Inside our character's mind...
Using inner thoughts to control pace and pause
Today’s post will help your Acting students achieve strong marks in the following assessment and grading criteria:
Grades 1-3:
LO1.2: Demonstrate an understanding of the character and situation
LO2.3: Use pace and pause appropriate to the text
LO3.1: Perform with movement and facial expression appropriate to the character
Grades 4-5:
LO1.2: Demonstrate an understanding of how the character feels, including showing their moods and thoughts
LO3.1: Communicate the physicality of both characters through appropriate movement, posture, body language and facial expression
I have a student who is a capable actor but his pacing is out of control. Because he’s bright and quick-thinking, it never feels to him as though he’s going too fast.
I have two tricks up my sleeve that often work at controlling pace and introducing pause. I used these in our lesson last week, but added in a third technique which wouldn’t ordinarily relate to pace but actually worked better than my usual methods.
What did I start with?
To control pace I start with the following exercises:
EXERCISE 1: Choral speaking
We chose a paragraph and spoke the lines together. I said to him beforehand, “this is going to feel like you’re trying to run through treacle!” and it did… he kept trying to race ahead, but my voice held him back like I was pulling on the reins of his runaway horse. I always say to students who struggle to control their pace that if it feels right to them, then it’s too fast. If it feels too slow to them, they’re on the right track. By doing the choral speaking exercise you demonstrate this even more clearly.
EXERCISE 2: Stopwatch
We chose the same paragraph and my student timed me reading it aloud. It took me 41 seconds. I didn’t act it out, just sat at my desk and recited it with some expression at a speed that I thought was appropriate. Afterwards I asked him if it sounded too fast, too slow or about right. He said he thought it was about right. “Great! So we agree that this paragraph should take you about 41 seconds. Now you try.” His version was at least 10 seconds quicker than mine, which doesn’t sound like much, but on a single paragraph that’s significant and that was with him trying to control the pace. His homework was to work on this paragraph and aim to say it in about 40 seconds. It’s prescriptive and technical, but some students really enjoy the challenge, it’s something they can work on with a stop watch like a kind of reverse race where the winner is the one who finishes last.
Of course, it’s not just about the speed with which you say the words, it’s about the pauses you leave in between them. And this brings me to my third technique, which is about helping students fill the pause with meaning. My students hear this from me a lot: