States of Mind

I have been interested in looking into the different states the human mind can be in. The obvious being our everyday emotions: Happy, sad, angry, surprised etc. But I am also most interested in the alternate and more extreme states we can enter into. Elation and depression would be good examples as polar opposites. I would like to focus more on elation. Although my final piece may indeed have darker undertones, or moments of sadness, I would like it to be an overall positive, inspiring and uplifting experience for my audience.

Research
Project MK-Ultra was an American project, where people were given LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). The willingness of the participants has been allegedly debatable. The effects of the drug were monitored and left the subjects in a variety of different mental states.

These pictures were drawn by an artist who had taken the drug LSD. It's interesting to note the visual changes in perception they were having. A performer seeing something an audience cannot may be a good focus point to look into.

The Hand-Imp

This is a poem I wrote for one of my homework assignments. It did not need to be a poem, but I thought I needed to try something "outside the box"... And outside my comfort zone. I enjoyed writing this, and I did not expect to find it as easy as I did to make the words flow. I think it's definitley something I could continue working on, and I will be trying to write more poetry even if I do move on from this.

The Hand-Imp

 

The Hand-Imp says not where he is from

Or she, or them, or it

The Hand-Imp clambers merrily along towards your finger tip.

Picking for nails, from girls or males

Sex matters not to the Hand-Imp.

What does matter though, when they get past the toe,

Past the trousers and jeans

Up by any means

Around your waist

And then, with haste

Down your sleeve

Oh, so naïve are we of the skills of the Hand-Imp.

The importance, what matters?

Those five crusty factors

Tis not the palm that imps desire,

Nor the knuckles they require

Your wrinkly skin

All stretchy and thin

The imps will pull at

And laugh at somewhat

As Hand-Imps hands are terribly smooth

And green, yes they leave a sheen

As they scratch at your thumbs

Making handy skin crumbs

They’ll scrabble along ‘til they reach your claws, then they’ll pause.

Then they’ll pick out your nails.

Yes those things sat in beds at the ends of your digits

For those little midgets it’s Heaven on hand

How grand they must feel

Tucking into a meal

Made solely from talons

Hand-Imps like the challenge, you see

Getting food for free

Well, it’s not food for me

Or you, unless you like to chew

On the ends of your fingers

Just mind those that linger.

There, on your finger, the Hand-Imp.



Movement

 

Now, I'm no ballerina, but I do love ballet. This has to be my favourite piece - "Le Grand Pas de Deux". It's playful and funny, but also really well controlled. It's beautiful to watch and really entertaining. I would love to be able to tell a story through movement alone (without simply resorting to mime) and I am considering using dance in my solo piece - if it suits the theme. Even if I do not use dance, I can focus on using controlled movement as I beleive the use of the body to be a very important factor in a solo peice. 

Music Research

This is Jean Richie's "Skin and Bone". I love folk music and Jean Richie especially, her music has a beautifully simple sound and the lyrics in this song are great to follow as she is narrating a short story. I like the end of this song, I like how precise and final it is, and because you are following the story you are not expecting the surprise. I would like to use the element of surprise in my solo peice as I enjoy the unexpected and think it's a great way to entertain.

This is "Monkey & Bear" by Joanna Newsom. She also writes in verse and lets you follow the story in her songs. I like this song especially as it's about a monkey and a bear who escape together to look for a new life. I think it's a sweet story, though it has some darker undertones (bear falling into the sea for example). I would love to be able to write songs like this, I find Joanna Newsom really inspiring. I would like to use music and sound in my solo piece. I would also love to try writing in verse, I have written both poetry and fictional stories so I will try to combine the two styles. This year I am determined to try different styles (of performance, of speech/language etc) and I think starting with the style of context will be the best first step. I definitely want to create a fictional story/piece and I think writing "lyrically" will be really interesting.