Friday, February 26, 2010

Breath is Everything

Two things today, campers:

First off, I’m well. My medical test reports aren’t all in, but the direst conjecture has been ruled out: I'm not malignant, at least not physically. The jury is still out on my emotional/spiritual malignancy (joking…)

Second, I had the privilege and pleasure of interviewing Todd Barton, a composer and musical director at OSF. He said a couple of things that completely blew my mind. The interview is too long to reprint here (plus, there may be copyright issues), but I had to share the three things he has learned in his years at OSF:

“#1, Breath is everything. All of your intention is in your inhale and if you're not clicked into your inhale…As audiences, we know when an actor goes up and loses a line. But there are also times when we go, ‘he didn't go up, but something's wrong.’ They got off breath. I think that's the force. #2 Listening. Deep listening. It's listening with - the third thing - curiosity. If you're paying attention to the breath and you're curious, you can usually listen deeply. There's a difference between hearing and listening. There's just taking in information, just hearing, because we hear whether we want to or not. Then there is listening that is connecting, being connected.”

He spoke extempore for over an hour and these were the kinds of things he said. Genius.

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