[nabs-l] Can a person's movement be affected by blindness?

Fri Sep 17 20:05:11 UTC 2010

Hey all,
This is a wonderful topic. I am a classical singer, and have had the
good fortune to have an honest and helpful voice professor the last
two years. I have also taken performance techniques for singers, and
am currently taking movement improv. So any of you in college, look at
your dance class offerings!
So this is not just a blind problem. Promise. How many singers  get so
involved in their technique, breathing, etc, that they show no
expression their face, except one of severe concentration.
Instrumentalists are worse! I can't tell you how many  times we
comment on how those violisnists slouched onto stage, stared at their
sheet music, bowed awkwardly and slouched off. So, this is a
performers issue, which might be slighten complicated by our
blindness.
I have been blind since four, yeah, it's not since birth but it's pretty close.
let me start with facial expressions. And I have said this before on
this list. Facial expressions are inate, and universal. Just because
you are blind does not mean you have no expressions. you do, you just
don't see them. So as a performer you need to become aware of them. I
suggest the following.
1. In the morning, when you are getting dressed, wake up your face
muscles. In acting we call this facial flow. This simply means to move
all of your face at once in as many ways as possible. Open your mouth,
move it from side to side, raise those brows, lift and lower those
cheeks. Move your face! I wouldn't recommend doing this in public
unless there's a roomful of people doing the same thing.
2. Sit down with a friend, and a few emotion index cards. Or just have
your friend give you different emotions. And then try to really feel
that emotion. Think of anger, think of happiness, disgust, surprise,
astonishment. It'll come  to your face and then when it's there have
that friend say, intensify. If you can't, start over and have them
tell you what you are doing. Are you raising your brows, do you have a
frown, are your lips pursed. Etc. And then practice intensifying. On
stage, we have to exaggerate everything. If it feels big, it's
probably just acceptable, you can do with more.
3. Combine that with your performance. Practice and practice and
practice. If you are a singer, think of each line and the emotions.
Break the song into emotional sections. And then practice it. And make
it big. Have someone give you feedback.
4. Now this varies from person to person, but if you have control over
your eyes, look up. Always look up. If you don't, keep them open if
you can, and raise the eyebrows. This will help the audience keep
their focus on you. Eye contact is important on stage, but we
obviously can't do it. So by looking up, it looks like you are. If you
can only raise the eyebrows,  that still opens up your face and
brightens everything. From what I hear it makes all the difference in
the world.
5. Movement is extremely interesting. In techniques we had gesture cue
cards. Which I could potentially post that list if anyone is
interested. If not, have that creative friend shout out things. Hand
to chest, hand to  shoulder. After you get used to this, add purpose.
Put your hand to your chest while looking astonished. Bow your head
while looking disappointed. Make it big! Stage is far from the
audience. Make it big!! It will feel crazy but it feels that way to
everyone. If you are truly erious about this, have someone from the
theatre department help you and give you feedback. But for the most
part other performers that go on gigs with you are more than
sufficient. Just emphasize the importance of honesty. Don't worry
about gestures until you have facial expressions down though. I
promise if you practice, and make it part of the music as opposed to
an act, it won't look mechanical. Think of how those folk songs make
you feel. Are you singing about a broken heart? Look sad man. Put that
pain in your face. Think of that whiskey you are drinking to numb the
pain. Are you singing about  the waltzing maltilda. Um, i'm not sure
how that makes me feel actually. Smile.
But seriously, play around, and practice. Make it fun. Before you know
it, you'll get onstage and it'll all come naturally. And you'll love
that performance even more. After my technique class, and pretty much
doing all kinds of crazy things for two months, I had a mini-recital,
and everyone was like, wow your face was so expressive. We knew what
you felt. So I promise it happens. It's a lot of hard work, but it's
not impossible.
Hope this help a little bit.
Mary

On 9/17/10, Julie McGinnity <kaybaycar at gmail.com> wrote:
> Very interesting topic.  I am also a musician.  Dancing is very hard
> to me because although I can see a little bit, I cannot see well
> enough to understand how people are moving.
>
> This actually brings up something kind of funny.  I am taking an opera
> studio class.  We learn scenes from an opera and perform in this
> class.  Well, part of this class is acting, which I really enjoy, but
> the other day our director had us playing this mirroring game.  You
> would pare with a partner and mirror there facial expressions and body
> language, and then they would mirror yours in turn.  Obviously, I had
> a problem with this activity.  My director tried to make it work.  She
> had me feel my partner's face to figure out the facial expressions.
> Thankfully, the girl I was working with and I are friends, otherwise,
> that would have been really awkward.  It also did not help to feel her
> face.  It helped more when she was describing to me what she was
> doing.
>
> Facial expressions are not particularly easy for me, but I find good
> descriptions helpful.  They have to be good though, or they won't make
> sense.
> I honestly think that part of the movement thing is because we can't
> see others moving, but that doesn't mean we can't learn.  I'm sure
> there are really awesome dancers who are blind.  The blindness may
> make copying movements more difficult, but that shouldn't stop us from
> trying.  My vocal coach and I are working on getting my  movements to
> look more natural on stage, because like Jim, I am quite statuous.
> Are there any blind dancers out there?  This is a question I have
> always wondered.  I like this topic.
>
> On 9/17/10, Hope Paulos <hope.paulos at gmail.com> wrote:
>> These are interesting questions. I'm a musician as well, and have been
>> told
>> the same things. People say that I need to have a more positive facial
>> expression. Since I've been totally blind since birth, facial expressions
>> are confusing to me. I don't know if I'm looking positive or negative even
>> though  I'm enjoying playing bass in the band very much. Any help would be
>> greatly appreciated.
>> Good topic,
>> Jim.
>> Hope and guide dog, Beignet
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jim" <jp100 at earthlink.net>
>> To: "Jim" <jp100 at earthlink.net>
>> Sent: Friday, September 17, 2010 1:13 PM
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Can a person's movement be affected by blindness?
>>
>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I know this topic might have been briefly brought up by me in the
>>> Blindtalk
>>> (August 2008 forum).  I've asked questions of a similar nature, but I
>>> think
>>> this goes a bit deeper.  If we've talked about this before, please
>>> forgive
>>> me.  I hope this will spark some good discussion.  I also hope to hear
>>> from
>>> folks with all degrees of blindness, especially from those who have been
>>> totally blind for a long time, or since birth.  This issue is beginning
>>> to
>>> affect me enough to want to try doing something about it.  Perhaps as a
>>> precursor, go through the archives and look at a question I sent back in
>>> August of 2008 dealing with extra hands on for the congenitally blind.
>>> This
>>> goes one or two steps beyond my initial questions.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> As many of you know, I've been blind since birth.  I think I was raised
>>> pretty normally.  From what I was told, it had been recommended to my mom
>>> that as a baby that I go see a kids' physical therapist to help get me to
>>> move a bit more and a bit more freely.  More than anything, she helped
>>> solidify the whole "up/down and left/right" concepts, among other things.
>>> That was fine, and I was up and about as any other kid was.  The whole
>>> blindism thing was also nipped in the bud at a very young age as well.
>>> In
>>> fact, it might have been nipped too well, because to this day, even when
>>> I'm
>>> totally relaxed, I am generally one who sits quite still.  I can still
>>> remember my family telling me to sit or stand still when we'd be at other
>>> people's homes, stores, or other places where I was in public.  I wasn't
>>> the
>>> type to really get in trouble for running around places and causing
>>> mischief
>>> in that way.  While I played outside in my home area, I don't ever really
>>> remember getting into trouble by just going off and exploring and
>>> terrorizing other areas the way little kids I know would have done.  I
>>> was
>>> pretty peaceful and content.  My thing was always trying to look good and
>>> fit in with the regular crowd.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I never really thought about any of that kind of thing until recently.  I
>>> find myself on stage more and more, performing and playing music either
>>> by
>>> myself or with two other friends.  I've begun hearing advice such as,
>>> "You
>>> need to look like you're enjoying what you're doing.", or "I wonder how
>>> we
>>> can get you to be more animated and move a little bit so that you're not
>>> stoic."  One newspaper article recently described me as being
>>> "statuesque."
>>> In fact, I might post that small blurb, because it is suggesting that the
>>> reason for my way of being deals with blindness.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Also, they brought along a friend, Jim Portillo, that played an
>>> intriguing
>>> electric bass ukulele with strings made of polyurethane, which gave it a
>>> resonance like rubber, very rich sound for such a small instrument.
>>> Besides
>>> perfect licks, he had a great classic, statue-like stance of a bluegrass
>>> bassist, never wavering, and then later, it was revealed he was blind and
>>> had only been playing a few weeks."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I once took a class on stage craft, and one of the things folks liked
>>> about
>>> my image the most was my smile.  I am told that a lot lately.use the
>>> smile.
>>> I do, but once I'm on stage, I get so focused on what I'm doing that I
>>> end
>>> up forgetting or simply not doing these things that really are attractive
>>> to
>>> a visual audience.  How do blind people get more into the visual aspects
>>> of
>>> things?  Of course I'm enjoying what I'm doing.  There's no greater love
>>> for
>>> me than to play music with my two best friends.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So, here are some questions now that you know my background.  Is a
>>> person's
>>> natural movement or lack thereof affected by blindness in any way?  How
>>> do
>>> totally blind people learn about movement, expression, etc without
>>> looking
>>> forced or mechanical?  I have given up trying to dance because as a kid,
>>> I
>>> was always told, "Oh, you look like a little robot, pretty mechanical."
>>> How
>>> does one differentiate between what may look like a blindism from natural
>>> and free-flowing movement?  If my friend tells me to feel free to swing
>>> and
>>> sway as I play, how do I do it without looking like a Ray Charles or
>>> Stevie
>>> Wonder?  Are these valid concerns or things that can or should possibly
>>> be
>>> overcome to some degree, and if so, how?  Maybe I'm either too
>>> self-conscious or perhaps I'm not totally aware of what some of these
>>> "free
>>> forms of movement and expressions" are?  I don't know.  I'm inclined to
>>> believe that sighted people learn by watching and imitation.  In my case,
>>> unless someone literally shows me what to do and puts my body through the
>>> motions, my interpretations may be different from what they're asking me
>>> to
>>> do.  And, I'm to the point now in what I do where I don't wish to look
>>> foolish or stand out in the wrong way.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The good thing about all of this is that I have a whole lot of other
>>> things
>>> going for me.  I do well behind a microphone in that I'm a good MC and
>>> public speaker.  I'm a good promoter and can get my message across to
>>> folks.
>>> And, when I'm on stage, I deliver a good sounding performance.
>>>
>>> My friends have been great ones and very honest with me about things.  I
>>> now
>>> know that I probably stand out a bit more by not doing anything or
>>> moving.
>>> Interesting, huh?  Now, if I begin working on this, I also want to look
>>> natural and not fake.  I don't want to look like I've memorized a formula
>>> for movement, especially to various songs.  It's Folk music, right?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I look forward to a good discussion that will hopefully challenge me to
>>> go
>>> further and see what happens.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
>
> --
> Julie McG
>  Lindbergh High School class of 2009, participating member in Opera
> Theater's Artist in Training Program, and proud graduate of Guiding
> Eyes for the Blind
>
> "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
> everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
> life."
> John 3:16
>
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-- 
Mary Fernandez
Emory University 2012
P.O. Box 123056
Atlanta Ga.
30322
Phone: 732-857-7004
"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the
most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of
teachers."
Charles W. Eliot