Cool Techniques

[nirorivers6]

What are some cool techniques used in poetry? I'm just trying to learn the ropes since there is no one to teach me.

[nirorivers6]

anyone know of any cool techniques with the black book?

[Dern]

Uh... cool techniques with the black book are kinda hard cause its a thin line between a prop or not. I mean you can probably swtich hands or something, hold it differently... but most of the cool stuff would probably be against the rules.

[TheModernEgg]

Yeah, this is being addressed in the Prose thread also... but another cool thing one can use the blackbook for is a really awesome opening-book tech. For example, use your left thumb to secretly open the book, whilst simultaneously motioning with your right hand as if you're opening the book by magic. It looks really cool.

[nirorivers6]

i saw a lot of college performances do a lot of things that would definitly be defined as using the book as a prop, but it was sooo cool. are you not allowed to use it as a prop?

[Cinderella]

Nope. Not at all.

[Chewie]

i saw a lot of college performances do a lot of things that would definitly be defined as using the book as a prop, but it was sooo cool. are you not allowed to use it as a prop?

Not in HS, no.

[IwillSing4U2222]

Our state winner in Verse this past year did something kind of cool:

He was looking through a "photoalbum" of pictures, and suddenly he started flipping through the pages faster as if he was actually looking at a photoalbum... he'd have maybe 3 words per page. It looked pretty cool.


I'm PRETTY sure you can touch your book however you want to though. One girl on my team had to talk about a "double edge sword" and when she did, she took her right hand on the right edge of the book and like, jumped back and forth between the two corners (to show like, two sharp edges poking her).... she never got marked down on it at all, and she went super far.

ALSO, you can do some killer stuff with page turns. Another girl on my team had a really funny verse where she "talked to the audience" at one point, and she was telling a story where she was REALLY stupid, and she started to turn the page and in the middle of the page turn she just held it and looked up and was like "what... i'm not stupid....it was funny, okay?!" and then she continued with the page turn... it was cool.

There's a lot you can do if you're creative. You just can't make your book like, become something else. But i'm pretty sure you can touch it however you want to.... i've never seen anyone (atleast in illinois) get marked down for anything.

[smachel]

one of the coolest things i saw was when i was competing in college. the guy was performing a program on prince. there was a poem about his name change to the symbol (when we referred to him as "the artist formerly known as prince"). he had the symbol printed on one of his pages and when the time came, he folded the back cover of his book back so you could see it. very neat.

[IamTHATnerd]

you dont wanna just use these techniques to use them, they have to fit. get your piece/program together, and as you start running through it, if something screams at you to do, then do it. otherwise, stick to the basics.

remember, youll never ever get marked down for not using a trick. the second you throw even a page turn trick in there, you run the risk of a drop.

polish your piece, go to a few tourneys, see how it does. usually there are more important things to fix in your performance rather than adding tricks.

[nirorivers6]

true, but these tricks can add a certainly flare to your piece, and they're fun to do. Also i doubt turning pages differently or at a different pace will get you dropped...maybe some of the other stuff but not that. :)

[IwillSing4U2222]

true, but these tricks can add a certainly flare to your piece, and they're fun to do. Also i doubt turning pages differently or at a different pace will get you dropped...maybe some of the other stuff but not that. :)


Yeah! I know a lot of people that have used tricks and they've never been marked down for it. Sometimes judges won't like tricks, but I haven't seen anyone get marked down for different page turns, etc...

[TheModernEgg]

Actually, there have been a few cases in Arizona where that's been a problem. Micah Gardner did a poetry program on Time a few years ago. He had a few page turns in which he turned them like a clock's hands. Tick Tock Tick Tock... etc... Anyway, he was challenged and about 3 people tried to get him disqualified. He broke to finals and only got 6th at State just because there was so much controversy.

[IwillSing4U2222]

Actually, there have been a few cases in Arizona where that's been a problem. Micah Gardner did a poetry program on Time a few years ago. He had a few page turns in which he turned them like a clock's hands. Tick Tock Tick Tock... etc... Anyway, he was challenged and about 3 people tried to get him disqualified. He broke to finals and only got 6th at State just because there was so much controversy.


uhh... I kinda consider state finals an achievement, haha.

I'd be proud of the kid, haha.

[nirorivers6]

sigh, sometimes i wish people wouldn't get so uptight about these things... i mean when you really think about it, should it matter? it just seems like your limiting creativity and placing kids in a box for no apparent reason... i mean in real life, you can be creative as you like to entertain or portray a message through prose poetry, acting, etc.

[nubian_lover]

Shane Allen also got in trouble for tech one time. I can't remember exactly what happened, but it was something to the effect of him talking about a picture frame, or looking through yourself, or something. When he flipped the page, he had a blank slick, and he held it up while saying something like "looking through a mirror." He got disqualified from poetry at that tournament.

Like someone else said, it's a thin line, but I think sometimes you've just gotta be brave and go for it.

Oh btw, IwillSing4U2222, Micah Gardner is one of the best performers I've ever seen, so him not winning is a shocker. For him to get 6th at State, someone who has repeatedly gone to Nationals, is kinda like wtf? But yes, for any other person, finaling at state is a huge achievement! :D

[IwillSing4U2222]

Shane Allen also got in trouble for tech one time. I can't remember exactly what happened, but it was something to the effect of him talking about a picture frame, or looking through yourself, or something. When he flipped the page, he had a blank slick, and he held it up while saying something like "looking through a mirror." He got disqualified from poetry at that tournament.

Like someone else said, it's a thin line, but I think sometimes you've just gotta be brave and go for it.

Oh btw, IwillSing4U2222, Micah Gardner is one of the best performers I've ever seen, so him not winning is a shocker. For him to get 6th at State, someone who has repeatedly gone to Nationals, is kinda like wtf? But yes, for any other person, finaling at state is a huge achievement! :D



Oh =) i didn't mean anything bad by it (I don't think you took it that way.) I've never even heard of him - but I don't doubt that he is great. I was just saying generally, it's a good achievement anyway.