Lucky 13! First Day of School!
NYC Yellow Taxis are everywhere! And they can be ruthless! There are a lot of one way streets. If the street is clear, you can cross on a green light, even without the "Walk" sign.
However, if the Taxi is the only car headed your direction and he has the green light and you've decided to cross, you'd better make a different decision in a hurry because that cab ain't stoppin'! This is purely from observation and not personal experience, I assure you....
I stopped on 8th Ave to have lunch with a friend after class.
Do you notice anything unusual in this next photo?
How about now?
My first two classes went well. There are 30 people in my class. We spent the first class introducing ourselves, going over the syllabus and talking about the content of the Voice class. Patrick, my teacher, explained that this class will include some Speech as well, because to concentrate on Voice only, without Speech would result in a semester of making unintelligible sounds. Patrick has a full, rich voice that I could listen to all day! He said that when he was in college, he spoke in quite a high, thin voice, and it took awhile to use all the resonance in his chest to constantly use the voice we hear today. I am very excited to learn from him. One of my favorite female voices is Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin) on Frasier. I want to learn how to emulate that quality.
If every you thought you were in shape, or on your way to being in better shape, take a Movement for Actors class for an hour! The class is relentless for a two hour stretch. In one case, the teacher read a scenario to the class and had us imagine that we were light, like tidal waves, full of power and movement. Then she switched the example and had us imagine we were stuck in the mud at the bottom of the ocean. We had to walk through it, and her words were so vivid, my muscles felt very heavy and it did become more difficult to move my legs. Tears were unlocked at one point, so intense was the feeling of lacking hope.
Eventually, the teacher vocalized a light, some hope, a waterfall pouring down on us making us light and grateful and through the difficult trial.
This exercise was done so we can tap into these feelings later during scene work. If the actor can remember what his body felt like in an imaginary scenario, he can get there again emotionally to bring that perspective to a scene.
Then it was time to run around New York with some new friends and have fun for a few hours!
Ladies from my class, and of course, the New York cabs
We're all trying to save money, but we want to hail a cab and ride one for a city block, just to say we got ride in a real one! I said, then it would be like the scene from Friends when Phoebe wants to talk to Ross, so she puts Rachel in a cab for a city block. So does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?
HEY, CALIFORNIA! Look what I get for free in NYC :-)
We wandered over to The Strand, it's not just the newspaper in Sherlock Holmes, it's also a bookstore with lots of books and plays! I didn't find the plays I need right this second, but I did find a collection of Ibsen plays (including A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler) for $6.25. I'm very happy about that because one play can cost $9 or more. I had the privilege of seeing Ruth Wilson perform Hedda Gabler last spring with National Theatre Live. She was able to capture an icy cold glare melting into hot rage and frustration within 20 seconds or so. So much dimension was added to the scene!
After the bookstore, my friends and I continued to wander around the city. Ready to entertain my Duchess Kate obsession?! Once upon a time, when Kate Middleton was pregnant with Prince George, she went into Pret-A-Manger in London. I had heard there was one in New York City, and I found it accidentally!
I hope to sit and have coffee here one day soon! Maybe I'll come back as soon as I get my "Kate" coat (the Temperley London RepliKate).
Somewhere in Greenwich Village
Washington Square Park-- lovely during the day, not to be walked through at nightIt drizzled for awhile and rained for a bit, but for the most part, the weather is hot and humid. The humidity still is not as bad as it is in Texas. But I can imagine how the city must swelter in the summer.
Jazz clubs are cool, but people come to New York for Broadway shows! So... Hello, Dolly!
New York is loud! There are lots of sirens and horns and car alarms and jackhammers and nail guns every day. But this is my first time seeing a Hook-and-Ladder in NYC. Big Truck! I have always liked fire trucks, really, I'm fascinated by them... and yeah, I suppose it's easy now to get a crush on firemen ;-)
But turning my head away from the bright red truck, it was time to go to class. The Wednesday Night class is a Consortium where students either perform, rehearse or cold-read. We get coaching so that we are better prepared to handle any curveballs an audition might throw.
This evening, we watched several students in the year ahead of me, and then we got a real treat. Paul "Wix" Wickens, the Keyboardist/Musical Director for Sir Paul McCartney stopped by and talked to us for more than an hour. It was surreal. He talked about his "audition" for Sir Paul, more of a jam session. He talked about playing for audiences of thousands and what it is like to think on the fly with live TV. For the Princess Diana concert in 2007, Wix requested the TV broadcast layout, but he wasn't given an updated playlist, so at one point he had to think fast with one of the artists and work on the fly. With live TV, you can't stop the show.
He also spoke about what it is like to maintain the bonds of family while working as an artist with a heavy travel schedule. Wix is a fellow jazz enthusiast. He shared that Count Basie is one of his role models.
It was such a treat! What a way to start the schoolyear! (If you have any questions, please write in the comments section below, and I will reply as soon as I can).
God Bless, Much Love and Kisses!
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