Hi everyone!
You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting too many blogs as of late.
Well, I’ve been busy with stuff like Certamen, and Forensics!
(I was competing at Princeton Certamen and won 1st place with my team, so that’s fun :3)
And I’ve learned that when you have to learn a Forensics piece mostly by yourself (because your Forensics coach has to train up the Newbies), you have to do a LOT on your own. But it’s not horrible.
After all, it’s just a piece to narrate, right?
…
Right?
Nope.
It’s pretty darn hard to add stuff to your piece with no experience of what to add.
So here I am!
I’m here to help y’all who don’t have a Forensics coach and need more practice or things to add to your piece.
(Here I am, writing this before a meet… s m o r t)
but anyway
Let’s get to it!
- Refer to pronunciation.
This applies especially if you’re like me, who’s doing a piece from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which involves complex polysyllabic words (e.g. “sovereignty” “Molossian”) and mythical monsters (e.g. “nymphs, fauns, satyrs”).
Try and find someone knowledgeable about the topic (e.g. a Latin teacher for pronunciation of Roman monsters) or a video online for pronunciation (on YouTube or something – KEEP IN MIND WHILE TAKING THIS ROUTE THAT IT MAY BE A GOOD IDEA TO WATCH MORE THAN ONE VIDEO TO MAKE SURE THE PRONUNCIATION IS CORRECT).
You can get infracted for mispronunciations (which knocks ten points off your score and usually locks you out of power round, if many people on your team infract it can keep you from earning an award for your school), however, if it’s a mispronunciation on a difficult word, or one that’s uncommon (example from my piece when I pronounced “satyr” as “SAT-er” instead of “SAY-ter”), they may make an exception (in my case the judge did, luckily).
It’s best, however, to play safe and pronounce everything correctly.
2. Read your piece out loud.
Not only does this help you memorize (if needed for your category), but it also helps you figure out where gestures and/or emphasis are needed.
It also helps to watch movies to see what characters do to express emotion. I refer back to animated movies as they tend to exaggerate.
3. Exaggerate!
Bringing me to my next point.
Forensics is all about emotion and passion, and the more you exaggerate, the more clear your emotions are!
HOWEVER — make sure not to overdo this. If you have a category such as Serious Solo, exaggeration can come off as humorous–which has almost no place in a Serious Solo act (unless it’s dark humor, and that’s still risky).
Try to do things like spread your arms–and if you tend not to show emotion, exaggerate your faces. Chances are, you look emotionless when you think you’re expressive. (like me hEhE)
4. Associate an experience with your piece!
You hear this a lot in performing, be it acting or singing.
My choir director says things like “Imagine your dream trip while singing ‘Come Fly With Me'” or “Imagine your dream life outcome while singing ‘Amazing.'”
But, to be honest, if it doesn’t correlate with your piece, it’s extremely hard to connect the dots and stack passion.
You have two options here.
- Try really really really hard to connect the passion. You have to know your piece well enough to not concentrate a ton on your piece but concentrate a ton on your happy/sad/make-you-mad memory.
[this does not work for me so don’t blame me if it doesn’t work for you] - Make a memorable experience with your piece to think of.
This actually worked for me!
During my trip to Princeton for Certamen, we had a really tense Finals round, to the point where we tied 80–0–80.
However, what put us ahead was when I was able to buzz on a question with the information, “The crime of an Arcadian king–” (I responded, “Boiling human flesh and serving it to Zeus/Iuppiter) and got it RIGHT, along with the boni, which ended up netting us the win.
The reason I knew the answer at that part of the question? My forensics piece.
So, whenever I perform my piece, I think of that buzz and everyone’s awe (my coach said it was one of the best Mythology buzzes he’s ever seen–and he’s been coaching for a while!), and it helps add that extra emotion into my piece!
So that’s probably more useful for people who are usually more emotionless (like me)!
So there you go!
Four tips to elevate your Forensics experience!
I hope to see you at State!
See ya!
-Solus
(Louis model by nobodyisplaying, Zelkov model by EliaKasai, and motion by Belarosa Valdemia VT)