Tongue twisters are a good fit for older elementary singers.

• The simple melody and musical form of a tongue twister is at an attainable skill level.
• The challenge is learning to accurately sing the tongue-twisting text.
• Tongue twisters can spice up vocal warm ups.
• Spoken tongue twisters are a fun way to warm up before introducing a song.

Spoken tongue twisters are a great ice breaker activity, providing a fun challenge and encouraging participation even from hesitant students.

Tongue twisters are a great warm-up activity at the beginning of a music class or choir rehearsal. Tongue twisters encourage

• clear diction
• expressive delivery of the words

Both of these are excellent skills for singers to develop.

Tongue twisters can be done individually or with others. In a group setting, reticent participants will have the support of their peers as everyone tries to successfully navigate the tricky word combinations. There will always be one student who wants to step up and be in the limelight and be the “star” by doing a tongue twister as a solo effort. Some students will surprise the class by being able to execute a tongue twister flawlessly. For others, when the inevitable slipups happen, everyone has a good laugh, and second (or third!) chances are appreciated.

• Use tongue twisters at the beginning of class as a warm-up or as a fun end-of-class activity.
• Invite students to suggest their favourite tongue twisters to include in your collection. They love it when “their” tongue twister is chosen and someone in the class tries to say it.
• Add dynamic changes to tongue twisters to add even more challenge!
• Use a metronome when the class says a tongue twister. Say the tongue twister with the steady beat of the metronome. Set a faster speed and try it again. Keep a record of the fastest accurate speed and have students try to beat that speed at their next music class.
• Create your own tongue twisters!

Tongue Twister Challenge

(Thanks to Nikki Loney, FULL VOICE Music for this idea.)

• Create slips of paper with selected tongue twisters.
• Put the strips of paper in a container.
• At the beginning of the music lesson, draw out a tongue twister that will be the challenge of the day. For online lessons, the teacher may reach into the jar and pull out a slip when the student says, “STOP”. Add a  dramatic lead up to the extraction of the tongue twister to create suspense and anticipation.

Initially, the teacher may choose the tongue twisters included in the jar. However, students enjoy adding their own favourite tongue twisters to the collection.

To get your jar started, a list of two dozen tongue twisters is provided in this freebie.

Create Your Own Tongue Twisters

Have students create their own tongue twisters. To do this “from scratch” is quite difficult. Rather than come up with a completely unique tongue twister, facilitate the process by using a tongue twister generator. A tongue twister generator takes a known tongue twister and provides specific, alternate word choices that can be used to create an alternate version.

e.g.,  choose words from the table to change this tongue twister:

Students love to create their own tongue twister combinations and challenge each other.

            Who can successfully navigate the twisty words?

            Who can make the most difficult combination?

Creating a tongue-twister generator is not an easy task. A great tongue twister generator has been created by a teaching colleague of mine, and she has graciously given me permission to share it here.

TONGUE TWISTER GENERATOR created by Jennifer Trites.

Download the PDF at:

https://melodiousintent.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/tongue-twister-generator/

Tongue twisters can also be sung. Adding a melodic element to the tongue twister certainly “ups the ante” for the participants. The fun and challenge of successfully navigating the words can take the focus off the fact that students are actually singing.

Singing tongue twisters is a great warm-up activity.

Any one-line tongue twister can be used as a warm-up by singing the tongue twister once on each degree of the scale. Singing a complex tongue twister can make slow scale singing more interesting and even fun!

Singing tongue-twister songs are great additions to general music classes. More complex tongue-twister songs can be used as performance pieces. Make sure the words are enunciated clearly so the audience can understand the lyrics!

When you have enjoyed singing these tongue twisters and doing the activities with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performing videos - we might be able to post it on this page!