The next exercises will get you producing the first words in your Better Voice. The words may not be very inspirational but they’re all helpful sounds.

Here are the nonsense ‘friendly phrases’ you will be using:

Many, many men and Many, many women
Nonny nonny no
New moon, new moon, new
Why O why O why

Use all the phrases for each exercise, starting with the one you find easiest.

First a few tips and reminders about mouth shape:

• Avoid letterboxing your mouth when you do the ‘y’ sound in ‘many’, for example, or the ‘e’ in ‘new’. For these sounds, as for ‘w’, move your lips forward slightly in a celebrity air kiss. The ‘y’ should sound close to the ee in the previous exercise, and the ‘e’ close to the oo. Try out the phrases while watching your mouth shape. (If you want to smile when talking, put the smile into your eyes, not your mouth.)
• For other letters just allow your jaw to drop open on the vowels and to close on the consonants, while keeping your mouth the same shape.
• Again it is easier to keep the sound focused initially if you move your mouth and lips as little as possible – apart from allowing your jaw to drop open as necessary. 

Exercise 23: Meet the friendly phrases

It will help you to start with if you keep the articulation of the words to minimum: aim to sound slurred, as though you’re tired or even drunk.

Also, keep the vowels long to give you more time to cope with consonant/vowel changeovers.

• Staying on the same note throughout a phrase, focus your voice in your head with the help of the first consonant (e.g. ‘m’), then allow your jaw to drop to produce the vowel (e.g. ‘a’). Continue to the end of the phrase, using each consonant to help re-focus your voice in your head.

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• Repeat using the other phrases.

Once you can keep your voice focused through slurred versions of all the friendly phrases, you can start to make the words clearer by clarifying and speeding up the consonants. Do this in stages, making the words just a little clearer each time. Keep the hummy sound at the beginning to get your initial focus.

• Repeat using different starting notes.

You are making a quantum leap in the development of your Better Voice, so be prepared for it to take time before you’re ready to move on.

If doing whole phrases is challenging, practise them word by word first.

Exercise 24: Speak the friendly phrases

This exercise takes the singing/speaking transition to the next level. The aim is the same: keeping the Better Voice head-focused tone when you speak that you have learned in the sung exercises.

The temptation, if you have been using a throat-based voice most of your life, is for your voice to drop (out of habit) down into your throat while you are speaking the phrase.

If necessary, work in stages: use just one word of the phrase to start with, then two, then the whole thing.

Once you have successfully negotiated the singing/speaking transition, you can use slightly different notes in the spoken phrase so that it sounds more natural.

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This is another big step in the development of your Better Voice: be patient. If you’re feeling stuck it can help to revisit the earlier voice exercises. That will both reinforce the basics of creating a head-focused voice and remind you of the progress you have made.