mara’s
Note to Self
January 9
find your magic number
Dear Parent of a Creative Kid Struggling to Memorize Something,
You are still the best advocate for your kiddo… besides themselves. I’m a third party of course, so I only see from the outside how much you want your child to succeed at their upcoming performance. You are cheering them on, and you have your life experience to tell you how to make the performance as successful as possible.
But I know. I know it’s easier said than done. I know they’ll push back, with love (and sometimes it’s not clear if it’s with love or not). I know they won’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again.
I wish I could tell you we could get a good performance without at least some repetition. The degree of repetition changes with the context, because sometimes overly prepared can tip into overly planned and loses its spontaneity. But, truly, get friendly with repetition.
In the world of theater, we’re often under-rehearsed. No matter how much time we have, it always feels like we needed more time and there’s a musical number or scene that feels ever so slightly underbaked. However, the creative constraints of a production timeline also creates a natural boundary for us to work towards. Milestones help us find our destination, so celebrate that there’s a specific deadline you’re working towards.
One way to keep repetition “fresh” is to find the Magic Number. I’ve heard it said that eleven is the number of times someone has to say a monologue before it starts to stick. Others need daily repetition of their entire script before feeling like they can be off-book. For me, it has to be my Magic Number of eight and it has to be throughout the day, including right before bed. (More on that later… I know there’s some science about the subconscious mind, which I know creatives like me definitely tap into)
So I challenge your child to find the Magic Number. You may have to experiment a few times. But if you can get your child to buy into the challenge too–dare I say, make it an adventure?–you’ll both have better information about how many times you have to practice your script before it feels solid in your memory. This works for a pageant interview, an audition monologue, and even a song for voice lessons.
Come back to this and leave me a comment with what your child’s Magic Number is!
Waving my Magic Wand,
Mara
about mara
Mara Palma is a freelance teaching artist who helps young people develop their leadership skills through creative expression and imagination as they gain the self-confidence to share their Stand-Out Stories with their communities.
Mara graduated from Wellesley College with a dual degree in Theatre Studies and Political Science, where she contributed a piece to The Wellesley Globalist. She has taught students and educators through in-person and online workshops with the AVPA Theatre at Culver City High School, Center Theatre Group in LA, the Seattle Theater Group, and Campbell Hall’s Creative Arts Academy. Her proudest accomplishments include working to launch after-school musical theater clubs in Seattle and Los Angeles through the Disney Musicals in Schools program. Mara’s work as a performer has been featured in The Seattle Times, Broadway World Seattle, Drama in the Hood, and NWAsian Weekly.
She is passionate to discuss how the arts should be accessible to more BIPOC youth and the performing arts’ capacity to build personal growth, leadership, and teamwork for our young future world leaders.