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The Preparation area of this program offers some natural warm-ups for relaxation and breathing. Professional speakers and performers are aware of how valuable these methods are. You will be too, if you do even a very quick physical warm-up before starting. A little yawning, stretching, and shaking does more to put you in shape for speech than you would ever think it does. The vowels e, a, and y are your tonal anchors. They are the most strongly vibrating sounds in this system. They begin as vibration in the vocal chords, but become greatly enriched as you learn to focus the sound waves on the hard palate, and more particularly on the gum ridge behind your front teeth. When you can regularly produce E, A, and Y as strongly vibrating tonal vowels, it is the single biggest contribution you can make to improving every aspect of your speech . . . For being understood clearly: distinguishing between long and short vowels (like date and debt) . . . For clearly producing the second stage of 2-stage vowels: I (6Y) OI (3Y) . . . For providing added resonance to all vibrating vowels and consonants. And last but not least, for infusing good sound quality and control into all your speech, keeping it anchored in good tonality, at a low register (a lower pitch range) which opens the higher pitch range for intonation and making your speech more expressive. Mastering E, A, and Y will take you a long way.
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