Broadway Master Classes - Day 2

Whew!  Saturday was busy and chock-full with more information about sound than I've ever tried to absorb in my life.  To a certain extent, the day's classes left me feeling like I'm in WAY over my head at the Broadway Sound Master Classes.  That said, I've had a little time to reflect and realize that I am indeed learning a lot, and moreover I'm learning about what I don't know and things that I want to explore in more depth.

Sound is a curious amalgamation of technology and artistic design.  Much like theatrical lighting, theatrical sound was born out of necessity rather than artistic reasons.  If you want to see the actors on a dark stage, you need lights.  Over time, this means of illumination developed into a means of artistic expression to develop mood and a host of other creative objectives.  Similarly, theatrical sound was born out of a need to hear actors better and to hear certain sound effects.  Even more recently than with lighting, sound engineers realized that their technology could be used to artistically support and contribute to the production.  Thus sound design was born.  This year will mark only the third year that a sound design is even an eligible category for a Tony Award, demonstrating how this art form has only recently received wide and official recognition as crossing over from a technical element to an artistic medium.

All this said, most (but thankfully not all) of the other people attending these classes have WAY more experience and technical knowledge of sound design and engineering than I do.  As classes began, people would throw around terminology, technical jargon, and model names and numbers of sound gear...all far beyond my personal experience or training.  But over the course of the day, I also began to see that some other attendees are indeed more in line with me and my situation (less knowledgeable about the intricacies and details being presented).  Even better, I found certain people, presentations, or kernels of knowledge to which I could relate or grasp.  It also helps to remind myself that when we get to the lighting classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, I will be one of the people "in the know" when all the "tech jargon" starts!

I'm also seeing things about teaching in general, and what works or doesn't work when addressing an audience (especially a group that might be at different levels of prior experience).  I realize that sometimes, I'm probably teaching like some of these professionals that I've been observing...standing at the front of the room, relaying information that may be above the heads of my students.  I am now receiving firsthand reminders of how difficult it can be to "key in" on new information without a point of reference (and especially without more interactivity in the presentation).  I also have been able to take note of the style of those presenters who can still hold their audience, regardless of the material.  There's a certain style of speaking and presentation that draws a class in and makes them excited to hear more.  I hope to further analyze this and emulate it in my own teaching.

More on Day 3 and summing up the sound classes later!

Broadway Master Classes - Day 1

Wow!

Since my first blog post, I've been meaning to write another update...a new post confirming how I managed to get everything booked, lamenting about how hard it has been to prepare for being away from school (and our middle school's annual musical production!) in order to attend these Broadway Master Classes, etc.  But as often happens in life, things got busy and before I knew it, I was on a plane early this morning!

I would like to back up and address two things from the past month or so.  First of all, as I mentioned, I've dealt with a great deal of preparation for my May trip to New York City.  Our middle school has a production of Seussical, Jr. that is going up while I'm away.  Anyone who has ever worked in theatre and/or education knows how impossible it is to invest time and heart into a project of this scope and walk be pulled away just before it comes to fruition (preview performance was today, with the official performances on Monday and Tuesday night).  But despite all the effort that I put in to get the lighting design done and all of the other technical elements to come together before I left town, it is really the others involved on this show who are the heroes.  Rather than resent my absence or become bitter that they might have to take on my responsibilities, the director, our department chair, the other designers, and my amazing student crew all have stepped up and fully supported me in my professional development endeavors.  For that, I am eternally grateful to all of them!

The other thing for which I am extremely thankful is Center Theatre Group and their impressive support for theatre education and theatre educators.  While that may sound like I'm just showing the appropriate gratitude for the organization that selected me to receive this fellowship, it goes well beyond that.  I've seen all the work they do to expose youth in the LA area to theatre.  I've been fortunate enough to see the appreciation they have for all theatre educators, and how they support people like us by hosting networking events and even offering complimentary tickets to shows.  CTG is truly a wonderful organization for the work they are doing with schools and teachers.

Anyway, back to the present!  In the blink of eye, my first professional development opportunity is upon me.  Today I flew to New York, checked into my NYU dorm room (very déjà vu, as I lived in another NYU dorm right around the corner for 4 years back in the late-90's), and took the train uptown to see the Broadway production of American Idiot, the new musical based on the music of Green Day.  For the next two days, I will be immersed in the Broadway Sound Master Class, where the sound designer of American Idiot will be one of several top sound professionals who will be leading classes ranging from conceptual design to technical practice in the field of live sound.

I do admit that I wonder if I'm in over my head with this group enrolled in the BSMC; I'm not a sound professional, and I have no formal training in sound design or engineering.  However, I'm eager to soak up every bit of knowledge I can.  Also, since I'm planing to try to use this newfound knowledge to develop curriculum that I can use with my own students, I'm also excited to watch and see how the teachers of the master classes (and even the other professionals taking the classes) engage their students and one another in this process of sharing expertise, communicating ideas, and making the material come alive.  If I see any "best practices" at work here, hopefully I can utilize those techniques in my classes as well.

Tomorrow is a full day, so I plan to get to bed and get a full night's sleep before we hit the ground running tomorrow.  I hope to blog daily while I'm here...if not, I'll have to summarize the experience as best I can once I've had a chance to process everything.  One night down; two days of sound classes, a day of projection classes, another Broadway show (FELA!), and two days of lighting classes left!

Getting Started: Meeting, Enrolling, and Booking!

How to begin?  Well, I found out a little over a week ago that I was selected as a recipient of a 2010 Chase Theatre Educators Fellowship grant through Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles!  Essentially, I have up to $5000 to spend on professional development.


My proposal is to develop new lesson plans centered around theatre design that I can integrate into my technical theatre classes at Milken Community High School.  The classes I teach currently focus more on technical implementation (building scenery, very basic information on hanging and focusing lights or plugging in microphones, etc.).  I'd like to incorporate more design training; certain students who might not be completely interested in technical implementation might become very interested in theatre design if given the exposure and the chance to explore that field.


I'm planning on attending two professional development opportunities to facilitate this curriculum development.  First, at the end of May, I'll be attending the Live Design Broadway Master Classes in lighting, sound, and projection design.  Then in July, I'm going to attend the Broadway Teachers Workshop sponsored by Music Theatre International.


On Friday, I met with Traci Cho and Leslie Johnson at CTG who gave me the tools I need to start the implementation of my proposal.  Obviously, one first step has been the creation of the blog you're reading right now!  I also need to update my proposed timeline and budget by next Friday.  This shouldn't be difficult, but I'm trying to get many different elements to line up properly to complete my first planning steps.


For example, yesterday I registered for the LiveDesign Master Classes and bought my airline tickets for that trip in late May.  I really want to get my hotel reservations squared away, but I'm waiting to find out if there are any more spaces available in an affordable housing option that LiveDesign has arranged with NYU.  Hopefully I'll get a call back tomorrow and we'll see if that will work; if not, I'll look at which of the more affordable hotel options in NYC might be best and get that reservation booked by tomorrow night.


I'm also eager to apply for a spot at the MTI workshop and make my hotel reservations for that event.  However, the Broadway Teachers Workshop has three different sessions.  As luck would have it, one of the other recipients of the Chase Theatre Educators Fellowship is also planning to attend this workshop!  I'm hoping we might be able to attend the same session.  I know that Session C (July 15th - 17th) will be best for me personally, but I'll wait until CTG puts me in touch with this other fellow until I make my final plans.  Hopefully that will be soon and I can finalize those arrangements as well.


I'll update this blog more in the coming days, weeks, and months.  For now, I'm thrilled about the opportunity, and encouraged that I now have started buying my tickets and making my reservations (some of which have cost slightly less than my original budget proposal)!


Please feel free to comment at any time on this blog and provide any feedback...I'm always eager, ready, and willing to collaborate with my friends, peers, and other professionals.