Classes are Winding Down

I had my very last Voice & Speech and Movement classes today. I was both happy and sad to see them come to an end. I am really going to miss Voice & Speech. I have learned a lot about breath placement, resonance, warming up the entire body for voice production. My voice has opened up so much, even in a short 6-week introduction. I plan to continue with the warm ups and diction exercises in the two workbooks we used in the class, and I am anxious to see how much this training effects my singing.

Movement had its moments as well, but it didn't totally work for me as a whole...as much as it did for some of my classmates. I had some really extraordinary experiences and one or two "lightbulb" moments, but I also had a lot of moments when I really wondered if the particular techniques we explored in class were the right fit for me as an actress. I'll have to tell some of you more about it in person, once I am back in Cleveland.

There are two acting classes left, one tomorrow and one on Monday. I will be really sad to leave that class. As I mentioned before, I think Suzanne is an extraordinary teacher. She is truly awe inspiring. She told another great story during Wednesday's class about her daughter...when she was just a toddler. Suzanne and Bill Esper had taken their children to Brooklyn to visit some friends who had a lovely home overlooking Prospect Park. It was later in the evening, and their daughter was dressed in her little one piece sleeper (you know...with the snaps all the way down one leg.) At the end of the evening, their friends put on some music. It was a recording of a famous opera soprano, but her name escapes me at the moment.

As the sound of this glorious soprano filled the halls of the Brooklyn home, the Esper's daughter perked up. She stood up and started to unsnap her sleeper. As she got down to the legs, she sat down, unsnapped the rest of the way and pulled her legs out of the sleeper. Then, Suzanne said she stood up and with one hand ripped off her Pampers diaper and tossed it away. She then proceeded to run naked up and down the hallways of their friends' house with wild abandon.

Suzanne was trying to illustrate a point about being free as actors...to not hold back, not be afraid of emotion or where it might take us, to just let it in and let it happen. I completely got her point. I don't think I will be running naked through the hallways anytime soon, but it was a great story, and I am ready to tackle the last two classes (and the rest of my acting career) with the freedom and abandon of a carefree child.