The actress Ruby Dee. Note the expressiveness that flows through her relaxation, the result of her ability to quiet her mind and let things happen. Image via britannica.com.
“When you act, don’t think!”
This is the advice from acting coach Jack Waltzer, who elaborates on the Repetition Exercise in the following clip.
As we saw Sanford Meisner stress in the previous post, artists need a procedure to get their thoughts out of the way so that their impulses can emerge. Repetition is such a procedure.
Thus, when Clark Terry advises jazz students to “Imitate, assimilate, innovate,” and when Winston Weathers and Otis Winchester advise writers to copy and compose, they are not only encouraging us to learn from masters, they are laying out a procedure that allows us to get out of our own way.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for reading.