Sing for your supper.

I wanted to use this entry in Advice to the Playersi to give some advice to those of you that sing. Singing in concerts, recitals or on-stage, there is an important concept that I want you to bear in mind.

You are acting.

The difference between a singer with great technical skill,, and one that really "sells the song", is often simply a question of mindset. Of course I want you to hit the right notes, of course I want you to hold a note for a specific amount of time, but I also want you to answer some critical questions before you sing.

1) Who is singing? Yes, yes it is you, but who really sings this song? Young, old, married, single, a witch or a Princess? The more specific the image of this person, the easier it is to convey the song to the audience.

2) Why are they singing? A classic definition of a musical, is that the emotions the characters have become to intense that they must burst into song. What is that underlying intensity? Madly in love with someone? Angry? Desperate, alone? I always tell my actors to be sure and know why you are going on-stage, beyond it being a part in a show. What is it that your character has to say here and now.

3) Who are you singing to? Not just the audience, be sure you have a very specific group and setting in mind. If you sing Happy Birthday to your best friend, it has a certain tone and color. If you sing it to a aging, frail parent, it will change the delivery, even though the notes are the same. And singing it to someone you really don't like, again a total change in the song.

Let us consider a song that most of you know. In Les Miserables, the musical, Jean Val Jean sings a great song entitled "Who Am I" If you listen to the Colm Wilkinson recording, you can hear the thought process and change he goes through. It starts off reflective, self questioning. The character, a convict who is hiding his true identity wonders who he has become in denying his actual self. Then at the end of the song, he admits to a court full of people who he actually is. Different sound, a sound of release, no more hiding the truth. And more open, as he is now not asking himself who he is, but telling others who he is. It is a great example of character, purpose and audience.

So whether you are a singer who acts or an actors who sings, remember to make acting a part of the equation.

J.T. Turner
The Actors Sensei

Bring us........a shrubbery!

I want to talk in this blog about landscaping. And since it's my blog, what I say goes! :) OK, hang in here, it is still a blog about acting and performing, read on......

Imagine in your mind a wide flat area spread out before you. Just an expanse of land laying there, flat,  and uninteresting. Perhaps a stretch of dessert, or a plain of dead grass. Now, let us change the view, picture a different landscape before you. Perhaps flat in the foreground, but leading to some gentle sloping hills, with trees of different shapes and sizes. There is a river that winds in and out of your view, and far away, wonderful mountains rise, blue and majestic. And off to the left, a powerful waterfall cascades down to a lake, glittering and shimmering.

Now, you get to choose which of those to stare at. Oh sure, beauty could be found in the starkness of the flat landscape, but if you look at it for more than five minutes, you are likely to become bored. Rather, most of us would prefer to look at the landscape with different aspects to it, filled with interesting features, nooks and crannies, (mmm English muffins...sorry got distracted there!).
     
                                                                  
Now it is no great leap to think of how an actor or other performer, also could have a flat, bare landscape. I know the trend these days are for spareness in acting, being a minimalist. But if that were taken to the extreme, how very dull would the performance be! Rather, we would like to see an actor fill a role with variety, highs and lows, moments of intensity and moments of calm. They create for us a landscape with many levels, interesting things to look at. We like performances with wonderful moments of passion, but also moments of stillness, or sweetness or even evil. A performance that is all played at one level, with no variety is just dead boring.

Think of this. We can listen to an audio version of many books and plays. The good ones have a reader with a great voice, who uses that voice to create a vocal landscape. At times they speed up, slow down, add emphasis. The best readers give a great landscape. I have a Kindle that stores books for me to read, and it has a feature where a computerized voice will read words aloud to me. It is an Ok voice, not like a robot, but still rather flat and uninteresting. If I want to fall asleep fast, I go with that sound. To be entertained, I download a book with a great actor reading it.

Audiences want the same. Rather than a flat dullness, they want heart, soul and life. YOUR heart, soul and life. So when you perform, landscape well.

J.T. Turner
The Actors Sensei