Drill step 1
Warm up: hum for 30 seconds, then three lip trills, then “red leather, yellow leather” five times.
Glossary
Lip trill
Blow air through loosely closed lips so they flutter, like a motorboat, while you hum. It warms up your breath and voice together.
From the lesson
Where it comes up
- Day 5 · The Voice People Lean Into: How to sound more confident when you speak: pace, pauses, and landing sentences
In practice
Examples from the course that use it.
Warm up
Humming in the shower, lip trills in the car, “red leather, yellow leather” at a red light. You feel silly and sound noticeably clearer at the 9 am.
In the stairwell
Thirty seconds of humming on the stairs up to the office, three lip trills on the landing, the tongue-twister under your breath at your desk. Your first sentence in the stand-up comes out a tone lower than usual.
Related terms
- Vocal fryA creaky, rattling sound at the end of sentences when the voice runs out of energy. It can make you sound less competent.
- UptalkEnding a statement with a rising tone, as if it were a question. It can make you sound unsure.
- ProsodyThe melody of your voice: how it rises and falls. A varied melody holds attention; a flat one loses it.
- TimbreThe colour of your voice: warm, bright, thin or rich.
- RegisterWhether you feel your voice more in your chest (deeper, fuller) or your head (lighter, higher).