Performance Skills Training – Page 23

Covering All the Bases: 5 Essentials Elements of Warming Up

Flloyd Kennedy 10 November 2013 Performance Skills Training, Voice

It’s pretty much known that I am a warm up freak. I love warming up. I love finding new ways of warming up. I love getting other people to warm up, hence the development of the Being in Voice smartphone app.

nigel-et-al — warming up with bamboo poles

I have certain exercises that I use, from time to time, but really it’s important to warm up with exercises that fit the circumstances. What works for you warming up at home by yourself for an audition might not work for a group warming up for an ensemble production. What works with one group might not work with another group. It is important – nay essential! – to find a consensus within the group, so that everybody gets to own the warm up. Warming up is working, it should be enjoyable, something to look forward to.

Whatever you are warming up for, whether it’s for a day at the chalk-face or a 5 minute pitch presentation, an interview with the boss or a 3 hour Shakespeare performance, there are certain bases that must be covered:

1) stimulate blood flow to the muscles – the body’s core muscles plus all the large external muscles (arms and legs) and the minute and complex internal muscles of the vocal apparatus (including the articulators); challenge those muscles and the heart and lungs to function at a slightly more demanding level than normal, everyday resting state

2) open the mind’s attention to the actual physical state of the body, from the inside

3) generate freedom of movement throughout every joint in the body

3) open the mind and the ears to the potential of vocal sound throughout the whole body and flowing into the space

4) ensure the free flow of vibrations throughout the whole body and into the space – only possible when the body is warm, relaxed and alert

5 stretch and play with the full range of vocal sound – pitch, resonance, colour and articulation

5) bring the attention into clear focus.

And of course, if you are working with a group, you want to complete the warmup process with everybody clearly engaged with everybody else and ready to begin working straight away.

Did I leave anything out? I’d love to hear your ideas.

You’ll find lots of exercises in the eBook “Four Great Vocal Warmups” – free if you register your email to receive notice of blog updates and an occasional newsletter.

What are your favourite warmup exercises? Is there a difference between warming up and training? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Warming up for an Execution

Flloyd Kennedy 1 October 2013 Performance Skills Training, Theatre

I have the great honour of being, temporarily, part of an ensemble theatre company for a pretty special production.

“Mary Stuart” was written by the German poet, playwright and philosopher Friedrich Schiller around 1803, and while it is considered part of German classic theatre, it is rarely performed in English.

Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble have chosen to present this play with a very specific, brief rehearsal schedule. Two rehearsals a week, over three weeks, followed by 2 techs, and then four performances. This is something you can only do (well!) when you work with a team who have developed a shared vocabulary, shared ideology and shared aesthetic.

In this case, the entire company apart from myself have been working together for at least two years, and they have just finished a successful three week season of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Our director, Christina Koch, has been a member of the company since its inception around 8 years ago, and she brings with her a genuine and well-informed passion for the text in all its complexity.

I am thrilled to be part of this production. We open on Wednesday at 7.30 pm, and we are all – as far as I can tell – excited and terrified in equal measure. We have the privilege of sharing a good long warmup before each rehearsal, usually led by Christina, but sometimes on our own. It allows us to tune up our bodies, our voices and our brains, to spread our sounds throughout the space of the Geoffrey Rush Drama Studio, and to feel each other’s vibrations connecting us, literally, to our scene partners and to the story.

I hope to see you in the foyer after one of the performances. Costumes are minimal, so we don’t need long to come out and say hi.

What is your experience of working with classic texts? Share in the comments section below.

Performance Skills Training, Theatre

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