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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Apr 15, 2013 9:34:02 GMT -6
Awesome!
I always love gibberish to get at the emotion and get out of the head.
(sorry I'm just responding now - I was performing/teaching improv on a cruise for a couple of weeks.)
Keep those videos comin'!
-Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 21, 2013 8:33:59 GMT -6
Welcome also to Frazer and Jordan! I love that we're getting all levels of musical improvisers on this site - that's fabulous!
Sidenote - I missed your posts at first and just saw Randy's last one because I didn't bookmark the thread. If anyone wants to get notices when someone responds to a thread you've written on, just bookmark it. (check the bookmark box right underneath the text box) In your profile, under bookmark, you can say whether you want to be notified by PM, email, or not at all...)
Frazer, did you meet some of the MayDays when you were doing the summer intensive? They are Brighton based, and I know at least one of them is coming over again this summer to study.
Jordan, I've never seen iMusical or Legend - if you have any clips, please post them on the video forum. I've heard great things about WIT and Magnet!
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 21, 2013 7:57:44 GMT -6
Hmmm...not a lot of traffic on this site yet!
I'm trying not to post so much, so that my name isn't the only one under "last posted."
Feel free to start new threads - on your best musical improv advice, on the best advice you've ever received, on your biggest challenge, on something great you saw, etc, etc, etc...
love ya! Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 20, 2013 16:19:08 GMT -6
Hi Randy!
Thanks for joining! Feel free to start a topic thread. Marshall started one, but when he posted/linked to it on the Improvisational Theater page on FaceBook, people had a lively discussion THERE!
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 16, 2013 8:51:59 GMT -6
Hey All!
Thanks to all who have introduced themselves thus far!
Bob and Monty, I taught classes at a Bonner Springs improv festival and met Twinprov there - they are fantastic!! So glad that they turned you onto musical improv. Neil, I love that you're incorporating dance with musical improv - for my next run of MUSICAL! the musical, I want to bring in dancers to train the improvisers for as more legit look. Aden, I agree - I've always thought that musical improv is regular improv, but super concentrated, since you have to do it all within a certain amount of beats. (I'm diggin' the GGG YouTube videos.)
Heather and Robbie - great to see you on these boards! Of COURSE you can mention your fabulous podcast, Heather. (And Marshall wants everyone to know that he was quite sick during that podcast taping, so that's why his verses suck - his words!)
And for those of you who don't know, Robbie Ellis was one of my fabulous contributing musicians for my book Instant Songwriting. Hope to see you in Chicago, Robbie!
Love you all, Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 13, 2013 21:33:28 GMT -6
Okay. You got me started! Here's the closing number from SHAWSHANK! the musical (The audience picked "Shawshank" for us to turn into a two act Broadway style musical.) Things I really like about this... - Nice, sweet scene into song. The scene is funny, takes its time and yet doesn't stall - it gets accomplished what it needs, to get to the ending of the story. - Jason (playing Red) is great at creating stage balance. - Nice melody for the chorus. - Even though the chorus is long, and just when you think the entire song is going too long, we push through the energy to drive it to the end. - Great ending tableaux. The song itself starts at 3:15, if you want to skip ahead to that. Cast: Jason Sperling (Red), Mike Shreeman (Andy), Pat Carton (the warden), Colleen McHugh (leads chorus), Nancy Howland Walker (chorus), Nadia Ahearn (chorus), Randy Craig (prisoner), Eric Svejcar on keyboards, Marc Greenstein on lights)
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 13, 2013 21:16:54 GMT -6
Hey Bob!
I like this format for a musical improv workshop show.
Really nice when you get to the chorus of your song, coming together with the other singer - "I don't wanna be..." "ya gotta be..." "a princess." I love interesting echos and descants and stuff like that!
-Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 13, 2013 20:34:18 GMT -6
Thanks again!
Yes, I had to break the actors of a bunch of bad improv habits when rehearsing for MUSICAL! Wandering while singing was one. Improvisers have a bad tendancy to move aimlessly around stage while singing. It looks like improv - not Broadway.
By all means sing silly if it's a strong character song, but let your beautiful voice be heard for all the other songs. It will seem more "legit" and impress the hell out of the audience!
-Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 12, 2013 21:21:21 GMT -6
Thanks Aden!
This was for the Illinois High School Theater Fest, in an amazing venue, so we brought three cameras to tape the shows. Any other videos I post won't look/sound so good!
Here's the love duet between Neo (Mike Shreeman) and Trinity (Colleen McHugh). Another Tagline song format.
As you can see, we do it in the style of Broadway. I've always been proud that it's a Broadway type musical which happens to be improvised, rather than an improv show which happens to be musical. (There IS a difference!)
-Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 12, 2013 20:55:07 GMT -6
Summer may not be fun, but this is!
So is the name of the group Girls Girls Girls? Where are they based? How long is the musical?
-Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 12, 2013 9:46:43 GMT -6
If I'm Chicago on May 11th, I would love to see your group!
Posting videos is actually really easy - just use the "You Tube" tag button when writing the post, and paste the URL in between the brackets.
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 12, 2013 8:38:25 GMT -6
Hi Mark!
Thanks for letting us know about your show - it sounds fantastic. If you have a good video of the group, please post it in the video section. I'd love to see them in action.
I have all my advice in my book ("Instant Songwriting: Musical Improv from Dunce to Diva"), but the best advice that's floating my boat right now is to come from emotion. If you're just in your head trying to come up with lyrics, it's ten times harder than if you really feel the emotion. Emotion lets you DISCOVER the images and words that are right there. Without emotion, you have to CREATE it, which is, as I said, way harder.
Also, I'm a stickler for song formats. I like a well crafted song rather than one that rambles...
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 11, 2013 18:08:19 GMT -6
Oh! To post a video, just hit the You Tube tag button that is right above where you type your message.
"youtube" and "/youtube" will appear within brackets. Simply paste the URL from the video inbetween the first you tube bracket and the second you tube bracket, and the video will show up. Preview the post to make sure.
-Nancy
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 11, 2013 17:54:02 GMT -6
Here's the I Wish song from MATRIX! the musical. (In MUSICAL! the musical, the audience picks the story we turn into a Broadway style musical. In this show, they chose the movie "The Matrix.") This is a standard Tagline song format. Mike Shreeman is playing Neo here. Eric Svjcar is on the piano.
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Post by Nancy Howland Walker on Mar 11, 2013 17:40:58 GMT -6
Hello, Musicians!
Please let us know who you are and where you're from. Maybe what instrument(s) you play, how you got involved with accompanying musical improv (impro!), and what kind of musical improv (impro!) you do. And anything else you want us to know about yourself.
Have at it!
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