Let’s dive in! This exercise is both tactile and synapse-based. What do I mean? Well...
Tactile means of or connected to the sense of touch. So this exercise will energize and ignite the sensations of touch between your mouth, your lips, your teeth, and your tongue. Synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. So, basically when you read something aloud for the first time, there’s a communication that happens between your eyeballs and your speech. The eyes see the words [on the page], the eyeballs send a signal to the neuroreceptors in your brain that ignite the speech, and then words come out of your mouth...
Tactile means of or connected to the sense of touch. So this exercise will energize and ignite the sensations of touch between your mouth, your lips, your teeth, and your tongue. Synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. So, basically when you read something aloud for the first time, there’s a communication that happens between your eyeballs and your speech. The eyes see the words [on the page], the eyeballs send a signal to the neuroreceptors in your brain that ignite the speech, and then words come out of your mouth...
So if you want to have a razor-sharp ice-cold read technique, which is only going to make your cold-read technique that much stronger, then you’ll want to do this exercise. And if you want to be able to work with the likes of Aaron Sorkin, Shonda Rhimes, and David E Kelley, or other writers who are known for embracing rapid-fire dialogue that’s not about speed - it's about momentum, it’s about delivery, it’s about energy, it’s about rhythm – then this exercise is really gonna help you!
There are two (2) items you must have in order to do this exercise, plus two that are optional:
Note: An important rule to this exercise is to never re-read text. Every time you do this exercise you must be reading aloud text that is completely fresh/new to your eyes. If you’ve previously read the text, you’re greatly reducing the effectiveness of the exercise. It’s got to be ice-cold.
Procedure:
Reminder! You must use excellent form in order for this exercise to fully work. This consists of:
Consistency is key to seeing improvement with this exercise. Do the exercise every day for 14 days, and you’ll start to notice that you stumble less over your words each time. Do it for 30 days (1 month), you’ll definitely see improvement. How do you know when you’ve nailed it? Answer: When you can read aloud a new article at an accelerated pace with excellent diction, and no stumbles. Congrats! You’ve strengthened that synapse in your brain, and now it’s about maintenance. Feel free to reduce the frequency of the exercise to 2-3 times per week, just to stay strong.
Now, about the cork. Cork exercises for diction are classic in our craft. To improve diction in conjunction with this exercise, simply place one end of the cork between your front teeth so that it sticks out straight in front of you, and repeat the exercise while over-enunciating the words so as to communicate them as effectively as you can. Be prepared that your jaw and the muscles in your face will receive a good workout. You might even be a little sore, so you ay want to add the cork gradually, especially if you’re new to cork exercises. If you find the cork too difficult at first, then you can substitute the blunt end of a thinner circular object (such as a pen) to build strength and work your way up to the cork.
That's it! Enjoy! :)
There are two (2) items you must have in order to do this exercise, plus two that are optional:
- A timer or a stopwatch.
- The Wall Street Journal (hard copy) or any other publication that uses "big" words. The key ingredient is you must be reading text off of a page that utilizes big words so that your vocabulary is challenged. If you’re reading words that you’re used to reading every day it’s not going to challenge your brain and it won’t exercise the firing of that synapse as effectively.
- Wine cork (optional, advanced users)
- Sharpie permanent marker (optional, for crossing thru text that you’ve completed).
Note: An important rule to this exercise is to never re-read text. Every time you do this exercise you must be reading aloud text that is completely fresh/new to your eyes. If you’ve previously read the text, you’re greatly reducing the effectiveness of the exercise. It’s got to be ice-cold.
Procedure:
- Pick an article. Doesn’t matter which one, just pick.
- Pre-set your timer for 1 minute.
- When you’re ready, initiate the countdown and start reading aloud the article with a rapid pace. Do not stop to correct words as you stumble through the article. When the timer goes off, stop reading, and with the black Sharpie cross through the text you just read.
- Repeat the exercise two more times, 1 minute each.
- Rest for 24 hours.
- Do the exercise again the next day.
Reminder! You must use excellent form in order for this exercise to fully work. This consists of:
- The text must be fresh to your eyes (reading for the first time).
- Read article out loud.
- Use excellent diction.
- Use rapid-fire speech (accelerated pace).
Consistency is key to seeing improvement with this exercise. Do the exercise every day for 14 days, and you’ll start to notice that you stumble less over your words each time. Do it for 30 days (1 month), you’ll definitely see improvement. How do you know when you’ve nailed it? Answer: When you can read aloud a new article at an accelerated pace with excellent diction, and no stumbles. Congrats! You’ve strengthened that synapse in your brain, and now it’s about maintenance. Feel free to reduce the frequency of the exercise to 2-3 times per week, just to stay strong.
Now, about the cork. Cork exercises for diction are classic in our craft. To improve diction in conjunction with this exercise, simply place one end of the cork between your front teeth so that it sticks out straight in front of you, and repeat the exercise while over-enunciating the words so as to communicate them as effectively as you can. Be prepared that your jaw and the muscles in your face will receive a good workout. You might even be a little sore, so you ay want to add the cork gradually, especially if you’re new to cork exercises. If you find the cork too difficult at first, then you can substitute the blunt end of a thinner circular object (such as a pen) to build strength and work your way up to the cork.
That's it! Enjoy! :)