High school tech question

[mmcoffield]

I teach three sections of technical theatre, grades 10-12; about 75 students who also take turns at the production level. Most of the time, these students are constructing, cleaning, setting up, striking, etc. during class time, but sometimes we have a day, here and there when they have to be in the classroom. I have a few lessons of various sorts, on lighting, make up, costuming, set design, relationship between stage and film tech... but I'm interested in what others do in this situation. I find the video resources available to teachers are rather boring for the kids... too focused on someone just talking at the kids... anyone found any good ones? Any simple lessons on sound any of you have developed?

 

[Footer]

I think the Practical Technical Theatre films are decent content wise (though outdated in stagecraft) but are EXTREMELY boring. The only time I brought them out was if I had a sub or I wanted to torture the students.

What I did do however was watch fims in terms of design. We watched Pink Floyd's Pulse concert and talked about how lighting technology aided in the design. I had them watch the opening ceremonies of the olympics and we compared/contrasted it to pulse. I also had them watch a few movies to discuss design. Toys is a very good one for that, along with Tommy.

One fun thing is to have drawing days. Get a stack of paper, the bigger the better. Turn on some music and have them draw what the music represents to them. Stress it does not have to be a real picture, but more of what the music represents. Chalk Pastels are fun with this one.

There is also 1 hour design lessons. At the beginning of class, give them a play (3-4 pages one act type thing). Have them break into groups, each take an area, and in 45 minutes come up with a concept about the show. You can either have them present the concept to the class and argue it out or do some 5 min sketches of what the show would look like visually.

Just a few ideas...

 

[ReiRei]

So in the two years I took stage management, rarely did we ever have days where there wasn't something to do. Building sets, setting up or striking equipment, learning how to run certain equipment, learning how to correctly coil cables, etc. Anyways the class was taught by other students. it was basically mentor student kind of setup.

On days where we had absolutely nothing to do and couldn't think of anything to do/teach each other, we.... played spotlight tag. It's good to take a break every now and then. It's high school...

 

[Ric]

I ran acroos this resource from Phillips/Selecon ( Strand?) Called Switched ON.
I've asked them to send the resources to me, which I'm expecting soon. There seems to be some depth of information amongst the broad concepts.

Switched On

For Sound, specifically Studio; there are a couple of 'Classic Album' DVD's that I've watched, Pink Floyd Dark : Side of the Moon & Fleetwood Mac : Rumours, where the artists & engineers go through tracks & discuss not just the songs & make up, but the stories of the recording process and the band/people involved.

Pro Sound Web has some great resources for live sound as well

http://prosoundweb.com/studyhall

Yamaha have some online Video's specifically aimed at their desks and operation, but are still useful

http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/training/self_training/index.html

 

[NickJones]

I have seen the "Switched On" posters somewhere before, from what I remember they were good, and spoke about a lot of the design rather than just how to use your fixtures, I think it's time for me to get a copy.
Nick

 

[gafftaper]

Check out the resources on Shure's website. Their tech library is full of good things there for teaching. I've receieved some great books full of stuff from them in person at trade shows in the past. So try calling or writing them to see if they have educational materials to send out.

I've received some great educational materials from Apollo in the past. You can contact them here and request all kinds of stuff. Be sure to say it's for a school class and ask for whatever they can send you that'll be useful for teaching.

Download a Mackie Owner's manual... a great way to teach mixing concepts even if you don't own a Mackie board. Easy to read and follow.

If you can be a little more specific I'm sure we can help you with lots of ideas of how to teach specific concepts.

 

[bearbehindscene13]

at my high school, we didnt have a tech theater program, ur students are very lucky to have you
me and my friend had to make our own class and teach ourselves how things worked, thankfully we had a little background
I would remember days when we would just brainstorm on how we can make our auditorium better, putting shelves in, or moving lights, adjusting wires, etc.
As part of your classroom lesson you might have a brainstorming session to see what ideas ur students have?

 

[wemeck]

I teach three sections of technical theatre, grades 10-12; about 75 students who also take turns at the production level. Most of the time, these students are constructing, cleaning, setting up, striking, etc. during class time, but sometimes we have a day, here and there when they have to be in the classroom. I have a few lessons of various sorts, on lighting, make up, costuming, set design, relationship between stage and film tech... but I'm interested in what others do in this situation. I find the video resources available to teachers are rather boring for the kids... too focused on someone just talking at the kids... anyone found any good ones? Any simple lessons on sound any of you have developed?

StageCraft Magazine had some quick lessons or tid-bits. I use to use them in a Tech..No Babble! session I would do. The last one I used was how to EQ.

 

[gafftaper]

Definitely get a subscription to Stage Directions. There are lots of beginning level articles there. Live Design and Lighting and Sound America are great too because you can read about what they are using on the latest concert tour or at the Superbowl half time show, but they tend to require a moderate/advanced level of knowledge to understand what they are talking about.

See Industry Periodicals in the Wiki for links to all of them.

 

[NickJones]

Also PLSN is a free download, and although it is full of ads, some of the articles are with major designers for large shows, the website is Home - PLSN
You can download the past issues in PDF but cannot download the current issue untill a new one comes out.
Nick

 

[Sayen]

Some good ideas in this thread, I do plenty of these.

If you're between lighting designs and can muck with lights, give the students some hands on lighting practice. I give them pictures of works of art, discuss the composition of lighting, and then divide them up into groups and they hang and focus to recreate the picture. I can usually manage four groups, one on each corner of the stage using the electrics. The students seem to enjoy it, and it helps with hang skills later as well as design abilities.

If you're feeling more hands on, pick one picture for the class to work on, and take turns adding lights as you go. Great way to examine direction of light, and get them to understand that they need a subject to illuminate as well - too many designs end up as color blobs on the stage.

I'm also a big fan of free days, where I'll usually pop in a rock concert. Students can look at the lighting in the show, or do homework, or whatever. Hey, this class works hard.

 

[gafftaper]

Also PLSN is a free download, and although it is full of ads, some of the articles are with major designers for large shows, the website is Home - PLSN You can download the past issues in PDF but cannot download the current issue untill a new one comes out.
Nick

Or you can get a free hard copy subscription as well. But PLSN is really more industry news and isn't a great starting point for beginners.

 

[NickJones]

But only inside the States.... Awwww.....
But its free, so definably worth getting, some great comparisons, and it tells you what mind blowing stuff the pros are taking on tour with them. It's free so well worth it. There is also an Audio & Stage Management one I believe.
Nick

 

[gafftaper]

For students I really recommend Live Design and/or Lighting and Sound America over PLSN. All three do industry news and stories about the latest tours. But Live Design and L&S A have much better pictures and the articles are longer and more in depth. PLSN seems to assume the reader has a better understanding of the industry and is more news oriented... and again Stage Directions is the one EVERY teacher should be getting.

I like to do a show and tell assignment where I pass out a stack of old magazines and have students read it and present something that they found interesting. I assume they don't know a lot about what they are reading so I help them present the story and fill in the details as they go. It's a fun way to teach a variety of tech concepts in class.

 

[ruinexplorer]

I also encourage students to read the House of Worship and Church Production magazines. They are assuming a lower level of technical proficiency and have some very informative articles. Granted, more articles are talking about permanent installations, but that can be very helpful information as well.