an evening of journaling

as a grad student in the department of theatre and dance i really don't have many tests. actually I only had one -- and that was for my voice class. we had to be able to discuss the different areas that make sound and the different modes of making them.

i explained to angela the day of the test that, for example, an S sound is an alveolar approximate. you use your tongue and the alveolar ridge (the area right behind your upper teeth) in a way that they ALMOST (or approximately) touch. for contrast, we make our Ps and Bs using bilabial plosive. blowing air out of our 2 lips (bilabial) in an exploding fashion -- with a burst of air. the difference being that the Ps are unvoiced and the Bs are voiced.

You tried this, out loud, right?

anyway, after having to explain 5 such examples and having to make the sounds for our professor one by one, that's pretty much all there is in terms of a true test. the rest of my assignments are projects. devised pieces in my CORE class, a vocal pedagogy lecture in my voice/speech class and chekhov scenes in acting. for our CORE class and our movement class, however, we also have to do journals. the instructors want us to concentrate on how we are learning and processing information and how we respond to it throughout the quarter.

we are in the middle of our 2nd devised work for CORE, but one of the two professors thinks its a good idea to also check in on the progress of our journals. she suggested that we bring them in to share in class tomorrow. my friend christine suggested that we do this next week -- to allow us time to work over the weekend -- but since we perform our devised pieces on tuesday, she vetoed that one.

therefore, all of us are cramming tonight to get these suckers started. i have to say that i did do one entry and have purchased all of my supplies. different colored and textured papers, fun pens and pencils. i plan to bind all of the pages together to make a booklet in the end. but i have a huge problem with sharing my journal with my classmates. since the last devised piece was a little challenging, i feel that i have to censor what i say because i don't want everyone to read my vents and frustrations. my guess is that i'm going to have to make it personal -- all about my experience and not touch upon the others.

i planned to go to the 3rd THIRDeYE rehearsal tonight but i decided to pass on it. i went to the first 2 last night and during one of the rehearsals worked on an entry for my movement class journal. for that one i have a small spiral bound notebook where i plan to write text mostly. since we primarily MOVE in class, i think it's important to be able to WRITE about what i am doing and how it affects me.

the journal for CORE is different. we have designers, actors and a director. we read academic texts and watch performances. we create. therefore, we have more play in how we analyze. i see the costume designer sketching as we watch a robert lepage video, so i try sketching, too. i play with color and texture and jot down images and words. see, different.

tonight, i came home after my TA meeting, checked my email, peeked at facebook, took a nice hot shower and got in my jammies. tonight i focus on CORE -- or the core of CORE.

i am about to put my creativity hat on and dive in.