Acting Journal 4: 1/29/15

Acting Journal 1/29/15

Today started with basic Alexander technique. Other than the fact i want to study more pronunciation technique after this class is over, one thing that Don noted, was i was off pitch from the group. Still working on training my pitch, I'm under the assumption that I am not tone deaf, but that i rather have a large number of very bad habits.

Next up, we re-did the Henry V energy talk. Again, i rather enjoyed it, but I over-projected with my throat, and was a bit "off" I'm getting the sense that i'm a tad over-enthusiastic because i want to be heard. Kind of a pointless idea in a group of acting students, where all of us want the same thing, and are in basic training. I should really focus on resonating/synchronizing than being overpowering in this crowd. magnitude is easy. Proper technique is my more important priority here. If i get that right, I'll get heard plenty. i get it wrong, and no amount of "magnitude" will make up for the fact. 

We re-did the rope exercise, and i was in front, responsible for mainlining distance and illusion. While i did well on the rope holding bit, i got a bit competitive, and did not synchronize distance properly. I wanted to 'win' too much, and since my actual body size does into prove an advantage with imaginary rope, that was a hindrance rather than a help to this exercise. 

Our final exercise involved pairing up, and practicing a fake "push away" and a fake "call" to come over. The push went well, but the call, neither my partner or i would acknowledge each other's call. For her part, she was kinda matter of fact, and I felt no reason to go to her, she did not seem emotionally appealing, and made it feel like a 'demand'. On my part, I tried the emotional appeal  too much, and she told me after 'i am not a cat' I'm beginning to  see how personality types can often conflict in these scenarios. This to me means that as an actor, i need to adjust my actions to fit my partner, rather than just going off my first instinct. If they lock down, things wont' get done. It's not my job to get things locked down. It's to work with them emotionally. That's my actual job on the satge.

On a side note, yesterday, I practiced a "Henry V" monologue on the stage, with my wooden stick as a prop sword. I experimented with various shapes of forming ranks for my "soldiers" as well as ways of expressing the idea physically. Stomping, Cutting of palm for the idea of "blood brothers" and such were involved. it was fun, but as the Henry V monologue is intended to be voice interpretation for this class, I have to shelve that mode of thought a while. Oh well. I can always do more of that thing after I master some basics.