NJTheatreMOM

Son of Tranquil, to my knowledge fishbowlfreshman has never revealed, here on the open forum, what school she attends. And she has mentioned Suzuki a lot. ;-)

Probably there are quite a few high school students who have taken classes in studios like you did, or attended summer programs and learned about various techniques and methods of instruction that way. Chrissyblu mentioned on another thread that her daughter experienced Feldenkrais movement instruction during a summer program.

My son never had those types of experiences. When he was applying to BFA programs it would never have occurred to him -- initially -- to ask what teaching approaches they used. We only learned about some of the various approaches late in the game. He did ask some questions at schools he had already been accepted to.

One reason I wanted to discuss this topic was so that people reading this thread might be better informed than we were.

I was looking up some stuff about Suzuki and Viewpoints on the internet and got the impression that a lot of schools offer those via workshops with visiting specialists (?).

DoctorJohn said most acting programs have a person trained in either the Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais. I suspect that this is not the case with Suzuki and Viewpoints. I don't know if any programs exist where Suzuki work is the only kind of movement work they do??

Viewpoints sounds to me like it is related to dance and might be most useful for ensemble work and teaching people to move well in concert with others and in response to others' movements......whereas the objective of the majority of movement work in actor training is to get one's own "instrument" into optimum condition, if I'm not mistaken....

doctorjohn

Son of Tranquil:

Actually, quite a large number of programs teach Fitzmaurice Voice Work. Harvard has three certified specialists, we have three at Otterbein, Yale has four, and Cal State Fullerton has six. Here's the complete list:

Find a Teacher or Location

It is a bit scary to watch, but it's not nearly as scary when you do it.

NJTheatreMOM: Viewpoints, developed by Mary Overlie and adapted by Anne Bogart, artistic director of the SITI Company, is a method of both analyzing and creating choreography and blocking. Here's the Wikipedia description:

Viewpoints - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is closely related to the work of Rudolph Laban, who developed Labanotation as a way of charting choreography in the days before videotape. Here's the Wikipedia article on his movement work:

Laban Movement Analysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We don't teach Viewpoints here (although we have done workshops led by members of the SITI Company), but Richard Hess does in acting classes at CCM. We teach Laban, in addition to Alexander and Feldenkrais, and Fitzmaurice and Linklater voice work.

Interesting discussion. Thanks for keeping it going.

NJTheatreMOM

That list of where Fitzmaurice Voicework is taught is very interesting, doctorjohn. One thing I noticed is that most of the certified instructors are in the US. Only two individuals are listed as being based in the UK.

According to the list, Fitzmaurice instruction is offered at two secondary programs that I could identify.....Horace Mann H.S. in New York and Idlyllwild Arts Academy in CA.

The following are some of the schools that do NOT offer Fitzmaurice: NCSA, Boston University, Emerson, Juilliard, University of Minnesota/Guthrie, SUNY Purchase and Ithaca College. Only two of the studios at NYU offer it: Atlantic and Playwrights Horizons.

I suspect that the different approaches to voice & speech instruction at various institutions for actor training all yield similar results. My son's Linklater-based instruction at BU, where he is a freshman, seems to be providing the students with profound emotional insights that help loosen up their freedom of expression.....in addition to whatever it is doing for their voices per se. I would never have expected that. His stories make it sound so cool!

Son of Tranquil

NJMom- You are completely right, and in actuality, my assumption was completely wrong, haha.

Dear FishbowlFreshman,
I am sorry for saying that you go to NCSA, digging deeper into things that you have said you don't go here, our programs are just very similar.
Love,
SonOfTranquil


DrJohn-

Oops! I guess I just assumed so because in all the schools I auditioned for the two years I did the whole audition process I hadn't heard of it until I visited UMiami. I guess it's more common than I thought, however would you say that it is as popular as Linklater for voice?

early_college

I have read a lot on this forum and noticed FishbowlFreshman has never said what school she attends too. She probably just doesn't want people to know what school she goes to, for privacy reasons. This is something which I may do too, but who knows. She hasn't been on this forum in a while actually. I thought she had graduated, because she did make a thread on expenses in LA a while back. I do that she must be a gifted actress, just based on her posts.

NJTheatreMOM

Early_college, "fish" has fans on CC and I am one. I believe she is a senior. As you mentioned, she has shared with us some research she'd done about expenses.

Current students in college acting programs are very busy and don't have much time to post here. It's wonderful when they share their insights and experiences.

early_college

I thought she graduated, but she could be a senior. Either way, she must be busy if she is still in a BFA or not. People should be glad when she responds though.

fishbowlfreshman

Of course, that's a different Suzuki than Tadashi who first made the very thought of climbing stairs a painful experience for me all the way back in high school and whose 'way' is now taught in many places. I do think it's a good point in this discussion, though. As an artist, you always want lots of possibilities and should remain a lifelong 'beginner.' The various techniques taught in a program are something to look into, but I think there might be a danger in focusing too much on "I must have this" or "I must not have that" in this context since most of such decisions can only be intellectual if you haven't actually experienced what you're talking about. Even if you have, at this phase you probably still don't really even know which are 'best' for you. You'll change a lot as an actor over your time in a good program as will a lot of your preconceptions. I mean, I had a good bit of training before I started, but the way I work now has very little to do with what I was up to then and I, to an extent, use some things that I had completely written off as unorthodox or even bogus at the time. I'm sure I'll look back at how I work now in somewhat the same light ten years from now as well. Shoot, I already know of a couple of non-scholastic teachers I'd like to work with at some point after I finish school. It's an ongoing, lifelong process and all these 'techniques,' 'methods,' and 'ways' are really like the Zen proverb of a finger pointing at the moon. The finger is not the moon and, in fact, must disappear. I'm sick as mud tonight and don't have much patience for writing, but hopefully my point is somewhat clear ... Basically, if it's being taught in a reputable program, it has worked for somebody and is worth delving into. No way is necessarily 'best.'

As for me ... I have to admit I had to go to a friend's Facebook pics to see which NCSA Studio IVite I would think was me if I only knew me though CC although that's kind of impossible, I guess. LOL We all develop mental pictures of people on message boards that are usually completely inaccurate. I assure you, though, that you won't be able to conclusively confirm any program since I've intentionally scrambled some things partially because of what early_college said plus my not wanting to be considered a spokesperson. I'm sure I've said some things over the years that neither the faculty nor some of my classmates would agree with, so I think it's best to just talk in general. It's kind of weird, really. This will be the last year I actually know people in other programs besides my own. Everybody has already graduated or will be finishing this year ...

NJTheatreMOM

Thanks, fish, for sharing your wisdom (love the finger/moon proverb), even though you're not feeling well (feel better soon, please!) and for relieving the discomfiture of all this conjecture about an invisible you.

When it comes to mental images......could I possibly have once seen a comment about an anticipation of edgy bimbo roles being somebody's bread and butter for a while.....?

Probably my memory is scrambled. In any event, when I once read that comment about somebody or other, it conjured in my mind a picture of a young actress with Bernadette Peters' affect but an appearance more like Christina Ricci's.

Okay, you can stop laughing now.

fishbowlfreshman

No, I can't stop laughing! Oh, my ... LOL

NJTheatreMOM

I recently learned that on visitors day at the Boston University School of Theatre, there is a scheduled session where parents can ask questions of current freshmen in the program.

In addition, prospective performance students are permitted to observe movement and acting classes.

I don't know how common it is for these two things to be offered on visitors days at theatre programs, but I was impressed.

forrest

Physical training is extremely important, but I would also pay close attention to the qauntity/qaulity of the speech and voice training. A good example of how important this is to an actor would be to look at the voice/speech requirements of some of the Australian conservatories - and then tote up the number of Australian actors you see working in this country these days.

NJTheatreMOM

Forrest, is voice/speech a specialty of Australian conservatories?

Are Australian conservatories generally more like British ones than US ones in their methods, or are there unique aspects to them?

forrest

From what I understand there is much more emphasis on technique in general than there is many American Conservatories. Even the British have gotten away somewhat from teaching technique as rigorously as in the past, in favor of methods. Most actors I know don't subscribe to one particular method but pick and choose what works for them - and make up their own along the way. Having a mental process that works for you can be quite helpful. Technique will get you through four or five auditions/interviews in a day and allow you to do eight shows a week (and 16 hour shoot days) without losing your mind and health.

It is truly astounding the number of Australian actors working in American television and film.

kjgc

I went to a performance last night of a physically based theatre company. Growtowski trained director and co-director. They spend a year developing the piece, then at least two years performing. Physically highly demanding. And what they said last night was "technique, discipline, those are the base from which we draw the performance. Without those, we would not be able to perform, and the show would change far too radically each time performed."

Just found that interesting based on what forrest said. Call it what you want. In art school you learn to draw a circle and move from there. Technique, craft, etc. Those are the base. I long for the days of actors who could be heard without microphones and who could hit the same spot on the stage each night without spike tape.