“food for thought”
Method To The Madness
I’m starving! It’s Hot in here! I want that house on the beach! Simple wants. Simple desires that are motivators to our initiation & follow through to achieving a “Desired Result!” Fascinating isn’t it? How little it takes to trigger human reaction. But in true form of “what it takes to make a happening a reality;” without points in space you can never connect a straight line, without lines you can not create geometric shape, & without geometric shape we can not superimpose 3 dimensionality. All parts of a “Process!” And after all that is what “Stage Performance” is a “Demonstrated Process!”
For me it is SCREAMINGLY apparent that my thoughts or inspirations speak the substance of their concrete form based on my rate of successful achievement to a proven method or process. It is, for me, The Cardinal Rule that performance education MUST fulfill. Pragmatic, & Practical Methodology on “how to successfully achieve a reality.”
“Stage Performance,” when you are capable of seeing it’s true essence, is the very definition of “Clarity in Expressing A Process!” It is from our “Dare – Devil Explorations” when we encounter our experiences most “Beautiful Moments of Amazement!” It is a commodity that the entire “Stage Performance Profession” holds in unique quality and real live demonstration unlike many others. Notice I choose to not say, “unlike any other,” as to give more importance to the value of “Stage Performance” more so than another type of professional discipline.
“Successful Approach To A Process,” is one of the most basic tenants demanded from a “Great Performer!” How the performer so effortlessly, but with technical mastery, & so convincingly with emotion & presence, presents the process are major components that keep an audience looking or listening.
The “Process” is where “Education’s” value SKYROCKETS! Given the primary charge of instructing and nurturing the performers complete understanding of how to achieve a process with success, it is one of the most crucial kung fu arts that all great performers must demonstrate before being accepted or recognized as a “Performer Identity!”
In a beginning or entry, level stage of development, the individual should feel a great deal of “MADNESS by what the process might ask.” However, one can never devalue any point of that process if expecting to be awarded credit for going through the process.
Going through a process is like taking a hike; “you travel an unfamiliar course but have the necessary tools on hand to make it to the end of the course! After an individual has successfully taken this hike, for say more than 3 – 4 times, the individual begins to naturally absorb facts of the environment around them and begins solidifying a cultivated sense of ownership and familiarity to the trip being taken; the first real steps towards MASTERY! Without the step of mastery, the individual will never poses the capability of producing Magic!
4 points, student performers MUST ALWAYS remember when cultivating their ability to successfully “Follow Through With A Process:”
I – An instructor recommends the tools for the journey. The instructor’s credibility, to the student, is measured by the actual level of success achieved by the instructor over the course of the specific part of the process: technical proficiency, and expressive performance capability. This part of the process REQUIRES the instructor to successfully demonstrate the sought after skill. The beautiful reality about "Demonstration" is that it is the processes most valuable asset towards future growth. The more reps of a successful performance, builds the performers degrees of mastery. And one day, mastery could have the ability of becoming MAGIC!
II – Every process should have rhyme and reason. However, when you go through unfamiliar types or styles of a process it will feel as if it doesn’t have rhyme or reason; it will not make sense. The natural emotions that are likely to be experienced by the young performer will be anger, disgust, and oftentimes mistrust of the process. “Emotional Angst” should never give the student performer a right to change how they approach each step in the process.
III – Never be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of growing and developing. Making mistakes gives the performer information they HAVE TO KNOW! Without the experience of the mistake, the performer will have a lower probability to face and successfully overcome challenges. “How do you overcome the fall when you won’t acknowledge that you’ve fallen?”
IV – No matter what…. and I Mean, NO MATTER WHAT! Always approach your process through line of DETAIL, CONFIDENCE & A Yes I Can Do Attitude!
If you step back…. taking a closer look at these 4 steps shows, through visual representation in size of each point, what any great teacher says to a young performer: It is always most DIFFICULT in the beginning, but if you keep trying, never give up…. It WILL become easier!”
“Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible!”
Miguel de Unamuno
Author - Randy Phillips