Return to Previous Page


David Gordon's Favorite Vocal Warmup Tongue Twisters

These exercises are more than just fun.
Always warm up all aspects of your vocal instrument
including "the lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue."


These first two are my favorites.They are particularly good for achieving a crisp, frontal placement of consonants.


The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue,
the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips.

A box of biscuits,
A box of mixed biscuits,
And a biscuit mixer.


S and SH

Should saucy sharks seek shelter soon?

The sixth sick shiek's sixth sheep's sick.

She sits and shines shoes,
And when she sits she shines all day.

A skunk sat on a stump.
The skunk thought the stump stunk.
The stump thought the skunk stunk.

Sister Suzy's sewing shirts for soldiers.
Such skill at sewing shirts
my shy young sister Suzy shows.
Some soldiers send epistles
Saying they'd sooner sleep on thistles
Than the short serge shirts for soldiers
shy young sister Suzy sews.

Sister Susie went to sea
To see the sea, you see.
The sea she saw was a saucy sea,
A sort of saucy sea saw she.

Crisp B and BL

Barren Beacon Beckons Bacon Baron

A big black bug bit a big black bear
and the big black bear bled blood.

This black bug bled blue-black blood
while the other black bug bled blue.

Better Botter bought some butter
But she said this butter's bitter
If I put it in my batter
It will make my batter bitter
So she bought some better butter
Put it in her bitter batter
And it made her bitter batter better

When tweedle beetles battle
With paddles in a puddle
They call it a tweedle beetle puddle paddle battle.
~ Dr. Seuss

Consonants and Vowel Shadings

I carried the married character over the barrier.

The foreign authorities put Dorothy in an orange forest.

The Leith police dismisseth us, and that sufficeth us.

Yes, she is pure, but so is Mrs. Muir.
You're just unsure.
Please do not lure me with your unsure cure.

Tip-of-the-Tongue R and TH

Round the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.

Rosco the rum runner rubbed out Rudy the rat
for ruining his rum running receipts.

Thistle sticks, sixty six thousand and six thistle sticks.

Theophulous Thistle, the thistle sifter,
thrust a thousand thistles
through the thick of his thumb.

M and N

Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager
imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.

She stood upon the balcony, inimically mimicking him hiccupping while amicicably welcoming him in.

Any noise annoys an oyster,
but an noisy noise annoys an oyster most.

You know New York, you need New York,
you know you need unique New York.

Subtle Difference Between W and WH

Which witch whined when the wine
was spilled on the wailing whale?

"I don't care a whit for your wit or whims,"
said Warren Wharton.

Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
Whatever the weather, we'll weather the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

Just Plain Fun

My dame hath a lame tame crane.
My dame hath a crane that is lame.
Oh gentle Jane, doth my dame's lame tame crane
leave and come home again?

What a to-do to die today, at a minute or two to two;
A thing distinctly hard to say, but harder still to do.
For they'll beat a tattoo, at twenty to two,
A rat-tat-tat- tat-tat-tat- tat-tat-tattoo.
And a dragon will come when he hears the drum,
At a minute or two to two today, at a minute or two to two.

About Socks
Give me the gift of a grip-top sock,
A clip drape shipshape tip top sock.
Not your spinslick slapstick slipshod stock,
But a plastic, elastic grip-top sock.
None of your fantastic slack swap slop
From a slap dash flash cash haberdash shop.
Not a knick knack knitlock knockneed knickerbocker sock
With a mock-shot blob-mottled trick-ticker top clock.
Not a supersheet seersucker ruck sack sock,
Not a spot-speckled frog-freckled cheap sheik's sock
Off a hodge-podge moss-blotched scotch-botched block.
Nothing slipshod drip drop flip flop or glip glop,
Tip me to a tip top grip top sock.
~ Dr. Seuss


The Little Bach Book

David Gordon spent many years as a tenor soloist on the opera and concert stages of the world. The Chicago Tribune called him "one of the world's great Bach tenors."

David is the author of The Little Bach Book, a unique look at Bach and daily life around him. There is no other book like this in English or in German!

In the 1720s, Leipzig was a thriving city with a population of 30,000. What did the residents eat, drink, and wear? How did they bathe and cook? What fuels heated and illuminated their homes?

Until now no book has described the details of daily life in Germany during Bach's lifetime.

Learn more...

Updated  July 2020.     Additions are welcome! Please send me your favorites!


Back to Top of Page   :   Return to Previous Page

Home   :    Words about Music    :    Contact David


The David Gordon Studio  :  www.spiritsound.com


spacer spacer