I actually typed this up Tuesday, but I'm only now getting a chance to post it. At any rate, I'm interested in what people are finding easiest and what people are finding most difficult about the Viewpoints training.
I’ve really been enjoying doing viewpoints exercises. For me, the easiest part of viewpoints is simply getting into the rhythm of it- getting on my feet and getting into the rhythm of things. The most difficult part is moving with real purpose- most of the time my reason for changing what I’m doing is something along the lines of “that looks fun” or “that person walked past me, that’s a good excuse to change things up.” I suppose that in the context of a composition, these things do usually present themselves a little more readily.
It’s also difficult sometimes to get out of my head and into my body, as it is the opposite of what it required of us the rest of every school day. I try to warm up on my own before class, so I can be deeper and more present in the work once I get there.
I really enjoyed working with the vocal viewpoints, which were new to me. I especially was drawn to kinesthetic response as it pertains to voice. I thought immediately of how long some people take to respond when they are angry with someone- either interrupting and coming right down on the end of someone else's speech, or pausing, seething and trying to choose words carefully. My other favorite vocal viewpoint is probably timbre, I feel like it tells you so much about the character’s history. I have begun to identify vocal viewpoints every time I listen to the radio (which is almost constantly).
The last thing I want to say about viewpoints is something a friend of mine told me when she was helping me prepare for a callback this summer. She told me: “soften your focus and let the information come to you.” That, I have found, is not only the key to working well in viewpoints, but working on stage in general, and is also very helpful for me to keep in mind when practicing effective active listening. Really, it can be applied in many aspects of life... Just something to think about.
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Amelia, I really appreciate your comments at the end here, especially. "Active listening" is one of the most significant skills Viewpoints exercises, in my opinion: the ability to be engaged and active when also taking in information and paying very close attention is a skill that often gets forgotten. I think that the culture in which we live is (still, although it seems to be changing) really stridently devoted to the individual; and while I do believe that individual thoughts, experiences and rights are essential and important, I think Viewpoints is one tool that can allow us to balance those with really listening and paying attention to the implications of our actions for a larger group. It helps me, anyway, to listen, and then act, and then listen again to see what happened to other people as a result of my actions.
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