Video transcript
Warm-ups for your choir (secondary) - eClass 2 - Vocal warm-ups - 02. Tongue twisters

LIZ SCOTT: All right. Tongue twister of the morning. In C major, I think, is a good key for tongue twisters. It goes-- the words are very simple-- 3 words: 'Irish wristwatch,' and you're going to go (singing) 'Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch'--

(speaking) And when you get to the top, (singing) 'Irish wristwatch, arr!' (speaking) Like you're a pirate. Because it helps. Here we go. Ready, and--

ALL: (singing) Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, arr!

LIZ SCOTT: Good. You need your arm because pirates always do this. (singing) Arr! (speaking) The more you articulate it, the easier it is. So, if I kind of slur over it and do [singing sloppily] 'Irish wristwatch, Irish'-- (speaking) nothing will come out.

(singing) 'Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, '-- (speaking) I need every single consonant. Here we go. Same key, and don't forget your 'arr!' Ready, and go.

ALL: (singing) Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, arr!

LIZ SCOTT: Back down?

ALL: (singing) Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, arr.

LIZ SCOTT: Excellent. Let's go up a semitone.

[chord played on piano]

And a bit faster. (singing) 'Irish wristwatch, Irish'-- (speaking) 1, 2, ready, go--

ALL: (singing) Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch Irish wristwatch, arr! Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, arr.

LIZ SCOTT: Good. Let's not go faster, but let's do one more semitone higher. 2-- and take a good breath-- 2, and--

ALL: (singing) Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, arr! Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, Irish wristwatch, arr.

LIZ SCOTT: Excellent. Some good pirates down in the front.

Back to B-flat.

[chord played on piano]

Tongue twister-- 'blue froot loop'-- just one.

[students laughing]

Hand up if you eat Froot Loops?

STUDENT 1: What are Froot Loops?

LIZ SCOTT: Excellent. That's very good news. I'm overjoyed that none of you eat them, and I'm even happier-- if you can be happier than overjoyed-- that some of you don't know what Froot Loops are. This is a good thing.

However, in my experience of not eating Froot Loops, apparently, blue froot loops don't exist.

STUDENT 2: They don't.

STUDENT 3: They don't.

STUDENT 4: Yeah, they do.

LIZ SCOTT: Don't ask me-- that's just what I've been told.

But it's a great tongue twister. So you're going to sing--

[students chattering]

--thanks, gentlemen--

(singing) 'Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot'-- (speaking) right, we're going up in groups of 3, slowly. Trust me. Here we go. 1 and-a 2 and-a--

ALL: (singing) Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue. Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue.

LIZ SCOTT: Good. It gets harder as it goes on, hey? Up a semitone?

[students chattering]

[chord played on piano]

[students chattering]

STUDENT 5: Shh!

LIZ SCOTT: (singing) Blue froot loop, blue-- (speaking) Here we go. Notice I'm not demonstrating this one. I'm really bad at it. Here we go. 1 and-a 2--

ALL: (singing) Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue. Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue.

LIZ SCOTT: Good. One more semitone, faster, still. (singing) Blue froot loop, blue froot loop-- (speaking) 1, and-a go--

ALL: (singing) Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue. Blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue froot loop, blue.

LIZ SCOTT: Excellent, go [lip trill].

STUDENTS: [lip trill]

LIZ SCOTT: Excellent! All right.

In C major, our tongue twister of the morning. It's very easy. 'Red leather, yellow leather'. All right? It goes (singing) 'Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow'--

(speaking) When you get to the top, (singing) 'Red leather, yellow leather, red!' (speaking) Just stop and have a rest on 'red'. Here we go-- 1, and 2--

ALL: (singing) Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red!

LIZ SCOTT: Good! Let's try it again. The more you articulate it, the better it will be. As in, if I do [singing laxly] 'red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow'-- (speaking) my mouth doesn't know what to do. (singing) Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather yell'-- I've got to put every single consonant on. Here we go, 1, and 2--

ALL: (singing) Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red!

LIZ SCOTT: So much better. Let's go up a semitone and go faster! Ah, ready, go--

ALL: (singing) Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red!

LIZ SCOTT: Yes. I don't think that got better, but anyway, give it one more try. Up another semitone-- 2, 3, and--

ALL: (singing) Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red!

LIZ SCOTT: Good. All of these-- and we never need to come back down again. All of these exercises will get better if you practise them. When I started doing 'red leather, yellow leather', I could not do it to save myself, and now I'm really good at it because I do it all the time, and I like watching other people not being able to do it-- as you just demonstrated. So, thank you.