PLEASE TAKE MY SURVEY YOUR OPINIONS ARE SO IMPORTANT!!!!!

Calling all Bappers please take my survey if you’re a training or professional actor, singer, dancer, performer, choreographer, casting professional, or teach in any of these disciplines. I need you opinions please!

It’s very quick and easy it won't take more than five minutes! This is the last chance you will get as my survey closes midnight Thursday 1.12.11

Does a teaching role within the arts impede the opportunity to perform?

Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSL9XHS

Literature Review 2

Relationships between Educational Theatre and Professional Theatre

 

This Journal notates the finding of a two phased conference held between February 3-6 and May 26-31 in 1966 exploring the relationship between theatre's educators and professional practitioners; and the past, present and future of Actor training in America. This development conference was held in order to foster mutual beneficial relations between the American professional and academic theatre. Particular emphasis from this government programme was put on the necessity to improve actor educational training.

I was intrigued by the main objectives of this conference which were to establish areas of action in which separately and combined teachers in academic and professional theatre could add to improve America theatre including theatre education. The idea that both sides of theatre could in some way have a mutual benefit gave me the idea that I could perhaps investigate two opposing roles in the arts as part of my inquiry looking at views of teachers and performers within the arts.

I find the following exert from this journal very compelling evidence to suggest that each role in the theatre industry from 'Actors, writers, directors, teachers, designers, technicians, and managers are all members of this profession; live theatre, cinema, and television are all major forms of his profession' can show how each strengthens one another.
 
'the areas of preparation and performance are interdependent; one relies on the other for purpose, meaning, and continuity. To improve one is to strengthen the other.' I understand this analysis as thus if a teacher is as informed as possible the artist they train will become stronger and more accomplished for this. I saw this as an idea where I could examine the abilities and skills a teacher poses and see what this could bring to a performers career. I then wondered as a fellow teaching performer what the combination of a teacher and performer could bring seeing firstly if the two could be sustained without impeding the other.

My review of this piece of literature has brought further reassurance from a historical approach as well being from 1966 that the integration/collaboration of two roles within the arts perhaps could be a positive move for mutual benefit moving forward.


Relationships between Educational Theatre and Professional Theatre: Actor Training in the United States: A Report on the University of Minnesota Conference, February 3-6 and May 26-31, 1966
Kenneth L. Graham, Lee Strasberg, Duncan Ross, Kristin Linklater, O. Meredith Wilson
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/3204968 .

Accessed: 26/11/2011 15:59

Liteature Review 1

Ethical questions in Secondary Theatre Education.

The first piece of literature I have decided to review is an article adapted from Signs of Change: New Directions in secondary Theatre Education, Joan Lazarus. Copyright © 2004 Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. Reprinted by permission. (Accessed 27.04.11)

I first reviewed this article earlier this year and I decided to re review it as I still feel the content is very relevant even with the redirection of my inquiry.

My original review can be found on my blog:

http://rebeccajanegaskell24.blogspot.com/2011/04/task-6c-literature-review-3.html

Previously I had selection a small section of the article looking at how working within a musical theatre industry could be approached and improved from Joan Lazarus who teaches theatre education at the University of Texas at Austin. Although this isn't specifically linked to my inquiry topic looking at whether 'a teaching role within the arts impedes the opportunity to perform'. I believe Lazarus's distinct backbone of strong ethics when teaching within the arts is valuable and definitely something I feel should be considered when teaching and/or performing. Lazarus talks about remaining professional and having boundaries as the role of a teacher which made me consider where they would lie if both of these professions were combined. This led to my decision to investigate the roles of teaching and performing in the arts and see what can be done to ensure long term success with this choice. I felt Lazarus’s ethical recommendations in particular "Make a life for yourself outside of school. It will make you a better teacher and artist". To me this advice suggests that life experience and perspective on situations are vital. In finding this balance myself I believe it has helped me to establish my role as a teaching performer.

My personal experiences and Lazarus's advice spurred me on to further investigate how attitudes and approaches to professional practice can provide an established a frame work for other professionals to seek assurance from.

In this article Lazarus also asked the question 'Is there a difference between creating theatre with young performers and creating theatre with adults? Should there be?' Lazarus interviewed nearly one hundred teachers and teaching artists, each director/teacher spoken to talked about the nature of this difference.

The following is taken from this article which provided substance to the basis of my inquiry approach:

'When working with experienced actors, a director can assume the performers have skills, experience and a certain degree of training with which to "tell the story". Seasoned actors have a working knowledge not only from the art form of theatre but also of how to work in this art form. They understand fundamental rehearsal practices, terminology, methods and procedures. ‘With inexperienced performers, telling the story of the play requires acquisition of the most basic information and skill. Directors of secondary school theatre must be both artists and teachers and must understand theatre pedagogy as well as theatre artistry.'

This exert was collected from a wide audience of professionals discussing how theatre can be created with different types of performers. For me this was interesting and compelling evidence to see how each group was treated. The opinion that 'Directors of secondary school theatre must be both artists and teachers' seemed poignant and relevant to my inquiry. While the role of a teacher is important, the opinion that they should be an artist suggests to me that the need for performance experience is essential in providing a sufficient standard of teaching. I then began to wonder if teaching experience could benefit and be necessary to enhance an artist’s performance? In conclusion Lazarus's article prompted me to explore different perspectives and explore the advantages each role a teacher and performer could have to one another and if the two could be sustained simultaneously without impeding the other.

This article is adapted from Signs of Change: New Directions in secondary Theatre Education, Joan Lazarus. Copyright © 2004 Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. Reprinted by permission. (Accessed 27.04.11)

Help advice needed please!!!!

I am struggling to source suitable enough literature to review for my inquiry-Does a teaching role within the arts impede the opportunity to perform. I have tried many search engines and websites but don't really feel anything could bring much towards my inquiry. I lost my previous Delicious account and have read so much over the last couple of weeks I'm starting to worry now. Can anyone offer any advice please?

Many thanks!

Last Chance to have your say Does a teaching role within the arts impede the opportunity to perform?

So far the response to my survey has been great a huge thank you all who have taken part so far! If you haven't had chance yet heres another reminder!Actors,singers,dancers choreographers,casting professionals, students still training all of your opinions are wanted!

Does a teaching role within the arts impede the opportunity to perform?
Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSL9XHS

Sharing advice for carrying out Interviews, focus group and creating my survey.

After a long conversation via skype with Mark Illes last Wednesday I felt much more focussed and aware of what I wanted to gain when carrying out my interviews and focus group.

With my inquiry question 'Does a teaching role within the arts impede the opportunity to perform?' I knew that I would be looking to seek opinions from three main perspectives in order for me to establish a well balanced argument.

• The first perspective that I wanted to look at was from a performers (professional and in training) to establish what assumptions training performers held and what professionals had actually experienced.
• The second perspective was from a teachers within the arts (professional and in training) to again establish their assumptions whilst training and the realities in the profession.
• The final perspective that I looked to gain was that of casting directors to establish exactly they were looking for and any advice about what they liked and didn't like.

When exploring these perspectives I found that many people fell in to more than one category with performers being teachers aswell.This is exactly the area that my inquiry and title is trying to focus in on. Performing teachers/teaching performers whichever way round exist and I want to know their experiences and whether it was something they had planned to combine and any advice surrounding this career choice.

I struggled for some time to come up with a well balanced set of interview questions as I was trying to look at a lot of different perspectives. During our discussion Mark mentioned that he had used purposive questioning techniques which were adapted to suit each individual. This then gave me the idea to create three different sets of interview/focus group questions in order for me to maximise the benefits and eliminate any irrelevant questioning. This advice was really helpful and this purposive approach has helped me to distinguish between all parties involved.

Since then I have carried out my focus group with three teachers who all have previous performance experience which I felt was very beneficial and informative. I have also carried out interviews with casting professionals and a fellow performing teacher. I have a few more interviews planned so hopefully schedules permitting these will all be finished by the end of this week!

When looking to create my survey I decided this purposive approach was useful but to realistically gain as many opinions from across the spectrum I felt one survey would have to allow for all differing perspectives. I felt this could be a tall order as I wanted the assumptions-opinions-experiences shared to create a set if statistics on which I can then start to see a pattern and interpret in order to bring an answer to my inquiry title knowing I have sourced the widest spectrum of opinions available to me. I hope my survey will be answered more by experienced professionals though but is still open the training professionals in the arts if they wish. My reason for this is that my interviews of training professionals would give me an idea of the type of questions and assumptions that they felt needed answering and guidance on. Then my other interviews, focus groups and survey of professional performers, teachers and casting professionals could answer these.

If you haven't already please share your opinions by participating in my survey! Your opinions are so important and it will ONLY take approximately ten minutes! Use your voice have your say.

Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSL9XHS

 

Thank you!

Does a teaching role within the arts impede the opportunity to perform? *SURVEY*

Calling all professional/training performers, teachers, casting directors and anyone else with an affiliation within the arts!


Your opinions are so important to aid my inquiry! The purpose of my survey is to research the opinions of teachers, performers and casting directors on whether you feel a teaching role within the arts impedes the opportunity to perform.


Participation in my survey will ONLY take approximately ten minutes! Use your voice have your say.

  Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSL9XHS

Proposed Interview Questions

Over the next week I plan to carry out my peer and professional interviews for my Inquiry. The following are a list of my proposed questions:

·     What is your role/connection to the arts?

·     In your opinion do you feel if you teach in the arts is it possible/suitable to perform alongside and why?

 

·    Do you feel in a performance career is desired a teaching role can be sustained comfortably?

 

·    Can a balance between teaching and performing be established   n order to provide a long term career path?

 

·    What was the main emphasis of your training connected with the arts?

 

·    Did your initial intentions for your career path and training turn out to be the role you are in now? If not why do you think that is?

 

·     Do you feel teaching can benefit or act as a barrier to pursuing a performance carer?

 

·     Similarly Do you feel performing can benefit or act as a barrier to pursuing a teaching career?

 

·     Knowing how difficult employment within the arts can be at times, as a performer myself, Instead of having gaps of unemployment on my CV when I am between performance contracts I teach. Do you think a casting director/employer (teaching role) would view this experience as valuable or detrimental?

 

·     If I were to combine my performance credits and my teaching credits on one CV showing continuity of employment would this impede my chances to pursue future performing or teaching employment?

 

·     Is it better to keep performing and teaching credits on separate CV’s?

 

·     If a performer has a few months where they didn’t perform or only had a small amount is it better to leave their CV blank or include periods they were teaching?

 

·     How do you think a casting director would respond to teaching credits o a performers CV application?

 

·     How would an employer looking to hire a teacher respond to a teachers CV containing performance credits?

 

·     Do you feel all performers have the capabilities and are suited to teach? Or should have performers have teaching qualifications before a teaching role is pursued?

 

·     Does the ability to perform in more than one discipline provide a stronger platform for their teaching ability?

 

·     If you are a ‘triple threat’ performer (professional credits) does this demonstrate a wider area of expertise to teach in? Is this an example of how a performance career could benefit a teaching role? Could the same be said for experienced teachers in the arts? Are they able to perform automatically or is performance training needed first?

 

·     What are your opinions on the following statement:

-     At points in each performers career transitions are necessary in order to sustain employment within the arts.

-    What do you think are the main reason for these changes if any?

 

·     Is adaptability a large factor for a performer’s career longevity?

 

·     Why do you think many performers turn to teaching?

 

·     Do you think teachers choose not to perform or feel they aren’t allowed the opportunity?

·     Is there a divide between teachers and performers with reference to ability?

 

·     During your training is there anything you would, on reflection, add/exclude or increase to the focus of your course in order to provide assistance to your career?

 

·     Would combining teaching and a performance career long term bring stability and encourage a positive impression to working within the arts? Or would this be a negative thing to do and not advisable?

 

·     Should/could performers and teachers combine their skills in order to produce a new type of role –performing teacher/teaching performer?

 

·      What form of training produces the most productive type of performer?

 

·     What form of training produces the most productive type of teacher?

 

·     Which background (teacher or performer) produces the most productive teacher?

 

·     Which background (teacher or performer) produces the most productive performer?

 

·     How can I make my choice to combine both roles more productive and successful moving forward?

·     What age were you introduced to the arts how much influence did this have on your choice of avenue to pursue?

 
I hope these questions will allow me to gain a wide variety of opinions and bring me closer to answering my inquiry question 'Does a teaching role within the arts impede or help the opportunity to perform?'

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think to these questions.

Part 1A Critical Review: Introduction 500 words(1st Draft)

Title (in progress):

Does a teaching role within the arts impede or help the opportunity to perform?

When I began this BAPP course I had the idea that I wanted to expand my skills trying to bridge the gap between my teaching and performance work within Musical Theatre. I felt if I were able to teach within a more vocational setting then this would give my career more longevity and the possibility for expansion. My first concern was could my lack of teaching qualifications hinder this idea? I hoped if I could bring together my experience and introduce it in some way within an educational setting I could widen the reach of musical theatre making it more mainstream and accessible. Thus combining my two passions of teaching and performing o bring me further stability in the arts.

Previously my performance career was supported financially by other jobs outside of the arts which is something I wanted to avoid so I sought a new direction where I could strengthen my and employability long-term. I found in the arts employers seemed to be more interested in experience over qualifications as my search to teach musical theatre led me to a company called Mainstream Theatre Arts (MTA) where I hoped to continue performing alongside. My employment with them has allowed me the opportunity to introduce musical theatre into each school’s curriculum. Working freelance my position is one that previously didn’t exist and allows me to facilitate my own ideas combing elements of dance, drama and singing. I feel by gaining this new position I have demonstrated a greater demand for musical theatre in mainstream education.

Having the ability to sing act and dance (be a triple threat) performer helped me gain this teaching role. I wonder if this role in turn could benefit my performance career. I now hope to explore the possibilities of teaching and performing cohesively and whether this could have a positive or negative effect on the other. I hope my inquiry can bring me further understanding about the decisions I've made and see what effect these could hold for my career and maybe others moving forward. Could my teaching experience be seen as a positive or a hindrance to a casting director and similarly could my performance career be seen as beneficial or irrelevant for a teaching position. Teaching and performing are both very close to my heart and being able to combine the two ultimately has brought me great satisfaction. However I am aware the more I am pulled towards teaching my performance opportunities are limited. In an ideal world the two could operate simultaneously but I fear this may not be possible. Hopefully through this inquiry I can establish further reassurance and direction through the knowledge of other professionals.

Revised Inquiry Aims and Objectives

After a lengthy discussion with Rosemary, I realised my initial aims and objectives could be too much to cover in just one inquiry. I really want my inquiry to help deepen my understanding of my current career progress and identify any areas for improvement in the future. With this in mind I now have a revised set of aims and objectives.

New title (in progress)

Does a teaching role within the arts impede or help the opportunity to perform?

Aims:

• Investigate what teachers and performers feel the right combination of training and experience could bring to a career in the arts.(Negative or positive)
• Discover when teachers and performers were first introduced to the arts and find out how important that was in influencing their current career.
• Start a debate about what a teacher/performer needs in order to maximise their career success/longevity.(Skills/training/experience)
• Establish whether or not the transition from performer to teacher and vice versa can be done successfully or if a barrier exists.

Objectives:

• Explore ways I can strengthen my position as an educator and performer allowing both to develop simultaneously.
• Identify ways I can further prepare for the unforeseen that can occur with a career in the arts. (Past present and future).
• To see if a role in teaching is seen to help or hinder a performance career.
• Uncover training paths taken and career outcomes seeing if this was their desired role or not and why.

Since graduating nearly six years ago I've found myself going through many different roles in my career. Predominantly performing for the first three years I then transitioned to a combined performance and teaching career. For the last 10 months I have been mainly teaching so the uncertainties of a career in the arts are all too apparent.

I hope my inquiry can bring me further understanding about the decisions I've made and see what effect these could hold for my career and maybe others moving forward. Could my teaching experience be seen as a positive or a hindrance to a casting director and similarly could my performance career be seen as beneficial or irrelevant for a teaching position. Teaching and performing are both very close to my heart and being able to combine the two intimately has brought me great satisfaction. However I am aware the more I am pulled towards teaching my performance opportunities are limited. In an ideal world the two could operate simultaneously but I fear this may not be possible. Will I be completely satisfied trying to 'have my cake and eat it?' I miss performing right now as my teaching has taken over whilst I complete this course. When I went off to perform my last big contract my pupils missed me as I missed them but I loved the feeling f being back on stage. I am at a cross roads and wonder if I have to make a definitive decision before it is made for me.

Hopefully through this inquiry I will be able to establish further reassurance and direction through the knowledge I gain.