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Pat also gave us extra materials to go over outside of class, so I'll make you suffer through that as well.
So you want to be a storyteller (too)! You want to ride the waves without a net ... erm, I mean, a surfboard. Block that metaphor! You already have everything you need: a voice and a body. You will be communicating with both. The voice even communicates with unborn babies! Take care how you say things!
We've all learned from the Ripley's about body language, and the same things apply to storytelling. Your eyes are also a powerful communication tool. You have to use them to connect to your audience (to begin with and now and then to keep the connection up) as well as use them to express emotion, characters, and location (I look to the left, where "rabbit" is standing when I am tortoise speaking; I look to the right at "tortoise" when rabbit speaks). Then there are gestures. How much is too much? When are my gestures, albeit expressive and appropriate otherwise, a distraction? I use my eyes to confirm that the audience is still with me and not flinching each time I throw my arms around.
Your face is the focal point (as that's where the sound is emanating from), and you can use few flailing about with arms by using your face.
I use a lot of different voices when I do storytimes and storytelling (okay, most of them sound like Bob Dylan with a hangover). How do I keep voices straight (I don't always)? How do I even know how to make up an entire voice that's different from (not very, see parenthetical note about Dylan) the rest? I mimic other voices. Mostly Bob Dylan's, of course, but I have met a lot of people with distinctive voices and I remember them. I am careful, though, to only use certain readily identifiable voices with particular characters. The voice I use for Dog (and only that particular dog - not just any dog) is based on someone I knew in Boston.
But not everyone has to be able to mimic Bob Dylan and Marylyn Monroe (Cow) to differentiate between characters. Sometimes just the speed or pitch of voice is enough. Maybe it's enough to just say, "Said Cow." The important thing we learned from Pat is that you have to create your own style and it has to be one that you are comfortable with. I am more comfortable stepping behind a mask (even if it's invisible, like a voice) when I do storytelling.
Another thing to consider, besides your voice and body, is your location in relation to your audience. How close are you going to be? How big is the audience? What size of voice and gestures will you need? Will you need to walk around, the better to fix your individual "audients" with your eye? Or can you stay seated to be closer to them or more at their level? If you have a small group of pre-schoolers, you don't want to be towering over them so that they get little cricks in their tiny necks.
You can talk all you want, but then comes time for ...
The Pause.
It refreshes. It provides suspense.
It gives you a chance to catch your own breath.
Little Problems that crop up:
Nervousness.
Who doesn't get nervous? You think that after all the theatre I've done (since 1974) and twelve years of storytimes here at this library I don't get nervous? Have another think. Pat suggests that we do vocal warm-ups and relaxation exercises. We can also use the energy from our nervousness and channel it into our story. How does one do that? Especially since most of the nervousness is at the beginning of storytelling when there isn't much going on for you to work off your anxieties? Sing an opening song! If you aren't a singer, make it a chant. Let the rhythm of the song or chant help regulate your energy, focus it, and blow a bit of it off. (Note: some mornings Miss Marf is a little too tired from having too much fun on Second Life the night before and she usually finds a spot in a story where she can stick in a yawn and get it out of her system ... oh, look! Here comes the word "bed"! YAWWWWWN! That way it's not a distraction, it's ... it's an Augmentation!)
Storytellers and performers have for generations begun their performances with a "calling on" song. It settles the audience by getting their attention and getting them to focus on you as a group.
Earsdon Sword Dance Calling On
Good people pray heed a petition
Your attention we beg and crave
And if you are inclined for to listen
An abundance of pastime we'll have
We have come to relate many stories
Concerning our forefathers time
And we trust they will drive out your worries
Of this we are all in one mind
Many tales of the poor and the gentry
Of labor and love will arise
There are no finer songs in this country
In Scotland or Ireland likewise
There's one thing more need be mentioned
The dances are danced all in fun
So now you've heard our intention
We'll play on to the beat of the drum
Okay, it can be shorter than that. And you can get your audience to join in, if it's something familiar or easily learned.
Uhhh, uhhhh, and then, uhhhhh ... If you aren't Dog (who talks like this as part of his character, a forgetful type), this will be a distraction. Practice, practice, practice the story and if you are still hemming and hawing, take a breath whenever you feel the urge to air gargle. Breathing is quieter.
Wild gestures? Find something neutral to do with your hands (no pens to click!). One of the workshop's participants demonstrated the dreaded "fig leaf" - which is folding your hands over your crotch, like you're expecting to be kicked there. This is not the best solution. A better one, she told us, was putting your hands together at the fingertips at chest level. As long as you aren't trying to do resistance exercises with them while you are talking, they shouldn't be a distraction.
Pacing? Try sitting on a stool.
Talking too fast? Practice by imagining you're talk-ing to an id-i-ot. Just kidding! How about imagining your audience doesn't speak English very well or is taking notes.
Jerky storytelling, where some is really fast and then there are sudden stops? Try practicing by telling the story as fast as you can.
Not loud enough? Speak from the diaphragm. Support your speech from your belly, not with the throat. Will anyone believe that when I was young I stuttered and didn't speak up? "Stop mumbling!" my mother always said to me. What happened? Theatre, musical theatre. I had to develop a voice that filled a room. You take a deep breath and hold it, letting it out slowly and see how long you can take to let it all out. Practice that. I am now famous for being loud. When I want to be, anyway.
You have a story you really love, but it just doesn't sound right coming from your mouth? I have bad news for you. It's not one you should tell. I learned a terrific story at the workshop, one I thought had one of the best messages I'd heard in a long time. I was excited about this story! I rushed home and told it to my husband who just went, "Huh?" I guess that one just isn't my story to tell. It's a shame, but I'm not going to beat my head against the wall when there are lots of stories that hang on me and fit me like my own glass slipper, transforming me into cows, dogs, country bumpkins, and princesses. I'll just go with them.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Litticher Factory
Don't forget to turn down your volume. This time I used pictures from the Second Life Literature Factory and Bob's music ("Froggy's Night Out").
Animoto at Lasto!
Turn down your volume or be blasted out of your chair. Have you done that? Okay, now watch the video of some pictures of Halloween on Second Life.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Storytelling Workshop in Columbia
LeVerne and I attended the Panning for Gold Storytelling Workshop with Pat Feehan. Love that Pat! Pat always wonders what I'm doing there and I always say, "You can always learn something new!" Pat's take on storytelling, that is, telling a story without the book, without a net (as it were), is that anyone can do it. And she proceeds to prove it to us.
First we had to tell about ourselves and what we hoped to get out of the class. Next, we had to tell three facts but one of them had to be ... (shock! horror!) a fib! You have no idea how hard this is on me. I strive for accuracy as a matter of policy. How can I ... dare I use the "L" word? ... speak an untruth, worst of all, an untruth about myself? And then make it convincing? I nearly had a nervous breakdown. I am sooo bad at lying. (Eeek! I said the word!)
Next, we were to take a known story and tell it from a minor character's point of view. It was a story we already knew, but we were doing something different with it that required creativity on the spur of the moment. We were divided into teams for this and LeVerne and I picked the Henny Penny story. That's the one about the sky falling on the panicky chicken. We told it from the point of view of the acorn, whom I called Nutty Wutty and LeVerne called Wutty Nutty, which gives you an idea of how well we were going to collaborate on this. I told the first half and LeVerne finished it off, starting with Nutty Wutty (or whoever) crying out, "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" and finishing off, literally, by having a squirrel eat him. LeVerne is so cruel.
There were some really great stories that came out of these, and from individuals trying to wrestle a story to the ground by turns.
Next, Pat told a story and we had to retell it (Imitation, one of the ways of learning/telling stories), going around the room, each person contributing another part of the story. Thereby Pat proved that we could hear a story told once and tell it.
Last, we had lunchtime to learn a new (and preferably short) story to tell and be video'd, to watch and have critiqued later. Pat said this would be hard, not so much because of the video, but because we were performing in front of peers. As an example, she mentioned how stressed she was in the previous part of the class when she had to tell that story for us to learn ... and the Dean was sitting in on the class at that time. She kept hoping the Dean would leave and go do her work, but she stayed and stayed until finally she had to tell the story before we ran out of time and had to go to lunch.
This was quite the time-consuming class because it was rather large and each person was telling a story or a part of a story about 3 or 4 times. Despite this, the class went very, very fast. I suppose that's because we were wishing we had more time to learn before performing.
We each performed a story of our choosing that was video'd and then we watched it. Others were permitted to give their "appreciations" while Pat reserved the right to critique. She says you don't know what you are doing that's annoying or distracting until you see yourself on video. And what did I notice? I noticed that I need a facelift. It is really hard to look at yourself on video and not just cringe at how you look.
Coincidentally, I had been to Westview Middle School the day before to do a story for Teen Read week ... on video. I had read a portion of Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago last year and thought that would hold them, but they asked me to come back and this time maybe do something with puppets. Now they're getting pushy. sigh. So, I brought the puppets and shirt to do "Jack and the Three Sillies," a fairly long story that I have done before many times. I didn't even have to review it in my head. I don't get to see the videos, which is a mercy, I can tell you.
We learned the perils of live storytelling: upspeech (where your voice? keeps going up? like you're asking a question? but there's no question there?), saying "um" alot, flipping your hair. If you have any of these bad habits, you just need to be shown them and then when you are aware, you can start cutting down. "Oh! I've scratched my face again! I have to stop that. There! I did it again! I need to pay more attention. Don't do it ... don't do it ..." Eventually? you should be able? to stop it?
The room was filled with terrific storytellers. Their stories were really good and they were either already great tellers or Pat did a fantastic job in just five hours!
Pat said something about putting the videos in a podcast so we could be tortured all over again. If I can get the url for that, I'll post it here.
First we had to tell about ourselves and what we hoped to get out of the class. Next, we had to tell three facts but one of them had to be ... (shock! horror!) a fib! You have no idea how hard this is on me. I strive for accuracy as a matter of policy. How can I ... dare I use the "L" word? ... speak an untruth, worst of all, an untruth about myself? And then make it convincing? I nearly had a nervous breakdown. I am sooo bad at lying. (Eeek! I said the word!)
Next, we were to take a known story and tell it from a minor character's point of view. It was a story we already knew, but we were doing something different with it that required creativity on the spur of the moment. We were divided into teams for this and LeVerne and I picked the Henny Penny story. That's the one about the sky falling on the panicky chicken. We told it from the point of view of the acorn, whom I called Nutty Wutty and LeVerne called Wutty Nutty, which gives you an idea of how well we were going to collaborate on this. I told the first half and LeVerne finished it off, starting with Nutty Wutty (or whoever) crying out, "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" and finishing off, literally, by having a squirrel eat him. LeVerne is so cruel.
There were some really great stories that came out of these, and from individuals trying to wrestle a story to the ground by turns.
Next, Pat told a story and we had to retell it (Imitation, one of the ways of learning/telling stories), going around the room, each person contributing another part of the story. Thereby Pat proved that we could hear a story told once and tell it.
Last, we had lunchtime to learn a new (and preferably short) story to tell and be video'd, to watch and have critiqued later. Pat said this would be hard, not so much because of the video, but because we were performing in front of peers. As an example, she mentioned how stressed she was in the previous part of the class when she had to tell that story for us to learn ... and the Dean was sitting in on the class at that time. She kept hoping the Dean would leave and go do her work, but she stayed and stayed until finally she had to tell the story before we ran out of time and had to go to lunch.
This was quite the time-consuming class because it was rather large and each person was telling a story or a part of a story about 3 or 4 times. Despite this, the class went very, very fast. I suppose that's because we were wishing we had more time to learn before performing.
We each performed a story of our choosing that was video'd and then we watched it. Others were permitted to give their "appreciations" while Pat reserved the right to critique. She says you don't know what you are doing that's annoying or distracting until you see yourself on video. And what did I notice? I noticed that I need a facelift. It is really hard to look at yourself on video and not just cringe at how you look.
Coincidentally, I had been to Westview Middle School the day before to do a story for Teen Read week ... on video. I had read a portion of Richard Peck's A Long Way from Chicago last year and thought that would hold them, but they asked me to come back and this time maybe do something with puppets. Now they're getting pushy. sigh. So, I brought the puppets and shirt to do "Jack and the Three Sillies," a fairly long story that I have done before many times. I didn't even have to review it in my head. I don't get to see the videos, which is a mercy, I can tell you.
We learned the perils of live storytelling: upspeech (where your voice? keeps going up? like you're asking a question? but there's no question there?), saying "um" alot, flipping your hair. If you have any of these bad habits, you just need to be shown them and then when you are aware, you can start cutting down. "Oh! I've scratched my face again! I have to stop that. There! I did it again! I need to pay more attention. Don't do it ... don't do it ..." Eventually? you should be able? to stop it?
The room was filled with terrific storytellers. Their stories were really good and they were either already great tellers or Pat did a fantastic job in just five hours!
Pat said something about putting the videos in a podcast so we could be tortured all over again. If I can get the url for that, I'll post it here.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Update on Livemocha!
Boy, you need a pretty thick skin to do the writing assignments. I did my first writing assignment, clicked the button, and sent it off to be trounced upon by native speakers (I hope they are, anyway). There's nothing like instant humiliation! I had prattled on like I knew what I was talking about (or writing, anyway, or how I was writing it) and then five people leaped on it like a school of piranhas! Okay, one of them took back part of what he said, but Holy Cripes!
Bravely, I assayed yet another writing assignment and although I was very careful and didn't write as much, and the comments were brief, it was still like being stabbed through the heart. It actually brought hot little tears to my eyes!
You can say I'm over-sensitive ("You're over-sensitive!" Thanks a lot), but it was really hard on me. This is actually what makes it so hard on people visiting a foreign country. They remember what it was like in school to have every little thing marked wrong and they are afraid to say anything for fear of that humiliation of being wrong.
My husband recently played at a local music festival and did great, but all he remembers are his goofs. He was Mr. Pouty for almost a whole day after. It's no surprise that musicians become addicted to drugs from the pressure of performance. But I could identify with his feelings. I came out from reading the comments on my writing assignment and told him what I felt. "Why do you do it then?" he asked me. "I have to learn," I replied.
Of course, the difference is that he is thwacking himself over his own goofs and I have a whole social network of people sharpening up their red pencils to get at me.
And just like he will forget the goofs of this weekend when the new goofs of the next gig fill his mind, I will eventually toughen up my skin and forget the perceived criticisms of my attempts to communicate ... once I get the new corrections for the third assignment I've turned in today.
Is this a good way to learn a language, wincing and cowering? That remains to be seen. I will keep y'all posted.
Bravely, I assayed yet another writing assignment and although I was very careful and didn't write as much, and the comments were brief, it was still like being stabbed through the heart. It actually brought hot little tears to my eyes!
You can say I'm over-sensitive ("You're over-sensitive!" Thanks a lot), but it was really hard on me. This is actually what makes it so hard on people visiting a foreign country. They remember what it was like in school to have every little thing marked wrong and they are afraid to say anything for fear of that humiliation of being wrong.
My husband recently played at a local music festival and did great, but all he remembers are his goofs. He was Mr. Pouty for almost a whole day after. It's no surprise that musicians become addicted to drugs from the pressure of performance. But I could identify with his feelings. I came out from reading the comments on my writing assignment and told him what I felt. "Why do you do it then?" he asked me. "I have to learn," I replied.
Of course, the difference is that he is thwacking himself over his own goofs and I have a whole social network of people sharpening up their red pencils to get at me.
And just like he will forget the goofs of this weekend when the new goofs of the next gig fill his mind, I will eventually toughen up my skin and forget the perceived criticisms of my attempts to communicate ... once I get the new corrections for the third assignment I've turned in today.
Is this a good way to learn a language, wincing and cowering? That remains to be seen. I will keep y'all posted.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
New Widget!
In case you're interested, and I'm sure you're not, the reason the blog comes up so slowly now is that I've added yet another widget.
"Why, Marfie?" you ask, tearing your hair. Oh, because I can. And it was so easy.
There's a new guy (R. A. Meyer) for October's Charlotte-Mecklenberg Library 2.1 learning thingie and because he hasn't actually put anything up yet (to date), I went to his blog, The Internet Can Change Your Life.
Waaaay down there was an entry on widgets, cute little tools you can add to your website or blog. I already have a poo-load of them, but I combed the list at mashable.com until I found something new I thought I could insert into this blog: the del.icio.us widget that shows the last few things I added to del.icio.us, which is a sort of traveling bookmark. Yes, we all have bookmark/favorite functions on our internet programs, but if you move to another computer (and I have one at home as well as two here at work I use), you have to find the site all over again and mark it. And what if you are out of town on business and, like me, you don't have a laptop? Or what if you are a library patron and you don't always get the same computer?
Post to del.icio.us (I hate typing that with all the periods so I usually just call it Thingie which unfortunately renders it indistinguishable from other Thingies)! Once it's on Thingie, you can access it from anywhere and find other people who marked it at well. Another step, and you can discover more interesting sites from their Thingie collections. Yes! It's a social bookmarking!
You can also mark your own blog or site and see how many other people marked it. I used this to see who and how many people linked to Bob's sites.
Right now the widget is a huge list, but perhaps if I add to it, it will show only the most recently ones. And perhaps after a while it will become a nuisance and I will ditch it. Only Time Will Tell.
Widgets: Not Just For Breakfast Anymore!
"Why, Marfie?" you ask, tearing your hair. Oh, because I can. And it was so easy.
There's a new guy (R. A. Meyer) for October's Charlotte-Mecklenberg Library 2.1 learning thingie and because he hasn't actually put anything up yet (to date), I went to his blog, The Internet Can Change Your Life.
Waaaay down there was an entry on widgets, cute little tools you can add to your website or blog. I already have a poo-load of them, but I combed the list at mashable.com until I found something new I thought I could insert into this blog: the del.icio.us widget that shows the last few things I added to del.icio.us, which is a sort of traveling bookmark. Yes, we all have bookmark/favorite functions on our internet programs, but if you move to another computer (and I have one at home as well as two here at work I use), you have to find the site all over again and mark it. And what if you are out of town on business and, like me, you don't have a laptop? Or what if you are a library patron and you don't always get the same computer?
Post to del.icio.us (I hate typing that with all the periods so I usually just call it Thingie which unfortunately renders it indistinguishable from other Thingies)! Once it's on Thingie, you can access it from anywhere and find other people who marked it at well. Another step, and you can discover more interesting sites from their Thingie collections. Yes! It's a social bookmarking!
You can also mark your own blog or site and see how many other people marked it. I used this to see who and how many people linked to Bob's sites.
Right now the widget is a huge list, but perhaps if I add to it, it will show only the most recently ones. And perhaps after a while it will become a nuisance and I will ditch it. Only Time Will Tell.
Widgets: Not Just For Breakfast Anymore!
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