Brianna Kuo

Breathing Co-ordination

Alexandar ____ techniques

• Getting body back into natural alignment

• 1 technique: semi-supine position
  • get a book, lie on back, feet flat on floor, arms in t-shape
  • Breath, let gravity pull you down
  • Body will realign it’s self
    • Called constructive rest

• Silent la la la
  • Coordinates the breath (slows it down)

• • Push against wall while speaking lines – keeps you grounded and energised

Feedback:

• Do omnish (paints a picture)
• Pushing against the wall (make endings more sharp)
• Stop gloating
• Don’t rest things for the sake of reciting them, give a perspective

 

• you feel the words on the page and make them yours
  • Make your monologue true to you, make it sensor – make it more believable
• When speaking a classical monologue, don’t speak in rhythm, try and speak normally.

• Impatient of not hearing back from a text she sent
• Fidgety

• Frustrated
• Angry
• Upset at protese?
• Happy letter was from protease

Feedback:

• Go deeper into text
• Find a person who who love not form you family – put face to nurse
  • Love her
  • Being mean to her
  • Know who the nurse is
  • Someone who is an older woman who you trust
• can be a little skitzo – 14 year olds are a little skitzo when talking about love
• Have to know how hot Romeo is – find that person in your life
  • Know how exciting that is

Challenge:

• Understanding what’s happening

Success:

• Get out of the rhythm

Focusing on the musicality the voice

Gurning:

• Art of making silly faces

Omnish

• More gurning will change the way you sound

Exercise:

• Speak lines normally
• Speak lines in Omnish
• Speak lines normally again
• Notice the differences

Reflection

• Difficulties in speaking Omnish while speaking your lines (the same intention)
• Change in pitch and pace
• More animated in voice and facial expression
• Difference between first and 3rd read
• More emotion
• Gives us more, range, color , texture
  • Sounds we’re not used to making these sounds
  • More range, color and texture we have make us sound more interesting
    • Breaks the usual rhythms we get stuck in

ABAB:

• Get an idea of character playing though different tactics (e.g.: energise, fear, ..)
• Get story/understanding of character
  • Commit to the words and actions creates the allusion of character
• Pitch changes
• vouls shift
• Vocal energy can shift
• Texture
• change in speed and delivery
• Break habit, change tactics
  • More variety and options
• Hard with short word/phrase – can’t explore tactic much
• Adding nuance to the word
  • Creates more depth to the story
• Brings intention.

• What do you want form the audience?

• Zoom Call
• 4 sessions.

 

Job of an actor:

• Articulation/be heard
• Remain in character
• Remember lines
• Remember que’s

• Knowing what and when to say
• Being heard
• how much energy you should bring to the stage
  • Must bring freshness when repeating the scene
• Keep your breath
• Reality and truth of humanity
  • How do you use your props as if you use them every day (e.g.: smoking, using your whole body)
    • can use rosemary Tabasco instead of actually smoking
• Must have self care
• Must find own way to get into scene (e.g.: playing a drunk when you’ve never been drunk)
• Have to do all of this and make it look effort less

Given Circumstances:

• who
• What
• When
• Where
• why

The actor as detective

• Must read the text to get the given circumstances
• Must understand what is happening in the scene and why they said what they said
• At teh given time
• Don’t think of it as a speech, but as a series of thought
  • The character doesn’t have speech planed out,

Objective:

• I want
• I need
• I must have

Choose the strongest

Raise the stakes

How do I get it? – action

• As long as you can physically do it, that’s what gives it the “action”

• What’s in the way of achieving your objective? – gives you drama.

• Don’t want perfection/polished actor when auditioning
• Looking for actor who they can work with (actor will bring something the producers like)
• want to see your version of the character
• What motivates your character – what makes them human?
  • Take them off the classical/heightened language pedestal and make them human
    • there’s sometimes a tendency to put on an actor voice – don’t
    • Want to hear your voice
      • Want clarity of utterance (speak clearly)
      • Pace
      • Ease
      • All things that are far easier said than done

Homework: Study play:

Questions:

• Who are you? – Juliet
• Age? – 13
• Gender? – Female
• Race? – Italian
• Professions?
• Social status?
• Family? – daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet
• Relationships? – Romeo – love interest
• Education?
• Wealth? – wealthy family

For your speech specifically:

• Where are you? – Capulet’s Orchard
  • geographical – Verona, Italy
  • Environmental – garden
  • Time of day
  • Season
• Where have been
• Where are you coming from
• Where are you going
• What do you want? – to meet with Romeo

• What is fact
• What can you speculate/assume

• Zoom Call
• Did some imagery breathing techniques
• To free the voice, we need to free the breath
• Want to be honest when we use our voice
• Born with amazing body
• Over time with conditioning, things go wrong:
  • Can you please be quiet
  • All these muscular conditioning affects our vocal conditioning
• Excess muscular traction can hinder our communication despite feeling great
• Releasing tension
• Freeing the breath
• Allows expression and undoes the conditioning
• Breathing impulse is primary impulse
• Breath connected to voice – communicates better
• Freedom within the body will allow freedom within teh breath and vice versa