SKILLS

The Performance Benefits Of A “Can-Do” Attitude

September 6, 2016 By Respiro E Movimento · Follow us: Facebook · Twitter · Instagram · YouTube

Any time we learn something new, it can be easy to get discouraged by the level of our performance in the early going. It’s not fun when our ego takes a hit, and if we are accustomed to being good at what we do, and picking things up pretty easily, it can be tempting to give up on ourselves a bit prematurely.

But how quickly you learn a skill in the beginning stages is not necessarily predictive of how well you will be able to perform that skill in the end. So, whether it’s tackling a new genre of music (like joining a baroque ensemble and being flummoxed by the lack of chinrest), or exploring a new facet of your skillset (like improvisation, whether it be in classical or jazz), focusing less on how well you’re doing, and more on simply doing a little better next time seems like it could be a much better strategy for success both in the short term, and in the long run.

So yes, it turns out there is something to that line from the classic children’s book after all. Saying “I think I can” really does seem to help improve performance!

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9 Things You Should Be Doing to Become a Better Screen Actor

June 2, 2016 By Respiro E Movimento · Follow us: Facebook · Twitter · Instagram · YouTube

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Watch amazing film actors.
Watch how they almost do nothing on screen. Most of the great film actors are ever actually acting. They’re just being. Doing. Existing.
On stage we try so hard to be seen and heard. In film, you don’t have to do any of that. You don’t have to try, because the camera picks up everything. All you have to do is experience.
To practice this transition, film yourself acting, perhaps a piece you worked on stage. Then watch yourself (sucks I know). Notice how much bigger (probably) your expressions are. Much too big for film. Maybe your voice sounds stagey or unrelaxed. Notice these things, then look back at your film idols and compare. What did they do that worked? What did you do that didn’t? That’s typically step 1 for transitioning from stage to film.
Usually the answer is relaxation. It is much easier to go from stage to film, because it is easier to tone things down than it is to learn to crank them up.
As for facial expressions. On stage, you can often get away with forcing certain expression. You can get away with emoting. You shouldn’t force expressions on stage, but we all have done it and do it often, because we gotta reach that back row. Now on film, the back row is the camera. Any forced expression, and I mean any, even something you think is small- will read super false on film. Because the camera picks up every tiny detail. So don’t try to make facial expressions on film. They will always read as false. Believable, real expression will come naturally from being in the circumstances and playing your objectives.
Stage- speak loudly.
Film- think loudly.
Thinking will translate to your facial expressions. All in the eyes. Watch humans in real life. Nobody forces facial expressions in real, human moments. They happen because thinking and feeling happens. Film is much closer to real life than stage.

Training Wheels Only Teach You How To Imitate A Skill

April 20, 2016 By Respiro E Movimento · Follow us: Facebook · Twitter · Instagram · YouTube

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Miranda Wilson, an international performing cellist, explains how training wheels only teach you how to imitate a skill, but don’t teach you how to perform it self-sufficiently.

Here’s how to practise solfege wrong. You prop your textbook on the piano and play the assignment before you sing it. Perhaps you sing along with it. You do this a few times, nail it once or twice without the piano, and scoot off to your sight-singing lesson with that tyrant Dr. Wilson.

And you totally bomb it, because it turns out that you can’t replicate your practice-room success under the pressure of performance.

Why?

Because you trained yourself to imitate a skill without truly understanding how to do it self-sufficiently. And then you couldn’t perform that skill, because what happens in performance is a direct reflection of what happens in practice.

You thought you were riding a bicycle, when all you were really doing was pedaling. But when you ride a grown-up bike, you have to be able to balance before you can pedal.

The whole point of learning to sight-sing is that generating your own pitch. Of course you can use the piano to play a tonic triad; of course you can hit your starting pitch. But then you have to step away from the piano, otherwise those training wheels never let you sing self-sufficiently.

Photograph by Richard Holzer.

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