We all found our neutral standing positions before beginning to take in deep breathes whilst lifting our arms from our sides to meet above our heads. Then as we released our breath, our arms were extended in front of us and gradually got lower towards the ground as our breath continued to be exhaled. We continued to do this for about two minutes so that we all gave our focus and attention to our director. This exercise allowed us to all calm down so that we were ready for proceeding exercises.
Semi-Supine
We then split into our classes where we got into semi-supine and purely concentrated on our breath. By concentrating on our breath we didn't allow ourselves to become distracted or to become disengaged with the lesson. Semi-supine allowed us to become relaxed and also allowed gravity to align our bodies into the structure that bad habits sometimes force us out of. For example, carrying a rucksack can cause people to hunch over or for their shoulders to be at an uneven alignment. It also forces the body to allow the correct amount of oxygen to enter and exit the body.
We then split into our classes where we got into semi-supine and purely concentrated on our breath. By concentrating on our breath we didn't allow ourselves to become distracted or to become disengaged with the lesson. Semi-supine allowed us to become relaxed and also allowed gravity to align our bodies into the structure that bad habits sometimes force us out of. For example, carrying a rucksack can cause people to hunch over or for their shoulders to be at an uneven alignment. It also forces the body to allow the correct amount of oxygen to enter and exit the body.
Partners
We then got into pairs and one person got into a table position while the other person applied pressure to their back. The person that took up the table position elongated their back as they exhaled and arched it as they inhaled. This was done so that breath could be appreciated.
Tongue Twisters
We went on to doing tongue twisters. This was a little tricky however I'd say that the hardest part was the fact that we'd never heard the rhyme before rather then actually getting tongue tied. This exercise will come in handy when we begin to learn our lines for 'The Seagull' because it will allow us to improve our articulation. This will allow us to deliver a a good performance so long as our projection is good.
Act on Instinct
A big part of Stanislavski's theory is about spontaneousness and in todays exercise we were told what to do but weren't given direction and as a result had to engage with others and act on instinct.
Gently waking up our potential aka Hiatus Breath
We got into semi supine which aligned our bodies and made it a lot easier for our instinctual breath to accumulate. If this didn't work straight away then one way of kick starting the instinctual breath was by forcing the body to inhale filling the body with oxygen from the stomach and then the chest. Then when exhaling, releasing that oxygen from the stomach then the chest. Then push out all the oxygen using the stomach muscles and then when you gasp for your next breath, the body should naturally resume breathing in the way you were forcing it to before, but naturally this time. I had to use this technique to get my instinctual breath started. I also found that I could only achieve and instinctual breath lying down, once standing I found it virtually impossible to naturally maintain it.
Unvoiced Fricatives
The key to voiceless fricatives is using the front of the mouth for modulation and articulation
Straw breaths
I did this exercise at home and it consisted of putting a straw in your mouth and breathing through it. This minimized the oxygen intake and therefore meant that the stomach muscles and diaphragm had to work had and completely in order to deliver lines.
Staccato and Legato
We were given lines from the text, for example 'I am the Seagull' and 'My dear, I know what keeps you here'. We then changed the way that we pronounced the words and the speed at which they were delivered. When delivered in staccato, each word was very sharp and although the text still flowed, each word stood alone. Then when delivered in Legato, the words ran into each other and were elongated as each syllable was emphasised on. This exercise helped me with me pronunciation and diction. Breath also played a part and in legato, we tried to deliver the line with one breath and so had to store our breath in our diaphragm whilst using our stomach muscles to slowly release oxygen in a controlled way. Doing this sometimes allowed a 'dark L' to be released thanks to the alveolar ridge which can change the sound and structure of the vibrations that exit the mouth.
Humming
Whilst in semi supine, we worked on a closed mouth hum so that we could experiment with our vocal range. This went on to us humming with an open mouth so that our glottal folds could be used to their full potential. We were releasing open vowel sounds but varied the pitch. The good thing with humming is that it is virtually impossible to damage the vocal chords whilst performing them but hums allow the vocal chords to vibrate fully. We focused on trying to use our stomach muscles rather than creating tension in our necks or back because that would cause a strain and bad voice.
Controlled Spinal Rolls
In prayer position we were able to encourage breath to enter our intercostal muscles which would allow a full intake of breath to be achieved. We then slowly got up by getting into a crouched position with our head down to the ground. We then performed ten spinal rolls making sure that it was the core that was doing the work so that there was no tension anywhere else.
Circles of attention
This consisted of 3 circles:
1 - Personal (inner emotions and sounds)
2 - Private (what you share with others if you want to. Also character)
3 - Public (for everyone. Taking into consideration the people around you that are acting)
Remove tention
Our partners were asked to lay in semi supine on the floor, we then then lifted their head gently and rocked it around slowly to make sure that our partners were really relaxed and giving us all their dead weight. After this, we lifted our partners a little so that we could use our hands to scoop from the scapular. If we found any tension along the way we did the 'Place-Press-Push' technique of applying different amounts pressures to the areas. We then moved onto arms where we massaged along the biceps, triceps, forearm and shoulders before going onto the hands and fingers where we removed tention from between metacarpals by pulling all of the tension from each finger and throwing it into the air. And then last but not least, we held onto our partners arms and lifted them mid air so that their body hung limply off of the ground. I was able to do this by putting my weight into my legs and allowing my partner to lull in the air.
This was beneficial because it allowed tention to be released while warming up the muscles within the body and connecting them with their surrounding. The semi supine also allowed a connection to be felt with breath and finding one's neutral. It was also a trust exercise because you had to open yourself up and free the mind in order to relax and allow someone else to be intimate with you. Having our shoulders pushed into the ground also allowed the upper body area to open up which made breathing easier.
We then got into pairs and one person got into a table position while the other person applied pressure to their back. The person that took up the table position elongated their back as they exhaled and arched it as they inhaled. This was done so that breath could be appreciated.
Tongue Twisters
We went on to doing tongue twisters. This was a little tricky however I'd say that the hardest part was the fact that we'd never heard the rhyme before rather then actually getting tongue tied. This exercise will come in handy when we begin to learn our lines for 'The Seagull' because it will allow us to improve our articulation. This will allow us to deliver a a good performance so long as our projection is good.
Act on Instinct
A big part of Stanislavski's theory is about spontaneousness and in todays exercise we were told what to do but weren't given direction and as a result had to engage with others and act on instinct.
Gently waking up our potential aka Hiatus Breath
We got into semi supine which aligned our bodies and made it a lot easier for our instinctual breath to accumulate. If this didn't work straight away then one way of kick starting the instinctual breath was by forcing the body to inhale filling the body with oxygen from the stomach and then the chest. Then when exhaling, releasing that oxygen from the stomach then the chest. Then push out all the oxygen using the stomach muscles and then when you gasp for your next breath, the body should naturally resume breathing in the way you were forcing it to before, but naturally this time. I had to use this technique to get my instinctual breath started. I also found that I could only achieve and instinctual breath lying down, once standing I found it virtually impossible to naturally maintain it.
Unvoiced Fricatives
The key to voiceless fricatives is using the front of the mouth for modulation and articulation
Straw breaths
I did this exercise at home and it consisted of putting a straw in your mouth and breathing through it. This minimized the oxygen intake and therefore meant that the stomach muscles and diaphragm had to work had and completely in order to deliver lines.
Staccato and Legato
We were given lines from the text, for example 'I am the Seagull' and 'My dear, I know what keeps you here'. We then changed the way that we pronounced the words and the speed at which they were delivered. When delivered in staccato, each word was very sharp and although the text still flowed, each word stood alone. Then when delivered in Legato, the words ran into each other and were elongated as each syllable was emphasised on. This exercise helped me with me pronunciation and diction. Breath also played a part and in legato, we tried to deliver the line with one breath and so had to store our breath in our diaphragm whilst using our stomach muscles to slowly release oxygen in a controlled way. Doing this sometimes allowed a 'dark L' to be released thanks to the alveolar ridge which can change the sound and structure of the vibrations that exit the mouth.
Humming
Whilst in semi supine, we worked on a closed mouth hum so that we could experiment with our vocal range. This went on to us humming with an open mouth so that our glottal folds could be used to their full potential. We were releasing open vowel sounds but varied the pitch. The good thing with humming is that it is virtually impossible to damage the vocal chords whilst performing them but hums allow the vocal chords to vibrate fully. We focused on trying to use our stomach muscles rather than creating tension in our necks or back because that would cause a strain and bad voice.
Controlled Spinal Rolls
In prayer position we were able to encourage breath to enter our intercostal muscles which would allow a full intake of breath to be achieved. We then slowly got up by getting into a crouched position with our head down to the ground. We then performed ten spinal rolls making sure that it was the core that was doing the work so that there was no tension anywhere else.
Circles of attention
This consisted of 3 circles:
1 - Personal (inner emotions and sounds)
2 - Private (what you share with others if you want to. Also character)
3 - Public (for everyone. Taking into consideration the people around you that are acting)
Saying what you see
We got into groups of 3; two actors played around and responded using only themselves as a stimulus whilst the other actor watched what was going on and shouted out the pairs individual physical objectives. This meant that the two people acting had to make strong choices that displayed their action fully so that the actor watching could guess the same one. If the one watching said the objective was something different than what it was intended to come across as, the actor performing that objective had to work harder. This exercise was good because it gave us an idea of how much we had to do to make our physical objectives clear.
We got into groups of 3; two actors played around and responded using only themselves as a stimulus whilst the other actor watched what was going on and shouted out the pairs individual physical objectives. This meant that the two people acting had to make strong choices that displayed their action fully so that the actor watching could guess the same one. If the one watching said the objective was something different than what it was intended to come across as, the actor performing that objective had to work harder. This exercise was good because it gave us an idea of how much we had to do to make our physical objectives clear.
Remove tention
Our partners were asked to lay in semi supine on the floor, we then then lifted their head gently and rocked it around slowly to make sure that our partners were really relaxed and giving us all their dead weight. After this, we lifted our partners a little so that we could use our hands to scoop from the scapular. If we found any tension along the way we did the 'Place-Press-Push' technique of applying different amounts pressures to the areas. We then moved onto arms where we massaged along the biceps, triceps, forearm and shoulders before going onto the hands and fingers where we removed tention from between metacarpals by pulling all of the tension from each finger and throwing it into the air. And then last but not least, we held onto our partners arms and lifted them mid air so that their body hung limply off of the ground. I was able to do this by putting my weight into my legs and allowing my partner to lull in the air.
This was beneficial because it allowed tention to be released while warming up the muscles within the body and connecting them with their surrounding. The semi supine also allowed a connection to be felt with breath and finding one's neutral. It was also a trust exercise because you had to open yourself up and free the mind in order to relax and allow someone else to be intimate with you. Having our shoulders pushed into the ground also allowed the upper body area to open up which made breathing easier.
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