Four day work week, and only three of those days will be spent with my 5th grade group. Time to change it up. and move on to choral work.
I handed out a copy of Shel Silverstein's Twistable, Turnable Man to the class. Since everybody was looking at the poem as it was handed to them, there was no way I could capture a true cold reading -- but that was ok. A first time group effort is bound to be ragged, so I asked them to think up tactics that would help them in reading it cold. They talked about slowing down, about looking for punctuation, and about listening to each other as they read. All really good suggestions!
We read through it and it wasn't horrible, with only a few spots of jumbled voices and out of synch speech. We discussed what happened and the poem itself. What it was about. Which were the action words, the adjectives and nouns -- but in terms of performance rather than language arts quiz questions. Since we have been working on physicalizing words, they were quick to locate the verbs and visualize what possible actions could accompany them. The adjectives apply the colors, tastes and textures of the scene, while the nouns are actors and props.
I gave them another Silverstein poem called Nobody which we read through together. Again, the work was not bad for a first run through. I then had the class count off in twos, and gave the ones Twistable Turnable Man and the twos Nobody. I appointed a choral leader for each group, selecting two drama students in order to give them directing opportunities.
They practiced at either end of the room. I put two costumes racks as barricades, to keep them from distracting each other and to help buffer the sound a bit. By the end of the period, one group was well on its way to finding actions to match the poem. The other group was having some conflicts.
Today, the groups continued to work on their poems. I noticed that the Nobody group's leader was trying to make the process "democratic" by asking everybody for their opinion. They were getting bogged down in conflicts over suggestions. I talked to them briefly about how some works require a single viewpoint -- does an orchestra require ten conductors?
The Twistable Group had gone a long with its leader's vision, and was well on its way to creating a performance. Both groups will polish their work tomorrow and present to each other at the end of the class.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Articulation and movement
This week has been truncated by weather and a day off for staff development (tomorrow), so I've only had this class twice, but both sessions went really well. I taped a lot of it, even though I didn't blog it. Days off mean that the subsequent days back are twice as hectic.
Basically, I used my usual articulation exercises but enhanced them with movement instructions. We built on the vowel work, which helps actors understand the power of lengthening vowel sounds in words. Lots of Word Tennis with vowels and then consonants. We start with sounds, then go to words, and then to a specific word from each actor's poem.
Today we moved to the initial line of each poem, using it as the only line of conversation in pairs, back and forth. "Try to make it a meaningful conversation, even though you can only use that one line over and over," I coached. "Physicalize it when you respond," was another coaching prompt.
I gave them ten minutes to go back to their original poem partners to work on their presentations. For the last ten minutes of class, we looked at volunteer performances as "works in progress." The improvement was manifest! I asked them at the end what they had noticed in the presentations in terms of change over time. "More expressive!" "Using articulation!" "Stronger voices" "Projection!" The latter has come about without any prompting! All the shy voices are noticeably stronger -- and I believe it comes from the physical work added to the voice training. Next week, we will go into the auditorium, a much larger space and do some deliberate projection work to build upon what they have already achieved.
Basically, I used my usual articulation exercises but enhanced them with movement instructions. We built on the vowel work, which helps actors understand the power of lengthening vowel sounds in words. Lots of Word Tennis with vowels and then consonants. We start with sounds, then go to words, and then to a specific word from each actor's poem.
Today we moved to the initial line of each poem, using it as the only line of conversation in pairs, back and forth. "Try to make it a meaningful conversation, even though you can only use that one line over and over," I coached. "Physicalize it when you respond," was another coaching prompt.
I gave them ten minutes to go back to their original poem partners to work on their presentations. For the last ten minutes of class, we looked at volunteer performances as "works in progress." The improvement was manifest! I asked them at the end what they had noticed in the presentations in terms of change over time. "More expressive!" "Using articulation!" "Stronger voices" "Projection!" The latter has come about without any prompting! All the shy voices are noticeably stronger -- and I believe it comes from the physical work added to the voice training. Next week, we will go into the auditorium, a much larger space and do some deliberate projection work to build upon what they have already achieved.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Meeting wrap up
The focus of this weekend's Critical Links meeting was to focus in our questions with the collective wisdom of our colleagues providing much additional insight.
Here are some notes from the weekend that will influence the direction of my continued research:
The video collection of student work is powerful stuff. I need to edit into a time-line one or two students to show their progress over time.
It was suggested that I also include video of "the teacher in action with the class."
Another great suggestion: to show that the work applies in academic areas, arrange to shoot some footage of this class doing some kind of oral presentation in their home room class. I would look for something in the final quarter of the year to see how much of the work has been retained and can be applied.
To make this a valid study, I would need to document a class that is taught in traditional voice-focused methods, along with a control group that has no voice training whatsoever.
Interview the students whose work I am collecting.
Observe how resistance to change may be overcome by the physical work.
We were not in school today due to sub zero wind chill temps. A big snow storm might keep us out tomorrow.
When I do meet with this class again, we will be working with projection and articulation exercises combined with physical actions. More "Word Tennis" and conversations with consonants.
Here are some notes from the weekend that will influence the direction of my continued research:
The video collection of student work is powerful stuff. I need to edit into a time-line one or two students to show their progress over time.
It was suggested that I also include video of "the teacher in action with the class."
Another great suggestion: to show that the work applies in academic areas, arrange to shoot some footage of this class doing some kind of oral presentation in their home room class. I would look for something in the final quarter of the year to see how much of the work has been retained and can be applied.
To make this a valid study, I would need to document a class that is taught in traditional voice-focused methods, along with a control group that has no voice training whatsoever.
Interview the students whose work I am collecting.
Observe how resistance to change may be overcome by the physical work.
We were not in school today due to sub zero wind chill temps. A big snow storm might keep us out tomorrow.
When I do meet with this class again, we will be working with projection and articulation exercises combined with physical actions. More "Word Tennis" and conversations with consonants.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Meeting Two Cincinnati, Feb 9 - 10
Day one went by so quickly, I need to stop and reflect upon it before the next day dawns.
The first hour was spent sharing our teaching and personal lives with each other. The depth and breadth of theatre teaching knowledge round our table is a powerful support for all our individual goals. We come at theatre from all directions: our programs range from elementary to middle to high schools, and include vocational, parochial, and performing arts schools, in the form of either co-curricular or extra-curricular. We teach in urban, rural and suburban landscapes, and our populations are varied in terms of socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, and special needs students.
Most of us are solitary dwellers within our school districts. While music and visual art are usually found in every building of a district, drama/theatre remains a sporadic specialty. Even though there are now state standards in theatre, with benchmarks and indicators of theatre knowledge that every student should achieve at levels K - 12, there is no state funding to implement them.
To be together for these meetings, with time spent in intensive focus on what we do and how we can do it better, is invaluable. We are learning how to look at our work with the eyes of a researcher in order to solve specific problems and/or to refine methodologies or prove long-held assumptions.
Today's work was all about our individual inquiries. We took our guiding questions and asked more questions of the question. Others also asked questions as we worked in small groups to sharpen our focus while expanding upon the initial inquiry. Multiple perspectives and points of view came into play as a result of the small group work.
Personally, I felt very glad that I had changed my initial inquiry from a general nebulous concept to one that is very concrete. The climax of the day for me was the moments when the other in my group began asking questions and one said, "Why are you doing this? What is so important about voice training?"
I talked about wanting to help non-drama students develop their projection and articulation. But it was Mary who put it best. She said, we must develop our voices to initiate change. (I couldn't help but think of Barack Obama when she said that!) She is right, without the ability to speak clearly and reach others, we will never be able to articulate ideas that can reach others.
Tomorrow, we are practicing presenting our findings, as preparation for the final meeting in May.
The first hour was spent sharing our teaching and personal lives with each other. The depth and breadth of theatre teaching knowledge round our table is a powerful support for all our individual goals. We come at theatre from all directions: our programs range from elementary to middle to high schools, and include vocational, parochial, and performing arts schools, in the form of either co-curricular or extra-curricular. We teach in urban, rural and suburban landscapes, and our populations are varied in terms of socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, and special needs students.
Most of us are solitary dwellers within our school districts. While music and visual art are usually found in every building of a district, drama/theatre remains a sporadic specialty. Even though there are now state standards in theatre, with benchmarks and indicators of theatre knowledge that every student should achieve at levels K - 12, there is no state funding to implement them.
To be together for these meetings, with time spent in intensive focus on what we do and how we can do it better, is invaluable. We are learning how to look at our work with the eyes of a researcher in order to solve specific problems and/or to refine methodologies or prove long-held assumptions.
Today's work was all about our individual inquiries. We took our guiding questions and asked more questions of the question. Others also asked questions as we worked in small groups to sharpen our focus while expanding upon the initial inquiry. Multiple perspectives and points of view came into play as a result of the small group work.
Personally, I felt very glad that I had changed my initial inquiry from a general nebulous concept to one that is very concrete. The climax of the day for me was the moments when the other in my group began asking questions and one said, "Why are you doing this? What is so important about voice training?"
I talked about wanting to help non-drama students develop their projection and articulation. But it was Mary who put it best. She said, we must develop our voices to initiate change. (I couldn't help but think of Barack Obama when she said that!) She is right, without the ability to speak clearly and reach others, we will never be able to articulate ideas that can reach others.
Tomorrow, we are practicing presenting our findings, as preparation for the final meeting in May.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Actions - sounds - words!
We started today by working in the space, moving to various words:
Big, small, bumpy, smooth, stupendous (had to define that one for them), super-heroic, etc.
They were to find actions to express the adjectives. No sound.
The second time through, we did the same sounds and actions and they could add sound effects.
Third time through, they did the actions to the words and sounded the words at the same time: Biiiigggg! BIG! I encouraged them to play with the sound of the word as they explored their actions, explore the sound as well.
Next, in pairs, they conversed with oppositional words. One is Big, the other is Small. Back and forth playing with the sounds and actions, conversing, responding.
Finally, in the same pairs, they were instructed to each pick a word from their poem and use that to converse with, playing with sounds and actions. That took about 15 minutes. For the next 15 minutes, they went back into rehearsal of their poems with their partners, with the instruction to apply what they'd learned to their poems.
We looked at several examples during the final ten minutes of class.
Confidence is deepening. Projection is improving. Not everyone managed to enhance more than one or two words, so I asked them to underline words they thought might work in their poems for homework.
Next week, we will get into some articulation work.
Big, small, bumpy, smooth, stupendous (had to define that one for them), super-heroic, etc.
They were to find actions to express the adjectives. No sound.
The second time through, we did the same sounds and actions and they could add sound effects.
Third time through, they did the actions to the words and sounded the words at the same time: Biiiigggg! BIG! I encouraged them to play with the sound of the word as they explored their actions, explore the sound as well.
Next, in pairs, they conversed with oppositional words. One is Big, the other is Small. Back and forth playing with the sounds and actions, conversing, responding.
Finally, in the same pairs, they were instructed to each pick a word from their poem and use that to converse with, playing with sounds and actions. That took about 15 minutes. For the next 15 minutes, they went back into rehearsal of their poems with their partners, with the instruction to apply what they'd learned to their poems.
We looked at several examples during the final ten minutes of class.
Confidence is deepening. Projection is improving. Not everyone managed to enhance more than one or two words, so I asked them to underline words they thought might work in their poems for homework.
Next week, we will get into some articulation work.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Tuesday's work -- the warm-up
I took them through the warm-up I use with my drama students and play casts. It starts with the spine and then works all the joints from neck to toes. I was careful to include breathing and sounds with the warm-up, before going on to the breathing exercises. We worked on breath awareness and resonating sounds from various points of the body. The sounds were timid at first, but gradually the volume in the room began to pick up as they discovered how to power their voices.
After the warm-up, I sent them off into their pairs again, this time giving them two additional tasks.
1. They could change their actions if their poem called for it. Both could act and both could speak-- it was their task to figure out how to distribute things best for the poem.
2. They were to try finding different ways to resonate their words based upon the warm-up work.
At the end of the class, I asked for volunteers to share their work. It was quite exciting to see and hear the improvements. All of them found a way to enhance the sounds of words within their poems by using resonance. They also developed their actions much further and added sound effects in some cases.
On Thursday, I will begin with some articulation exercises. There are a number of students in this class who mush their speech or tumble the words out too fast.
After the warm-up, I sent them off into their pairs again, this time giving them two additional tasks.
1. They could change their actions if their poem called for it. Both could act and both could speak-- it was their task to figure out how to distribute things best for the poem.
2. They were to try finding different ways to resonate their words based upon the warm-up work.
At the end of the class, I asked for volunteers to share their work. It was quite exciting to see and hear the improvements. All of them found a way to enhance the sounds of words within their poems by using resonance. They also developed their actions much further and added sound effects in some cases.
On Thursday, I will begin with some articulation exercises. There are a number of students in this class who mush their speech or tumble the words out too fast.
This week in voice traning
Back at it, after a week that was disrupted by illness and bad weather.
On Monday, we charged back into the poems. We spent a good deal of time working in the space, playing with physical responses to words and phrases. The class was ready to let go physically and had a good time with the warm up. I was preparing them for the main work of the day, which was to respond physically to the words and images of their poems.
I paired them up, somewhat randomly. I did choose to pair the drama students with each other. There are pros and cons to this tactic. Paired with non-drama students I have found that sometimes they can provide positive modeling of good speech and help their partners liberate their physical actions. On the other hand, they can be intimidating to partners who are shy. In the interests of this experiment, which I want to share with teachers in other schools without drama programs, I'm more interested in seeing how students without drama training respond to the physical action approach to voice training.
After the students were paired up, I instructed them that they would take turns voicing their poems while their partner provided suitable actions. They spent about 20 minutes working the poems and by the end of the class many of them had their poems memorized as a side effect of working on the actions.
We ended the class by taking a look at a couple of the works in progress. We observed that some of the poems worked well with one voicing and the other "acting" while other poems didn't. Students identified "first person" vs "third person." They also observed a few vocal problems such as projection and speaking too fast. I didn't let these comments become big issues, simply stating that voices are like musical instruments -- the more you practice the more the sound improves. I reassured them that we'd be doing work that would help everybody develop stronger and more effective voices and left it at that, choosing to comment more on the physical interpretations, which were uniformly clever and fun. Shel Silverstein has that effect!
On Monday, we charged back into the poems. We spent a good deal of time working in the space, playing with physical responses to words and phrases. The class was ready to let go physically and had a good time with the warm up. I was preparing them for the main work of the day, which was to respond physically to the words and images of their poems.
I paired them up, somewhat randomly. I did choose to pair the drama students with each other. There are pros and cons to this tactic. Paired with non-drama students I have found that sometimes they can provide positive modeling of good speech and help their partners liberate their physical actions. On the other hand, they can be intimidating to partners who are shy. In the interests of this experiment, which I want to share with teachers in other schools without drama programs, I'm more interested in seeing how students without drama training respond to the physical action approach to voice training.
After the students were paired up, I instructed them that they would take turns voicing their poems while their partner provided suitable actions. They spent about 20 minutes working the poems and by the end of the class many of them had their poems memorized as a side effect of working on the actions.
We ended the class by taking a look at a couple of the works in progress. We observed that some of the poems worked well with one voicing and the other "acting" while other poems didn't. Students identified "first person" vs "third person." They also observed a few vocal problems such as projection and speaking too fast. I didn't let these comments become big issues, simply stating that voices are like musical instruments -- the more you practice the more the sound improves. I reassured them that we'd be doing work that would help everybody develop stronger and more effective voices and left it at that, choosing to comment more on the physical interpretations, which were uniformly clever and fun. Shel Silverstein has that effect!
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