Impfest Workshops

So, I took Jill Bernard's Fireball Theory workshop during Impfest. I took SO much away from it! I must say that I am now jonsing to take her other workshops!

Intellectually, I have known for quite some time that you have to have confidence and that you have to shut down the negative voice. (The one that tells you that you aren't good enough, smart enough, funny enough, shaped right, etc) I have applied the clamp on this negative voice of doom in my normal, everyday life. So, when Jill talked about out running the negative voice as though there is a fireball chasing, it made COMPLETE sense! I think I was letting the negative voice catch me. Sometimes, in normal class, I am able to stave it off, then John stops the scene and has me fix something. While I'm stopped, the damn voice catches up with me. (Not criticizing John! He is amazing and nurturing, the things he critiques are valid and he is definately NOT mean in ANY way when he fixes them.) So for that concept, I was like, 'AHHHH, YES!' Along with that, Jill said to 'Think you are awesome!" Makes sense, right? Then why don't we?

The next amazing NUGGET from Jill's workshop is the amazing anti-argument idea. It is all about LOVE, which I freaking LOVE ! It makes absolute sense, really. In order to get out of an argument, you LITERALLY put yourself beside the person you are arguing with. Then take on the blame, even apologize! "You stole my boyfriend!" -response- "I know, what was I thinking, I am so sorry!: or " I know. God, I am such an asshole!" You put yourself on there side. It is damn amazing!

My very favorite thig that Jill Bernard has ever said or written,
DON'T EAT THE FUN
OMG, I freaking love it!

We did the Mad, Sad, Glad, Afrad (afraid) exercise where someone comes in with a benign line and the person already onstage reacts completely off the hook. This is what I pulled from that exercise (this time)- Strong reaction impell more information, it prevents you from being vague.
Jill also said, "Everybody is secretly afraid that they are monsters." That was in relation to people holding back their emotions. I think that is true. People are afraid of what their emotions will do, so they mute them. I think that using emotions make you vulnerable, so you have to be careful of your scene partner's emotions. That also falls into the TRUST category, in my mind. If you don't TRUST your scene partners, then you will not emote with them the way you should!

Jill Bernard side-note quote of goodness-
"If you can't set aside your ego, it fells terrible to be the straight man."
WOW! how freaking true! Way to name it Jill!!!

Fireball Workshop End. Next, Fix it up shop with Jill Bernard.

Nifer and I were doing a scene in the Fit it up Shop. She was my spouse, and did not work, just stayed at home all day. We were arguing about her needing to get a job. Jill stopped us and asked, "which one of you is wrong?" Neither answered. She asked again and said, " Somebody is wrong." Nifer fessed up that she was wrong. ( rightly so- :D jk) and she played that way. Defending herself by saying that T.V. needed to be watched, etc. Long story short, conflict gone- scene great- and I was able to be magnanimous rather than angry and argumentative. So- One person in an argument is wrong, admit it to yourself, and play it that way.

Three things for/ about starting a scene:
1. Start with a predator/ prey mindset.
2. In the first two lines of a scene each person says something, regardless of the actual words, the first person says, "I'm proposing a game." The next person says, "I'm playing the game with you." OR " I think this game is stupid." Which one is more interesting? YEAH- NOT DENIAL! Don't make your fellow actors feel bad! Play their game.
3. The body segment thing-
head- intellect/or lack thereof
chest- love or superman type/ or lack thereof
loins- lust or sex/ or lack thereof
legs- worker or grounded/ or lack thereof.

Whew. That's a lot! Fit it up Shop over- next Trish Berrong's connections workshop.

The first and foremost thing that we talked about is listening like you have a crush on the scene. AKA Take in EVERY DETAIL. Remember specifics, but not necessarily EVERYTHING! Better to remember a few specifics than vague lots. :D

TRISH'S GOSPEL- Plot is Evil and will Kill you.- I think that is self explanitory.

So, Trish doesn't believe in sweep edits, or well, doesn't LIKE them. I am not sure I am on board with that thought. Her reason was that it gives imrovisers time to think of plot. I personally don't do that. When I sweep edit, I am thinking, " Edit, Edit, Edit, Edit." I know, deep of me, huh? I do agree with her when she says, " Edit by starting a new scene." There is nothing wrong and a great deal right about starting a scene from the edge of the stage. Keep ahead of the asshole voice, right? SoI get what she is saying, but I wouldn't get rid of sweep edits completely. Along with Jill's line of thinking, Trish says you should trust yourself to edit.

Finally, the last amazing nugget in Trish's workshop is about people. FOCUS on WHO someone is and NOT on WHAT they do!
I love that. Genius.

So, that is what I leared last weekend. No wonder I am tired now. :D
The end.

Impfest and Ramblings

So, I read in Jill's tiny cute book of improv about the 'sine wave of suck'. I totally adhere to this theory. For about the past three or so months, I have seriously been on the bottom part of the sine wave of suck. About three or four weeks ago, I had a break through about what the hell my problem has been. I HAVE BEEN IN MY HEAD. Like 100%. Someone would say somthing in a scene, and I would say nothing but be thinking ' how do I respond to that?' So when I realized what was wrong, I began fixing it. Doing things to get me out of my head when I am in scenes. I feel like Impfest was like the test. I think I passed with flying colors. I had so very much fun playing, that I didn't even realize that I was sick when I was on stage- because my characters were not sick. Amazing.
Man I LOVE improv!~ and improv people!
The outpouring of support from the KC improv community was touching. I want NOTHING more than for my brother to succeed. So seeing other improvisers feeling the same way is just an indescribable feeling for me. At the end of Saturday night, I was so happy that all I could do was walk around saying how happy I was. I think the energy of our theater really lent to that. As opposed to the large theaters at Crown Center and Union Station, our theater let a bubble of energy be created and the cool thing, is that even though the bubble is around the stage, the energy can be translated to and from the audience. That really helps everything be more connected, and I think makes the shows just that much better.
The Brownies Don't Lie set was, to my mind, completely outstanding!!! They were able to created super memorable characters and form some of the most amazing and natural relationships that I have ever seen. The thing that actually shocked me about their set, is that there was NO conflict. There were obsticles, things that got in the way of complete happiness, but NO arguing. Trish spent a good 7- 10 minutes completely silent, and imrov-ing with NOTHING but her right arm. AND that was not borin- no sir- quite the opposite actually, the audience was leaning forward- desperate for her arm to do something else, every tiny movement cherished and loved. The amazing amout of TRUST that she must have had! The trust was one-sided in the least. Jill spent an entire scene as a raptor. She committed fully to being a raptor, trusting that Trish could carry the verbal part of the scene. Trish did a great job in that scene, adding to the scene while at the same time, seeing if Jill wanted to speak. When Jill didn't, the scene was set and it got even more playful! Their entire set was playful and trusting, and that translates to the audience and makes them comfortable but focused and eager to watch.
Something happened to me during the Coma set. I was about to have a scene with Nifer, then Jessica came on too, which is great. I quickly realized that I was not needed in the scene. I LITERALLY thought, ' I am not needed here. I am going to sit down and watch.' So when John scene painted a wives boxing match, I was simpley commenting on the scene when I said, "Zombie wife has nothing to lose." I don't normally play a very good 'number 3' character. That being said, I don't know at what level commenting on the scene from within the scene is okay. I realize that is is not okay to be an asshole and point out holes in the improv, but how much internal commenting is okay?
In conclusion:
Impfest was a success. The performers and the audiences were there physically and mentally, and it was fun! What more can you ask for?

If wishes were fishes...

We'd walk on the sea.


I wish I were better than I am. At school, music, improv.... I keep trying.

Music History- Medieval Journals

Listening Journal 1

The CD that I chose is, Sumer is Icumen in: Medieval English Songs, by the Hilliard Ensemble. There are 21 pieces of music on the CD and they are moastly centered in the 13th and 14th centuries, but even dips in to the 12th century. Nearly all of the songs on the CD are shorter than 3minutes 30 seconds.
The first song on the CD and its namesake is the first song that I would like to highlight. Summer is icumen in is 2 minutes in length and it is all men’s voices. There are six parts! There is a round for 4 voices, and a 2 voice ostonoto/ drone. I feel that it is really up tempo. It is a rather impressive 6 part piece of music from such an early period.(1240)
This piece of music is an anomaly of the time. It is a secular piece, which we do not have many of from the time period, as well as the fact that the piece has specific performance notes. It is the only known 6part music before the 15th century.

The next group of song that I want to highlight are the three songs by St. Godric. The first one is Sainte Marie Viergene and it is 1:39 minutes long, the second one is Crist and Sainte Marie and it is 2:14 minutes long, and finally Sainte Nicolas and it is only :43 seconds long.
The first piece in the trio uses no instruments to muddle up the word of God. It is Plain Chant with one tenor voice. The performer put some slight dynamic differences into the piece that I think would have not been quite as pointed in the time period. The second piece, like the first, uses no instruments. This piece is more chant with1 tenor voice. The tenor used to sing this song must be an expert in falsetto. Over half of the song is sung in male falsetto. Using men in falsetto, rather than female voice fits in historically, no women were allowed in the church employ. The falsetto parts indicate the parts that the angels sang to St. Godric. The third piece uses the same chant as the first two. This piece, like the firs one uses no falsetto. Unlike the first two songs in this trio, this piece is super short.
All of these songs were given to St. Godric in visions. Sainte Marie Viergen was given by virgin Mary and St. Mary Magdalene. The second piece, Crist and Sainte Marie, was given to St. Godric by his (dead) sister and two angels. The third piece was thought to be given to St. Godric by St. Nicholas.
I think that it is interesting that he got these pieces of music from visions. He attributes the visions to God. Other cultures have had similar visions that just came out of dreams which is a persons own subconscious or from drugs, which has been said to weaken the wall between the conscious and subconscious. I have my doubts as to whether he actually saw his dead sister or any other apparitions. My oponion is that St. Godric fell asleep while praying and out of his subconscious floated this music that he felt was so beautiful that it MUST have been transcribed to him from something supernatural. He also could have been a little crazy. He spent 60 years of his life alone for awhile, then with his sister until she died. That is enough to make anyone a little crazy. Whether crazy, dreaming, or actually seeing saints, angels, and ghosts, St. Godric wrote some pretty awesome music.



Listening Journal 2
I read Lindsay Lozito’s paper on Guillaume De Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame and she opened her journal by writing, “Guillaume de Machaut, one of the leading composers of his time.” I agree with her statement, but I don't think it goes far enough. I would say that Machaut is AWESOME! One of the things that is great about him, is that we KNOW about him. The is one of the earliest composers that we have a lot of information about!The fourteenth century does not have an enormous number of famous composers, especially the late-medieval French composers. Guillaume de Machaut wrote this music in the town of Rheims in France where the ‘civilized’ world was looking to for music at the time.
Lindsay wrote that the mass was, “one of the first polyphonic masses written as a single unit.” The CD notes that came with the CD in the library stated that, “There is no proof that Machaut wrote the entire mass at one particular time, or that he always intended the movements to go together.” Whether he intended it at the time or not, however, the different movements did get put into a whole, and because of his composition style, they work well together. I liked that Lindsay pointed out how they were linked by tonal focus, a similar style, and other features.
One of the styles in the piece is the florid organum, and I agree with Lindsay that you can definitely hear the style, particularly in the "Agnus Dei," (quotations for Mass movements) although it is present in other movements as well. The Kyrie is very melismatic, but it begins like a monophonic chant. I was not a fan. Only as you progress further into the Kyrie does the organum blossom and the melismas become almost staccato in order to hear the parts properly. I liked that much better! The Gloria is mostly syllabic, and the words are clear which I appreciated. I found the Credo to be a nice mix of melismatic and syllabic, but it had extremely long phrases that always seemed to be stretching and I found myself losing interest.The Sanctus is melismatic, with the Hosanna being staccato melismas, thus giving the impression of speed. This was my favorite movement of the work. I already spoke about the Agnus Dei, and the Ite missa est was very melismatic with an extremely florid top.
Lindsay’s opinion of florid organum is, “Normally I tend to lose interest with the florid organum style because the meaning of the word is lost and sometimes the direction of the piece,” and I tend to agree, especially in the melismas of the Kyrie. I found myself easily distracted and not able to focus on the words. The Sanctus had the opposite effect on me, however. It made me excited to listen and intrigued to hear what would happen next.
I enjoyed this piece more than I thought I would. The only things that I think Lindsay could add to her assessment of the piece are some pictures. She could get them of the Rheims cathedral or of Guillaume de Machaut himself (as I have added here). Otherwise, wonderful work of art, and a really nice review of it.