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Teaching |
Having taking a variety of classes with many different teachers, I think I've zoned in on a style that resonates with me more than others.
There seems to be two major teaching styles when approaching teaching improv. One is more "here's what you should do" and the other is more "here's what good improv is". The former is more of a recipe while the second is more descriptive. I don't find the descriptive, heady style to be particularly useful for teaching. It's like describing fire as "exothermic oxidation" vs "you get something useful if you rub two sticks together". The heady style is good for more experienced improvisors who want to deeply analyze some work or structure with other experienced improvisors as the audience. I think more students would benefit from being given the tools for success even if they don't fully understand the material, so that the improv is in their body rather than in their heads. I hear a lot of "I'm really in my head" or "that's so heady". I think that comes from having a cursory understanding that frameworks for improv exist but being unable to actualize that into timely moves on stage.
In the same vein as "how vs what", a class that is more reps-oriented is likely to produce better results. In my experience teaching recreational volleyball to adults, this is also the case. Students benefit from physically touching the ball a lot rather than listening to a coach lecture. Some teachers like to talk a lot. I don't think over-intellectualizing material that students are familiar with helps them learn. Maybe it can help a minority of students learn. But I think the entire class benefits from getting in as many reps as possible and then leaving the intellectualizing to opt-in questions.
Regarding reps, I also think the strength of your improv is better measured in the amount of reps (possibly frequency) rather than "what level are you".
From RaeRo about Brooklyn Comedy Collective: Your character's deal is the frame of a wagon wheel and contexts are the spokes coming out of the center. Your character can be put in any context.
"Connections release tension and get laughs." Doug Widick