Where Verena Rein works in the field of stage training:






A short on the phenomenon "stage fright"
you can find here (in German):


please click on the image (pdf-file)

German

Stage training

About seven years ago Verena Rein compiled a concept (in a constant changing and developing process), to improve and to raise the stage presence and expressiveness on the so awkward (because it is "naked" - without having costumes and equipment and without scene) concert stage, but also within scenic projects. She offers her artistic experiences in these fields and, besides, she also takes the knowledge from many visited concerts and opera performances of colleagues into consideration.
Read her new article (in German) - published in April 2007 - on the topic: "Von der Kunst des Auftretens" ("About the art of acting").



She has already held numerous weekend seminars, weeks and sequential evening classes on this subject with great success e.g., nowadays within the scope of a teaching assignment for song students (majors) at University of Arts Berlin, at Landesmusikakademie (Academy of Music Berlin), in the breath centre Berlin, in different music education institutions and as summer seminars abroad (Italy, Netherlands). You can find further details on the sub pages.

Main problems on stage briefly:

1. a general physical stiffness
2. a bad posture
3. an insufficient breath consciousness
4. a discrepancy (unclarity) between facial play, gesture and movement
5. a deep gap between the sence of the respective performed work and the body language
6. missing energetic tension before entries and in singing breaks, no "Untertext"
7. all together not enough consciousness for the requirements in the spiritual-emotional area

The training offers the following - in short trains - to be able to solve the abovementioned problems:

1. Introduction to the breath(ing) work (after Middendorf)
2. Special movement training, gesture training and facial play training (different improvisation models, partner and groups work, single work) to the achievement of an authentic, natural expression at all three levels
3. Film recordings - which are evaluated later with the participants - are used, to objectify the participants' strong points and weaknesses.
4. A detailed practise unity includes the phenomenon 'stage-fright' and his possible results.
5. Concrete work (individual work with the remaining participant group as an audience to provoke stage-fright) on the chosen pieces with reference to facial expression, gesture and movement. While doing so, the singing mostly fades into the background in a relaxing way and thereby the voice "blossoms" almost always.
6. Intensive work on "untertexts" during a performance: What is the sense of the piece, the music, the text? Why just do I stand here now and why do I perform? How much must I think ahead (like a good story narrator) to be able to move my audience? - and more.
7. In an internal "concert" (with the chosen pieces) a synthesis is tried to bring words, sound, facial expression, gestures and movements in harmony.