The Flying Machine Theatre Studio
Connect with us!
  • Home
  • Testimonials
  • Flying Machine Theatre Co.
  • Donate
  • POV
  • Contact
  • Suggested Reading
  • About Sanford Meisner
  • Resources for Actors
  • Instructors
  • Photo Credits

Why We Practice, by Dan Sipp

4/7/2012

0 Comments

 
From time to time I'll have students replay an exercise that we've done in a previous class. Sometimes a student will point out, "We've already done that exercise," as if I'd made a mistake or forgotten that we've done it before. I guess that some students find it odd that we're doing an exercise again. It makes me wonder: Do basketball players ever ask their coach, "Why am I practicing shooting free throws again? I did that yesterday." Or if members of a band ask their leader, "Why are we rehearsing that song again? We already practiced it once."

Maybe I'm weird, but I like trying exercises again. When I was a student I'd often have a lot more ideas about what to do once an exercise was over than I did when it started. By the time I'd "figured it out" it was over - never to be played again. A well chosen exercise teaches a skill that's important in improv. You can't expect to master that skill by trying it one time any more that you can master a hook shot by shooting a couple or learn the intro to Stairway To Heaven in fifteen minutes. In fact, the longer I studied improv the more I realized that my teachers weren't actually teaching me anything I hadn't heard before. What they were doing was reminding of stuff I knew but wasn't doing.

Improv is fun to do but only looks easy. The people who are good at it have put a lot of time into their craft. Much of that time is spent practicing fundamental skills over and over. So give that exercise a second try. If you "got it" the first time, try a different choice and see how that works. Or watch the other students and see what they do. I'll bet I've learned as much from fellow players than I did from the teachers.

Keep in mind that whenever you decide that you're good enough at something and stop working on it, that's probably as good as you're ever going to be. And I never want to feel like I'm good enough. I always want to get better.


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is J Chachula and I'm the principal instructor at The Flying Machine Theatre Studio.

    Picture

    Archives

    May 2017
    April 2017
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    Improv
    Improvisation

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.