Nov 12, 2013
What does it mean to work hard at improv? By Dan Sipp
First of all: Is improv work or play?
I consider it work. Some call it play. I know that Matt Besser (UCB) thinks it's absurd to call this work. Work is something you have to do. Work is hard and not fun. Improv is fun. "How can you call it work? I'm having fun."
I disagree (though Matt is certainly welcome to his opinion). Just because it's fun doesn't mean it's not work. Don't we aspire to find work that we love? Some people love cooking in a restaurant and wouldn't do anything else. It's undeniably hard work. If it's fun it may not feel like work, but it's still work. Money has nothing to do with it either. You can get paid a ton of money and still hate your job. I've done hundreds of shows for free and others for $500 each. It's all the same to me. If I do good work I have fun. But if you pay me a lot, and I hate the gig or do work I'm not proud of, I will feel lousy after the show. The money has little to do with it.
I've practiced this for years. I take it seriously. I always want to get better. I've spent money on lessons, and traveled far to study with certain teachers. I like practicing, rehearsing. I consider it my craft. My life's work. I take pride when I do it well.
Working hard means putting in the hours and not resenting the fact that you have to put in the hours to get better. Understanding that patience with the process is necessary. Not being satisfied with where you are or what you've already done.
If your primary criteria for evaluating shows is, "I had fun" you aren't taking this seriously. It's a hobby. Hobbies are for you. Improv is acting and acting is a performance art form. You are important in the process, but shows are really for the audience. That's why they pay money to see you. If they aren't paying money to see you (and this is the normal state of things for you) it's a hobby and not work.
Are you focused on getting better in rehearsal? Do you welcome critical feedback? Do you want to "try that again?" Or are you there to visit with your friends? Repetition is critical to improvement. If you aren't repeating exercises, or technique work, whatever, you aren't serious about the work. Doing it right once is lucky. Being consistent takes practice and repetition. Repetition past the point where it's fun. Ask anyone who's good at anything. At some point they were tired of doing _____, but they kept doing it. Now that they've mastered it they are probably glad they did all those reps.
Working hard means exploration. Studying with different teachers. Working in different companies with different directors and at different theaters. Different cities. Playing to a variety of audiences. Learning different forms. Playing in different styles. Finding stuff you suck at even when you try. Testing yourself and sometimes failing. If you aren't testing yourself and if you never fail, you're playing it safe. You'll never grow much doing that.
If it's your work, your craft it doesn't matter whether or not you're getting paid, and it's not about your fun. It's about the audience. They came out to see you when they could have stayed home. They paid money that they worked to earn. They chose your show over all the other things they could do with their free time. You owe it to them to do the best you can. You owe it to yourself, too.
4/7/2012
Why We Practice, by Dan Sipp
From time to time I'll have students replay an exercise that we've done in a previous class. Sometimes a student will point out, "We've already done that exercise," as if I'd made a mistake or forgotten that we've done it before. I guess that some students find it odd that we're doing an exercise again. It makes me wonder: Do basketball players ever ask their coach, "Why am I practicing shooting free throws again? I did that yesterday." Or if members of a band ask their leader, "Why are we rehearsing that song again? We already practiced it once."
Maybe I'm weird, but I like trying exercises again. When I was a student I'd often have a lot more ideas about what to do once an exercise was over than I did when it started. By the time I'd "figured it out" it was over - never to be played again. A well chosen exercise teaches a skill that's important in improv. You can't expect to master that skill by trying it one time any more that you can master a hook shot by shooting a couple or learn the intro to Stairway To Heaven in fifteen minutes. In fact, the longer I studied improv the more I realized that my teachers weren't actually teaching me anything I hadn't heard before. What they were doing was reminding of stuff I knew but wasn't doing.
Improv is fun to do but only looks easy. The people who are good at it have put a lot of time into their craft. Much of that time is spent practicing fundamental skills over and over. So give that exercise a second try. If you "got it" the first time, try a different choice and see how that works. Or watch the other students and see what they do. I'll bet I've learned as much from fellow players than I did from the teachers.
Keep in mind that whenever you decide that you're good enough at something and stop working on it, that's probably as good as you're ever going to be. And I never want to feel like I'm good enough. I always want to get better.
What does it mean to work hard at improv? By Dan Sipp
First of all: Is improv work or play?
I consider it work. Some call it play. I know that Matt Besser (UCB) thinks it's absurd to call this work. Work is something you have to do. Work is hard and not fun. Improv is fun. "How can you call it work? I'm having fun."
I disagree (though Matt is certainly welcome to his opinion). Just because it's fun doesn't mean it's not work. Don't we aspire to find work that we love? Some people love cooking in a restaurant and wouldn't do anything else. It's undeniably hard work. If it's fun it may not feel like work, but it's still work. Money has nothing to do with it either. You can get paid a ton of money and still hate your job. I've done hundreds of shows for free and others for $500 each. It's all the same to me. If I do good work I have fun. But if you pay me a lot, and I hate the gig or do work I'm not proud of, I will feel lousy after the show. The money has little to do with it.
I've practiced this for years. I take it seriously. I always want to get better. I've spent money on lessons, and traveled far to study with certain teachers. I like practicing, rehearsing. I consider it my craft. My life's work. I take pride when I do it well.
Working hard means putting in the hours and not resenting the fact that you have to put in the hours to get better. Understanding that patience with the process is necessary. Not being satisfied with where you are or what you've already done.
If your primary criteria for evaluating shows is, "I had fun" you aren't taking this seriously. It's a hobby. Hobbies are for you. Improv is acting and acting is a performance art form. You are important in the process, but shows are really for the audience. That's why they pay money to see you. If they aren't paying money to see you (and this is the normal state of things for you) it's a hobby and not work.
Are you focused on getting better in rehearsal? Do you welcome critical feedback? Do you want to "try that again?" Or are you there to visit with your friends? Repetition is critical to improvement. If you aren't repeating exercises, or technique work, whatever, you aren't serious about the work. Doing it right once is lucky. Being consistent takes practice and repetition. Repetition past the point where it's fun. Ask anyone who's good at anything. At some point they were tired of doing _____, but they kept doing it. Now that they've mastered it they are probably glad they did all those reps.
Working hard means exploration. Studying with different teachers. Working in different companies with different directors and at different theaters. Different cities. Playing to a variety of audiences. Learning different forms. Playing in different styles. Finding stuff you suck at even when you try. Testing yourself and sometimes failing. If you aren't testing yourself and if you never fail, you're playing it safe. You'll never grow much doing that.
If it's your work, your craft it doesn't matter whether or not you're getting paid, and it's not about your fun. It's about the audience. They came out to see you when they could have stayed home. They paid money that they worked to earn. They chose your show over all the other things they could do with their free time. You owe it to them to do the best you can. You owe it to yourself, too.
4/7/2012
Why We Practice, by Dan Sipp
From time to time I'll have students replay an exercise that we've done in a previous class. Sometimes a student will point out, "We've already done that exercise," as if I'd made a mistake or forgotten that we've done it before. I guess that some students find it odd that we're doing an exercise again. It makes me wonder: Do basketball players ever ask their coach, "Why am I practicing shooting free throws again? I did that yesterday." Or if members of a band ask their leader, "Why are we rehearsing that song again? We already practiced it once."
Maybe I'm weird, but I like trying exercises again. When I was a student I'd often have a lot more ideas about what to do once an exercise was over than I did when it started. By the time I'd "figured it out" it was over - never to be played again. A well chosen exercise teaches a skill that's important in improv. You can't expect to master that skill by trying it one time any more that you can master a hook shot by shooting a couple or learn the intro to Stairway To Heaven in fifteen minutes. In fact, the longer I studied improv the more I realized that my teachers weren't actually teaching me anything I hadn't heard before. What they were doing was reminding of stuff I knew but wasn't doing.
Improv is fun to do but only looks easy. The people who are good at it have put a lot of time into their craft. Much of that time is spent practicing fundamental skills over and over. So give that exercise a second try. If you "got it" the first time, try a different choice and see how that works. Or watch the other students and see what they do. I'll bet I've learned as much from fellow players than I did from the teachers.
Keep in mind that whenever you decide that you're good enough at something and stop working on it, that's probably as good as you're ever going to be. And I never want to feel like I'm good enough. I always want to get better.
