One of the reasons monologuing is so valuable is that it can unlock natural body language. All-day you talk and communicate without planning out every movement with your body. Your body just acts on the impulses that come from living in these moments. This seems like it should be pretty easy right? For many singers, they find that once the music is gone they don’t know what to do with their body.
[Read more…] about Permission To Act On the ImpulseA Singers Guide to Preparing a Monologue for Speaking.
Singing performers have an incredibly difficult task when you consider that, in an ideal world, their singing and acting would both be at the same high level of excellence. The reality seems to be that singing performers seem to come to the art of performance from two different starting points. The first group starts with acting training that then leads to singing as an additional skill to fill out what they have to offer. When push comes to shove acting and text intelligibility takes priority. The second group starts with voice training being the primary focus and acting being viewed as an additional skill they have to acquire.
For the first group preparing a dramatic monologue and monologuing a song should be relatively familiar. For the second group, in my experience, spoken dialogue can be the most difficult to learn and deliver naturally. This section is meant as a tool to help those whose primary performance skill set is rooted in musicianship. For those who started as an actor, this will be useful to think about in reverse. It will reveal to you what the composer was thinking and why they made the decisions they did. It will also help you become more sensitive to what the music is calling for.
Written Assignment : Marked Up Score 2.0
It’s time to write down the decisions you have made about the song you are singing. Take Marked Up Score 1.0 to a new level! Don’t forget to create a way to archive your work. These can be a resource that saves you a tremendous amount of time in the future!
Instructions:
- Find the score you marked up from “Marked Up Score 1.0”
- Readjust your who, what, where, when, why of the song to be more specific and emotionally charged.
- Add WOTE decisions in your boxes.
- Add subtext and inner-monologue under the written text and music it belongs to.
- Add “See, Feel, Do” at the arrows you drew at the end of every phrase.
- Add specific actions in the circles you drew around action music.
Example:
This gives you a picture of what it will all look like all together in one place. If you want specific and easier to read versions of each individual element visit the descriptions above and look at the examples posted there.
NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY – TRY IT OUT!
The Difference Between Fully Staged and Concert Style Performances.
How do I take this aria or song that I have prepared for a fully staged production or scenes project and use it in a concert or vice versa? What am I supposed to do in a recital? I can’t use props and costumes, can I? These are some of the common questions young performers have as they try to negotiate the different situations they find themselves performing in. It can seem like there are unspoken rules and expectations that if they get wrong will cost them their careers. Let’s make it simple.
[Read more…] about The Difference Between Fully Staged and Concert Style Performances.How to help others give you useful feedback
Our most useful critics are often the ones that around us most often. These are also often the most neglected. They might be hesitant to comment because they aren’t experts. You might hesitate to ask them because you know it won’t be what you need. These people you interact with though represent at least a section of the audience you are trying to entertain. Most performances are not just for the artistic elite. Here is how to help them help you.
[Read more…] about How to help others give you useful feedback