10/29/08

Wednesday, October 29

MOVEMENT
My group got to perform our Viewpoints piece today, which I was completely amped about. I think we did a lovely job. One of the other groups went today as well, and it was fascinating to see that they had ended up with a piece that was completely different from ours stylistically. I dug it.

VOICE
My professor says that when you become focused on voice, you'll go through a phase of over-articulation at some point. We briefly discussed a rule that prevents you from doing that to an unnatural level. But seeing as how I haven't hit my over-articulation phase yet, it's not really something that I can put into practice yet.

We're having a consonant exam on Tuesday. I've been really working hard on my consonants outside of class, and when I'm focused on them, I'm no longer a consonant disaster. I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be. Still, I plan to drill my phrases a lot this week.

Here are the things we were working on today:

#6
"What a to-do to die today at a minute or two to two
A distinctly difficult thing to say, but harder still to do
For they'll beat a tattoo at twenty to
With a ra-tah-tah-ta-tah-tah-ta-tah-tah-too
And the dragon will come when he hears the drum
A minute or two to two today, a minute or two to two."

(As Heidi and Jes can attest, we used a variation of this as a warm-up in high school drama. But it's SO DIFFERENT to do it when you're focusing on every consonant sound instead of using it as a tongue-twister. "Distinctly" becomes a really rough word to say, and you have to pay attention to every "t" sound that comes out of your mouth.)

#7
"Amidst the mists and coldest frosts,
With stoutest wrists and loudest boasts
She thrusts her fists against the posts,
And still insists she sees the ghosts."

(This was REALLY HARD for me at first, but my professor says my "sts" combination is getting clearer.)

#8
"Round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.
Round and round the great arena race the Roman charioteers, reckless of life,
Heedless of risk, striving to gain that rich and rare reward that men call fame."

(When you're working on "r" sounds, "rare reward" is really tricky.)

#9
"We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams
Wand'ring through lone sea breakers, and sitting by desolate streams.
World losers, and world forsakers, on whom the pale moon gleams.
Yet we are the movers and shakers of the world forever, it seems."

(Note: the hard thing for me in this one, is that every word that ends in an "s" is actually pronounced like a "z". Or at least, it's supposed to be. I have a real problem with leaving them unvoiced.)

#10
"Some streets have streams, some streets have trees, I love them both."

My professor says that once you master any sound, you have to continue to practice it on a regular basis, or it will atrophy. She encouraged us to practice in the shower, which I am totally going to do from now on.

It's funny how much you can work in the shower. I used it for "memory of physical action" practice for awhile. And I used it to record physical sensations (what it's like to be soaking wet, what the temperature is like, how steam feels"). Now, it's my new zone of consonant practice. I'm actually really geeked about that. (Killer laughed when he saw that I had written down "practice in the shower" in my notes today with a big asterisk next to it. Haha.)


ACTING
We spent the first part of class working on an exercise with an imaginary membrane surrounding each of us, that we then reached through and felt sensations of what existed on the other side. We were supposed to delete what we were being told we would feel, so that we wouldn't prepare for it. And we were also told that after breaking through the membrane, we would have no short-term memory of what we had just felt, and would keep doing it.

It turns out, I'm really bad at staying neutral and not preparing for what's on the other side when I KNOW what's going to be on the other side. Something to work on in my homework sessions.

I did some text etudes with Wifey, but it took a few tries before I got into the right place for it. I've been judging myself so harshly the last couple of days and have lost all my courage. I need to get it back, but I'm not sure how to do it yet.

5 comments:

Heidi Renée said...

I loooove What To Do To Die Today. Remember how we would hold hands, and at the end go "yes, yes, yes," lifting our arms higher each time? Oh man, good times.

Anonymous said...

I read your note wrong... I thought it said "Patricia in the shower"... Gives it a whole new context!

Angela said...

Oh, it's way funnier your way.

theedeeter said...

#6 is an smc fave too....is that because of you?!? :)

Angela said...

No, it had nothing to do with me. No one used it when I was at SMC. Go figure.