What are they (not) teaching kids these days?

[macsound]

All of my theatrical training came by working hands on.

I started working backstage at 11 and was very interested in everything, but shy. So I spent the next 7 years doing 4-6 productions per year, each about 30 performances, doing my small backstage work and listening to every other department's conversation. Then on my own time, I would watch youtube videos, read tech theatre books and dissect gear spec pages and manuals.
Eventually I had learned by watching and listening and knew how all of the systems in the theatre worked, and because I was interested in it in my offtime, I also knew more about the equipment we were using than the regular designers.
In college I took 2 theatre classes which were more about me help teach, which wasn't what I was going for. I honestly wanted to learn things that I otherwise wouldn't have known without any formal theatrical education.
Now most of those that I took those classes with have become actors.

 

[TheaterEd]

So are there things you'd like me to tell these kids before the government hands them a square hat and piece of paper and unleashes them upon your spaces?

I'm also interested in suggestions here. I intro and touch on so many things that I found that after a year out, most students had retained almost no facts, but could be quickly reminded of things, so I've stopped having a final exam. For the majority of my students, and the end of my one semester course they need to demonstrate three things to pass my class.

1. Hang and focus a s4
2. Properly wrap an XLR
3. Tie a proper tie

My second year students and independent study kids pick a topic and dig deeper.

 

[Bob Musser]

I assume the original message was meant to call the devices snow machines rather than show machines? Looking beyond that typo, one of the most troubling comments was "They say each machine is 220V. " If so, what were they doing anywhere near a dimmed outlet that is clearly delivering 120V? And, there is no such distribution voltage as 220V in North America--it's either 120V, 208V, or 240V. Taken together, these comments reveal a profound lack of basic electrical understanding.

ST

Yeah, that 220V comment caught my eye too. Maybe a typo (120V?), since I don't imagine the switched outlets over the stage the OP references would be 208/240V.

 

[klane2]

I learned almost all my practical skills actually working after college

 

[JohnHuntington]

I'm unfortunately swamped with end of semester crap and don't have a lot of time to respond, but I thought I'd post an article I wrote in 2002 about this very topic:
http://controlgeek.net/articles-and...nking-entertainment-technology-education.html

The reason I'm posting is that I'll be on sabbatical in the spring, and one of my projects is to update that article. I will be reviewing curricula from some schools next semester but I'd love to hear from more recent grads if what I wrote 16 years ago about what is taught in conservatories is still true.

Also, in defense of my fellow educators--what we cover in the classroom is not always retained by the students So it's quite possible they were taught some of these things but didn't retain it.

John

 

[Amiers]

I'm unfortunately swamped with end of semester crap and don't have a lot of time to respond, but I thought I'd post an article I wrote in 2002 about this very topic:
http://controlgeek.net/articles-and...nking-entertainment-technology-education.html

The reason I'm posting is that I'll be on sabbatical in the spring, and one of my projects is to update that article. I will be reviewing curricula from some schools next semester but I'd love to hear from more recent grads if what I wrote 16 years ago about what is taught in conservatories is still true.

Also, in defense of my fellow educators--what we cover in the classroom is not always retained by the students So it's quite possible they were taught some of these things but didn't retain it.

John

Most if snot all of what is taught is lost to real world situations. In all forms of learning. IMO

 

[Kristi R-C]

I want every student graduating HS (not just the theatre ones) to know enough to keep their fingers/tools out of a live circuit and how to replace/switch a breaker/fuse/lamp. Ohms law/Power formula is algebra with real world application - good practice all around.

 

[IanTech]

Besides Google, are there any good/great resources for these students who don't know about electrician work? I have yet to find any good ones for rigging either. All of my experience comes from first hand training.

 

[EdSavoie]

The most valuable lesson you won't get when learning is when to call a full stop. There's little more menacing than halting a production due to a safety problem.

 

[ship]

Can google really replace well witten books and physical training? On the other hand, while out on break today, a new student to light boards was appairently not, she was teaching to someone else. So she was taught by someone trained someone trained ____ for light board use, and read the manual some. This young lady than traiend the above young lady who was training a guy that seemed to be a little more expermental than both in the trainer learning from the student some stuff found. It's good they have time to learn and advance..........

 

[IanTech]

Can google really replace well witten books and physical training? On the other hand, while out on break today, a new student to light boards was appairently not, she was teaching to someone else. So she was taught by someone trained someone trained ____ for light board use, and read the manual some. This young lady than traiend the above young lady who was training a guy that seemed to be a little more expermental than both in the trainer learning from the student some stuff found. It's good they have time to learn and advance..........

I agree, that's why I asked for good resources. I don't find Google all reliable and I'm not going to tell a student to search through here. Manuals are good, but obtuse and has some information that isn't useful.

 

[alich]

How to budget a show, how dimmers work, consoles beyond a specific family. The last two points are really more that lighting programs need to balance what they're trying to teach.

I've yet to see someone get out of undergrad that's had a class where they need to budget a show under strict parameters - everything has been a request to their professor/super for gel or gobos, or pulled from stock. As a result you've got kids coming out of undergrad that don't know where to go to save a couple bucks, or what parts work best for specific projects.

The dimmer thing is an effect of everyone getting rid of their patch panels. I got lucky, my undergrad still had a patch panel when I was in school. This was invaluable as both an ME and LD - as an ME it forced me to really think about how power was being distributed across the grid throughout the show. As an LD it made me think about what I actually need to light a show vs what's fluff.
It's a shame that all of that is kind of getting thrown out. I've gotten phone calls from kids at summerstocks where they're encountering patch panels for the first time and they have no idea how it works. It's weird and a bit discouraging.

I think the biggest flaw I'm seeing is that kids are only being exposed to specific families of consoles - usually EOS through ions or elements.
I get that most programs are set up to complement their acting programs in that they focus specifically on theatrical design, but this is a horrible way to teach lighting.
Your students will experience a myriad of different consoles in the real world, and just showing them how to do basic cuing on an Ion is kind of a bad deal if you're teaching them to stay in the industry and not burn out in two years. Yes ETC dominates the theatrical market. But what happens when they need to use a Hog? A GrandMA? Strand consoles? Expression software?
They can pick up on the basics on their own if they want to learn on offline editors, but if they're in college and the program is stating that it's teaching state of the art technology, they should be able to touch something that's not running EOS.
Your students need to have exposure to as many kinds of consoles as you can get them to spend time on - if they can get board time with a grandMA and an EOS system, they'll be at least set for when they apply to an events company or try to join a local.

I think the short version is show them a variety of new and old technology, with practical skills.- have them work with a patch panel and a bunch of Altman 6x's with an Express, then have them do a concert on a grandMA with full S4 inventory and the newest movers you can get. It's weird that tons of kids graduate every year knowing an Ion inside and out, yet they don't know how to fix a shutter assembly. They can swap gobos on a mover, but they can't figure out photometrics for a 6x9. We end up preparing students for an ideal world where everything is Source 4, all the wash fixtures are LED, and all the networks work all the time. We need to teach them for what they'll probably be dealing with - venues with questionable tie ins, leppacks for days, first generation Lekos, off-brand LEDs and Express 24/48s with sticky Go buttons.

 

[cbrandt]

One really important thing we need to remember as "the old guys" is to not fall in the same traps as our mentors did. When I was in school, I was taught about 2 scene presets, focusing on 6x9s, how to string a scroller, etc. Those were all useful skills and I'm grateful for them. But when I got out in the working world, I was mad that I hadn't learned how to program a hog or MA, that we hadn't used moving lights, the whole shebang.

My professors were right in teaching me the skills they needed when they entered the world. They were wrong in not teaching me the skills that a new world of theater and production was entering. @alich is completely right in calling out those core skills, but we need to temper that with the fact that hey, those old express 24/48s do exist, but for how long? Schools and universities have a limited amount of time to teach kids "everything they need to know" before throwing them out into the lion pit. I really like the idea of back to back shows with oldest and newest gear to give a variety of experiences, but how realistic is that to implement when everyone in the program is fighting for every last minute of theater time?

One of the best things I've seen college classes starting to do is mandate some form of dmx widget as class materials for lighting 101 and similar classes. Personally I have a preference that they mandate something that isn't what the school uses in their primary spaces to give a greater depth of experience.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Personally, I think it’s that students are no longer taught how to learn, and how to remain life long learners. They’re sold a high cost package of “this is all you need to succeed” when that’s fundamentally a lie.

Theatre schools exist to make connections, gain prestige and act as a safe place to screw up before entering the real world.

 

[TimMc]

Personally, I think it’s that students are no longer taught how to learn, and how to remain life long learners. They’re sold a high cost package of “this is all you need to succeed” when that’s fundamentally a lie.

Theatre schools exist to make connections, gain prestige and act as a safe place to screw up before entering the real world.

Dammit, I can't "LIKE" this more than once....

 

[darinlwebb]

It was in one of the final courses of my Cinema degree that the months-from-retirement professor taught us all how to coil cable. He said that if you want a guaranteed job in the industry, learn how to coil cable. If you see a cable that's a mess on the ground, coil it. Abstract that to "Learn how to look for what needs to be done, and learn how to do it" and you've got one of the biggest lessons I wish more people would learn.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

And, there is no such distribution voltage as 220V in North America--it's either 120V, 208V, or 240V.

In my experience, it's not all that uncommon to hear 240 called 220 or 230, and 120 called 110 or, occasionally, 115. The nominal, I gather, is actually 117VAC RMS.

 

[TimMc]

In my experience, it's not all that uncommon to hear 240 called 220 or 230, and 120 called 110 or, occasionally, 115. The nominal, I gather, is actually 117VAC RMS.

As my friend Ivan says, "the wonderful thing about standards is having so many to choose from."

I think there's a bit of a trail regarding standard service voltages, a trail littered with previous standards, mostly. The reason our common household voltage is called 110, 115, 120, etc is because at some point all of them were *the standard* somewhere in the USA. As time went on, expectations from users and changes at the PoCo utilites led to new standard voltages.

Steve T can probably tell us where the last direct current service in the theater district was used...

 

[jtweigandt]

After reading this Thread, I don't feel so bad about my journey in community Theater, where we have had some of these kids come through our system.
We produce 5 musicals a year, and have always felt that we give them valuable experience. Reading this thread, I can see it's invaluable experience.
I also see my 18 years volunteeering with schools, and community theaters probably have given me more implementation insight than they could ever hope to
cram into a 4 or 5 year program. I love a young person with the right attitude. Most have been just that. Have had a few "that's not the way at the U" moments but for the most part
its been a great thing to have them aboard. Dont know if the pros or the U sees us as a legitimate learning resource, but heck .. we've been doing this in a 500 plus seat house since 1949, so there is
some accumulated experience here.

 

[TimMc]

In my regional audio/lighting/video shop I get resumes from "Empty Sheet University" students. They're all the same, filled with typos and unrealistic wage requirements. I've met 2 techs that graduated from that program with skills sufficient to offer them jobs. Neither listed Empty Sheet on their resume.

I'd much rather have applicants that worked every play, musical and event at their high school, that have participated in community theatre, or work in the tech team at their house of worship.

There's apparently a big, fat line between teaching "what you need to know" and "what you need to know how to do". The latter knowledge is not dispensed in sufficient quantities in academia.