Here is my artefact, a website I created for this final module to fully explain and summ up my inquiry...at least I tried my best to do so :)
Have a look:
http://theperformerplatform.weebly.com/
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Thursday 10 May 2012
My Literature Review
Find here the link to my Literature Review I decided to write as a Google Documents for its easy access for everyone. Please let me know if you cannot open it.
Has anyone decided to submit the digital copy with Goggle Docs? I don't have Word Document and I'm trying to find another effective way to do it....any other ideas?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15jCd2_ayROkxVKY6d0iKLPLOZPoaVvmMkW0rIMf0GPg/edit
:)
Has anyone decided to submit the digital copy with Goggle Docs? I don't have Word Document and I'm trying to find another effective way to do it....any other ideas?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15jCd2_ayROkxVKY6d0iKLPLOZPoaVvmMkW0rIMf0GPg/edit
:)
Monday 23 April 2012
Skype/Email Interviews analysis
I decided to gather all my interviews together and sum up all my findings to have a bigger picture of my datas collected. Being now towards the end of the race I felt the need to blog more after a few weeks of immersion into drafting the Critical Review..I felt I needed to back up with evidence what I was writing down.
In the past few months I manage to interview 3 people out of the 5 I had decided:
1. Andrea Bassani, Italian musician/composer and casting director
2. David Page, established performer in the West End scene
3. Adam Sopp, also established actor currently working in several job as a voice over, straight actor and TV.
I didn't manage to arrange a meeting with another performer in the London Theatre scene and I'm still waiting for a response from a spokesman person from the Equity Union which I have to consider as a possible contingency in my plans.
While I'm hoping I still be able to get in touch these 2 people I can analyze what I collected so far, which I have to say has been a very good experience in terms of useful information for my inquiry.
Andrea Bassani
I was interested to interview Bassani to have a detached point of view from the UK theatrical scene to compare it with the Italian perception of Musicals in particular. This interested me personally being Italian and trying to work in the UK.
I have to say that I collected interesting differences about the teaching technique used in the two realities.
-Bassani stated the most how much the Italian trainings lack in "teaching the character" (2012) and how much focus is put only in pre-established techniques.
-There's no space given to different acting techniques for instance (he mentions Stanislavsky vs Brecht) and the focus is put more into enhancing the natural talent rather than teaching how to merge it with the rest of a performance.. singing while acting, dancing because there's a feeling behind it that makes you want to dance or wanting to burst into singing because speaking (acting) is not enough. (Bean, 2007)
-For him, the Italian Industry doesn't want the foreign talents into their scene, fearing that the Italian audience may get attached to something that's not existing in the Italian performers as much and then would be put in situation were what's demanded can't be fulfill.
(This, I thought, was something that needed further argumentation to make what stated something true, but being an interview I left it as an objective view and didn't take it as written in stone but left it opinionable.)
-The gap between the two cultures is enormous as the performer isn't seen as a professional yet but more as a vocation or passion, a "hobby" (2012).
-The credibility of Musical Theatre performer as something questionable.
-The artist isn't covered or supported by unions like in the UK (Equity, BECTU, etc..) so keeps the professionality of a performer in danger of not having longevity.
-In contrast with other forms of art such as Ballet and Opera; they have a strong culture in the country and therefore acquired credibility over the years.
-He abolishes TV programs that put a sort of competition idea to the audience rather than understanding and promoting real talents.
In the UK the artsist is taught to use the abilities such as singing, to express what the character wants to transmit and feels, rather the expressing their own vocal capabilities.
(This is somehow a tangent that I realized keeps coming back, something I already found out from my previous interviews/focus group I had with other Italian performers -BLOG 1- BLOG 2-)
One the question that links Bassani with the other 2 interviewers is what is necessary to have as skills for a performer to succeed and what should do to keep u mentally and physically. They all have their own opinions due to their position (performer vs casting director) but most of them seems to coincide to what is expected and what is asked!
-He believes a strong technique is needed along side with talent.
-Being aware of our own capabilities. Limits, strengths, weaknesses. But mainly a strong ability to move oneself and being able to move the others.
-In Acting and Singing the talent can prevail on the technique, whether on Dancing the techniques is essential.
-Importance of choosing the right trainings and the vary techniques and methodologies offered to be able to have a good preparation under our belt for any type of artistic experience.
To better explain this point I'm here going to talk about the other 2 interviews I had with the performers:
David Page & Adam Sopp
They both are established and working performers/actors in the West End scene as well as TV. They shared with me their opinions on 5 points/questions I wanted to cover with them:
________________
Adam:
-You need to be so resolute within you that you always wanted to be an actor. Determination doesn't even come close. Without that to beging with you have already failed.
-Time keeping and turning phones off
-Good looking or interesting looking (mediocrity is not an option to stand out) e.g. very fat or very good looking
-Very thick skin. Accepting when you are just not the right person for the part, sometimes your skills have nothing to do with getting a job or not.
David:
-Understand that you are a business, a business of yourself. Good business brain!
-Understanding who you are as a performer and person. Knowing your selling points, your weaknesses and strengths. Never show what you would like to be. Never works!!
-Good networking skills a must. Be happy for who does well. Look out for inspirational people and challenges.
Adam:
-He did everything that could possibly come up to gain more skills.
-Everything that can enrich your experiences to then use them back when acting, related or not related to the acting/performing profession.
~Looping
~Voice over
~ Bar tending/waiting
~Role play (e.g. medicine and police students's final exams )
~Nanny
~Bar Host (chatting with people using acting skills..talk for a living)
~Call centre work (the worse one for him but very flexible)
~Cataloging records for a record label company.
-Never had a contract jobs so can always live for acting/tv work.
David:
- Recommends to try few temps jobs, it helps understanding another way of functioning in the world. You can't act without life experience
- On the other hand he doesn't encourage taking too many temping jobs on a regular basis. He believes once you are highly skilled in our profession, you should find a way to make money with the skills acquired.
- It keeps you active in the industry and your passion alive.
- We should be learning and improving at our craft to make the jobs we want more regular.
________________________
Adam:
- If he has an auditions that involves dancing he would take a class before to feel more ready not having dancing as his strength.
- He doesn't usually takes acting classes as he believes that audition material give you enough to work on on your own, giving that you have acquired the shills necessary to work with what you have.
-A lot of actors are very wary on taking too many MT jobs as they give you then difficulties on to be taken seriously for a straight acting job.
David:
-Go out and be proactive. The more contacts and new people you meet or connect with the more you create opportunity.
-He never feels out of work because of he is always reaching out to connect with people to work on something.
____________________
Adam:
-For films, pick up a camera put together a showreel and send them to agents.
-Invite them to anything show you do via letters. They prefer they mail rather than the email. In one glance you can have a good idea of who you are and what You did in your CV. With emails is harder to catch your essence as a performer.
-Always in their rather but Don't hassle them. They do a hard job. They have power but they do the work as middle men between the performer and the casting director.
David:
-Word of mouth the best way. Looking at actors you admire and see who represent them is a good way to find good agencies.
-Always check the agencies' book and make sure there isn't someone "like" you that they already represent. In that case you have a slight chance to be interesting for them.
-It's possible to work without an agent with the use of casting sites where the casting directors contact you directly (Spotlight, Casting Call Pro)
-Agents are good for negotiating higher salary and notice pitfalls in contract.
-Contact casting directors directly. Keep them updated with what you do and take an interest in what they do and what they cast.
------------------------------------
So, with these interviews, I could see how many similar points my interviewers have and on some others their different opinions. The main one that was debatable during the sessions, was regarding temping jobs. I can see how the performers interviewed had a different view on the matter and a very different approach.
With the support of the literatures I found on this topic, I learnt how much being a performer has to deal somehow with temporary jobs. Whether you have a successful career or not, at some point you will encounter a "resting period", it's then up to you if you want (or have) to still have some kind of income and take whatever job comes along, or if you prefer be more selective and "protecting" your professional skills.
Another "fear" for actors I discovered reading articles about temp jobs, is finding the "confort zone" in a resting period. Once you find a job that you actually enjoy, that gives you a salary every month, respect from colleagues and taxes you don't have to deal with a the end of the year, can make you question why you weren't doing it before and forget about your passions.
I can see why some performers can approach temping jobs differently than others, you have to find your own why to then fall back into your profession without problems or anything that olds you back.
Wow, this was a very long post...hope someone can find it interesting rather than long and boring! :P
References:
In the past few months I manage to interview 3 people out of the 5 I had decided:
1. Andrea Bassani, Italian musician/composer and casting director
2. David Page, established performer in the West End scene
3. Adam Sopp, also established actor currently working in several job as a voice over, straight actor and TV.
I didn't manage to arrange a meeting with another performer in the London Theatre scene and I'm still waiting for a response from a spokesman person from the Equity Union which I have to consider as a possible contingency in my plans.
While I'm hoping I still be able to get in touch these 2 people I can analyze what I collected so far, which I have to say has been a very good experience in terms of useful information for my inquiry.
Andrea Bassani
I was interested to interview Bassani to have a detached point of view from the UK theatrical scene to compare it with the Italian perception of Musicals in particular. This interested me personally being Italian and trying to work in the UK.
I have to say that I collected interesting differences about the teaching technique used in the two realities.
-Bassani stated the most how much the Italian trainings lack in "teaching the character" (2012) and how much focus is put only in pre-established techniques.
-There's no space given to different acting techniques for instance (he mentions Stanislavsky vs Brecht) and the focus is put more into enhancing the natural talent rather than teaching how to merge it with the rest of a performance.. singing while acting, dancing because there's a feeling behind it that makes you want to dance or wanting to burst into singing because speaking (acting) is not enough. (Bean, 2007)
-For him, the Italian Industry doesn't want the foreign talents into their scene, fearing that the Italian audience may get attached to something that's not existing in the Italian performers as much and then would be put in situation were what's demanded can't be fulfill.
(This, I thought, was something that needed further argumentation to make what stated something true, but being an interview I left it as an objective view and didn't take it as written in stone but left it opinionable.)
-The gap between the two cultures is enormous as the performer isn't seen as a professional yet but more as a vocation or passion, a "hobby" (2012).
-The credibility of Musical Theatre performer as something questionable.
-The artist isn't covered or supported by unions like in the UK (Equity, BECTU, etc..) so keeps the professionality of a performer in danger of not having longevity.
-In contrast with other forms of art such as Ballet and Opera; they have a strong culture in the country and therefore acquired credibility over the years.
-He abolishes TV programs that put a sort of competition idea to the audience rather than understanding and promoting real talents.
In the UK the artsist is taught to use the abilities such as singing, to express what the character wants to transmit and feels, rather the expressing their own vocal capabilities.
(This is somehow a tangent that I realized keeps coming back, something I already found out from my previous interviews/focus group I had with other Italian performers -BLOG 1- BLOG 2-)
One the question that links Bassani with the other 2 interviewers is what is necessary to have as skills for a performer to succeed and what should do to keep u mentally and physically. They all have their own opinions due to their position (performer vs casting director) but most of them seems to coincide to what is expected and what is asked!
-He believes a strong technique is needed along side with talent.
-Being aware of our own capabilities. Limits, strengths, weaknesses. But mainly a strong ability to move oneself and being able to move the others.
-In Acting and Singing the talent can prevail on the technique, whether on Dancing the techniques is essential.
-Importance of choosing the right trainings and the vary techniques and methodologies offered to be able to have a good preparation under our belt for any type of artistic experience.
To better explain this point I'm here going to talk about the other 2 interviews I had with the performers:
David Page & Adam Sopp
They both are established and working performers/actors in the West End scene as well as TV. They shared with me their opinions on 5 points/questions I wanted to cover with them:
________________
1. As a professional performer, what do you think are the most important requirements for an emerging performer to work in the theatrical industry nowadays?
Adam:
-You need to be so resolute within you that you always wanted to be an actor. Determination doesn't even come close. Without that to beging with you have already failed.
-Time keeping and turning phones off
-Good looking or interesting looking (mediocrity is not an option to stand out) e.g. very fat or very good looking
-Very thick skin. Accepting when you are just not the right person for the part, sometimes your skills have nothing to do with getting a job or not.
David:
-Understand that you are a business, a business of yourself. Good business brain!
-Understanding who you are as a performer and person. Knowing your selling points, your weaknesses and strengths. Never show what you would like to be. Never works!!
-Good networking skills a must. Be happy for who does well. Look out for inspirational people and challenges.
______________________
2. What is your opinion on temping jobs while on a resting period? And If you have some, what's your experience on temp jobs?
2. What is your opinion on temping jobs while on a resting period? And If you have some, what's your experience on temp jobs?
Adam:
-He did everything that could possibly come up to gain more skills.
-Everything that can enrich your experiences to then use them back when acting, related or not related to the acting/performing profession.
~Looping
~Voice over
~ Bar tending/waiting
~Role play (e.g. medicine and police students's final exams )
~Nanny
~Bar Host (chatting with people using acting skills..talk for a living)
~Call centre work (the worse one for him but very flexible)
~Cataloging records for a record label company.
-Never had a contract jobs so can always live for acting/tv work.
David:
- Recommends to try few temps jobs, it helps understanding another way of functioning in the world. You can't act without life experience
- On the other hand he doesn't encourage taking too many temping jobs on a regular basis. He believes once you are highly skilled in our profession, you should find a way to make money with the skills acquired.
- It keeps you active in the industry and your passion alive.
- We should be learning and improving at our craft to make the jobs we want more regular.
________________________
3. Did you get your first professional contract straight out of college? if yes What would you have done if otherwise?
Adam:
- He was lucky to being working since a very young age and got work since. But he mentioned a friend of him that is an example of how hard work comes back to you. She is very talented but was the only one not getting an agent after college. She did a lot of temp jobs and fringe work to get agencies to come to see her. She got represented by a small agency and after a while a very good one and got work since then in very big productions.
David:
- He was lucky enough to get a job before finishing college and straight after. He can't say he made the most out of it at the time as he didn't understand how to conduct himself which takes him back to being business minded and having good networking skills.
-He never doubted his vocation and never thought he could do anything else. If you are not that driven forget about succeeding in this career. Just "trying" having a performing career is not enough.
______________________
Adam:
- He was lucky to being working since a very young age and got work since. But he mentioned a friend of him that is an example of how hard work comes back to you. She is very talented but was the only one not getting an agent after college. She did a lot of temp jobs and fringe work to get agencies to come to see her. She got represented by a small agency and after a while a very good one and got work since then in very big productions.
David:
- He was lucky enough to get a job before finishing college and straight after. He can't say he made the most out of it at the time as he didn't understand how to conduct himself which takes him back to being business minded and having good networking skills.
-He never doubted his vocation and never thought he could do anything else. If you are not that driven forget about succeeding in this career. Just "trying" having a performing career is not enough.
______________________
4. How do you keep up physically and mentally when you are in between contracts?
Adam:
- If he has an auditions that involves dancing he would take a class before to feel more ready not having dancing as his strength.
- He doesn't usually takes acting classes as he believes that audition material give you enough to work on on your own, giving that you have acquired the shills necessary to work with what you have.
-A lot of actors are very wary on taking too many MT jobs as they give you then difficulties on to be taken seriously for a straight acting job.
David:
-Go out and be proactive. The more contacts and new people you meet or connect with the more you create opportunity.
-He never feels out of work because of he is always reaching out to connect with people to work on something.
____________________
5. What is your advice on finding an agent? And do you think it's possible to get professional work without one?
-For films, pick up a camera put together a showreel and send them to agents.
-Invite them to anything show you do via letters. They prefer they mail rather than the email. In one glance you can have a good idea of who you are and what You did in your CV. With emails is harder to catch your essence as a performer.
-Always in their rather but Don't hassle them. They do a hard job. They have power but they do the work as middle men between the performer and the casting director.
David:
-Word of mouth the best way. Looking at actors you admire and see who represent them is a good way to find good agencies.
-Always check the agencies' book and make sure there isn't someone "like" you that they already represent. In that case you have a slight chance to be interesting for them.
-It's possible to work without an agent with the use of casting sites where the casting directors contact you directly (Spotlight, Casting Call Pro)
-Agents are good for negotiating higher salary and notice pitfalls in contract.
-Contact casting directors directly. Keep them updated with what you do and take an interest in what they do and what they cast.
------------------------------------
So, with these interviews, I could see how many similar points my interviewers have and on some others their different opinions. The main one that was debatable during the sessions, was regarding temping jobs. I can see how the performers interviewed had a different view on the matter and a very different approach.
With the support of the literatures I found on this topic, I learnt how much being a performer has to deal somehow with temporary jobs. Whether you have a successful career or not, at some point you will encounter a "resting period", it's then up to you if you want (or have) to still have some kind of income and take whatever job comes along, or if you prefer be more selective and "protecting" your professional skills.
Another "fear" for actors I discovered reading articles about temp jobs, is finding the "confort zone" in a resting period. Once you find a job that you actually enjoy, that gives you a salary every month, respect from colleagues and taxes you don't have to deal with a the end of the year, can make you question why you weren't doing it before and forget about your passions.
I can see why some performers can approach temping jobs differently than others, you have to find your own why to then fall back into your profession without problems or anything that olds you back.
Wow, this was a very long post...hope someone can find it interesting rather than long and boring! :P
References:
Bean, M., Nov 2007. Why is Acting in Song So Different?, Journal of Singing [ejournal]
64(2) pp. 167-173. Available through: Ebscohost database. [accessed 23
Dec 2011].
http://www.spotlight.com/
http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/
http://www.spotlight.com/
http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/
Thursday 19 April 2012
Exceptional Campus Session 4 !
Yesterday I was happy to participate to an extra campus session I'd suggested back on the second one...I though that an extra one after the Easter break could have been very beneficial to us, giving the opportunity to clarify the last few uncertainties and have the chance to talk about the artefact a bit more.
Again it was a small group but it gave us more time to spend on our own practices research and our main concerns.
I personally have to give a big YES YES to Paula and her Addendum for module 3 as that is the best way for me to "just get things done"!!! Having deadlines and tasks it's a bit frustrating for some (and to me as well) but it actually puts me on the spot and I tend to follow deadlines a bit more :)
This was regardless the deadline for part 1 and 2 of the Critical Review, which I first drafted and sent over to Paula, even though after today I already know what I need to change and what I did "wrong" writing up my Evaluation part.
I believe Paula will blog about this too but I think the most important points that came up today (in a total informal chat lasted 3 hours) are the follows:
- Journal entries and the importance of blogging for final marks -
Tamsin (whom I met today and was very helpful and supportive with her participation) wasn't sure that the journal writing was something we will get marked on as, she explained, she couldn't engage with the journal task as much as having full conversations with fellow peers and blogging and commenting about them. (Goodwin-Connelly, 2012)
She got reassured by Paula that as long she has a reason for not using them and she can back it up with evidence, explaining why she used it or not, that is totally fine.
- Clarification on Literature Review -
This time I needed some explanation on the Literature Review of the Evaluation part. I wasn't sure (yeah still..I know!) how it had to be structured in what should be a piece of writing of only 2.500 words (10 % more or less) which seems a lot but really isn't enough to write about every single literature found and still have words left to talk about everything else (who you talked to, what tools you used, why you chose the people you've chosen to interview, what were the consequences/outcomes of your activities, bibliography, etc..)
So Paula helped me understand better with a "live" example, asking Tamsin what kind of literatures she had found and which one were the ones that mostly influenced her thinking; she talked about a book she read but more specifically about one chapter that caught her the most, so she will be probably citing and quoting from that chapter in particular as she can't tell us about the whole book. That's how the literature review show work, finding the ones that mostly worked for our specific inquiry and mentioning those in the Evaluation part to then be able to cite them back in the Analysis part.... ( Have I explained it well?? If it doesn't make sense please ask me and I'll try to make myself clearer ) :P Tamsin also told us how she made a post on the main themes of her literatures making it easier for her to then use that in her appendice to back up with evidence her Literature review ( Tamsin please correct this if not accurate! )
- Artefact -
We then talked about were we are with our artefacts and we were all at different stages. I guess this is the part that scares most people up as it's difficult to find in such short amount of time what would work best for our targeted audiences. I have personally thought of creating a website for the performers (my audience) gathering useful information I found that could help the emerging performer find what is needed in this industry. Paula had to warn me on checking the implication that this my have once it goes public, I need to make sure that all the content I put on the website are not going to be harmful for myself...basically not to shoot me in the foot. I have to make a good consideration at ethics and privacy before I make it public.
Paula made an exercise for those who were "not there yet" with their artefact idea; she started asking questions to provoke and generate ideas there on the spot to help them out.
Things like, who is your audience, how could they benefit from your findings, how could it be largely distributed in order to reach as many people as possible, were few of the question that Paula asked.
Tamsin had the problem of being more an "academic" and writing persona rather than creative in a arty way, so therefore she felt a bit blocked...we all helped put each other with sharing ideas and advises, which is what felt works always the best. In a way this is the whole point of commenting and connecting among us via blogs; as Tamsin shared with us, she had started following other people's blogs more as that was asked in our module guide and felt she HAD TO, but then she realized that reading other people's thinking could easily relate to her own inquiry arising new inputs for her. That is way we are asked to do it, not much because is only a task that's part of the course, but because we can definitely benefit from it as much as we can help others with our interventions. ( Paula suggested to her that this thinking process and realization should be part of her final part of the Critical review, the CRitical Reflection )
We concluded that the artefact should be something that almost organically comes from our inquiry (Nottingham, 2012) a finished step rather that a further investigation. Obviously we should use the artefact as something that could go further for our career, that could actually be beneficial in the future (like those that created a workshop or a course program curriculum to then present at job interview for instance).
Also the artefact could be introduced into the Reflection part as how you identify your audience and what brought you to your final decision.
These are the main points that were touched but that also interested me the most, probably looking up at Tamsin, Tamisha, Samatha and Paula's blogs there could be some more interesting parts I left out.
In a way we went through how the Critical Review is structured (Introduction, Evaluation, Analysis, Reflection, Artefact) and talked about each and what should be enclosed in the writing. Paula added that nothing is written in stone and something that could be in the analysis as findings could also be mentioned in the Evaluation ... depends how we structure and want to talk about our Inquiry.
Now is the time were we should have at least most of our findings/data and should find a way that works for us to link everything together! Not an easy task I know...were is everyone else at? I'd love to hear how you are doing! :)
Again it was a small group but it gave us more time to spend on our own practices research and our main concerns.
I personally have to give a big YES YES to Paula and her Addendum for module 3 as that is the best way for me to "just get things done"!!! Having deadlines and tasks it's a bit frustrating for some (and to me as well) but it actually puts me on the spot and I tend to follow deadlines a bit more :)
This was regardless the deadline for part 1 and 2 of the Critical Review, which I first drafted and sent over to Paula, even though after today I already know what I need to change and what I did "wrong" writing up my Evaluation part.
I believe Paula will blog about this too but I think the most important points that came up today (in a total informal chat lasted 3 hours) are the follows:
- Journal entries and the importance of blogging for final marks -
Tamsin (whom I met today and was very helpful and supportive with her participation) wasn't sure that the journal writing was something we will get marked on as, she explained, she couldn't engage with the journal task as much as having full conversations with fellow peers and blogging and commenting about them. (Goodwin-Connelly, 2012)
She got reassured by Paula that as long she has a reason for not using them and she can back it up with evidence, explaining why she used it or not, that is totally fine.
- Clarification on Literature Review -
This time I needed some explanation on the Literature Review of the Evaluation part. I wasn't sure (yeah still..I know!) how it had to be structured in what should be a piece of writing of only 2.500 words (10 % more or less) which seems a lot but really isn't enough to write about every single literature found and still have words left to talk about everything else (who you talked to, what tools you used, why you chose the people you've chosen to interview, what were the consequences/outcomes of your activities, bibliography, etc..)
So Paula helped me understand better with a "live" example, asking Tamsin what kind of literatures she had found and which one were the ones that mostly influenced her thinking; she talked about a book she read but more specifically about one chapter that caught her the most, so she will be probably citing and quoting from that chapter in particular as she can't tell us about the whole book. That's how the literature review show work, finding the ones that mostly worked for our specific inquiry and mentioning those in the Evaluation part to then be able to cite them back in the Analysis part.... ( Have I explained it well?? If it doesn't make sense please ask me and I'll try to make myself clearer ) :P Tamsin also told us how she made a post on the main themes of her literatures making it easier for her to then use that in her appendice to back up with evidence her Literature review ( Tamsin please correct this if not accurate! )- Artefact -
We then talked about were we are with our artefacts and we were all at different stages. I guess this is the part that scares most people up as it's difficult to find in such short amount of time what would work best for our targeted audiences. I have personally thought of creating a website for the performers (my audience) gathering useful information I found that could help the emerging performer find what is needed in this industry. Paula had to warn me on checking the implication that this my have once it goes public, I need to make sure that all the content I put on the website are not going to be harmful for myself...basically not to shoot me in the foot. I have to make a good consideration at ethics and privacy before I make it public.
Paula made an exercise for those who were "not there yet" with their artefact idea; she started asking questions to provoke and generate ideas there on the spot to help them out.
Things like, who is your audience, how could they benefit from your findings, how could it be largely distributed in order to reach as many people as possible, were few of the question that Paula asked.
Tamsin had the problem of being more an "academic" and writing persona rather than creative in a arty way, so therefore she felt a bit blocked...we all helped put each other with sharing ideas and advises, which is what felt works always the best. In a way this is the whole point of commenting and connecting among us via blogs; as Tamsin shared with us, she had started following other people's blogs more as that was asked in our module guide and felt she HAD TO, but then she realized that reading other people's thinking could easily relate to her own inquiry arising new inputs for her. That is way we are asked to do it, not much because is only a task that's part of the course, but because we can definitely benefit from it as much as we can help others with our interventions. ( Paula suggested to her that this thinking process and realization should be part of her final part of the Critical review, the CRitical Reflection )
We concluded that the artefact should be something that almost organically comes from our inquiry (Nottingham, 2012) a finished step rather that a further investigation. Obviously we should use the artefact as something that could go further for our career, that could actually be beneficial in the future (like those that created a workshop or a course program curriculum to then present at job interview for instance).
Also the artefact could be introduced into the Reflection part as how you identify your audience and what brought you to your final decision.
These are the main points that were touched but that also interested me the most, probably looking up at Tamsin, Tamisha, Samatha and Paula's blogs there could be some more interesting parts I left out.
In a way we went through how the Critical Review is structured (Introduction, Evaluation, Analysis, Reflection, Artefact) and talked about each and what should be enclosed in the writing. Paula added that nothing is written in stone and something that could be in the analysis as findings could also be mentioned in the Evaluation ... depends how we structure and want to talk about our Inquiry.
Now is the time were we should have at least most of our findings/data and should find a way that works for us to link everything together! Not an easy task I know...were is everyone else at? I'd love to hear how you are doing! :)
Monday 26 March 2012
Thursday 22 March 2012
Interview's reflection
I finally managed to interview Andrea Bassani, an Italian musician (pianist), composer and more recently the founder of its own theatrical cultural association where he runs workshops and small productions.
As he lives in Italy I re-used the form of email for my interview, so I tried to make sure not to fall into the same problems I encountered with my first email interview ( previous post 1- post 2 ).
Skype was my first attempt, but he wasn't enough prepared for that (nor skype account nor mic or webcam).
I tried to be as clear as possible not too waste time (reading) and his time (writing about non-related topics).
I firstly briefed him on what my inquiry is about them moved onto a very informal approach on the interview, explaining to him how his answering should have been as free as possible, not feeling restricted and leading towards whatever he felt the need to perfuse on.
Why did I interview him? What's the link with my inquiry?
I was interested to see how an Italian professional perceive the artistic business nowadays and especially compare the differences between the Italian panorama and the British one. (one I come from, one I want to work on now).
His knowledge on Musical and the American/English culture of it made sense to interview him as he had a good view of the origins of Musical in particular and its landing in Italy effects.
How I managed the data re-collection?
I thought of re-writing on my diary all the points that were of most interest and that linked with my inquiry, also description of him that makes more clarity when reading (gives an idea of where he comes from and how knowledgeable he is); then organized them in sections in order to reproduced them on my blog as clearly as possible for the reader (tip I got from the last Writing Workshop I attended).
Findings:
He starts his passion for Musical after the production of Cats reaches Italy years ago. He applauds the 'Stanislavsky system' that proclaims the emotions and its realism (Bassani, 2012) and is a progression of techniques used to train actors to draw believable emotions to their performances (Wikipedia, 2012) and rejects the so far mostly used Brechtian method, where a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on the stage (Wikipedia, 2012).
Based on this belief he also starts running small productions of Musicals and Theatrical concerts.
When I asked him what is/are the characteristic/s that a performer should have nowadays for him, he answered a natural gift and talent for sure, technic, the skill to choose who teaches us and what (not to waste time and energy in the wrong training), the awareness of our limits (strengths and weaknesses) and, most of all a strong sensibility and the ability of get moved and dream to be able to "touch" the audience.
On singing and acting the talent can prevail the technic but on dance he believes that a strong technicality is essential.
He stressed on how in Italy is missing the teaching of "how to live the character" on stage, which is missing from the teachers in the first place.
He links this un-preparation to the large unsuccessful productions that are happening in Italy, due to the standardized preparation that the performers have. Good singers and dancers but that cannot portray the character and act within the song/movements.
So far I understood that more or less the same features and characteristics are asked in Italy as well as here in the Uk. Probably the stress he has on "what teacher to pick and to learn what" has more to do with the limits that training in Italy has; here (UK) you can take a single class and decide where to keep up with your training, in Italy this concept is still not largely available and we return on the factor of being lucky enough to get trained where there are 'good teachers', a subject that I already discussed with in a previous Focus Group with 3 professionals (2 of them where Italian).
He carries on stressing how getting trained in different methodologies creates a better performer to be able to have more knowledge and tools to use in an artistic life.
Italy is developed in Opera, Commedia, Prose, etc..all styles inappropriate to Musical, that's why the artistic professional outlook is still poor.
There are full productions that are based only on singing/ acting rather than dancing and here is where Italy is weak.
Here is where I can see how strongly difficult the introduction of the Musical culture in Italy can be compromised until the training doesn't change methodology. Also the existing little culture of it keeps pushing famous TV figures into the shows to make audience. This has been used in the UK too though, for the past 10 years or so CHICAGO the Musical in London has starred famous UK and American actresses/actors for the principal roles of Roxie Hart, Billy, Velma and 'Mama'...to name few, Ugly Betty's star America Ferrera recently in the show, Ashlee Simpson, Denise Van Outen, American actress's Brooke Shield and Bonnie Langford among others. So this isn't only happening in Italy, although we should analyze on what scale and how often this is happening here compared to Italy...
On my question What he suggest as skills to keep up as an artist and what he expects to see in a performer auditioning for one of his shows, he answered EMOTIONS, so for sure the natural talent that he can see coming put. Although, this is a very romantic and objective first answer, he then added that in Italy he sees very talented singers that would be great for a record labels but not for a live show as emotions are rarely portrayed. He prefers the America/English structuring of a musical show, where the Stanislavsky method is favorite, where the voice expresses what the character feels on that moment (A good performer delivers what feels whitin the character and not to show off its vocal abilities).
Another skill he recommends is to be up to date with the latest productions and the teams that put them up. Having a personal opinion on what works and what doesn't and why, gives you a good preparation and knowledge on the business.
Also, for him, working on how to express themselves in every discipline, whether it is singing acting or dancing is fundamental.
Constantly train memory and speed of reaction and learning. Performers with these skills are strongly preferred from casting directors nowadays as long rehearsals can be time consuming as well as a waste of money, two things not much available in the business these days.
Be available to be part of minor productions to keep in touch with reality, as long as they have something you can take home, it's not worth to dis-learn something.
When I asked him to describe for him the differences between the Italian's situations in Musicals compared to the UK, obviously I didn't mean if Italy is at the same level, we all know that it's not part of the culture and that here is an extremely important facet of the art. What I was curious to know was how the introduction of the musical culture in Italy has been welcomed. How it is seen by the Italian audience and what are the problems that may not leave the shows to become more and more happening.
He strongly affirmed that in the first place we have the TV programs and reality that inject the wrong idea of the musical. A stereotype that bases everything on competition, which os obviously and important aspect of the business but it should be lead by showing who is the strongest but should be lead by the willpower of showing a talent, a passion rather than "winning on someone else". Another problem in Italy is that unless you have a big production and funds to put up a show, the minor productions don't have space of development. Italy also fears the coming of foreign productions and these can arise real interests and passion in the Italians's hearts.
He then admits that lighting, sound and live orchestras are the only sectors in which Italy can be equivalent to the UK.
These last informations weren't very clear to me but most of all didn't have a real connection with my inquiry, they could help to give me a overall picture but I have to admit this was the case where email interviewing creates problems leading the interviewee towards un-related topics.
When I asked him to describe for him the differences between the Italian's situations in Musicals compared to the UK, obviously I didn't mean if Italy is at the same level, we all know that it's not part of the culture and that here is an extremely important facet of the art. What I was curious to know was how the introduction of the musical culture in Italy has been welcomed. How it is seen by the Italian audience and what are the problems that may not leave the shows to become more and more happening.
He strongly affirmed that in the first place we have the TV programs and reality that inject the wrong idea of the musical. A stereotype that bases everything on competition, which os obviously and important aspect of the business but it should be lead by showing who is the strongest but should be lead by the willpower of showing a talent, a passion rather than "winning on someone else". Another problem in Italy is that unless you have a big production and funds to put up a show, the minor productions don't have space of development. Italy also fears the coming of foreign productions and these can arise real interests and passion in the Italians's hearts.
He then admits that lighting, sound and live orchestras are the only sectors in which Italy can be equivalent to the UK.
These last informations weren't very clear to me but most of all didn't have a real connection with my inquiry, they could help to give me a overall picture but I have to admit this was the case where email interviewing creates problems leading the interviewee towards un-related topics.
I decided after this interview to re-interview the same person via Skype (he managed to create an account) so that I can focus more on the matters that he touched that were of most relevance for my inquiry.
Overall I did receive a good amount of qualitative data which I can evaluate in my findings and add them into my reflection; it was interesting for me to understand how the "performer" is perceived abroad and especially in the country I'm originally from.
Overall I did receive a good amount of qualitative data which I can evaluate in my findings and add them into my reflection; it was interesting for me to understand how the "performer" is perceived abroad and especially in the country I'm originally from.
Tuesday 20 March 2012
Saturday 17 March 2012
Writing Workshop 08.03.12
Here's my experience on this very productive and enlightening workshop, after this experience I understood how I can improve my academic writing.
It was held by Peter Thomas from the Middlesex University Learning Development Unit.
It was very good that few of us participated and form all the 3 modules.
A lot as been said but I'm going to point out the most important learnings, at least the ones I found were most important and of value for me.
First of all it was very interesting to understand how writing should be approached.
Peter explained how at a first stage we generate ideas, research material, find info.
This is the internal and personal factor.
Then secondly we have to organise all these data in order to make it valuable for our piece of writing selecting the ones that relate to one another. Then as a final result we have to present the essay/piece of writing, we need to find a good order to talk about the findings. At this point it helps starting thinking towards the final presentation, the external factor.
Peter explained that these is a "stage" process that not necessarily goes from one onto another, but for an effective writing we can generate, then organise, than go back on generate more, organise again, try a first presentation that may need further organisation before we can develop a final draft. I thought it was a great way of approaching writing not to feel completely lost, this process can be a mess but it can give us a logicality in mind towards it...we can (and should) revisit things before they make sense to us and for the reader.
1.Generate (you/internal)
2.Organise
3.Present (reader/external)
We did an exercise of writing on the question "What is expected in our writings at this level" without interruptions for 5 minutes, we then discussed what we felt while doing it and most of us found it hard to concentrate on the topic. I personally did focus on it but found myself repeating the same message.
We then narrowed down the same piece of writing as Peter asked us to review it finding and underling the main key points we thought were more important.
One at the time we had to explained what these points were and share ideas. I personally had English as a concern for my academic writing, and the importance of explaining technical words in my academic piece of writing.
We then moved onto writing with the same flow and no interruptions about those few key points.
The final stage of this exercise was to write a paragraph regarding the words/sentences we found most important.
Before doing this Thomas introduced us on HOW to write a paragraph. It should be structured this way:
-An initial sentence that summarize and introduces what we are about to talk about.
-Additional information on the main topic
-A conclusion
With this in mind we wrote our paragraphs and in small groups we helped each other out to make it clear and understandable for us, the readers.
We shared our "final products" with the group as that's the stage when, after revisiting few times, our piece goes "public"; we noticed how more detailed and clear our writings were compared to the very original piece.
This exercise was very useful to understand how what we generate in the first place needs to be revisited to achieve a good level of writing that can be understood clearly by everyone.
The whole experience gave us a more relaxed attitude towards writing (and re-writing) as the reader is only going to read the final product and is not going to bother on HOW we got there.
It's ok to be messy!
Here are few important points that Peter touched and shared with during the day that may be useful when starting writing:
:)
It was held by Peter Thomas from the Middlesex University Learning Development Unit.
It was very good that few of us participated and form all the 3 modules.
A lot as been said but I'm going to point out the most important learnings, at least the ones I found were most important and of value for me.
First of all it was very interesting to understand how writing should be approached.
Peter explained how at a first stage we generate ideas, research material, find info.
This is the internal and personal factor.
Then secondly we have to organise all these data in order to make it valuable for our piece of writing selecting the ones that relate to one another. Then as a final result we have to present the essay/piece of writing, we need to find a good order to talk about the findings. At this point it helps starting thinking towards the final presentation, the external factor.
Peter explained that these is a "stage" process that not necessarily goes from one onto another, but for an effective writing we can generate, then organise, than go back on generate more, organise again, try a first presentation that may need further organisation before we can develop a final draft. I thought it was a great way of approaching writing not to feel completely lost, this process can be a mess but it can give us a logicality in mind towards it...we can (and should) revisit things before they make sense to us and for the reader.
1.Generate (you/internal)
2.Organise
3.Present (reader/external)
We did an exercise of writing on the question "What is expected in our writings at this level" without interruptions for 5 minutes, we then discussed what we felt while doing it and most of us found it hard to concentrate on the topic. I personally did focus on it but found myself repeating the same message.
We then narrowed down the same piece of writing as Peter asked us to review it finding and underling the main key points we thought were more important.
One at the time we had to explained what these points were and share ideas. I personally had English as a concern for my academic writing, and the importance of explaining technical words in my academic piece of writing.
We then moved onto writing with the same flow and no interruptions about those few key points.
The final stage of this exercise was to write a paragraph regarding the words/sentences we found most important.
Before doing this Thomas introduced us on HOW to write a paragraph. It should be structured this way:
-An initial sentence that summarize and introduces what we are about to talk about.
-Additional information on the main topic
-A conclusion
With this in mind we wrote our paragraphs and in small groups we helped each other out to make it clear and understandable for us, the readers.
We shared our "final products" with the group as that's the stage when, after revisiting few times, our piece goes "public"; we noticed how more detailed and clear our writings were compared to the very original piece.
This exercise was very useful to understand how what we generate in the first place needs to be revisited to achieve a good level of writing that can be understood clearly by everyone.
The whole experience gave us a more relaxed attitude towards writing (and re-writing) as the reader is only going to read the final product and is not going to bother on HOW we got there.
It's ok to be messy!
 |
| Topic |
Here are few important points that Peter touched and shared with during the day that may be useful when starting writing:
- The order of things is important. How we decide to talk about things. (immagine a funnel shaped piece of writing, we start with general info, then we get down more onto specifics, to finally generate out main topic)
- The main body of the essay should be organized in paragraphs (half an A4 page as a guideline)
- One main point/idea per paragraph
- Contain topic sentences (usually at the beginning of a paragraph)
Hope this helps those who couldn't attend the session, I'm sure you can find valuable information from others who attended so look up everyone's blog and feel free to ask me something that wasn't clear... in the end the important thing is what the readers gets out from a piece of writing!
:)
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Social Media Workshop
I attended a workshop run by the Federation of Entertainment Union (FEU) on "LinkedIn
and meeting up. How to leave a good impression in a digital world”. (The Abbey Centre, 13 March 2011). The workshop run by the trainer David Thomas, a highly experienced broadcaster, trainer and manager, with a special interest in communication and organizational skills (David Thomas Media website, 2012), focused on the use of social medias and the networking side of a self-managed business. David explained how connections have always been made face to face, but most recently a good relevance has been taken over the internet
The business of theatre and dance has reached a high level of technological evolution. Now most of the castings start from a viral form rather than the old cover letter + CV way. Thanks to artists's websites provided by social networks and arts bodies such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Spotlight, the artist can have a better visibility and an easier access into the casting directors' offices and can create a professional reputation over the internet and can create a positive comeback on his/her career development.
It was interesting to learn how differently we can introduce ourselves face-to-face depending who we are talking to. We can tell who we are (I'm a musician), what we do (I play the piano) or what benefits we give to others (I make people happy). The benefit is not what we actually do but it makes people more interested and leave a memorable impression and it helps us distinguish ourselves from the mass. So it's also important to built a good credibility for our business (ourselves) and discover what people value about us.
This introduced the discussion towards LinkedIn, how to get recommendation on it and how to network over the internet. Networking means learning, engaging and recommending (Thomas, 2012) This last one specifically important in order to built trust among people that can leave us recommendations, helping develop our own “digital reputation” and making our profile strong, not only having what we believe about ourselves, but with the support of people we have worked with.
I found very amusing this description of the different social networks:
LinkedIn = workspace
Twitter = water cooler (gossiping)
Google + (not well known yet) = the canteen
Facebook = the bar
It is important to leave the right impression on the right social network and sometimes create two
different profiles, a personal and a professional one, so that the two things don't get mixed up in the net. I learned that on the social networks your profile description is one of the most important parts of your digital world, it's the message that should reinforce the impression you want to make, to leave a taste of who you are without having you in person.
Also things as simple as you email address gives an idea of what you do and who you are.
Yahoo, Hotmail and now even Gmail are the domains that are mostly used, it's worth considering
buying you own domain (as cheap as £3 a year for a .co.uk domain, or £10 for a .com which is
better for International work) so that you can present yourself as a professional and give a better
idea of how reliable your business may be.
To make your web image stronger, you should be constant with your photos (always the same ones for every profile), make it personal, focused and engaging. (Thomas, 2012)
References:
- Thomas, D., LinkedIn and meeting up. How to leave a good impression in a digital world, The Abbey Centre, 13 March 2011.
Monday 5 March 2012
2nd Campus Session
I attended the second campus meeting and I have to say it really helped me clear few things I was sure of to get ahead with my work. It was nice to meet Verity Evans for the first time, she helped a lot during the session with her participation and also has a very interesting inquiry on TIE work and the National Curriculum.( http://verityevans.blogspot.com/ )
We were given the schedule for the day by Paula and went through :
-The deadlines
-Help from advisers
-How to write up the Critical Review (Title, Introduction, Evaluation, Analysis, Critical Reflection)
-Artefact
We also did a group exercise on how to read and scan a piece of literature; we read a short piece from The Stage and tried to find the key points and its message. It was very useful as I personally had a frustration about finding the right literature without wasting time on long written pieces and books that actually don't have much to do with my inquiry.
I guess we have to develop a sort of method on how to find literature and spot the ones that interests us.
One at the time we spoke out our inquiry question to talked with the others about points of view and to check if the inquiry was clear to everyone and not just ourselves, this was very interesting as something that may be very clear for us, may not be explained properly and so it gave us and idea of where to correct ourselves. Paula asked one at the time the same questions, who where what and how; answering these questions gives us the basics to structure the Introduction for our Critical Review; we need to know well our sector and explain simply why our question was created in the first place and how it came about.
Then we went onto the artefact, Paula asked us to draw on a blank piece of paper a drawing of who our audience/s is/are, having that clearly in mind focuses you on what could be the most reachable and useful artefact for you audience. She also suggested to attach and explanation with our artefact as, again, it could be something very clear to us but it has to be understandable also if we are not there to explain it (an example I thought of was an installation/piece of art who always has a written explanation next to it).
I left the session feeling very confident and knowing what to do next, every time a campus session makes me so much more relaxed and confident on the module, that I suggested to have an extra session (maybe after Easter) after our 3rd one, not sure if this will happen but I think everyone was positive on this as we could all benefit so much more with an extra meeting.
We were given the schedule for the day by Paula and went through :
-The deadlines
-Help from advisers
-How to write up the Critical Review (Title, Introduction, Evaluation, Analysis, Critical Reflection)
-Artefact
We also did a group exercise on how to read and scan a piece of literature; we read a short piece from The Stage and tried to find the key points and its message. It was very useful as I personally had a frustration about finding the right literature without wasting time on long written pieces and books that actually don't have much to do with my inquiry.
I guess we have to develop a sort of method on how to find literature and spot the ones that interests us.
One at the time we spoke out our inquiry question to talked with the others about points of view and to check if the inquiry was clear to everyone and not just ourselves, this was very interesting as something that may be very clear for us, may not be explained properly and so it gave us and idea of where to correct ourselves. Paula asked one at the time the same questions, who where what and how; answering these questions gives us the basics to structure the Introduction for our Critical Review; we need to know well our sector and explain simply why our question was created in the first place and how it came about.
Then we went onto the artefact, Paula asked us to draw on a blank piece of paper a drawing of who our audience/s is/are, having that clearly in mind focuses you on what could be the most reachable and useful artefact for you audience. She also suggested to attach and explanation with our artefact as, again, it could be something very clear to us but it has to be understandable also if we are not there to explain it (an example I thought of was an installation/piece of art who always has a written explanation next to it).
I left the session feeling very confident and knowing what to do next, every time a campus session makes me so much more relaxed and confident on the module, that I suggested to have an extra session (maybe after Easter) after our 3rd one, not sure if this will happen but I think everyone was positive on this as we could all benefit so much more with an extra meeting.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Frustration!
Ok, so it seems there's really not much material written about my topic or anything related to it...or am I really not good at finding it??!?!!
Any help from my course fellows would be much appreciated!!! If you may happen to know any type of literature that speaks about How a performer can create a career on its own, and to what extent this is actually possible...is a full training strictly recommended or discipline and self teaching can help a performer achieve its goals on his own? I find it extremely difficult to find someone that has experienced or researched on this topic and written about it; maybe it has a too broad feeling to it? But honestly I don't know how to narrow it down any more! This is my field of interest and now it feels a bit late for a change of direction...any thoughts please???
Any help from my course fellows would be much appreciated!!! If you may happen to know any type of literature that speaks about How a performer can create a career on its own, and to what extent this is actually possible...is a full training strictly recommended or discipline and self teaching can help a performer achieve its goals on his own? I find it extremely difficult to find someone that has experienced or researched on this topic and written about it; maybe it has a too broad feeling to it? But honestly I don't know how to narrow it down any more! This is my field of interest and now it feels a bit late for a change of direction...any thoughts please???
Thursday 23 February 2012
Pippin
As an exercise I decided to do for my inquiry is annotate on my blog all my goals for the upcoming week in terms of what my self-management skills research as a performer that I didn't posses or know before and analyze the results, positive or negative.
On the list I created on my previous post about what I will be trying to achieve for my inquiry, I forgot to insert a bullet point about GOING TO SEE SHOWS. It certainly is a great way of keeping up with the latest productions and what the business is throwing out there right now!
It keeps you informed on who is producing, directing and performing at the moment, also it's great opportunity for networking!
The other night I saw this great production of the musical Pippin at The Menier Chocolate Factory (a show I'm very fond of as it was my first principale role given when we did this production in college) and realized that in the cast there were two performers that had graduated from my same college few years before me; it gave me a link/connection with them so that after the show I managed to contact one of the two and to possibly obtain an interview that may turn out of great value for my practitioner research.
Either way I strongly believe that seeing shows (when our budget allow us to :P) it's a great self-management skill for an emerging performer as well as for an establish one, it keeps our creativity alive.
On the list I created on my previous post about what I will be trying to achieve for my inquiry, I forgot to insert a bullet point about GOING TO SEE SHOWS. It certainly is a great way of keeping up with the latest productions and what the business is throwing out there right now!
It keeps you informed on who is producing, directing and performing at the moment, also it's great opportunity for networking!
The other night I saw this great production of the musical Pippin at The Menier Chocolate Factory (a show I'm very fond of as it was my first principale role given when we did this production in college) and realized that in the cast there were two performers that had graduated from my same college few years before me; it gave me a link/connection with them so that after the show I managed to contact one of the two and to possibly obtain an interview that may turn out of great value for my practitioner research.
Either way I strongly believe that seeing shows (when our budget allow us to :P) it's a great self-management skill for an emerging performer as well as for an establish one, it keeps our creativity alive.
Saturday 18 February 2012
Equity meeting 11.02.12
The other week I attended an interesting meeting of the body union for the artist Equity.
I enclosed it into my plan and I thought it would have been interesting for my topic of inquiry.
The result was as expected very interesting. Even though you could tell I was the youngest and a new face compared to the same people that always take part to these events, they welcomed me and made me feel part of this union which I now I'm part of.
The main matters and points touched on the day where "The struggle for gender equality" and few interesting motions that have been aroused on the day and to which we voted against or in favor, the one chosen will be sent to this year's ARC (Annual Representative Conference).
The first one was about Defending BBC towards the latest financial cuts, the second one was about Bullying in the arts, and the last one but not least was about Ending the need for casting director to get sent hard copies of CV's and photos being an outdated and expensive system. Regarding bullying, the story about the ballerina that spoke out about anorexia and bulimia came up, she was then sucked after the article was printed, a very good example of bullying. (It also linked to my studies, see previous blog)
I personally voted in favor of the last one being a topic that touches me the most at this point in my career, but I could see it was the least important for anyone else; it relates more to young and still financially unstable performers rather than adults artists in their 30's 40's 50's and above, which are more likely to be in a better financial situation than an emerging artist.
Other interesting points were a free workshop fundraised by FEU (The Federation of Entertainment Unions) on How to leave a good impression in a digital world which I straight away applied for; I have to say that my interests were slightly different compared to the other actors/actresses in the meeting due to the difference of age (most of the participants were well established performers in the business and in their elderly years), but nonetheless it was encouraging to see what difficulties a performer has to deal with and how supportive and active this body is no matter what's age you are.
About the main matter, the gender equality, very important and interesting things have been said during the meeting, I recorded the one most impressed me:
-Male presence in TV and Theatre is still larger compared to women.
-Same older women parts are played by the same famous actresses not leaving space for other older woman.
-The awareness of the laziness of casting directors nowadays. ( A woman participating told us her experience when she got told by a casting director that they always use the same four agencies, leaving out so many talents not lucky enough to be in one of those ones).
-A point in favor was that broadcasting is ahead of society where the gender racism starts from; you are more likely to see a senior woman police officer in tv than in real life, or a a black judge in a tv serial than in life.
-The still huge difference in wages between man and women that are casted for the same or similar job.
This meeting really brought up my awareness on the many matters Equity fights for, and give me a good hint on where to look next for literatures and others seminars/workshop that can enhance my studying.
Is anyone else in this course a member of Equity? Have you got any story you could share on how Equity helped you? If not I will strongly recommend you become part of it as they can help any type of artistry in the filed of performing and it's a valuable union out there for us.
For anyone interested the next meeting is going to be held on the 10th of March at the Italian Trade Union's Centre in Highbury and Islington.
:)
I enclosed it into my plan and I thought it would have been interesting for my topic of inquiry.
The result was as expected very interesting. Even though you could tell I was the youngest and a new face compared to the same people that always take part to these events, they welcomed me and made me feel part of this union which I now I'm part of.
On
the day I could tell I wasn't one of the regulars and that I was
probably the younger of the group, still they didn't make me feel
uncomfortable or anything and welcomed me to the meeting. It was very
interesting to see how passioned everyone was on the different
matters touched on the day; no matter what age you are, being a actor
don't have a professional expiry date.
Even
if the average age in the room was somewhere around 40 I noticed how
actors in particular are still not treated artistically the way they
should. (Personal journal extract, 2012).
The main matters and points touched on the day where "The struggle for gender equality" and few interesting motions that have been aroused on the day and to which we voted against or in favor, the one chosen will be sent to this year's ARC (Annual Representative Conference).
The first one was about Defending BBC towards the latest financial cuts, the second one was about Bullying in the arts, and the last one but not least was about Ending the need for casting director to get sent hard copies of CV's and photos being an outdated and expensive system. Regarding bullying, the story about the ballerina that spoke out about anorexia and bulimia came up, she was then sucked after the article was printed, a very good example of bullying. (It also linked to my studies, see previous blog)
I personally voted in favor of the last one being a topic that touches me the most at this point in my career, but I could see it was the least important for anyone else; it relates more to young and still financially unstable performers rather than adults artists in their 30's 40's 50's and above, which are more likely to be in a better financial situation than an emerging artist.
Other interesting points were a free workshop fundraised by FEU (The Federation of Entertainment Unions) on How to leave a good impression in a digital world which I straight away applied for; I have to say that my interests were slightly different compared to the other actors/actresses in the meeting due to the difference of age (most of the participants were well established performers in the business and in their elderly years), but nonetheless it was encouraging to see what difficulties a performer has to deal with and how supportive and active this body is no matter what's age you are.
About the main matter, the gender equality, very important and interesting things have been said during the meeting, I recorded the one most impressed me:
-Male presence in TV and Theatre is still larger compared to women.
-Same older women parts are played by the same famous actresses not leaving space for other older woman.
-The awareness of the laziness of casting directors nowadays. ( A woman participating told us her experience when she got told by a casting director that they always use the same four agencies, leaving out so many talents not lucky enough to be in one of those ones).
-A point in favor was that broadcasting is ahead of society where the gender racism starts from; you are more likely to see a senior woman police officer in tv than in real life, or a a black judge in a tv serial than in life.
-The still huge difference in wages between man and women that are casted for the same or similar job.
This meeting really brought up my awareness on the many matters Equity fights for, and give me a good hint on where to look next for literatures and others seminars/workshop that can enhance my studying.
Is anyone else in this course a member of Equity? Have you got any story you could share on how Equity helped you? If not I will strongly recommend you become part of it as they can help any type of artistry in the filed of performing and it's a valuable union out there for us.
For anyone interested the next meeting is going to be held on the 10th of March at the Italian Trade Union's Centre in Highbury and Islington.
:)
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Starting out with...Copyrights.
After the campus session yesterday I started thinking more of what I need to collect and analyze in order to achieve a 'complete package' for a performer, what I need to have, technically and physically, to become an overall practitioner and obtain maximum results for my career.
As a next step for this project I intend to research and collect every kind of information needed for an emerging performer, these is a rough list of how I will plan it but the idea is to look for:
- Unions performers can benefit from (Equity, Spotlight, Dance UK..)
- Photo shoots (how to find the right photographer and links to the best ones,where to print high quality photos)
- Researching the best monologues suitable for different kind of acting auditions
- Researching and having prepared different styles of songs suitable for different auditions
- The agent hunt (how to look for one, best ones for different disciplines)
- Dance classes (costs and where to go)
- Singing lessons
- Jobs (un-paid and student's project and how we can benefit from them)
- CV tips
To start out my hunt I will share this link found while I was navigating on the DanceUk website:
https://www.danceuk.org/media/cms_page_media/255/Info%20Sheet%204%20Copyright%20for%20Dance.pdf
I now joined Dance UK as it was only £17.50 for students per year and it's an amazing body that sustains and helps dancers in several matters. I found this pdf that explains everything about COPYRIGHTS. I thought it's an important knowledge we (artists) need to have under our belt as it can always come handy and we can always need to protect ourselves and/or our work with copyrights.
Any thoughts about this post? Did you ever had issues about copyrights?
Tuesday 7 February 2012
Module 3
- 1st Campus Session -
Module 3... the final round...
Today was the first Campus session back from the last module 2 (we are still waiting on the results but I got the feeling it went ok) and I was a bit surprised when at my arrival I was the first one as I was running a little late.. I know many of us can't make it because of work commitment but I was hoping on seeing at least few people, luckily in the end Tanisha and Samantha turned up :)
We went through the Module handbook and had a general look into what we are expected to produce for this last module.
We are going to have to prepare 3 parts for this exam:
> Critical review
> Professional artefact
> Oral presentation
During the session we talked about:
-Deadlines (specific dates) and how we need to realistically organize our time into the project.
-Paula suggested we write at least 6 blogs and she pointed out what to include within these blogs (the slideshow we all these details should be on her blog soon)
-Paula suggested we look into where we are at at this stage, revise our Inquiry plan and, within the next week or two, focus and work around feedbacks; also, very important, to get on touch with our advisors as much as needed.
-We finally did a very useful exercise that Adesola created, a very simple map that helped us decide and clarify where we are heading to (arrow) what we want to keep for our project (tick) what we want to get rid of (cross) what we are proud of (word bubble) what we are still unsure of (thinking bubble) and feeling we had so far (heart shape)..more details will be up on Adesola's blog. I thought it was very useful as we can always go back to this this sheet and check if we sticked to it and if we are missing out on something.
-We also looked at some very good example of professional artefacts, which I know are going to be shown for the next session as well, so come along!!!
Module 3... the final round...
Today was the first Campus session back from the last module 2 (we are still waiting on the results but I got the feeling it went ok) and I was a bit surprised when at my arrival I was the first one as I was running a little late.. I know many of us can't make it because of work commitment but I was hoping on seeing at least few people, luckily in the end Tanisha and Samantha turned up :)
We went through the Module handbook and had a general look into what we are expected to produce for this last module.
We are going to have to prepare 3 parts for this exam:
> Critical review
> Professional artefact
> Oral presentation
During the session we talked about:
-Deadlines (specific dates) and how we need to realistically organize our time into the project.
-Paula suggested we write at least 6 blogs and she pointed out what to include within these blogs (the slideshow we all these details should be on her blog soon)
-Paula suggested we look into where we are at at this stage, revise our Inquiry plan and, within the next week or two, focus and work around feedbacks; also, very important, to get on touch with our advisors as much as needed.
-We finally did a very useful exercise that Adesola created, a very simple map that helped us decide and clarify where we are heading to (arrow) what we want to keep for our project (tick) what we want to get rid of (cross) what we are proud of (word bubble) what we are still unsure of (thinking bubble) and feeling we had so far (heart shape)..more details will be up on Adesola's blog. I thought it was very useful as we can always go back to this this sheet and check if we sticked to it and if we are missing out on something.
-We also looked at some very good example of professional artefacts, which I know are going to be shown for the next session as well, so come along!!!
Friday 6 January 2012
Wiki Page: Digital Portfolio
I here enclose a link to my Wiki page where I created a copy of my Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry.
https://laurabapp.wikispaces.com/
https://laurabapp.wikispaces.com/
Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry
DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
Not having been able to attend the first campus session, it took me some times to fully understand the module and to develop a question for my Inquiry. I then started developing a line of inquiry and a great help came through my BAPP community of practice via comments on my blogs and via my personal SIG, which I based it on "Working and/or training in different countries". Thanks to the SiG introduction on the Middlesex University Facebook page, we were able to share similar interests and give each other ideas and opinion on our inquiry. I focused my first questions on the differences in cultures when it comes to training and working in performing arts. (Appendix A) (Appendix Aa). Unfortunately the group has been deleted from Facebook and this generated a loss of important material for us, as the page showed the development of our thoughts and activities through the conversation. I was still able to re-collect most of the data lost, gathering what had been said through blog posts of others and through my journal recordings.
Trying to find another way for discussion, I found and suggested the website Linkedin (Appendix B) who also had a board for discussions. I created one (Appendix Bb) and posted it on my blog (Appendix C), but I didn't receive enough responses and interests from my course mates and, in the end, didn't result to be as useful as I could have been.
With the second campus session we started to look into Ethics, professional and personal, even though I was still working on the development of my inquiry. On the day I further developed my questions with a good help given me by Rosemary and Adesola, academic advisors holding the session, while the others where heading on with the studying of ethics. I accomplished to narrow down my questions further, focusing more on the advantages and disadvantages of working in different environments (Appendix D)).
After getting through the Reader 4 'Developing lines of professional Inquiry', I started answering to the set questions given, starting to analyze what I was capable of and where I was missing something in my training. I then posted my findings in "Identifying knowledge and skills" up in blog post. (Appendix E)).
After considering my interests and the line for inquiry I was working on, I decided on my final rationale for my Award Title. As Musical Theatre is my major but I wanted to keep my professional opportunities open to different areas, I decided on 'BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Performing Arts'. (Appendix F))
Catching up on Reader 5 'Professional Ethics' I started to get a first understanding of how Ethics relates to my area of work posting few tools I discovered through my research and also using my 'visual lens' for learning on what I perceived about Ethics. I then formed my own ideas on code of practice for a performer. (Appendix G))
With the third, and last, campus session we looked at the final part of the module, Reader 6 'Tools for Professional Inquiry'. After the useful slide show that Paula Nottingham and Rosemary showed us, I got a good understanding on what the final reader was about. We also did some exercise among us to understand the tools ofinterviewing and observing, some of the methods we were asked to try out for our inquiry. (Appendix H))
Further reflecting on Ethics I wrote a post on the outcomes obtained (Appendix I)). Also I gathered information of the code of practice of my day job, and compared it to how closely relates in a hypothetical performing job.
Through the development of my questions and with the help given me through my BAPP fellow students and my academic advisor, I achieved a final question for my Inquiry Project (Appendix L)) and I started, from then on, working on the next tasks given on this module.
With the piloting we were asked to try out, I gained a better knowledge on pros and cons this different tools have; observation (Appendix M)), interview, the different ways of doing it and its advantages and disadvantages (Appendix N)) (Appendix Nn)), a Focus Group (Appendix O)) and finally a pilot Survey (Appendix P). I gathered a good expertise on which tool would work best to find material for my inquiry and why.
Via the findings of literatures that relates to my topic, I was able to analyze and study what others have said on 'self-management skills for a successful career for a performer' (Appendix Q), R, S) and further investigate the matter. From these and others literature found I could notice what kind of advices are given from professionals working in different areas of the arts. I then finally booked mark findings and useful websites on Delicious, a website that gathers and organizes the links and pages you want to save. (Appendix T))
Together combined with the existing literatures and personal experiences I had during this module, I now have a good understanding of the tools I can use to help me gather more information, on ethics and code of practice of my professional area of work, and how to be able to further investigate on what it takes for an emerging performer to grow professionally and succeed.
Not having been able to attend the first campus session, it took me some times to fully understand the module and to develop a question for my Inquiry. I then started developing a line of inquiry and a great help came through my BAPP community of practice via comments on my blogs and via my personal SIG, which I based it on "Working and/or training in different countries". Thanks to the SiG introduction on the Middlesex University Facebook page, we were able to share similar interests and give each other ideas and opinion on our inquiry. I focused my first questions on the differences in cultures when it comes to training and working in performing arts. (Appendix A) (Appendix Aa). Unfortunately the group has been deleted from Facebook and this generated a loss of important material for us, as the page showed the development of our thoughts and activities through the conversation. I was still able to re-collect most of the data lost, gathering what had been said through blog posts of others and through my journal recordings.
Trying to find another way for discussion, I found and suggested the website Linkedin (Appendix B) who also had a board for discussions. I created one (Appendix Bb) and posted it on my blog (Appendix C), but I didn't receive enough responses and interests from my course mates and, in the end, didn't result to be as useful as I could have been.
With the second campus session we started to look into Ethics, professional and personal, even though I was still working on the development of my inquiry. On the day I further developed my questions with a good help given me by Rosemary and Adesola, academic advisors holding the session, while the others where heading on with the studying of ethics. I accomplished to narrow down my questions further, focusing more on the advantages and disadvantages of working in different environments (Appendix D)).
After getting through the Reader 4 'Developing lines of professional Inquiry', I started answering to the set questions given, starting to analyze what I was capable of and where I was missing something in my training. I then posted my findings in "Identifying knowledge and skills" up in blog post. (Appendix E)).
After considering my interests and the line for inquiry I was working on, I decided on my final rationale for my Award Title. As Musical Theatre is my major but I wanted to keep my professional opportunities open to different areas, I decided on 'BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Performing Arts'. (Appendix F))
Catching up on Reader 5 'Professional Ethics' I started to get a first understanding of how Ethics relates to my area of work posting few tools I discovered through my research and also using my 'visual lens' for learning on what I perceived about Ethics. I then formed my own ideas on code of practice for a performer. (Appendix G))
With the third, and last, campus session we looked at the final part of the module, Reader 6 'Tools for Professional Inquiry'. After the useful slide show that Paula Nottingham and Rosemary showed us, I got a good understanding on what the final reader was about. We also did some exercise among us to understand the tools ofinterviewing and observing, some of the methods we were asked to try out for our inquiry. (Appendix H))
Further reflecting on Ethics I wrote a post on the outcomes obtained (Appendix I)). Also I gathered information of the code of practice of my day job, and compared it to how closely relates in a hypothetical performing job.
Through the development of my questions and with the help given me through my BAPP fellow students and my academic advisor, I achieved a final question for my Inquiry Project (Appendix L)) and I started, from then on, working on the next tasks given on this module.
With the piloting we were asked to try out, I gained a better knowledge on pros and cons this different tools have; observation (Appendix M)), interview, the different ways of doing it and its advantages and disadvantages (Appendix N)) (Appendix Nn)), a Focus Group (Appendix O)) and finally a pilot Survey (Appendix P). I gathered a good expertise on which tool would work best to find material for my inquiry and why.
Via the findings of literatures that relates to my topic, I was able to analyze and study what others have said on 'self-management skills for a successful career for a performer' (Appendix Q), R, S) and further investigate the matter. From these and others literature found I could notice what kind of advices are given from professionals working in different areas of the arts. I then finally booked mark findings and useful websites on Delicious, a website that gathers and organizes the links and pages you want to save. (Appendix T))
Together combined with the existing literatures and personal experiences I had during this module, I now have a good understanding of the tools I can use to help me gather more information, on ethics and code of practice of my professional area of work, and how to be able to further investigate on what it takes for an emerging performer to grow professionally and succeed.
References:
Appendix A: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/10/developing-lines-of-enquiry.htmlAppendix Aa: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/10/task-4b-develop-sig.htmlAppendix B: http://www.linkedin.com/Appendix Bb:http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Interested-in-sharing-ideas-thoughts-93013.S.82081311Appendix C: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/11/linkedin-eureka.htmlAppendix D: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/10/campus-session-2.htmlAppendix E: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/10/identifying-knowledge-and-skills.htmlAppendix F: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/11/task-4d-award-title-proposal.htmlAppendix G: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-glance-at-ethics.htmlAppendix H: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/11/campus-session-3-09-11-11.htmlAppendix I: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/11/campus-session-3-09-11-11.htmlAppendix L: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/inquiry-question-final.htmlAppendix M: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/wicked.htmlAppendix N: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/pilot-interview.htmlAppendix Nn: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/re-evaluation-of-my-pilot-interview.htmlAppendix O: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/pilot-focus-group.htmlAppendix P: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/pilot-survey.htmlAppendix Q: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/6c-literature-1.htmlAppendix R: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/12/literature-review-2_30.htmlAppendix S: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2012/01/literature-3.htmlAppendix T: http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com/2011/11/delicious.html
Tuesday 3 January 2012
6d: Delicious
I wanted to share my Delicious's link with everyone and see if someone is interested on following me and share their links with me... especially people interested in the same subjects as me for our project.
I 'm already following Stephanie's stak ... very useful networking tool, now more than ever!
My link:
http://www.delicious.com/stacks/view/N3XnpB
Monday 2 January 2012
6c Literature 3:
Why is Acting in Song So Different?
The last piece of literature I found is an Academic Journal written by Dr. Matt Bean, Professor of Musical Theatre and Voice, and Co-Director of the BFA Program in Musical Theatre at Western Illinois University.
I found great interest in this article as it relates to my major, musical theatre, and talks about the differences of the 'rules of music-theatre' and the 'rules of-theatre' (Bean, 2007).
Straight acting versus singing-acting; this is what the writer focuses his article on, comparing just speaking to what it takes to act when music is added to the speech.
He states how 'singing is bigger than speaking' and, therefore, acting. Singing comes when simply speaking is not enough to express what you want to say, he cites Ibid when he writes that 'music is justified once speech is no longer sufficient, “because there is an abnormal, heightened need to communicate." '
Music gives speech a greater dynamic (Linklater) and it's what singers need when what they have to say is more urgent and they need to express a higher level of emotions, otherwise, he explains, if the singer doesn't need to express what he "wants" more than an actor does, he may as well just talk instead of sing.
He then carries on giving explanations on how, for him, the music gives to the singer notes and variations to the text than normal speech don't have, dynamics, notes such as p, mp, f, mf, crescendo, intonations, melody, time extensions, tempo, melody, rhythm, none of the which are given in an monologue or script.
A 'blessing and a curse' at the same time as he values the freedom of interpretation for the actor but highly values the great help the singer gets with the designed parameters of the music written by a composer.
A very interesting point of the article is made about the Challenge to expressing text on a foreign language; he advises 3 level for communication when singing in a foreign language (this is mostly related to Opera that almost always is sung in Italian even for English speakers). The lowest level, where the singer doesn't know the meaning of the words he/she is singing and vaguely act them out, a second middle level where the singer has a general understanding and knowledge of the words and translate them back and forth in his/her mind, or the highest level where the language is well know by the singer that can actually think in the foreign language and therefore act the words sung at its best.
He then talks about the Need for concentration, as the words in singing are stretched out and the thought process goes faster than the words sung. This require a great level of concentration not to loose the meaning of what's said while singing.
Also Text repetition is a key in singing; he already pointed out that when someone sings is because it's 'the most important thing in our lives right then', and what happens when something is so important? We obsess about it and therefore the thought keeps coming back to our minds. That's the reason why text repetition is a fundamental part of a song, to show how important what we are singing about is.
Bean believes that Spontaneity is another hard task for singers has it's never real in a song, as it probably has been rehearsed many times, nonetheless the song has to remain natural and the singer should sound and look spontaneous throughout the song.
Last but not least, he speaks about Synergy, derived from the Greek syn-ergos, meaning to work together (Balk). He writes how 'Opera and music theater are the most collaborative of all art forms in the way they seek to combine music, drama, design, and movement to create something new. As singers learn to integrate acting and singing, they likewise have the unique chance to create synergy, that wonderful artistic state where the singing and the acting begin to feed off each other and unite to take the performance to a new and higher level.'
Reading this journal, I strongly appreciated Bean's knowledge in musical theatre, especially in the works of Stephen Sondheim, American composer an lyricist for stage and film (Wikipedia, 2011). The examples he used within the text to explain the reason for repetition in a song, where extracts from Mozart and Sondheim's work, and having studied and performed in one of Sondheim's musicals Into the Woods, gave me a very clear understanding of the text and its meaning.
In conclusion I believe the point that then author wanted to make, is how singing and acting together is a very difficult but very effective way to perform and how acting on his own give a way more freedom interpretation to the actor.
I found a good part of what is stated in this article, a synthesis of what I learned in college when taking Musical Theatre classes. The whole construction of a song and its text is a great help that the composer gives to the singer/actor, but unless you don't really learn them and understand why they are in a particular point in the song, the work becomes useless. Bean himself states how much improvements students get when starting to sing "acting" the emotions that the given notes generates and fully understanding the choices that the composer makes.
References:
Bean, M., Nov 2007. Why is Acting in Song So Different?, Journal of Singing [e-journal] 64(2) pp. 167-173. Available through: Ebscohost database. [accessed 23 Dec 2011].
Wikipedia, 2011, Stephen Sondheim [online]. Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sondheim> [accessed 02 Jan 2012].
I found great interest in this article as it relates to my major, musical theatre, and talks about the differences of the 'rules of music-theatre' and the 'rules of-theatre' (Bean, 2007).
Straight acting versus singing-acting; this is what the writer focuses his article on, comparing just speaking to what it takes to act when music is added to the speech.
He states how 'singing is bigger than speaking' and, therefore, acting. Singing comes when simply speaking is not enough to express what you want to say, he cites Ibid when he writes that 'music is justified once speech is no longer sufficient, “because there is an abnormal, heightened need to communicate." '
Music gives speech a greater dynamic (Linklater) and it's what singers need when what they have to say is more urgent and they need to express a higher level of emotions, otherwise, he explains, if the singer doesn't need to express what he "wants" more than an actor does, he may as well just talk instead of sing.
He then carries on giving explanations on how, for him, the music gives to the singer notes and variations to the text than normal speech don't have, dynamics, notes such as p, mp, f, mf, crescendo, intonations, melody, time extensions, tempo, melody, rhythm, none of the which are given in an monologue or script.
A 'blessing and a curse' at the same time as he values the freedom of interpretation for the actor but highly values the great help the singer gets with the designed parameters of the music written by a composer.
A very interesting point of the article is made about the Challenge to expressing text on a foreign language; he advises 3 level for communication when singing in a foreign language (this is mostly related to Opera that almost always is sung in Italian even for English speakers). The lowest level, where the singer doesn't know the meaning of the words he/she is singing and vaguely act them out, a second middle level where the singer has a general understanding and knowledge of the words and translate them back and forth in his/her mind, or the highest level where the language is well know by the singer that can actually think in the foreign language and therefore act the words sung at its best.
He then talks about the Need for concentration, as the words in singing are stretched out and the thought process goes faster than the words sung. This require a great level of concentration not to loose the meaning of what's said while singing.
Also Text repetition is a key in singing; he already pointed out that when someone sings is because it's 'the most important thing in our lives right then', and what happens when something is so important? We obsess about it and therefore the thought keeps coming back to our minds. That's the reason why text repetition is a fundamental part of a song, to show how important what we are singing about is.
Bean believes that Spontaneity is another hard task for singers has it's never real in a song, as it probably has been rehearsed many times, nonetheless the song has to remain natural and the singer should sound and look spontaneous throughout the song.
Last but not least, he speaks about Synergy, derived from the Greek syn-ergos, meaning to work together (Balk). He writes how 'Opera and music theater are the most collaborative of all art forms in the way they seek to combine music, drama, design, and movement to create something new. As singers learn to integrate acting and singing, they likewise have the unique chance to create synergy, that wonderful artistic state where the singing and the acting begin to feed off each other and unite to take the performance to a new and higher level.'
In conclusion I believe the point that then author wanted to make, is how singing and acting together is a very difficult but very effective way to perform and how acting on his own give a way more freedom interpretation to the actor.
I found a good part of what is stated in this article, a synthesis of what I learned in college when taking Musical Theatre classes. The whole construction of a song and its text is a great help that the composer gives to the singer/actor, but unless you don't really learn them and understand why they are in a particular point in the song, the work becomes useless. Bean himself states how much improvements students get when starting to sing "acting" the emotions that the given notes generates and fully understanding the choices that the composer makes.
References:
Bean, M., Nov 2007. Why is Acting in Song So Different?, Journal of Singing [e-journal] 64(2) pp. 167-173. Available through: Ebscohost database. [accessed 23 Dec 2011].
Wikipedia, 2011, Stephen Sondheim [online]. Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sondheim> [accessed 02 Jan 2012].
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