#52: You'll come back a changed man
Tuesday 9/10/24
There is no “9” without “2”.
SCREAM IT WITH ME.
THERE IS NO “9” without “2”.
If you have read up on some prior blog entries, you know i’ve been doing a lot of Coach The Coach sessions. I realized there were a lot of people trying to break into coaching but didn’t have any support or training to do so. I figured I’d help out - so I offered people 4 private coachings with me and they’ve been observing me through my coachings and I’ve been setting up coachings for them to do and I am giving them feedback.
Over the weekend I had a coaching session with a “coach the coach” client (i say client but i’m doing it for free haha so i’ll just say client) and she wanted to work through a dramatic monologue with an adult actor. I set her up with exactly that: a coaching with an adult actor and I provided them a monologue to use for the coaching.
The session was going well and then the coach gave the feedback about how the “entire thing felt like it was at a 6” which wasn’t wrong or misguided. It was pretty accurate. I think what she meant was that it all read quite intense and varied levels. She then said “let’s get to 9”.
While the feedback is getting to a good place, it isn’t clear or actionable. “Let’s get to a 9” doesn’t help the actor achieve that note.
Here’s the thing, whether it’s a matter of intensity, volume, pace, tempo, comedy… there is no 9 without 2. There is no 9 without 10. There is no 9 without 5. You get it. “Get to a 9” needs the coaching on “2” also. What is the baseline. What is the regular pulse of the scene. Explore that first. Explore the whole song or monologue at each “level”.
A great exercise when you are stuck with a monologue or song that feels one level - assign levels 1-10. Try a few lines at each “level”. Level means varying MANY things not just loudness or intensity.
I find this often in coaches - they have good ideas but tend to not really know how to express or more importantly EXPLORE with the actor. You don’t need to give a note and have the actor “try it again”. Give the note, explore a moment or a line, talk about the adjustment, give any other adjustments and try again. THEN run the whole thing in context. Your goal is to align on language - and then apply that language :)
Dreams Don’t Die
Julie