Music
The best kept secret in music
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The Chicago Tribune
By Louis R. Carlozo: TRIBUNE REPORTER August 26th, 2008
Renee Mazer's teaching system turns word-building exercises into racy fun. (Tribune photo by Antonio Perez / August 26, 2008)
In a field that conjures images of dishwater-dull flashcards and parsed Latin prefixes, Renee Mazer has concocted what you might call a shot of vocabulary Viagra. And she's not beyond posing nude to promote it.
The Ivy League marketing graduate, who also boasts a University of Pennsylvania law degree, has released Wordgasm, a five-part CD series that uses racy poems, saucy songs and sex to help adults build verbal prowess. In town recently to promote her instructional guide, Mazer delved into the inspiration behind it and how it has changed her life:
Q: How did you decide to couple vocabulary and sex?
A: I did a product in 2001 called Not Too Scary Vocabulary. I was getting great reviews and great sales, and fan mail from parents who were listening to it themselves. People were saying do a kid product as an encore, but my sense of humor doesn't go that way. I like "Sex and the City," "Coupling"—things that have that sexy edge to them. My sense of humor has always been on the racy side. And sex sells.
Q: What makes you think this product will work?
A: When I was practicing law, I taught standardized test prep to make extra money. I started doing a ton of tutoring, and with vocabulary it's really important to get people to pay attention—it's a big part of memory. So by adding the sex and making it racy, it makes the program way more effective. I could test people on the words, and after listening just once, they'll know them.
Q: Are you concerned Wordgasm will wind up in the hands of kids too young for skits such as "Jumping the Jock"?
A: If someone is offended by sexual content, I'm not fooling them. I have "Warning: This program will turn you on" right on the cover. In terms of teens, I really don't go too much further than what most of them hear. I've got a kid who's 14, and all of his friends have seen "American Pie." This is not porn; it's soft. I'm just joking around about it. If you've seen R-rated movies, there's a lot of sexual content—and I don't necessarily think it hurts. It's not like I'm promoting risky behavior.
Q: But you just mentioned your teenage son. What does he think?
A: Let's see. [Laughs.] My son is always joking. He has a great sense of humor about it.
I did a nude photo shoot the other week with apples and books covering all the crucial parts, and my son says, "I'm going to be in therapy forever."
Q: So who's your target market?
A: I don't really have a good grasp at this point. Men in their 20s and 30s are the ones calling me on the phone telling me that they love it.
Q: Is that all that they say?
A: When I say what I do, every guy wants to date me. It's amazing.
Q: Are you concerned about any backlash?
A: There's no question parents who are really religious, who censor their TV, are not going to like this. And I haven't been giving it out to high school kids. But I've given it out to parents of high school kids, who give it to their kids. They seem to have no problem with it. The only group that doesn't really love it, where it's a mixed reaction, is women over 50, and some older men.
Q: How did you pick the vocabulary words, which aren't dirty by any means?
A: I decided if it was good based on whether I knew it. If I didn't, I would assume other people didn't know it either. And now I have a kick [butt] vocabulary.
Q: OK, let's test you with a word that stumped me on the SATs: lachrymose.
A: That's easy. The way to remember it, it sounds like "la-cry-the-most." So if you "cry-the-most," you're lachrymose.
Q: Sounds like you're a regular verbal vixen.
A: You're going to have a hard time finding words I haven't taught yet.
lcarlozo@tribune.com
- The Chicago Tribune
Discography
Not Too Scary Vocabulary
Wordgasm 1
Wordgasm 2
Photos
Bio
Renee Mazer is an honors University of Pennsylvania Wharton grad, Penn Law alumna, Mensa member, award winning attorney and founder of High Score, a test prep company.
After realizing that her test prep students weren't learning their vocabulary words because there weren't any vocabulary builders that worked for them, Renee created Not Too Scary Vocabulary. That program uses memory devices to make learning words easy and comedy to make it fun. The response to Not Too Scary Vocabulary has been phenomenal. Not only do her students always know their vocabulary words, but it has sold tens of thousands of copies and received countless thank you notes from people whose entire lives have changed due to their newly acquired verbal prowess.
After receiving many emails asking her to make more vocabulary programs, Renee decided to create Wordgasm. This new series of products uses the same scientifically based teaching methods as Not Too Scary Vocabulary, but it is way more risque.
Turning the typically boring and difficult job of vocabulary building into racy fun made sense for Renee because she has a wild sense of humor. Adding shocking comedy also appealed to Renee because she knew it would make the program extremely effective. Things that get your attention are memorable. People who don't even need vocabulary building are listening just for the fun of it and remembering the words.
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