Make Emotional Noises
Open emotion like this changes things.
Photo courtesy of Flickr.
Ted DesMaisons:
We spend so much of our lives knotting up our emotions rather than letting them flow. We’re afraid—heck, I’m afraid—to be seen, really seen, by those around us. Why so, I’m not sure. Maybe it would mean we’re more vulnerable to emotional injury because others have sensitive information about us. Maybe it’s because we’d have to admit we’re permeable beings, affected by the world and other creatures—and we’d rather believe we’re self-sustaining individuals. We also block our feelings because we’re afraid of them ourselves. If I really open to this emotion, I might be consumed by it. Notice how much pain I feel for what’s happening to the planet? I’ll never get out of despair. Notice the depth of my gratitude for the love others show to me? I might explode in joy. We let others block our emotions and we block them ourselves.
Of course, as with most of the natural world, emotions are meant to flow through us. They come as visitors and just want our notice. Like in Rumi’s “The Guest House,” we can welcome them in—even though they may be dangerous—and we can invite their wisdom. Usually, once acknowledged, they’ll move on of their own accord. New ones will surely fill in the gap behind them. Reevaluation Counseling taught me this lesson beautifully: emotions might bring tears which can get messy, but it’s all good. The wet and snot carry toxins out of the body and allow for powerful healing. If we stifle the sob and sniffle the gunk back in—if we work to contain the emotion—we keep the toxins within us, more poison for another day.
The improv principle “Make emotional noises” serves as a wonderful antidote for such stern control. As in so many other improvisational ways of being, we’re asked to come back to a natural embodiment. So many beginner scenes get locked in talking heads: words, words, words. While that can seem entertaining for an audience if the improvisors have enough verbal dexterity, it ultimately proves unsatisfying, like empty white flour carbs in a meal. Emotions on stage, especially ones sounded without words, immediately offer a different kind of sustenance. The players drop into an authenticity that resonates throughout the theater. As improvisors, we not only let ourselves make emotional noises as they might emerge on their own, but we also learn to invite those sounds as a way of accessing that humanity. The feelings rise and fall. The healing’s wise for all.
Great vocalists invite emotion into every sound they make.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Lisa Rowland:
Make Emotional Noises. What a great reminder.
I’m interested in backing up and then also skipping forward from Ted’s starting point with Making Emotional Noises.
The backing up part is about awareness. As a performer, I connect with this piece of advice as not only reminding me to let my emotions be known, but to simply have emotions in the first place! If my character is going to make an emotional noise, I better have some feelings about things! So often we approach the stage just with information. With naming things and people and places, with stating facts about our backgrounds, but it’s easy to forget that a full-bodied character will have feelings about the different people in her story. Sometimes, improvisors get to have the feelings before they even know why they’re having them. I find myself saying to students “Have a big emotional reaction! Figure out why later!” or “Let us see you cry! You don’t need to know why you’re crying!” It’s exciting! Funnily enough, this is sometimes how I experience emotions in real life. An emotion overtakes me, and I need to take a moment and figure out just where it came from and what brought it on. How delightful it would be to see a character inexplicably emotional.
Sometimes joy cannot be contained in silence. And those feelings change relationships.
Photo courtesy of fotopedia.
The other important part of having emotions, from my perspective, is what it does, not just to a character, but to a relationship. A scene will go from a collection of things happening to a story when characters start being affected by one another. And that is what an audience comes to see. Bringing that into daily life, I’m reminded of the power of the sometimes clichéd “I” statements. “I feel sad.” “I feel lonely.” Simply stating how an action or situation makes you FEEL can be very powerful. In some ways, I think our world has discounted emotions as unproductive or invaluable. They don’t accomplish anything. They’re not to be weighted too heavily. Or, we find safety in being just fine all the time, so we don’t let our emotions out. But they still drive so much of how we move through life! We go toward good feelings, we go away from negative ones. In relationships, reminding each other of how we feel is sometimes all it takes to create a positive change. Make emotional noises. Feel things, let them out, and make them known to the people around you.
Patricia Ryan Madson:
What a useful topic! I remember the first time I heard Keith give this instruction and the result. A lifeless scene became intensely interesting. Emotional sounds are sweet and powerful and playful. And, you don’t have to know what they mean. The sound itself creates the feeling. Like “jump and justify.”
So what is an emotional noise? Try some right now: Sigh. Sigh deeply. Sigh sadly. Sigh happily, sigh in frustration. Take the sigh into a laugh. Using the breath . . .let some sound go up into your nasal chamber. Now play with the breath alone. See how many kinds of sounds/expressions happen when you invite your nonverbal sounding mechanism to simply play. Our breath tells so much. I can always know when my husband Ron is tense and then relaxes. He lets out an enormous sighing breath, while putting his feet up. You can feel his relief. There are all kinds of amazing feelings that manifest when we allow our closed lips the “mmmmmmmmmm” sound. Try it.
Try it out! Choose an emotion, make a noise.
Or start with the emotion . . . try on grief, for example. Think of a very sad circumstance and don’t verbalize, but simply vocalize what grief might sound like. The sounds of grief will likely lead to tears. Emotional sounds often end in laughing and crying. How wonderful. How rich. An excellent reminder, Ted and Lisa. It’s healthy for improvisers and for ordinary life. Make emotional noises. I just thought of a great game. It’s the emotional noises “open a letter” game. Open a letter and read it silently . . . but react by making emotional noises. Experiment! Woo hoo! I love making emotional sounds.
