PERSONAL NO-FORM; essential starting and ending point for each ritual;
the deeper the No-Form experience, the deeper the impressions that
follow; personal approach to and comfort with being nothing

IMPERSONAL NO-FORM; after reaching your personal No-Form, you step
forward into the impersonal essence of No-Form and let it act on you;
the No-Form beyond your personal efforts to reach No-Form

PRAYER CIRCLE; stepping from personal No-Form into impersonal No-Form
into Source (whatever you are living for) into prostrated devotional prayer
around candle at center of room; then, resonating tones that match your
Source relations; then, extending this resonance and any innate movements
of blessing the space in the room; this prayer in action acts as precursor
preparation to the physical warm-up cycle (stillness, spine, strecth, heat)

VERTICAL SOURCE; two-way column of energy extending down from the
stars above, through the body and into the earth below and energy
extending up from the earth below, up through the body and up to the
stars above. Accessed in the jog and the personal space.

IMPULSES; process of allowing free expression of your body’s spontaneous
responses to singing your song; unplanned and undirected movements
of innate responses to the song

EARTH; source of stabilizing current often incorporated during the jog
to anchor the attention in the body and then resonate sounds and tones
that match the earth energy in the body

IDIOSYNCRATIC MOTIONS; a moment-to-moment warm-up device;
allowing whatever developing states you're in to dictate the expression
of movements innate to the changing internal states

MICRO MOVEMENTS; very small, and sometimes imperceptibly small,
movements dictated exclusively by the song’s melody

PRECISION; clarifying the form and direction of any movement or sound
by paring away the excess; any unveiling of the essence of a movement,
sound or gesture; economy

FOLLOW-THROUGH; the result of allowing any movement, sound, solo
or group ritual process to fulfill its natural ending (without controlling
or predetermining that outcome); to fully extend any direction

SONG ESSENCE; the silent source of the song showing its own distinct force,
quality and substance; with enough commitment to this silent essence,
one can be moved towards resonating its essential tone

ESSENTIAL TONE; the tonal essence of the song as discovered through
resonating a sound to match the song essence; the essential tone is not
the melody of the song but a pre-melodic sound or series of tones

ANCESTRAL SOURCES; any personal and intuitive access to the emotional
and spiritual wellsprings of your genetic lineage as represented by your
chosen song; various modes of song as ancestral vehicle include:
asking them questions, relating to them, singing your song to them,
praying to them, embodying them.

HEAD/HEART/GUT; technique for singing (or toning) the melody of
your song through the three major centers in the body and then,
the three minor centers within each. HEAD: throat, mouth, back of head;
HEART: lungs, upper chest, upper back; GUT: belly, pelvic basin, solar plexus.

RITUAL ACTION; core motivation (why you are singing the song) revealed
and expressed in action while singing, ie., I am singing the song for courage
to endure my losses or I am singing to stay warm or I am singing to fight
my battle or I am singing to honor my ancestors. click this for more info

CALL & RESPONSE; using your song as the only language you have to
reach others; requiring moment-to-moment listening and responding;

LAMENT -- CELEBRANT; dynamic song polarity; using your song-as-vehicle
to lament and/or celebrate; usually done in groups of three or more

 

ADDITIONAL PARATHEATRE TECHNIQUES

 

 

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five levels of song-as-vehicle

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towards the embodiment of a song

1) STRUCTURAL (developed on our own time away from the lab)
learn to sing the song with special attention to hitting each note of the melody

2) PHYSICAL/EMOTIONAL
find the micro-movements, the dance and the ritual action innate to the melody

3) INTUITIVE
discover the silent essence of the song towards accessing it as a movement resource

4) SPIRITUAL
discover who or what you are actually singing for and why you must sing this song

5) INTERACTIVE/CONCENTRATION
maintain the integrity of your song amidst the cacophony of other songs

Finnish Brotherhood Hall, Winter Solstice 2004

SONGS-AS-VEHICLES PERFORMANCE
12/20, Berkeley; program notes

SONGS-AS-VEHICLES: THE CD
recorded in the Marin Headlands bunkers

Voice as Instrument: Paul Oertel
Interview: recommended reading

PREVIOUS LAB THEMES & RITUAL JOURNALS
since 1999

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