This was Wednesday’s class.
i have dispensed with capital letters because the shift key is in the annoying place on my mini’s keyboard. you can invent your own.
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| O’Hare International airport – a long corridor of rainbow flashing lights |
games to practice set up and pay off rhyming
i’m gonna call this exercise not what you think:
given a word (winter), think of the payoff rhyme (snow), then 2 set up rhymes (grow and know).
then say out loud 3 lines except for the pay off: in a season when things don’t grow, you’d think i’d know, cold white fluff on the ground is (don’t way snow)… you don’t say snow, because the next person says something different to snow (but not a rhyme), like ice cream. then they think of a pay off associated with ice cream (scoop), and then two set ups (hoop and loop), and they go.
i think we did this with a clapping rhythm to keep to.
taking focus + rhymes
taking focus to sing: people move around the stage, and then randomly someone will make a strong physical move, and say ‘i got it’. the move to an extension of this: one person does two set up rhymes, and one other person then makes a big physical movement to show they have the answer, and then they say the pay off rhyme
taking focus to sing
game to practice taking focus to sing a song – like oscar winning moment – scene to song – as you “step into” your song, transition your body to song, you step downstage and sing out (not to your partner, even if it’s about them). they call this “pick a brick” (in the wall above the audience) or park and bark.
voice warm ups
when a body meets a body coming through the rye, to the tune of the chromatic scale for an octave both ways then sung as a 2 part round with each part starting at opposite ends of the scale.
advice on songs in musical improv
endings work well if you repeat the last line – try not to slow down. stronger to repeat twice. more than 3 and it can go forever
usually the song is the last thing in the scene – it’s a natural emotional climax – only a button comes after
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| How healthy do you need to be if Resurrection is an option? |
if it’s a group song and a lot of people are on stage, someone at the front can “conduct” to have it all finish simultaneously
it’s hard to make things which aren’t important important,but they become so when you sing about it. it’s easier when it’s something that’s a big deal, something emotional. tougher if it’s a car or a boat (but consider using a metaphor song for this)
if you’re in the back line / the wings waiting to come on and you want to plan something, plan your initiation/first line only, and be ready to drop it if someone else initiates first.
stop talking when the music starts – fill the space with an emotional moment
make the initial statement about your partner (rather than something or someone outside the scene)
don’t bother to rhyme if it traps you into saying things you don’t want to or stilts your delivery
you can make any rhythm song slower by holding some notes or making a single word many notes
avoid telling someone they are crazy or on medication, that annuls/defuses their offer. you want to heighten the behaviour
there should be a physical change in you when the music starts – we should know in your body that you are about to sing (and it gives you a laugh)
the other person on stage with you is the most important thing in the room
take care of who what where in the first 3 lines
if you’re at the end of your inspiration in a song, check with your scene partner for inspiration, then with the environment before you make anything new up (invention vs what’s obvious)
games we played
four square / shift left
played as a scene and shifted when it gets to the point for a song.when you shift back you’re in the song, and you can shift back to the song again as often as you like. finish on the end of one of the songs. (we had 2 bites at each song).
