Thursday, October 15

Oh my goodness. The Greeks? TOMORROW. Crazy. How did that go by so fast?

VOICE
Voice Professor started off by giving us notes about the run of The Greeks she attended yesterday.

Last time she attended (I think it was two weeks ago?) my notes were:
- Be sure you're not pressing on your larynx to achieve lower pitches. Allow your pitch range to play with freedom
- Yes, allowing your voice to play freely from top, very good
- "months" (this was a clarity note)
- "we women love that" - vocal drop out
- "slaves" - vz
- "to deal with silly women" - rib squeeze, tight in throat
- yelling is good, but be sure to breathe often enough
- "alive" - v
- beautiful open s & l your voice! (refers to sending and landing)
- ? "furrow" ? (this was a clarity note)

And this time? My notes were very positive! Yay improvement!
- good use of voice technique when using volume
- clear precise speech without being over focused on speech - great!
- very good use of ONE VOICE today, incorporating head resonance, forward placement, AND body resonance.

She also said that I had "great screaming and yelling technique", "beautiful use of pitch range", and that it was "dynamic and interesting" and "not limited".

YAY HOORAY! I am so much more confident going into tomorrow's showing as a result. :)

She also gave general notes:
- watch out for glottal attacks
- be loud more selectively
- make sure to speak to people in the audience as individuals (like Caesar talking to one general at a time) when addressing the areopagites. (She said this is a good note for ANY time that you're talking to the audience in a show)

Completely unrelated, I also just found the notes Voice Professor gave me after my Screaming/Yelling exam and can't remember if I typed those up... so here they are:
Chew and Shakes the hum - excellent, forward
Triangle followed by Twinkle Twinkle - excellent, very forward
Head roll with light high forward hum - sound is perfect (release your face)
Screaming on breath, on voice - excellent, good soft released neck, supported, slightly back and down
Yellong on text on breath, on voice - excellent, open, no tension


MOVEMENT
I actually really like ballet. When we finished class today, my body felt so long. I feel taller. And my arms feel longer. I don't know. It's a neat feeling.

Movement Professor says I keep bending my knees when I shouldn't be, but I still haven't figured out how to feel it.

On the plus side, thanks to my usual kooky flamingo-like stances, I'm really good at holding a passe for a long period of time. It's nice to be good at something.

Oh, and the most fun thing we did today? Jumping. Just up and down, in different ballet positions in our ballet shoes. I don't know why, but it was SO joy-inducing. I seriously could not stop giggling. (Just one more example of me looking like a freak in front of my classmates... it's a good thing they're used to me.)


ACTING
We teched the show, thanks to Tech Director and Stage Manager. The young actor playing my son came in today, which was really helpful for me.

Acting Professoressa said her biggest note for me was Trust yourself. That seems to be a theme around here for me lately.

Other notes included:
- You can be still.
- Make sure the element of topping is present in fight with Hermione
- "I was famous once" - operative is "famous"; don't hit "once"
- Don't let beat about Neoptolemus get disjointed
- Don't look up when referring to the goddess Thetis. We only look up when calling upon the gods, not when referencing them.
- On "I have sent my little son away and have hidden him, and written to old Peleus", use the lines to reassure the areopagites that everything within your power has been done
- "They warned us that might happen" - this is not a new beat
- "Yet you're just like your mother" - lost vocal energy
- "I am in your power" - hit "power", not "your"
- "I am not going to crawl to you" - keep vocal energy up and be defiant
- When Peleus says "...too old for the gods to bother with me.", don't move until after he's completely done with the line
- Say "Look, this is my son." while looking at son, not at areopagites.
- In Helen, only take one step on "Of course you are."
- In Helen, don't forget to say "aww" when Menelaus says his line about "the image"


MYSTERY PLAYS
We ran Act I, and it didn't go particularly well. Especially not for me, apparently.

The Director (Head of Program) says that everything I'm doing as Amanda needs to be way bigger, because right now it's boring. Due to the style of the first act (think "graphic novel"), we cannot be simple or naturalistic. Everything has to be larger than life, and painted with big brood strokes. He has encouraged me to "take control of Joe, manipulate Joe, know what's best for Joe, do it."

I know I can do it. I look forward to taking another crack at it on Saturday. It's going to be great.

General notes he gave included:
- Look for growth from one scene to the next
- Believe in the size and weight of the stuff you're dealing with
- Be big, outsized characters

A really great piece of advice from Head of Program that we got tonight was about exiting the stage. He said that when exiting, you have to make sure that where you're going is more important than where you are, and what's off-stage is more important than what's on stage. You can never look bored when walking off-stage.