In the previous article, I mentioned that the self-consciousness of the audience, whether it is directed towards their own problems, knowledge or aesthetic judgments, is an obstacle which has to be surmounted in order for a performance to be touching. How can we overcome such hindrance? I believe that having a mental picture while performing is the key (it is a picture instead of a sound, a distinction that may have to do with the ocularcentric nature of the Western civilization.[1]) What is a mental picture? Let’s say you are going to sing “on my own” from Les Misérables: how did the early 19thcentury Paris look like? What are the colours of the buildings? Are they derelict? What are you wearing? Are there holes on your clothes? What is the weather of that day? How does Marius (the man whom this song is about) look like? All these are the ingredients of your mental picture. Having a specific and vivid mental picture inside your head will direct the consciousness of the audience away from themselves and make your performance more likely to be a touching one.
I also believe that this process happens automatically, even without any body movements or gestures. The most celebrated example is Maria Callas who “learned to stand still [from Tullio Serafin] and to move only when the music impelled her”.[2]Our innate curiosity of other people’s business – “what is he/she thinking?” – may be the reason for this automatic process. This curiosity is also one of the reasons why “internal acting” is so intriguing. At any rate, to put it more succinctly, seeing (having a mental picture) before gesturing is conducive to a touching performance, whereas the other way around – gesturing before seeing – very often merely leads to comical exaggerations.
My theory also explains why in my own observation, for the same operatic aria, singers who have performed the entire role thereof before (preferably with staging and costumes) fare better during auditions than those who just know the aria musically. It is because the experience of having performed the entire role greatly helps the reconstruction of the mental image during the audition, since the singer only needs to recall his/her memory. This is another proof of my claim that having a mental image greatly enhances one’s performance.
To conclude, having a specific and vivid mental picture when you sing is the key to touch people with your voice. I recommend my readers those books by Stanislavski,[3] the founder of “method acting,” for a more in-depth discussion on the trope mentioned above.
在上一篇文章中，我提到若觀眾意識到自己– 不論是自己生活上的問題，自己的知識或是自己的審美標準– 的時候，他們都會很難被表演感動。我們怎樣才能在表演時，令觀眾不去想自己呢？我相信關鍵是在表演時心中有一幅圖畫（為何它是一幅圖畫而不是一種聲音呢？可能因為西方文明是以視覺為主的[註1]。）什麼是”心裡的一幅圖畫”？讓我舉一個例子。假若你將要唱音樂劇 Les Misérables 中的 “on my own” 。那麼，你唱歌時要想想：19世紀初的巴黎是怎樣的？建築物是什麼顏色的？建築物外牆殘舊嗎？你在穿什麼樣的衣服？衣服上有洞嗎？那天的天氣怎麼樣？Marius（這首歌的對象）的㚈形是怎麼樣的？所有這些都是這幅圖畫的組成成分。唱歌時腦中有這樣細緻的一幅圖畫會使觀眾不再在意自己，從而更容易被你的表演所感動。
我相信這個”令觀眾不再在意自己”的過程，即使歌唱家沒有附加任何的動作或手勢，它也會自動發生 。最著名的例子就是瑪麗亞·卡拉斯（Maria Callas）。“她從Tullio Serafin裏學會: 除非音樂的內容令她覺得有需要在台上移動，否則她只會靜靜地在舞台上站着歌唱。”[註2] 我們對其他人具有天生的好奇心– “他/她在想什麼？” – 可能這好奇心就是這個”令觀眾不再在意自己”的過程會自動發生的原因。好奇心也是”內心戲”為何這麼引人入勝的原因是之一。更簡潔地說: 先看到（這幅心理圖畫），後表達 – 有助令表演動人; 先表達，後才看到– 往往只會造成誇張的效果，毫不動人。
這也解釋了為什麼在試鏡期間，據我自己的觀察，同樣的一首歌，之前演唱過整個角色(如果這首歌是從一個歌劇或音樂劇而來)的歌唱家比那些只懂這首歌的人發揮得更好。這是因為演唱過整個角色的經歷，令歌唱家只需在試鏡期間，勾起他/她自己的記憶，便可有一幅極仿真的心理圖畫。這證明了我之前所說的: 一幅心理圖畫能極大地提升了一個歌唱家表現。
總而言之，若要以歌聲打動別人，在唱歌時必需擁有一幅細緻的心理圖畫。若要更深入地探討這個問題，我向讀者推薦“方法演技”創始人斯坦尼斯拉夫斯基所寫的書[註3]。
[1]David Michael Levin, ed., Modernity and the Hegemony of Vision(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 1–29.
[2]https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2018/5/Features/Profound_Gesture.html
[3]For example, Stanislavski, K., Benedetti, J., An Actor’s Work (London: Routledge, 2008), especially 73 – 91.