#colab2018

[denverrj]

Poster Assignment 3

The following captures my learning experience in Creative technologies through the layout and details conveyed in the poster. What is most obvious is the symbol of a finger print, I choose to go with this layout as it represents my understanding of Creative Technologies and how each project is unique and different, as for all the assignments do not specifically restrict one from producing a perfect submission that is reciprocal to past exemplars. But allow different and creative ways of achieving the brief criteria. Hence the learning experience is what an individual makes of it, it is about leaving your mark like a fingerprint would, it is how one interprets differently from another and how everyone produces their final pieces differently. Everyone in my course all have specialties in different areas which is what makes my learning experience so unique from other degree's too. I have also chosen to insert some parts of coding from my past assignments into the outlining of a fingerprint. As coding has been one of the most challenging paper's in this course for me, it is the paper that I tend to think and stress about the most. Within the coding I have also inserted specific words that explain more of my learning through this course, some being highlighted red to exaggerate the importance they have over other words, while also combining an illustration of a soundscape through the fingerprint representing that the course combines many learning areas together. The poster itself forces the viewer to look closer, as it is a message within each illustration as you look closer. When first viewing the poster It looks quite simple as I have the technique of using less is more design. This perfectly explains my learning experience as I have had to look closer and learn more about what creative technologies is really about rather than having cliché observations that I came into this course believing. 

  Reference's 

The Anthropology and Social Significance of the Human Hand | O&P Virtual Library. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oandplibrary.org/al/1955_02_004.asp 

PlusPNG. (n.d.). Fingerprint PNG - PlusPNG. Retrieved from http://pluspng.com/fingerprint-png-562.html 

Design Theory: Less Is More. (2011, November 2). Retrieved from https://quirkworthy.com/2011/11/02/design-theory-less-is-more/ 

Use The Hidden Meaning of Color In Your Art. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.finearttips.com/2009/08/use-the-hidden-meaning-of-color-in-your-art/ 

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What is The Alexander Technique?

The Alexander Technique is a method that aims to change habits in our everyday activities. It is a practical and simple method for improving the ease and freedom of movement, support, coordination and balance. It can be applied to many different activities in daily life such as sitting or walking , but is used frequently to help musicians become more self-aware and liberated performers.

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Rough CoLab Project Schedule:

Monday-Friday: 

10:00-11:30- Balancing exercises, Discussions.

Morning break.

11:50-13:00- Semi-supine (Alexander Technique-see Day 1).

Lunch break.

14:00-16:00- Afternoons- Performance workshopping using Alexander techniques.

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Day 5

23/02/18

Our last day began with our balancing exercises; it was amazing to have experienced such an improvement when we had only done 5 minutes each morning. To prepare for the afternoons Mini Fest we drew a diagram of the key themes we explored during the week:

We each contributed something we had taken from the week that was of great value to us.

John acknowledged that what we had been exploring during the week is somewhat a paradox; we want to feel lighter as performers but at the same time we must appreciate the reality of our weight and give that weight to the ground.

 John talked about his first experience of performing with “flow”: He was playing in a quartet at around the age of 15 and felt a real sense of freedom and no effort. The cellist asked him ‘How do you do that?’ and he responded, ‘I just breath’. That was his spontaneous response, without great thought or analysis, ‘I just breath.’.

 We then discussed as a group how it is difficult in today’s society to remain grounded when the world is so fast-paced and there is constant distraction. A lot of us live in a bubble and the world has ceased to be something we view as a living thing.

 After our morning break we went into more detail about how we could incorporate what we had learnt over the week into our practise sessions. John suggested we explore squatting or sitting whilst playing/singing so that our attention includes more than just the activity of playing.

 We later talked about goals and how often when the reality of those goals presents itself, it doesn’t actually lead to fulfilment, or at least it’s not the goal that fulfils. Our own work with ourselves can achieve much more self-satisfaction and fulfilment than external rewards. Someone in the group made an important point that we are all programmed to have an idea of what success means and working/training to achieve “success” can be a very artificial experience when we believe success is only manifested in one way and in actual fact there are so many ways to be a successful musician. John left the discussion on a quote from a colleague that was certainly food for thought: “You are the world’s leading expert in playing like you”.

We finished the day with our Mini fest, a short workshop that summarised what we had been exploring during the week. The change in each and every one of us was quite clear to see and the importance of just ‘being’ now resonates with me on a much deeper level.

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“You are the instrument”

We are practising more than just the instrument, we are practising ourselves.

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Day 4

22/02/18

We began with the usual balancing exercises, and we all seemed to have improved since the beginning. John talked to us briefly about Frederick Matthias Alexander who developed The Alexander Technique. Alexander was an actor in the late 1800’s, he began developing The Alexander Technique when he lost his voice and realised that it was not linked to his misuse of his vocal organs but to a deeper-rooted problem involving his whole self.

 We then went on to do some floor work, Semi-Supine, this time incorporating a new element. We used a juggling ball, placing it first at the top of the shoulder blade and gradually down to the lower corner of the shoulder blade. The purpose of this exercise was to wake up areas of our back which are usually ‘asleep’ and to remind ourselves that we have a back! It’s all about awareness. John believes that giving our system an unusual stimulus to release onto, heightens our sensations and therefore our awareness. He even told us that when he first discovered this, he would use a folded-up music stand! It is also another reminder that we are a very interconnected structure; we may feel sensation in other parts of our bodies when doing this exercise.

 After the morning break we were greeted with sponges. By familiarising ourselves with the feel of the sponge we in turn woke up our sense of touch. John told us to gently hold the sponge between our thumb and fingers and explore the extent of our movement in our wrists. He reminded us of the naturally free nature of our wrists. He then told us to do the same but applying slightly more finger pressure and I think everybody would agree with me in saying that the level of freedom had certainly decreased. John said that we should be able to maintain the same level of freedom and that children have the ability to do so because it is within our nature, but we evidently lose this freeness as we grow older and our minds begin interfering with our ability to be free.

 John then touched on aspects we had explored so far during the week and how we might integrate these into our practise. We often over-plan or under-plan when it comes to a practise session. We must remember that every day is different, whether it be our interest or our energy levels, so applying a framework can often be counter-productive. Instead, it is important to respond to the moment, obviously with some intention of what we might want to achieve. “Go with the flow”. A good starting point we discussed is to remind ourselves that we are practising more than just our instrument, but ourselves. A sense of wholeness is key. Rather than spending a good 20 minutes warming up on scales, it might actually be more profitable to spend this time bringing a sense of connection, sensitivity and awareness to ourselves. Am I allowing myself space and support?

 A technique John finds useful in waking up our awareness is to stop quite suddenly in practise and to notice ourselves, what can I observe about myself now? And then continue without too much interference, but with a greater sense of ourselves. John also suggested that during our practise we should perform; you practise your scale for example and then you perform it. Practise. Perform. This way when we come to perform, there is a certain level of preparation and a greater awareness of how we respond to a performance scenario.

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Day 1

19/02/18

We started the morning by talking about our relationship with performance as individuals.  The focus of the morning was balance and support. We discussed what it would be like to open ourselves to the world and to the ground, but more importantly to the physical support of the ground and emotional support of our parents, friends and teachers. Our project leader John Crawford talked about how performing is the sharing and giving of ourselves and of music but that we restrict ourselves from doing so by putting up a sort of wall. This internal wall acts as a mental blockage which prevents us from connecting with an audience and from being more open to the world.

 We then read an excerpt from the book ‘Skill and Poise’ by Raymond Arthur Dart, who believed that the foundation of performance is poise. John added that this comprises the ability to be effortless, mobile and open. The excerpt also talked about the Anlo Ewe culture of West Africa’s belief in balance being one of the 5 senses, which led us on to some balancing exercises. John gave us each a piece of drain pipe and asked us to get comfortable with the feel of it under one foot and when we felt ready to stand on it with two feet, getting used to our sense of balance.

 After our morning break, we eased into the afternoon with a bit of ‘Semi-supine’- a sort of constructive rest, in which we allow our backs to be supported by the ground and widen our awareness of our bodies. Supine means to lie flat on your back and semi refers to the bending of the knees. We then discussed a general perception that we as performers tend to have about ourselves; we think of the areas in which we hold tension as isolated limbs that experience tension of their own accord without any influence from greater forces such as our mind-set/mood. That is to say, we think that the tension is the problem without realising that it comes from a much deeper place.

 The next stage of the day we began the performing. John talked about the importance of opening our attention and how narrowing it to focus on one small detail is actually detrimental. An interesting analogy was made to explain this idea: we often try to get all our ducks in a row, but we completely forget about the mother duck who leads. The mother duck refers to the overall conception of what we want to do with a piece and the ducklings refer to the small details.

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Our project leader gave me a daffodil , which allowed me to widen my attention and forget about the errors in my technique that I was focusing on beforehand.

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Afternoon performance workshopping using Alexander techniques.

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Day 3- Dimitri taking us through the muscles and bones in the throat area.

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Day 4-  Semi-supine but with a juggling ball. 

 A reminder that we have backs!

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Day 3- A balancing exercise whilst singing This exercise allowed me to widen my attention so that I was less focused on the technical aspects of singing and more aware of myself and how I move whilst performing.

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Day 2

20/02/18

After an exciting first day of exploring balance and support, we were all intrigued to see what day 2 would bring. We started the morning with some balancing exercises we had done the previous day on the drain pipes. We were certainly more successful than the first day! We then watched back our performances from the first day to see how our experience of watching ourselves differed from actually performing. In my performance, John mentioned I sort of put myself into a position before I start and that I am overdoing my openness perhaps with the intention of creating what I think is more space. A general observation across the group is that we all in some way disconnect our heads from the rest of our bodies. John has repeatedly mentioned the importance of thinking about ourselves as a whole. For instrumentalist’s in particular it was interesting to be reminded that their bodies and their awareness of their bodies are just as in important, if not more so than their instruments.

 The theme of Day 2 was breathing. John made an interesting point about breathing and digesting: he said, both of these are automatic processes, however, we can interfere with our breathing but not our digestive systems. It is one of very few systems that we can control but do not need to control in order to maintain it. It is impossible to observe our breath without interfering with it and this can cause some very unnatural habits. John talked about the main process of breathing involving the expansion of the side of the ribs and again reminded us how important it is to appreciate that we do have sides! After a more in-depth explanation I think we realised that breathing covers a much larger area of our insides than we might have thought; right down to the pelvic floor area in fact.  We also learnt how breathing has been known to have profound effects on the digestive system, and acts as a sort of massage for our insides.

 In the afternoon performances we worked on simplicity and a widening of our awareness. John pointed out that I talk about my tongue tension as a very large element in a small field, instead of seeing it as a small element-which it is-in a big field. I learnt that the more we think of our problems as symptoms of our tensions the more we become focused on our tensions as opposed to realising that the root of our tension lies much deeper, whether it be a consequence of our narrowed attention, of a previous negative experience or of a negative mind-set.

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The mornings balancing exercises, not as easy as it looks!