Gao, Shuai (Janet)

Introduction to Acting

Li, Hua (Linda)

2006/02/20~2006/03/27

02/27

Doing breathing exercise just like doing yoga-----when I inhaled, my belly puffed out; when I exhaled, my belly turned back. I could imagine myself as a balloon. However, it is not easy to breath spontaneously for I would notice my breathing and posture all the time-----when I was walking, standing, sitting and even sleeping.

Though breathing like this is beating me, it occurred to me that I was ever to speak from my throat. A beautiful sound can’t but come from our belly. I would practice my sound everyday and I tend to be better.

03/04

Now I see how to breathe more spontaneously. Just relax! My shoulder is not as tight as it was before. And when I breathed, I could feel the power from my belly without the movement of chest. That is to say-----I could feel my voice! My roommates found it was strange to breathe like that. But I told them they should practice gradually and not to be harsh. Roman is not built in one day.

When I was breathing in right way, I began to try vowels which deserves more NRG.. Mom always laughed when I started with buzz “Yi” and practice from “u:” to “ae” then reversed. Though I was a little shy, I would often touch my hard of ear to examine whether there was a hole.

03/06

I couldn’t help teaching my buddies about today’s exercise as soon as I came back to my dorm. When I push Jessie’s shoulders, she told me her head was stretching up. And while I was massaging he neck, she closed the eyes and forgot herself. I know it must be comfortable. I pulled her arms then lift her legs until she said “hurt”, and I asked her to notice her breath. The whole process made her refreshed and energetic. Of course, the exercise can not only give us NRG but also regulate our breath. It could help us expand our backs and stretch our heads when we make speech.

After experimenting on those who wanted to have a try, I really felt tired.

03/10

    At the beginning of this week, I didn’t do a good job on reading my piece for lacking practice and understanding. Linda told me to pay attention to the stress, such as “equilibrium”, and then to use every opportunity so as to preserve beautiful and clear sound. I underlined all the words that I should notice such word like “all”, “word” and “body”. But I found it is hard to change one’s habit because in the past I always pronounced “word” in British sound. When I pronounced “all”, I didn’t used to twisting my tongue.

    However, I hit the books everyday trying to conquer the bad constitution. What’s more, it occurred to me that only if I understand the deep meaning of the piece could I make my performance more vividly and appealingly.

May my performance on next Monday be successful!

03/13

    “I did it, I did it”. After finishing my performance, I found myself having made progress. Though last week I didn’t do a good job, however, in one-week’s time, my pronunciation and facial posture were changed. There is one thing---my standing posture which I should care about. Maybe I have to stand more stably. However, my mother tought me in my childhood ---a fair lady has no space between legs. I remembered this and tried my best to be a fair lady. Of course, in the acting class, I must make some change to make my performance much better.

03/18

These days, I was thinking about “Alexander Technics” ----- extraordinary methods to tell one how to improve his voice. Watching video is a direct way to have a better understanding! I tried to walk in a right posture----- feeling my back straight. At beginning, I found I was walking like a soldier without spontaneity. Therefore, I took pains not to worry about all my body, only to be relax and hold my back straight then stick out my chest. I could feel my body was light and I was much taller than before.

In this way, I could walk more confidently and breath more smoothly.

03/20

     One of the most important element in acting may be concluded in one word-----passion, which can influence our pronunciation, our voice as well as our posture. When comes to the “call” part, I become a little bit shame. There is always a wrong idea in my mind that a fair lady should not shout. However, I realize that “call” does not equal to “shout”. When we shout, we only use our throat; when we call, in order to call appropriately, we should mix our voice, our posture, our motion together. Right after the class, June and I found an open place which can create echo easily. Imagining we were on the top of the hill, we began to call. To our surprise, the voice sounded more powerful than we did in class. I could feel the power penetrating through the whole campus-----that was just what I wanted!!    

03/24

After a period time on practicing, I found “y-buzz” is rather helpful. However, executing the “y-buzz” with a forward facial posture is more important. For example, as we say “yes” and “easy”, we sometimes won’t notice our facial posture. That’s the reason why we can’t speak as native people. Once we used the forward facial posture, our pronunciation sounded more beautiful and powerful. In order to make my work more effectively, I sat down and practice the Y-buzz while gently shaking one hand. What surprised me was that there were many powers left inside. If I tried my best to sound every word, how beautiful my sound would be!

时间在五月一号之前仿佛已经消失了,忙啊忙,忙得让自己都觉得自己憔悴.能到让自己都怜悯的地步实在是不容易丫；

两个月来最渴望的是逛街，看那些买了很久却没有时间看得影片———真希望有一天可以开一家世界电影博物馆，里面全是我的收藏，然后再和死党们聊聊。。。。。好多奥＊·＊

从30号晚到2号晚，我和妈米是在shopping mall里度过的，俩疯姑娘凑在一起逛街总是没数的，买完一样东西说好不再花钱却还是经不起诱惑，哈，又有人说咱俩像姐妹了，55555，是说我妈年轻还是说我老。呵呵，妈米年轻是俺的骄傲亚。突然发现年轻真的是穿啥都不丑———靠，快挣钱吧！

晚上9点多了，那边猪爸电过来了，估计他在火冒三丈，男同胞们可真要适应适应社会拉，多陪女同胞们逛逛街，就算不陪也要顶一下嘛。

圆圆妹还有几十天就要高考了，这个学生化的快班小猛女据说模考全年级第八，估计南医科不成问题拉。圆圆，好好考啊，姐姐终生大事还靠你啦，呵呵呵…