BE PREPARED

Chapter Five

Be Prepared

    I realized, as a young performer, that the best thing I could do was to develop a workable technique, one that would produce reliable results, so that my work would not be left up to chance or intuition, and that I could be trusted to deliver a valuable contribution and product to the project at hand. So I prepared myself by moving to New York City, and studying with Uta Hagen, and later with Mira Rostova, and Robert Lewis. As wonderful as those years were, I was unhappy and unprepared for the work I would do in the coming years. So I looked around for more training, especially with professionals who also were educators. I understand that many actors do their craft and may or may not know exactly what they do, but rely on their imaginations and intuition. My experience showed me that my intuition was not always accurate, and that for certain roles, it didn’t help me find the special significance that helped me get the message across. In the middle of a run in New York, I discovered that the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art was holding auditions for their one year postgraduate course in the classics. That was the major turning point of my life, when I presented seven out of nine monologues to them, only to be surprised that they would invite me to join them in London! I was truly prepared for that moment. So my advice to performers is have an entire resume of audition pieces on hand. Be Prepared! You never know when someone will want to see what you have to offer.   That motto has stayed with me my entire life, and has helped me deal with criticism, disorder and discouragement.

Dealing with criticism and discouragement   One encounters all of these in high school, college, graduate school and in the professional arena of stage, film and television. Rather than react to discouragement, criticism and negativity, one largely ignores them and the people who present them. It’s best to consider such people non-existent. One should prepare for the occasional criticism, discouragement and negative reactions that can come along. It is one’s sole responsibility to protect oneself from anything or anyone who would act to suppress or discourage us from doing what we like and love. It’s best to have control over destiny as our thoughts and reactions shape our futures. 
   I had spent much time trying to understand why people would be critical and try to discourage me from living the dream I had as a young man. I read books, attended lectures, sought out others who had experienced setbacks and were confused and even dismayed. There was a time, when I was in the Navy, that I adopted two identities, one as a sailor and another as an interested college student, pretending to attend classes and doing homework.
That deception eventually caught up to me, and a wise man from a local church said I didn’t have to do that. He said all I needed to do was to confront the person or people and disagree with the premise that they were right! All I needed to do was to stand up for who I am, and know what I believed, and just live my life based on that belief, and eventually the “naysayer” would believe me and either ignore me or acknowledge me for who I am. It didn’t matter to me that everyone would not like me. I had to live my life unfettered by the concerns of the few who were critical of me. I had to learn that there would be those who were attracted to me, who agreed with my unique viewpoint, and were interested in finding out more.

Making positive choices    As a performer, this operating basis became valuable to me, and to the people around me. Making positive choices is the only way to proceed as an actor, because people (characters) naturally consider themselves right, no matter what they do. Critics may have harsh words for them, but from their unique and interesting viewpoint, they believe themselves and their actions as true and righteous. Even Shakespeare’s Richard III believes, because of his deformity and ill fortune, he had to assert himself by killing others in order to gain popularity and control of his world. It’s a matter of viewpoint.

How to start a professional career    Whenever a young performer asks me for advice on how to get started, I say the same thing, over and over, “You need to develop a workable technique and a body of prepared songs and monologues that you can perform at the drop of a hat.” Once you gather those audition pieces, you’ll want to find your way into auditions for work, and it doesn’t matter much where the performance will take place, in a theatre or a church or a store front, as long as you can perform in front of an audience, any audience, even if it is in a retirement home. We recommend you perform as often as you can, because your improvement is dependent upon the number of performances you do. Performances prepare you for the many eventualities and situations that are possible, including sickness, accidents, conflicts and discouragement.
You need to become a master over any and all distractions in order to be a valuable contributor to the industry. Being able to focus your attention amidst chaotic events makes you into a leader that people can follow and emulate. That takes a lot of preparation to achieve that status.     Some performers go from one venue to another, from theatre to film and television, from one theatre to several others, and there is no special way to build a career. A good friend of mine, back when I started my career at Berkeley Repertory Company, stayed with the company for ten years until someone from Los Angeles spotted him and invited him to audition for a television series, "Hill Street Blues."  That jump started his career. I was too impatient and bounced around from theatre to theatre until a director saw me in Richard II and asked me to play R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which started my professional career.

Dealing with the issues of talent   Preparation comes in many ways. When one has talent, having discipline can be a problem. One can also lack diligence and perseverance, as it is easy to consider oneself invincible and can do no wrong. One feels it’s easy to get away with more things, being special and unique, and therefore more difficult to replace. That is an assumption one should not adopt. Having too many assumptions can be dangerous, as you can “burn your bridges” easily in this business. It is just too risky to let something like that happen and wind up “black listed” by the director or producer. Use the talent as a wonderful gift that can be shared by many people. Place attention 
Be a problem solver
   Being a problem solver is important in any team activity, and performing is certainly a team sport. It takes an entire company of performers, coaches, technicians, designers and producers to create a wonderful performance. Everyone needs to contribute by being supportive, helpful, and keenly aware of the role you play in creating the whole story. We are story tellers par excel lance. In order for the story to be told, each valuable part must be delivered without incident, without errors, mishaps and miscues. Part of our preparation is to understand the rhythm, pace and meaning of the work. We need to understand the desired message we are sending out, bearing the right degree of importance and significance. Whatever we do, we need to prepare ourselves for the task, bearing in mind that we are not there to create problems, but to solve them.

Find a good mentor   There are many situations we will not have answers for, and it is beneficial to find a mentor or person who can be trusted to help. Not everyone is eager to help, however. Seek out those helpers in every company, and usually one or two of them will be there to ask for guidance. It is not easy to ask for help, but it is often necessary. It is a humbling moment when you need to ask for help, but know we all need help from time to time, and there is no shame attached to asking for it. If someone shuns you when you ask for help, find a willing participant who wants to contribute to the production, no matter what position the person holds in the organization. I recall asking a stage hand for help making an entrance, as I saw no way to get around the moving scenery in time to make my entrance. That man went out of his way to alter the motions he made to provide me with a clear path to the stage. Again, some people know it is a team activity and respond amazingly well.

Read as much as is possible   Preparing your mind is another area of growth which is important to the performer. Sir Lawrence Olivier was told by Dame Judith Anderson to increase his abilities as a reader, that he needed to read more, especially histories to develop his mind and imagination in order to succeed as a performer. He discovered the world of research! He became one of the world’s finest actors ever after that. He realized he had to prepare his mind to understand the variety of roles and viewpoints he would adopt. Even as Hamlet, a role often laden with criticism and disgust for his uncle and mother, Olivier found positive choices to guide him through the process of “setting the world right.” 
   Read historical accounts and read philosophy. Read to discipline the mind as one fills the stomach. Ponder all the thoughts as they come up. Gain a full understanding of the situation.
    Ask how such thoughts might be interpreted and communicated. Study and appreciated the stories available. Delineate the thoughts by writing other thoughts prompted by them.
   It is the thoughts we have that shape our futures. Thoughts attract vibrations which alter the nature of the physical universe and create new realities. By preparing our thoughts, we protect ourselves against adversity, falling into deep traps, and failing to produce the desired results we want to achieve. Use the thoughts to prepare for the tasks ahead.

The Beginning Student

Chapter Four

The Beginning Student

   What’s the quickest, surest way to get competency from the “rank beginner to professional?”   Beginning singing students are from all walks of life: children, high school kids, adult recreational students. They may even be professional actors or dancers who need to sing competently for an impending performance. As a community school for the arts, voice instructors at Utah Conservatory have to work with scores of beginning students, and find the challenges of the “community student” are unique. Usually, they are “recreational singers,” that is, they are looking for enjoyment of a new skill that enhances their quality of life, reduces stress, or accomplishes some personal goal; yet, their quest is not usually the central focus of their vocational goals. These students are part of our new “consumer mentality.” They are looking for maximum results from their “professional trainer” without a whole lot of leisure time to study at the “professional track level.” If they spend their time exclusively with vocal drills and exercises, they feel progress is too slow, as they have not “product” or songs to show for it. Conversely, if they only work on their favorite songs, they may not experience the essential basics of technique that the drills and exercises have to offer. At any rate, we usually find that they need to feel quickly that there is a change in their abilities for the better.
    These issues have brought us to put our heads together and pose the question: what have we, as a faculty, seen as the consistent methods, strategies and techniques that contribute to solid progress and competency for the rank beginner student, particularly the voice student who practices less than 45 minutes a day? And, when they do practice, they are usually double-tasking.
    The Answer for us is in “synergistic principals.” 

Here are some of our guiding strategies:

Extrovert the student’s attention and strengthen their focus.
Insist on Perfect Posture:   Why? Because perfect singing posture get the student out of his/her own way. 
    It will prevent the student from overcompensating in other areas. This includes: feeling tall and loose; sensing broadness on both sides of the sternum with a high torso; teaching skeletal alignment, feet balanced and shoulder width apart, a feeling of “roundedness” and a “synergistic balance.”

Breathe with the Student in Solidarity:   Proper breathing can be led by example. As we all recognize that correct breathing is foundational and synergistic to the rest of the singing process, the example of our breath with the student will help to re-pattern their habits. 
We recommend the instructor put her on own hand on her own abdomen while the other hand plays the scales. Let the student always see you breathe move and they will do the same.    Some basics: Keep the energy low, talk about the “pelvic floor” and the feeling of breath energy flowing through the body and into the floor, allow no tightness to come into the posture during the breath, practice long slow breaths, pant, “plie” with the inhalation, or prop the students entire back side, knees bent, up against the wall, and have them bend down while inhaling. Encourage them to practice low slow breathing while laying in bed with a dictionary on their abs, or when walking or driving.
Support!
   The fastest way to get new students to progress is to really get them to support, even if the high sub-glottic pressures might cause them to over-sing a bit. We find that the over-singing can be quickly resolved by just noting to the student that their voice is doing a little more work than it needs to, and that they can release their voice through more air flow. We are so afraid of damaging beginning voice students with over-singing, that they go for months, even years, with unembodied, wimpy tones, never really finding out what their “real” voice sounds like. Conversely, teaching the student about the apoggio and its ability to build the voice is the key. The sub-glottic pressure can first be felt with bubbles and lips drills, then a little feeling of pressure with arpeggios on “ZZZZZ,” followed by the [u] vowel and then some sirens. Sirens get them to feel the way that the air pressure can raise their voices without any vocal work. Last, and perhaps the most controversial, we find that the student who know how to shout, can transfer than sensation to the torso strength that it takes to sing on the breath. We recommended lots of speech-to-singing exercises. We even recommend that students monologue, loudly, their pieces, and then sing them. 
Lesson Structure: A Balance approach in a small amount of time

• Basic drills and exercises (5-10 minutes)
• Sieber or Concone (5 minutes)
• Classical Style Song of teacher’s choosing (5-10 minutes)
• Contemporary song selected by Student with teacher’s approval (5-10 minutes)
• Taping the lesson as a pattern for practice
• Keep explanations concise so that the student is singing for most of the lesson
• Keep focus on actual learning time (reference)
• Stay Socratic and positive
• Avoid critical evaluations

Attention:
   Immediately focus the student’s attention, and work to extrovert their attention. Most beginning students have introverted attention, which manifests in low energy, over-intellectualizing or processing, confusion, or constantly “judging” or “criticizing” themselves. It is the teacher’s first job to get the student singing and feeling the result, rather than listening to their voices. Listening to their voices is the surest way to introvert attention, reverting to an under-energized and unsupported tone. Direct the student to identify singing with communication. That will also increase their energy. Have them monologue their pieces several times (50 to 100) to a teddy bear, photo, tree, or another person. It is preferable that they use their imagination, rather than an actual person, but using a person is an acceptable gradient step in the process of developing communication skills. The ability to communicate is synergistic to their success. When you require the appropriate energy in performance, it is foundational to good singing. At all times, synergistically match your energy with what you would expect from the student. Even when the student is singing alone, pattern your energy to match or exceed what is required. Such involvement is synergistic, the solidarity of which keeps the student on task. If you lose this “matching energy, watch how the beginning student will quickly become introverted and critical. Conversely, as they gain more ability to extrovert their attention and send energy to a specific point of communication, you can help them to “feel” the success of the energy versus their mistaken postulate that singing is exclusively about listening to their own voices. 
So, to recap: 
Extrovert the student’s attention, put their attention on communication, and get the student to non-threatening performance opportunities: master classes, friends at lessons, rest home, etc. The students who perform make the best progress.