Performing arts theater

Hearing Neil Again

I heard about the Neil Diamond concert coming to Charlotte on December 12. I became excited and tried to buy tickets. After a few hours on the internet, I realized this was going to be a treat reserved for those who could afford to pay the scavenger’s exorbitant prices for the tickets. Not that Neil isn’t worth it, I just can’t afford it. Thus, my moodiness tonight. I want to hear Neil in person one last time, and can’t.

Loving Neil has been a lifetime joy of mine. He captured my heart in the 60’s with “Cherry, Cherry” and later with “Song Sung Blue” and “Stones”, and many others. I saw him in concert in Charlotte in 1977. After the concert, I drove behind the coliseum, saw a bus, thought it was his and chased it all over Charlotte at high rates of speed until I lost track and was forced to go home. I honestly thought I would follow this bus to it’s destination upon which Neil would depart and walk into my arms to stay forever. I was 29 years old then.

I am 61 now, and still have that fantasy…someday I will take Neil into my arms and convey my absolute appreciation of his talent and sensitivity. His songs guided me through years of self-discovery, new motherhood, loss of love, and finally rediscovering myself. No matter what my mood, Neil’s music could take me there. I nursed my babies in the wee hours of the morning to the sound of Neil, I loved my husband in the wee hours with the echoes of Neil’s music in my head, I endured my boring jobs with the beat of Neil’s music in my limbs yearning to dance, to express, to feel his words with motion. Neil always had a song that would relate to whatever was going on with my life. I need to let him know it. I need to go to this concert. It will probably be by last chance.

The concert is a big deal to me. It’s probably a big deal to Neil. We’re both getting older, both needing to justify our years, both needing to be appreciated, both needing to feel that we’ll be remembered. He will be remembered for his talent, but will I be remembered as the the dedicated, lifelong fan?

Let me hear Neil in person again, so I can hear me again.

Churches, Schools, children’s programs, and many other groups have used puppet programs to educate for years, but with the growth of modern technology, are they still effective?

Modern technology has brought great teaching and learning enhancements that are appealing and attention grabbing. Compare the special effects in movies and TV programs today with the ones from ten or twenty years ago. The advances are amazing. The effects are often so realistic; they blur the line between reality and entertainment. The same is true for today’s video games. In most role playing games, you don’t just play a part in the game–you become the character and experience the game.

Children and teens are used to this realism in the media they’re exposed to. So, again, the question arises: Are puppets still a viable teaching tool in our society?

The answer is yes. Puppets have a universal appeal to all ages. A recent “America’s Got Talent” season supports this statement. The winner was a ventriloquist using a variety of hand puppets to entertain millions of people each week during the competition. I did a You-Tube search on “Terry Fator” and came up with 147 video selections. The first one had almost four million views in a five month period!

Another search on You-Tube using the word “puppet” yielded 61,600 video possibilities. One of the videos, added eight months ago had over 26,000,000 views–that’s over 100,000 views every day. Seven out of the initial twenty had over 1,000,000 views each.

When you see the above results and factor in how often TV programs and movies use puppets, it’s obvious that puppetry is still effective. Let’s examine why puppets have such appeal and teaching ability.

First, as stated above, puppets have a universal appeal. You’ll find them in most cultures and societies around the world. When I was part of a traveling puppet ministry, it was fun to watch the expressions of the people when they entered the church or auditorium. Just seeing the puppet stage often brought a smile to their faces and I could sense the anticipation building as they waited for the program to start. More often than not, it was adults who came to us after the program to ask when we were coming back again.

Second, people enjoy stories. Most movies and TV programs are stories that are acted out for people to watch. It’s becoming common place for newly released movies to make millions of dollars the first weekend they run. Why? Marketing efforts portray them as stories that you need to see and experience. Marketers take advantage of people’s enjoyment of stories.

Puppets also benefit from that trait. Puppet plays are simply the process of one or more puppets acting out a story for the audience to enjoy. You can have the puppets act out the play for entertainment purposes or to teach important truths.

This leads to the next reason: Puppet shows allow for audience interaction. If you want to teach a specific truth through the puppets, before the play ask some key questions that the story will answer. In other words, give them something to look for while watching the play. Then, after the story is finished, discuss the answers with the audience. By doing this, the audience isn’t simply watching for entertainment purposes. They are actively watching–looking for the answer to your questions. As they watch and begin to relate to the puppets through the story, the truth has a greater chance of impacting them.

Here are four more reasons. Puppets are great visual aids, they add variety to your teaching, they add enjoyment to learning, and are fun to watch.

Puppets are and always will be an effective teaching and entertainment tool. They are already incorporated into our tech savvy culture and will continue to entertain and teach. But, we can learn a lesson from technology. The shows and movies that are the highest quality tend to acquire greater numbers of viewers. Puppeteers and puppet teams that maintain high-quality puppetry standards will also draw audiences and have opportunities to share their message. As you use puppets to entertain or instruct, you will help your audience to understand what it means to experience puppets

I can still remember the first day I saw a ventriloquist perform. I was 9 years old, and was in total awe that someone could sit there, with this face showing no expression, and his lips not moving at all…yet the dummy he had sitting on his knee was just jabbering away, telling joke after joke. After seeing that performance at a schoolmate’s birthday party, I knew that was something I wanted to learn how to do.

My parents didn’t really think I could get into doing something like that professionally, but they did humor me by getting me a cheap ventriloquist dummy that Christmas. How I loved that puppet. For the next couple of years, I practiced as much as I could. I talked in front of the mirror with my dummy in my lap. I could never really get the hang of talking without moving my lips just a little bit. I even performed in front of my little sister, who shouted, “Your mouth moved!” every single time I attempt to talk for my dummy. After a while, I became very frustrated, and eventually gave up my dream.

Fast forward about 14 years later, when I saw my next ventriloquist act. It was at a comedy club, with the dummy being very funny, yet vulgar. It made me remember how I used to sit in front of the mirror and my family so many nights, trying to perfect my dream. I decided I was going to get back into this hobby, and this time make it work. I had my first performance last weekend, for a small group of 7 years old at a birthday party. They really seemed to love me! I was so excited that I had reconnected with my childhood dream, and made so many children smile with my dialogue.

You may be wondering how I was able to go from a frustrated preteen to someone doing ventriloquism for free as a side hobby. Well, here’s the things I have learned:

• You must practice, Practice, PRACTICE! Being a good ventriloquist will not happen overnight, so you have to be willing to keep at it until you have got it down pat. Use the mirror, family or friends as your audience. Set up a rehearsal schedule, so that you stay on top of your dialogues.
• You must learn different ways to pronounce certain words, and to do it in a way that isn’t detected by your audience. The reason for this is that some letters of the alphabet cannot be pronounced without moving your mouth. Therefore, if you can vary the sound just a bit (by changing one letter to a letter with a close sound) to where it still sounds like you are saying the word, and you are not moving your lips, you can create the illusion of ventriloquism.
• Master the art of “throwing your voice” before you incorporate the use of a puppet. Using a ventriloquist dummy takes some of your focus away from your voice distortion. Those who have perfected this voice technique can afford to lose some of their attention to the puppet. Trying to do too much at one time will just leave you frustrated.