SpeakClear
Lesson 3 of 15
Mouth warm-ups
10 min

Articulation Warm-Ups

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What this lesson changes, and why it works.

1.Lesson introduction

Your mouth is a set of muscles, and like any muscles they work better warm. Speakers who mumble in the first ten minutes of a meeting are usually not unclear people — they are cold. This routine takes five minutes and can be done in a car, a stairwell or at a desk. Nothing here should hurt; every movement is gentle and repeatable.

2.Learning objectives

  • Run the five-minute routine and the 60-Second Reset from memory
  • Move the jaw, lips and tongue independently
  • Use the Mee–May–Mah–Moh–Moo and Pa–Ba–Ta–Da–Ka–Ga sequences
  • Know where the lips and tongue sit for each family of sounds

3.Your clear-speech toolkit

Each lesson adds a layer. By the final lesson the whole stack is working at once.

  • Your Lesson 1 recording— covered in an earlier lesson
  • Breath and physical ease— covered in an earlier lesson
  • Today: Articulation warm-up— this lesson

4.Narrated audio lesson

Welcome

Lesson 3: Articulation Warm-Ups

  • A five-minute routine that wakes up the lips, tongue and jaw before you speak.
  • About 10 minutes
Chapter 1 / 6

Welcome to lesson 3, Articulation Warm-Ups. Your mouth is a set of muscles, and like any muscles they work better warm. Speakers who mumble in the first ten minutes of a meeting are usually not unclear people — they are cold. This routine takes five minutes and can be done in a car, a stairwell or at a desk. Nothing here should hurt; every movement is gentle and repeatable.

0:00 / 1:52
Captions on by defaultSpeeds 0.75× / 1× / 1.25×Studio narration — mute any time

5.How it works

Lips: P B M WTongue tip: T D N LBack of tongue: K GJaw opening

Lips: P, B, M and W are built here. The lips must actually close and release — a lazy near-close is what blurs these sounds.

Articulation Warm-Ups: Where the sound is made

The same thing on a real body — copy the shape, not the setting.

  1. 10:00–0:45 Gentle jaw release — let the jaw drop, small easy circles, no clicking or forcing.
  2. 20:45–1:30 Lip rounding and smiling — 'ooo' to 'eee', ten slow alternations.
  3. 31:30–2:15 Tongue side to side — touch each corner of the mouth, then behind the top teeth.
  4. 42:15–3:00 Lip trills (brrrr) if comfortable — skip if it feels awkward, hum instead.
  5. 53:00–4:00 Mee–May–Mah–Moh–Moo, three rounds, slow then normal.
  6. 64:00–5:00 Pa–Ba–Ta–Da–Ka–Ga, three rounds, crisp and light.

Where the sound is made

Lips: P, B, M, W. Tongue tip behind the top teeth: T, D, N, L. Back of the tongue: K, G. Watch the animated guide and mirror it.