ONE…TWO…ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx0Q
Stuck In The Middle With You – Stealers Wheel (2010)
ITS WEEK 4 AND WE’RE HALF-WAY THROUGH THE MODULE!…
Stuck in the middle with you (solo)… and i’m wondering what it is i should do… It’s so hard to keep a smile on my face (what with dissertation)… and with solo i’m all over the place!
But what a way to warm up today with our bodies to music! As i enter the room, Martin plays …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z1kRhiPE0E
The Streets “Weak Become Heroes” (2007)
We split the room into groups of four (ish) and had to connect our bodies through touch in some sort of way, and travel around the room to this music.
HELLO GLIMPSE OF HAPPINESS!!!!
The Streets, being a main influence to my performance, and what with the woes of dissertation bringing us all down and ideas for solo taking an unfortunate back seat, this was a wonderful way to inspire us all and let our minds and bodies just go with the flow, let loose and be free in the space.
Faye, Chris and I held hands and walked backwards in and out of each other, it was impossible not to laugh! And what it did was warm us all up and fill us with positive energy, a way to kick out the stresses of the current moment.
This task influenced me to consider my movements as we walked around the room. This kind of music is the style I want to incorporate into my own piece. As we walked I felt my posture develop – for example the ‘rude boy’ sound that elevated from the song naturally made my body react into a ‘geezer’ styled walk (arms swinging, chest raised, bop in the walk). I have a natural ability to move with music, and have always had keen interest in instruments and lyrics. I have always been very influenced and moved emotionally by music, and i love the fact that the streets approach real life topics of heart break, love, drugs, family etc. and accompany the topics with upbeat music.
The lead singer, Mike Skinner had some words of wisdom:
“Hip hop,(…) draws on different principles to other music. It’s not purely sonic pleasure: it’s conflict and action and story. It’s the old way of making records – which is rhythm and noise – combined with a little bit of The A-Team, and that’s exactly what I love about it …”
“with my opinions, and reacting the way I would react, just in a fictional situation. Apart from that, there’s nothing all that different about it – the songs are just songs, the beats are just beats”
” Music is kind of like my best friend – it’s probably the reason I didn’t go mad when I was a teenager, and it’s probably been the one constant since things have kicked off”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/25/shopping.popandrock (2004)
Mike Skinner – The Story of The Streets: “I need to become the right producer” (2012)
This interview sums up The Streets, and how Mike Skinner approaches negative topics, like suicide, heartbreak, life etc yet somehow it transpires to a positive. It also approaches the idea of story telling, and what spoke to me so much more was the knowledge of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and this really hit home to me. Recently, i have been struggling when dealing with a few things that have happened in my life. What has been requested of me, is to receive CBT to help me cope. But like Skinner, music is my healer. It always has been, and my solo performance in general has been my escape. This has been my therapy. To get some of my worries, and turn them into a story for material to share with the world and turn into a positive. I want to challenge myself, to be real, vulnerable, open and honest and just tell a story.
Mike Skinner Interview with Laura Leishman (2014)
“I’ve made music that has been difficult for people to digest at times”
Of all of The Streets music i have been very moved and influenced by this song.
I like how the words link together, how clever the words come together. The theme of being ‘Puzzled’ and mentions of solving life as if it is a ‘crossword’,
‘loving isn’t easy you can’t google the solution to people’s feelings’
‘sometimes you have to find out for yourself, sometimes you never find the answer’
‘choosing to loose time instead of doing what i like to do’
TIM ETCHELLS
We had a look at some ‘TIM ETCHELLS – ON PERFORMANCE WRITING’ (Huxly, Noel, 1996)
This piece of writing focused on developing our ability to create text for our performances. At this stage, it seems most of us are strong with our ideas and concepts, yet we are struggle to make any relevant or entertaining material. What Etchells text taught us is that we are all probably thinking way too much into this. Like with the streets, They aren’t particularly saying anything strongly poetic or intelligent, it is just stories. It is mostly the way in which it is performed that makes it so magical. The words that we can all relate to, the everyday topics, conversations and situations.
This paper, ‘talks about writing words to be seen and read on stage rather than spoken. It talks about lists, about improvisation, about reading, about whispering ‘
It talks of how text can be key to performance but it does not have to be extremely well thought out. As it tells of how the company Forced Entertainment come up with text for their work, through lists, that can vary from
‘ A text of lines from half remembered songs’
‘A text for people to find in their wallet, days later, when you are forgotten’
(Huxly, Noel, 1996)
As a task, we have to create our own list, and perform it to the group.
I chose to do ‘THINGS TO BELIEVE IN’
This followed:
Santa Clause, The tooth fairy, hope, love, a dream, that your money to the homeless man is being spent on good things, the NHS, you, me, smoking kills, does it?, peace on earth, crystals for healing, religion, therapy to cure your mental health issues, mental health, am i? that doing well in school will benefit your future job prospects, angels, medicine, not having that last biscuit because that will be the reason you gain weight even after you’ve eaten the packet to yourself, that plastic surgery will make you look better, goggles, can i? diet coke is better for you, the apocalypse, is it? Social media is bad, contour, a cure for cancer, communication, pigs flying, herbal tea to cleanse your body, alcohol to numb the pain, will you? drugs to have a good time, kindness, 8 glasses of water a day….
The Streets “Weak Become Heroes” (2007) Youtube Video added by KRZYSZTOF KRYWALSKI Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z1kRhiPE0E
Stuck In The Middle With You – Stealers Wheel (2010) Youtube Video added by That 80’s Show! Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx0Q
Mike Skinner Interview with Laura Leishman (2014) Youtube Video added by Laura Leishman Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZjsFXQNuEs