Pencil exercise

Refining pronunciation with small obstacles

While the cork works on brute force and openness, the pencil exercise focuses on pinpoint accuracy and fine motor skills.

By using a pencil (or thin cylindrical object) held horizontally between the teeth, the obstacle is smaller, allowing the mouth to close more and work on phonemes that require greater subtlety, such as sibilants ("S") or dental.

The premise is similar: the speaker should strive to speak so clearly that, ideally, a blind listener would not notice an object in his or her mouth.

The goal is to minimize the tongue's contact with the pencil, forcing it to seek alternative, more precise paths to modulate the sound.

This exercise polishes the edges of words and eliminates "foul noise" in pronunciation, forcing the lips into extra mobility to compensate for the central restriction.

It is an ideal intermediate step to transition from muscular exaggeration to natural but defined diction.

Reading complex texts with pencil

To maximize the benefit of this technique, it is suggested to use texts with a high density of consonants or complex grammatical constructions, such as dense philosophical, technical or literary fragments.

By confronting the phonatory apparatus with difficult syllable combinations while hindered by the pencil, brain-muscle coordination under pressure is trained.

The methodology involves reading a paragraph with the pencil, focusing on extreme clarity, and then reading the same paragraph without the pencil.

The contrast is immediate: the words flow with crystal clarity and the tongue feels able to "dance" over the most complicated syllables without stumbling.

It is advisable to repeat this cycle several times, increasing the difficulty of the text or the reading speed, always prioritizing perfect vocalization before increasing the rhythm.

Summary

The horizontal pencil between the teeth focuses in millimeter precision. Unlike the cork, it allows to work on subtle phonemes such as dental and sibilants smoothly.

The speaker should strive to vocalize so clearly that the object is imperceptible. This method polishes the words by eliminating the dirty noises during normal daily pronunciation.

Reading complex fragments trains brain-muscle coordination under pressure. By removing it the words flow with crystal clarity making it easier for the tongue to dance over complicated syllables.