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Dr. Marc Reynolds Performing Arts Studio

Sing Easier - Perform Like A Pro

Opera Workshop

Vulnerability

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Day 6 Topic 2

There is nothing more beautiful and captivating than a person who has chosen to be vulnerable. There is no greater honor than the trust given by someone choosing to be vulnerable with you. If I look at the type of moments in real life that I want to recreate for an audience on stage they usually are not moments of extreme action or spectacle. I love spectacle and action but what I think about for weeks afterward and can remember with clarity for years afterward are not the moments of spectacle and action but connection and shared vulnerability.

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Video Examples Breaking Down the use of LNOS and MMC

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Now that you understand the patterns you are looking for, go back through these videos and notice the difference between when they follow the pattern and when they don’t and how that changes how believable and engaging the scene is.

I will give you some hints of things you might notice or try to look for or listen to but each of these videos could be discussed as a lesson in itself.

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LNOS The Formula for Making Music and Acting Work Naturalistically

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Last Note or Syllable

The Formula

When it is your character’s music your eyes should begin to shift on the last note or syllable of every phrase of music you sing or that is played.

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One “Eye-dea” Per Phrase – No More and No Less

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One “eye-dea” per phrase is a way to help you remember that we show that we are having a new idea by shifting our eyes. It is also to remind you that just like we have one music phrase per text phrase we should have one body language phrase per phrase.

This means that if we shift the direction of our eyes more than once in a phrase, or don’t shift our eyes to start to show what we are talking about next then the body language, music, and text will no longer be communicating the same thing. Consequently, the audience will subconsciously identify that something is off and disconnect from the performance.

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What is there in a phrase?

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Day 5 Topic 2

Phrases are the building blocks of communication. There are markers in different kinds of phrases that tell us when a phrase is starting, building in tension, releasing tension, and ending. You can find research and literature that discusses prosody and taxonomy for both music and text. The question we are exploring here is, “How does what is on the page or coming from our mouth in the form of music or text translate to what we do with our body?”

We can be thinking amazing wonderful things but if you can’t show it to the audience with what you do with your body then the audience cannot see it. If the audience can’t see it then, as far as performing is concerned, those amazing thoughts mean nothing to the audience. Since body language accounts for the lion’s share of communication, especially in live performance, we should at least give it a proportional amount of attention as we practice. Let’s talk about how to bring the phrases on the page to life in your body.

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