07/26/2026
"Tongue twister, tongue twister, tongue twister" Say it 3 times quickly!
Most of us have been told, in a presentation skills or vocal training, to say some similarly inane phrase, on repeat! But why?
Wait, there is a point, even if it seems like a silly exercise at first...Your 'tongue' moved, sure, but so did a lot more than that.
1. Your brain scrambled to sequence a run of nearly identical sounds without letting one collapse into the next.
2. Your breath had to stay steady enough that you did not run out of air halfway through and start gasping mid-sentence.
3. Your jaw, lips, and soft palate were all firing rapid, split-second adjustments.
4. You got out of your usual speech patterns, and the cadence you usually rely on...
And, if you felt even a flicker of self-consciousness doing it out loud, that is not your imagination, that is the exact same gut level jolt of nerves that shows up right before a big pitch or a hard conversation with your boss.
Which is exactly why the term "tongue twister" is so misleading. It makes the whole thing sound like a mouth exercise, a cute little warm up actors do before a performance.
It is actually a full instrument test, brain, breath, body, nerves, and intention, all working together in a matter of seconds...
That is precisely why we build them into Voice and Presence training. We are not just trying to get someone's 'tongue' limber. We are trying to get their whole system warmed up, and already a little familiar with the feeling of performing under pressure, before the moment that actually matters.
So next time you catch a colleague muttering "unique New York" under their breath before walking into a meeting, they are not just being weird. They’re doing more prep in ten seconds than most people do in ten minutes.
At Peers and Players, we like to use phrases which aren't just words for a physical and vocal warmup, they engage our purpose, and that's intangible!
Try this one next time: "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." (Eleanor Roosevelt)
If you'd like to know more about out individual or group Voice and Presence workshops, please reach out to [email protected]
