Class Exercises

Thinking of our bodies as our instruments, and as such we tune/clean and care for instruments in order to ascertain the best sounds we can do, we discussed and worked through some exercises as a class. These are techniques that can (and should) be used daily and before auditions, also as audition preparation.

Aspects to Warm-Up:
-Throat (and neck muscles)
-Face
-Diaphragm (breathing exercises)
-Chest
-Mouth

Areas of the body to stretch:
-Upper back/shoulder region
-Hips
-Knees (soft knees)
-Fingers
-Wrists (roll)
-Ankles (roll)
-Tongue

There are also verbal exercises that would help warm up and open up the mouth and throat region. Tongue twisters are an example:

-She sits shining shoes
Shining shoes she sits

-Red leather
Yellow leather

-Plain bun, plum bun
Plain plum bun

-She sat on the balustraded banister
Inextricably mimicking and hickuping

-Unique New York
New York Unique

-Bab beb bib bob bub
Dad ded did dod dud
Gag geg gig gog gug
Pap pep pip pop pup
Mam mem mim mom mum
Sas ses sis sos sus
Tat tet tit tot tut
Zaz zez ziz zoz zuz
(Experiment with other consonants)

Using these in a drilling sense, helps focus the mind as well. Once we completed many, if not all, of the exercises we were given a sheet of songs which would help us to engage our diaphragm and posture as well as our brains if singing in a round or canon.

Our Song List:

-Swing Low/Oh when the Saints/I want to sing sing sing
-This little light of mine
-A baby sardine
-Don't build your house on the sandyland
-Fee fie fiesta
-Gwaderly archer
-Sometime I feel like motherless child


Key Aspects to pay attention to with scriptwork:

Alliteration: The repetition of vowels or consonants at the beginning of two or more words in a phrase.
Antithesis: Setting the word against the word. Sometimes antithesis is more like a balancing act.
So Foul and Fair a day I have seen.
Assonance; The binding together of words through the likeness of vowel sounds produces assonance as in lake and fate. It capture rhymes through repeated sounds.
Onomatopoeia: When sounds and pronunciation of a word traps its meaning e.g. hiss, ping, bang, gossip.
Emphasis: Through the use of stress, tone, pitch, speed or volume we can signal how we want to recieve a message.
The ladder: This device is for building the intensity of feeling. The ladder starts with a statement of image or feeling which is capped by one that outdoes the first, and then another and another rising to the top climactic rung of the ladder.


Focusing On Nuances:
"The fire exit must be kept clear"

Facial Expression	How does it look?	How does it sound?	What is your gut reaction as audience?
-Furrowed brows	Stern	Forceful	Fear the character.
-Glaring eyes	One with psychotic tendancies	Scary – especially when speaking is slowed right down.	Watch that character’s decision closely.
-Sparkling, alive eyes	‘Too open’ – like one is in a pageant	Fake – pitch rises with delivery of lines.	Untrustworthy
-Lips protruded	‘Prestige’ that one thinks very highly of themselves	Creepy – in a low tone can be taken more than one way.	Dislike (moreover a love-to-hate) character.
-Lips pulled over teeth	‘Flat’ – tight and like skin has been pulled back	Throaty	Likeness to the character; likely to be an older person.
-A sneer	Unmovable	Forceful and violent – again dependent on tone delivery	Insincere character – distance emotional connection
-An overly broad smile	Intense	Peppy and devious – especially with a higher tone of voice.	Deceitful character – you don’t trust that their narrative is what they said it is.
-A frown	Forlorn	Like a warning.	Emotional connection is instant – character seems lost and alone.
-The jaw jutting forward	Comical/Scary – dependent on the tone with line delivery	Comically demanding – like it should be done but the character doesn’t possess the right status level. Scary – reminded of characters from the Godfather.	Interested – the characterisation isn’t the usual; we want to know why.
-The jaw jammed downwards	Tense and tight	Numbed – very monotone.	Curious –another unusual characterisation.
-The jaw hanging freely	Amorphous	Unimpressed	Uninterested – dependent on dialogue and physicality of character.
-Shoulders around your ears	Comical/Geeky	Closed off and higher pitched.	Empathy.

As expressed in the table above, there are the 5P's "to 'colour' spoken communication". They are: Pronunciation, Pitch, Pace, Pause and Power. These are all elements we use when talking without thinking about it, using these and focusing on what's said separates a good performance from a great one.
Actors (especially when first looking at script) tend to 'act out' and present dialogue in the manner they think that it should be played rather than looking it at something that they'd say themselves. They overact to a Pantomime level and make the scene seem 'staged'. Breaking down speeches/lines of dialogue and setting intentions and motivations will give the actor a chance to allocate the 5P's to the right effect.