard Kipling.
Pauline discusses the mouth shape, pronunciation and spelling variations of the sound, puts the sound into words such as brown, cow and about and demonstrates sentences to start you off.
In this short podcast, Pauline explains how to create the sound, gives some example words, then a sentence and a silly rhyme. Listen to the examples and repeat them.
This podcast discusses how to approach speaking clearly with children. Pauline shares her personal experience with her two children, currently aged 2 and 5 and her experience working with secondary school children. This is by no means an exhaustive system or approach, but a few things that worked for her and may work for you.
Pauline is officially on holiday so this week her podcast is a light-hearted look at two exercises which build vocal strength - but do not feel like hard work. Lip flutters are fantastic for building strength in the vocal folds and tongue twisters build co-ordination in the muscles of the mouth and - more importantly - your brain!
In this episode, Pauline explains how 'p' and 'b' are actually the same mouth shape but just voiced and unvoiced sounds. She then goes on to compare other consonants and sounds, gives an advanced exercise and ensures you drill the 'th' sound which is so important in formal situations.
Pauline discusses the mouth shape, pronunciation and spelling variations of the sound, puts the sound into words such as dust, love, rough… and a short / long sentence to start you off.
In this short podcast, Pauline explains the short vowel sound 'o' - not to be confused with 'oh' or 'uh'.
Here we collate all of the vowel sounds and use them in a sequence. This then creates a muscle memory. We add consonants and change the pitch of our voices. To purchase these sounds please go to http://paulinemidwinter.bandcamp.com/track/vowel-sounds-1 For more information go to www.midwintertuition.co.uk
Pauline Midwinter demonstrates the long 'oo' sound from her training programme, illustrates it with words of various spellings, then puts it into a sentence.
Pauline discusses and demonstrates the long 'u' in isolation, in words and in sentences.
Pauline Midwinter of Midwinter Tuition discusses the Long 'E'. Rarely mispronounced but frequently misread.
The short 'e' is discussed, compared to other short vowel sounds, put within words and sentences and mouth shape discussed. Use the words to listen to and repeat in your practice time.
A brief listen to the sound made by the short letter 'a'. Pauline creates the sound, describes the mouth position, then gives some example words and a sentence for you to repeat.
Pauline discusses the mouth shape, pronunciation and spelling variations of the long 'a' sound, then puts it into words and a sentence to start you off.
In this brief podcast, Pauline explains how to position your mouth to create the short 'i' sound, gives some example words such as 'pit' and one sentence to try.