The Savi Singing Actor - Gilbert Charles

SAVi Technique

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The Axioms

ABC = Always Be Creating
“Your job is to create behavior.”

ABC = Always Be Choosing
The singing actor creates behavior by making choices.

ABC = Always Be Communicating
Create behaviour ~ "that communicates the dramatic event.”

ABC = Always Be Changing
Songs unfold over time, and the art of singing-acting involves making choices in succession. 

PRINCIPLES of SAVi

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SPECIFICITY

AUTHENTICITY

VARIETY

INTENSITY

SAVi

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An actor’s choices must be deeply rooted in the:

DRAMATIC EVENT

the GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES,

and the PRESENT MOMENT.

SPECIFICITY

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This requires an incisive understanding of the content and meaning of each phrase and an awareness of how it differs from the phrase(s) that came before it.

~SPECIFICITY Cont.

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Here are some of the most important ways a singing actor must be specific:

• Being specific to the dramatic event of the song and to each phrase or moment in that event.
• Being specific to the text, the precise meanings of the words and the implications of their syntax, diction and rhetoric.
• Being specific to the music, which means both scrupulous attention to the details of vocal delivery specified in the score and an awareness of the information contained in the accompaniment
• Being specific in your understanding of the ways in which the present phrase is both similar to and different from its preceding phrases
• Being specific not only to the meanings and feelings created by the text and the music, but also to the precise moments when changes occur, since these moments present opportunities to make corresponding adjustments in behavior.
• Being specific to the other characters onstage and the environment, which requires an awareness of what’s just happened and how the world of the play or musical is changing at any given moment.

~SPECIFICITY cont.

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Authenticity is expected of any actor in the modern era: You've got to

“BRING THE REALNESS"

Truthful expression makes it possible for your audience to relate to you as a REAL PERSON, and to UNDERSTAND & EMPATHISE with what you’re singing about.   Finding a way to create and express yourself truthfully within the ARTIFICIAL CONVENTIONS of song and dance is a CHALLENGE every singing actor must face.

AUTHENITICITY

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The practice room is the ideal environment in which to explore the “Magic If.” Construct an imaginary circumstance (defining who, what, where, and why) for yourself, and then see what happens when you sing a song under those imaginary circumstances.
pg. 39

~AUTHENTICITY Cont.

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Though truthful performance can take an infinite variety of forms, there are a few common behavioral phenomena that occur while singing that inevitably scream, "Fake":
 

• A rigid, fixed gaze

• A blank, distorted or frozen face

• A tense, braced-up body
  
  Find us some solo examples with authenticity.

~AUTHENTICITY cont.

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Variety -  an essential ingredient of all successful singing-acting.
“SPICE OF LIFE"

Variety is a way of beguiling the audience by mingling the familiar and the surprising, knowing that introducing something fresh and unexpected is a surefire way to grab an audience’s ATTENTION when it starts to wander.
 

To sing with variety, you need to recognize that each phrase offers you a unique set of opportunities to create behavior. The best singing-acting gives listeners the impression that each new phrase or moment is somehow distinct from previous moments.

VARIETY

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Dynamic and contrast - What just happened? He was looking there, but now he’s looking here! 
How quickly?  If you haven’t made any sort of change in twenty or thirty seconds, your listener is already becoming less fully engaged.
pg. 42

~VARIETY Cont.

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Complement your song - sugar and spice and all things nice.\

• Do you get distracted by the technical challenges of musical execution and vocals?

When you learn a piece of new material, you practice it until it becomes familiar, like a habit, so that you can execute it with greater ease and less conscious attention.

• Any song is more interesting when it is performed with attention to behavioral variety. Your song is enhanced, not marred, when you find opportunities to break the spell and “disrupt” the overall mood of the song with changes in focus or behavioral expression.

Let the audience be enchanted by the song, but learn to stay fully present and alert to the opportunities to avoid “going with the flow.”

~Variety cont.

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AXIOMs 

1. Create behaviour that communicates the dramatic event.

2. Efficacy via SAVI

3. Train for SAVI

4. Expression is maximised from your Face

5. Thoughts come from your Eyes

6. *Ding* each new phrase

7. Journey of The Song

8. Complement the Mood

9. Craft is in Iteration - Not Instinct

10. Input required for Output

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1 - ABC

Create behaviour that communicates the dramatic event, phrase by phrase."

How would you break this down within our class?
 

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Axiom 1 of the SAVI System is a declaration of purpose, that contains three important ideas:

1. The singing actor creates behavior.

2. That behavior is chosen for its ability
to communicate the dramatic event.
 

3. Finally, those choices are organized phrase
by phrase, because songs are made of phrases
and each phrase has its own particular role to
play in the overall journey of the song.



(Read more about Axiom 1 in Chapter 3 and more about Behavior in Chapter 7.)

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2 - efficacy

The behavior you create will be most effective when it is Specific, Authentic, Varied, and Intense

How would you break this down within our class?
 

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Axiom 2 of the SAVI System is a system that helps you answer the following questions:

• Who am I?

• Where am I?

• What am I doing?

• Why is it important?

• How is this moment different from the preceding moment?



(Read more about Axiom 2 in Chapter 2)

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3 - TRAIN

For Maximum SAVI, you must work on the singer as well as the song. Train like an athlete to optimize your ability to create and organize behavior."

Regime Work [see end slide]

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The Best Ways to Train
The athlete is a useful model to have as you head off to the practice room to start working with your SAVI Cards. With this in mind, let’s talk for a minute about the best ways to train and to practice. We’ve all heard the saying “Practice makes perfect,” but practice is only effective when it’s done deliberately. This means:

• Practicing persistently, making it a habit;

• Practicing purposefully, with specific goals in mind and a plan to challenge yourself;

• Getting frequent informed feedback, so you know how
you’re doing and can correct mistakes before they become bad habits.


(Read more about Axiom 3 in Chapter 5)

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4&5 - Face ON / Eyes BARED

Your facial expressions communicate emotions instantaneously and powerfully, often without any conscious effort or intent on your part."

So, how’s your “eye language”?
 

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93% of communication comes from body language and tone of voice.

Your Face Is Your Ace!
~by learning to use your face and your eye movements to their full advantage.

• Exercising & Toning your facial muscles

• Exploring and expanding your “vocabulary” of facial expressions

• Congruency - if none, we disregard

The quality of your singing-acting will take a big leap forward if you condition your face so that it’s supple, strong, and articulate enough to express a thought or emotion. Expand your repertoire of facial expressions by imitating examples from real life.

(Read more about Axiom 4 in Chapter 8)

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LINK👤  LINK🌰   LINK🐝   LINK🎭

CAUTION:
Be on the lookout for distortions of the face  during a song.
Often, those distortions are simply an indication of the effort of singing, especially when the pitches are high or loud.

 SUGGESTION:
Make a video recording of your face while you’re singing something effortful, and a second recording of yourself speaking the text you sang.
Do they look different? In what ways? If your face says, “I’m singing” or “I’m making a fine tone,” chances are that’s the only message your listeners are getting.

Make sure you pay attention to what your face does during moments of extreme vocalism:

Do your eyebrows shoot up on high notes? Do your mouth and lips make distorted, unnatural shapes for “pure” vowels? You should seek to develop both awareness and ease in your use of facial expression

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Match your gaze to the phrase
~communicating your innermost thoughts if used effectively

So, how’s your “eye language”? Record yourself while you’re singing and pay particular attention to your eyes when you watch the results. [Self-reflect]

Do they seem glassy and blank? Does your gaze wander randomly while you sing? Do you gaze rigidly at a fixed point for a long time? Do you blink excessively or close your eyes while you sing?

Power, expressiveness and control of the eyes are all technical
skills that can be cultivated through deliberate practice.

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Mobilise your eyes
Practice using your eyes alone to send each of the following messages silently:

• I’m happy to see you!
• What’s wrong? Is something bothering you?
• I know what you did-you’re guilty!
• I didn’t do it, I’m innocent!
• This is really weird!
• Wow, you’re really attractive!
• Get away, you’re scaring me!
• Do you understand?
• That question you asked makes me very uncomfortable.
• I’m so proud of you!

Say the words of each phrase to yourself while looking at a partner/mirror/camera, then ask, check your feedback about how well you succeeded in conveying the message. Now practice your use of “eye language” while speaking and singing, using phrases of sung or spoken gibberish or vocal exercises while “transmitting” behavioral messages with your eyes.

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6 - *DING*

Adjust your behavior at the beginning of each new musical phrase (the “ding”), and avoid distracting mid-phrase adjustments."

So, how’s your “eye language”?
 

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It don’t mean a thing. If it ain’t got that “ding.”

Working Phrase by Phrase

∆ I want to be heard,
∆ I want to be seen.
∆ I want to be noticed,
∆ Do you know what I mean?
∆ I want to be known.

Goals:
• begin a phrase impulsively; • sustain and develop that impulse with no more effort than necessary for the duration of the middle; and • release tension and effort at the end of the phrase to clear the way for the next one to begin and for the cycle to repeat.
 

(Read more about Axiom 6 in Chapter 6 & 14)

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LINK👤  LINK🌰   LINK🐝   LINK🎭

Moment-to-Moment is NOT Phrase-by-Phrase

Acting teacher Sanford Meisner talks about the importance of “living in the moment” and working “moment to moment.” A moment is, by definition, something quite brief, almost instantaneous. A moment occurs any time we choose to open our senses and notice what’s happening now, and there are an infinite number of “now’s” available for us to notice. Being alert to these “now’s” is a key ingredient of Authenticity, and being able to live “in the moment” means actively noticing and processing the information that floods in through our senses in real time.

In a song, however, those moments have been organized into a series of phrases to create impact. Moments are granular, but phrases are “chunks,”.

A phrase, then, contains many moments: the moments that precede the initial impulse, when the phrase is imminent but not yet inevitable; the impulsive moment when you decide to begin the phrase; the ensuing moments when you are carried along by the “momentum” of your initial impulse; the moments when you are aware of something or someone responding to you; and finally, the moment when you’ve fulfilled your mission and there’s nothing left to say.

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A set of codes."

Practice Regime

- Research - Method / Space / Consume
- Practise - Experiment / Emulate / Rehearse
- Perform - Expose / Taste / Express
- Reflection - Guide / Evaluate / Critique

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WRITE YOUR REGIME DOWN:
 

The materials we are currently using:

• Warmups:  LINK

~Singing Technique - Practice Regime

~At The PIano

The scores we are currently singing from:

• Seven Bridges Road
• Epic Disney Medley
• Take Me Home

Discuss amongst yourselves methods on how best to select repertoire for a group.

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~SONG LIST

Pitched Song Ideas: 

• Song List:
  Seven Bridges Road - Eagles
  Take Me Home - Pentatonix
  
  You Are The Reason - Callum Scott
  If The World Was Ending - JP Saxe
  Good For You - Dear Evan Hanson

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~PROJECT

Project ideas we are currently "pitching" from:

How do we even start a project? Creating a Method

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Upgrade your notes

Spend 10 minutes upgrading your thoughts.

Then take some time out for 15 minutes.

Questions:

adamblosse@me.com

fb.com/adamblosse

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The HE Student Attitude

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Don’t be a completely self-destructive idiot. Hand something in."

We're going to read through a bunch of stuff.  First, a toolkit for undergrads.

A Toolkit for Undergraduates:

LINK

Second - a link for some slides for Self Analysis on your own time

Self Analysis - Reading Week Slides:

LINK

Refresher on Resource & Referencing

We will be expecting a visit from Lisa from LRC to discuss the LRC, your resources, and referencing.

Interactive AUB Link: LINK

Harvard Referencing Presentation: LINK

Library App - Best thing to use.

Digital Theatre+:

• Username: lrcstaff@bpc.ac.uk
• Password: College

Shibboleth Login

• Username: Student ID Number
• PIN: dd/mm/yy

782* is musical theatre code for library sorting.

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