American-German Architect
(1886-1969)
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The "Discipline of Improvisation"
"Improvisation is too good to leave to chance."
– Paul Simon
American Singer and Songwriter
(1941
It's an oxymoron of course, because everyone who's seen Improv on stage knows there's no earthly form of discipline in that uncontrolled, free-form combination of humor, self-examination and public excoriation. Or is there?
We like Improv because it implies that somewhere, somehow we might all be able to get up there and "wing it" successfully, leaving the stage with applause ringing in our ears. But wait! Is there more to it? Do you suppose that first "Where you from?" joke was a plant? Do they pay a guy to offer up a known question? Of course not, but in order for “the process” to work, the comic has to memorize fifty jokes about specific cities and twenty generics with insert-able names. That's for the first riff. And that is some serious discipline.
Each artist has a series of riffs, usually with a specific order and a choice of directions each riff can go, depending on the answers the crowd offers up. Often these riffs adhere to an organizational structure. It's like playing an entire winning game of chess in advance with all the options allowed for. Then there's the delivery: fast, slow, studied; all to give the impression that it just occurred to the speaker. If he's doing it right, he listens to the other performers, the audience and the unique shared reality they are creating together and honors the First Rule of Improv: “Yes, and Go!” (When you are given a piece of information you must run with it and trust that your training and practice will kick in.) The audience can't tell that it was largely prepared in advance. It appears magically – just for you! It appears unique. It appears spontaneous. And it is – but not, completely.
And the second show starts in an hour – with the same material. It's the most disciplined form of theater. It only looks raw. Underneath the surface are three things: a mountain of prepared material, a structure which allows for riffs to be snapped in or out, and endless rehearsal and practice; which makes each riff appear fresh – as if it was conceived in the moment. It's the "as if" that makes Improv so seductive, so apparently new. The magic works because the unchanging structure allows the comic to relax and become totally focused on the interaction with the audience, while picking the most appropriate next riff. The comic just relaxes and "places the punch line." While the audience is digesting and applauding, the comic is selecting the next riff and serving it up, at just the right "unplanned" moment.
Bringing the material, the underlying structure and the soft delivery together is an art – and it's anything but undisciplined. The improvisation is in choosing which prepared riff comes next, and making it look easy.
Is there a lesson here for anyone not looking for a career at Second City? What can we learn or take from Improv? (Pay attention out there on the phones, in the field and the boardroom!)
– Paul Simon
American Singer and Songwriter
(1941
It's an oxymoron of course, because everyone who's seen Improv on stage knows there's no earthly form of discipline in that uncontrolled, free-form combination of humor, self-examination and public excoriation. Or is there?
We like Improv because it implies that somewhere, somehow we might all be able to get up there and "wing it" successfully, leaving the stage with applause ringing in our ears. But wait! Is there more to it? Do you suppose that first "Where you from?" joke was a plant? Do they pay a guy to offer up a known question? Of course not, but in order for “the process” to work, the comic has to memorize fifty jokes about specific cities and twenty generics with insert-able names. That's for the first riff. And that is some serious discipline.
Each artist has a series of riffs, usually with a specific order and a choice of directions each riff can go, depending on the answers the crowd offers up. Often these riffs adhere to an organizational structure. It's like playing an entire winning game of chess in advance with all the options allowed for. Then there's the delivery: fast, slow, studied; all to give the impression that it just occurred to the speaker. If he's doing it right, he listens to the other performers, the audience and the unique shared reality they are creating together and honors the First Rule of Improv: “Yes, and Go!” (When you are given a piece of information you must run with it and trust that your training and practice will kick in.) The audience can't tell that it was largely prepared in advance. It appears magically – just for you! It appears unique. It appears spontaneous. And it is – but not, completely.
And the second show starts in an hour – with the same material. It's the most disciplined form of theater. It only looks raw. Underneath the surface are three things: a mountain of prepared material, a structure which allows for riffs to be snapped in or out, and endless rehearsal and practice; which makes each riff appear fresh – as if it was conceived in the moment. It's the "as if" that makes Improv so seductive, so apparently new. The magic works because the unchanging structure allows the comic to relax and become totally focused on the interaction with the audience, while picking the most appropriate next riff. The comic just relaxes and "places the punch line." While the audience is digesting and applauding, the comic is selecting the next riff and serving it up, at just the right "unplanned" moment.
Bringing the material, the underlying structure and the soft delivery together is an art – and it's anything but undisciplined. The improvisation is in choosing which prepared riff comes next, and making it look easy.
Is there a lesson here for anyone not looking for a career at Second City? What can we learn or take from Improv? (Pay attention out there on the phones, in the field and the boardroom!)
- Pre-planning makes things go right. If you're prepared, you can more easily roll with what comes.
- A simple standard structure (Uh, “Ready, Set, Go!”?) means you don't have to change the system every time you speak. Stick to the format. Change the content, the openings, the props – but leave the structure in place. You'll never get lost again.
- Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! It will elevate your delivery and allow your natural style to emerge while freeing your mind to listen and connect.
A little more discipline please! Improvise!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Freeing the Angel
“I saw an Angel in the Marble, and I carved until I set him Free.”
-- Michelangelo Buonarotti
Florentine Architect, Painter, Sculptor
(1475-1564)
Speech.
Writing.
Sculpture.
Art.
The intention to create an outcome... a result, through or within another person... through the medium of words or marble. (Sometimes words on/in Marble...)
The challenge of “sculpting a presentation” is to say what must be said, to achieve what must be understood – and nothing more.
It's about creating the greatest effect, with the least material.
We know too much. We have too little time.
Less is more.
Everywhere we see too much. Our culture is married to “More is More.” TV shows that go on ad nauseum, season after season. Martial artists who leap ten feet in the air to break a single brick. Retail sales organizations that sell you a pair of shoes wrapped in six pounds of paper, tissue and cardboard packaging. Oh, and the bag. Lots of show; Little substance. Big hat; No cattle.
No. Thing. More. Remove the heavy fashion statement on the part of the presenter. Remove the faked staging. Remove the forty-two Power Point screens. Remove the thirty-minute story and the joke. Remove the big deal program. Remove the five pounds of arithmetic in the pitch book. Sculpture is about removal, until only the essence remains.
The well-sculpted presentation contains:
1. What do you think we should do?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. How do we start?
5. Include an image that underscores the point.
6. Package it with your firm’s unique “signature.”
7. Add an index card with the image, a summary and your contact data.
8. Then, Ask us; Tell us – to Start. Now.
Creating the “Fusion” of you, your audience and your point.
Fusion. It’s an Art.
Go find your angel!
-- Michelangelo Buonarotti
Florentine Architect, Painter, Sculptor
(1475-1564)
Speech.
Writing.
Sculpture.
Art.
The intention to create an outcome... a result, through or within another person... through the medium of words or marble. (Sometimes words on/in Marble...)
The challenge of “sculpting a presentation” is to say what must be said, to achieve what must be understood – and nothing more.
It's about creating the greatest effect, with the least material.
We know too much. We have too little time.
Less is more.
Everywhere we see too much. Our culture is married to “More is More.” TV shows that go on ad nauseum, season after season. Martial artists who leap ten feet in the air to break a single brick. Retail sales organizations that sell you a pair of shoes wrapped in six pounds of paper, tissue and cardboard packaging. Oh, and the bag. Lots of show; Little substance. Big hat; No cattle.
No. Thing. More. Remove the heavy fashion statement on the part of the presenter. Remove the faked staging. Remove the forty-two Power Point screens. Remove the thirty-minute story and the joke. Remove the big deal program. Remove the five pounds of arithmetic in the pitch book. Sculpture is about removal, until only the essence remains.
The well-sculpted presentation contains:
1. What do you think we should do?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. How do we start?
5. Include an image that underscores the point.
6. Package it with your firm’s unique “signature.”
7. Add an index card with the image, a summary and your contact data.
8. Then, Ask us; Tell us – to Start. Now.
Creating the “Fusion” of you, your audience and your point.
Fusion. It’s an Art.
Go find your angel!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Facing the Fear
Public Speaking! Perennial Winner of the "Top Ten Fears" Poll.
Short of leaving the country, or filling a prescription; is there a way to Vanquish this Fear?
In a word, Yes. But it doesn't involve turning your back, running away or taking a pill.
First, recognize that fear is a perfectly reasonable response to being told you have to stand and address your peers. There's considerable risk involved if you mess it up. Ridicule. Laughter. Becoming the butt of a community joke -- all can result if you fail to win over the audience by winning -- over your fear.
Fear is reasonable. It just isn't rational. It's an animal response. Flight! Now! Preferably to a warm climate. Change your name. Disavow your previous life! But the more you run, the more you get caught up inside your head; the worse it becomes.
Turn and face the fear; and the audience! Look directly at them!
True, this is so simple it's laughable -- but it will be the "laughter of release." Try it!
There is nothing so apparently simple as to stand and look at your audience -- but one person at a time. Do it Slowly. Take long enough with each person to notice the color of their eyes, their hair, their signature expression. And the miracle happens... As you slowly become more aware of the audience as individuals; you become correspondingly less afraid. Until you're not afraid at all. They become aware of you also and the longer you look, the more time slows down until absolutely... nothing... is... happening. You are now PRESENT "in the moment." This is the "place of pure nothingness" that all performers and speakers aspire to as a prelude to the performance. It's a spiritual place, with no fear, no noise. It's a perfect foundation -- and from here you can take it anywhere. The audience can't quite figure out why you are so powerfully commanding. Their tension mounts, until you choose to release it -- by beginning. Was that ten years? Or ten seconds.
What's the secret? Fear is reasonable, but not rational. It lives inside your head. So you should go somewhere else -- "out of your head" and into the eyes, minds, hearts and souls of your audience.
There's no good to be done inside your head. Anyway, you're probably sharing that real estate with a "crazy person" -- just like all of us.
Get "Out of your head!" Look at the audience, then Speak!
Face down your fear as you face the audience.
Now, go tackle your fear of spiders...
Short of leaving the country, or filling a prescription; is there a way to Vanquish this Fear?
In a word, Yes. But it doesn't involve turning your back, running away or taking a pill.
First, recognize that fear is a perfectly reasonable response to being told you have to stand and address your peers. There's considerable risk involved if you mess it up. Ridicule. Laughter. Becoming the butt of a community joke -- all can result if you fail to win over the audience by winning -- over your fear.
Fear is reasonable. It just isn't rational. It's an animal response. Flight! Now! Preferably to a warm climate. Change your name. Disavow your previous life! But the more you run, the more you get caught up inside your head; the worse it becomes.
Turn and face the fear; and the audience! Look directly at them!
True, this is so simple it's laughable -- but it will be the "laughter of release." Try it!
There is nothing so apparently simple as to stand and look at your audience -- but one person at a time. Do it Slowly. Take long enough with each person to notice the color of their eyes, their hair, their signature expression. And the miracle happens... As you slowly become more aware of the audience as individuals; you become correspondingly less afraid. Until you're not afraid at all. They become aware of you also and the longer you look, the more time slows down until absolutely... nothing... is... happening. You are now PRESENT "in the moment." This is the "place of pure nothingness" that all performers and speakers aspire to as a prelude to the performance. It's a spiritual place, with no fear, no noise. It's a perfect foundation -- and from here you can take it anywhere. The audience can't quite figure out why you are so powerfully commanding. Their tension mounts, until you choose to release it -- by beginning. Was that ten years? Or ten seconds.
What's the secret? Fear is reasonable, but not rational. It lives inside your head. So you should go somewhere else -- "out of your head" and into the eyes, minds, hearts and souls of your audience.
There's no good to be done inside your head. Anyway, you're probably sharing that real estate with a "crazy person" -- just like all of us.
Get "Out of your head!" Look at the audience, then Speak!
Face down your fear as you face the audience.
Now, go tackle your fear of spiders...
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