The House That Del Built

The Intellectual Musings of an Improv Wonk.

A Note on Notes

If you’re reading my blog, you may be enough of an improv nerd to have already seen this amazing video of the most generic notes for a Harold ever.

What’s great about this video is how universal it is. Although the show it’s reviewing never existed, we watch it and think, “I’ve gotten that exact note before!”

What’s also great about this video is how it reveals two of the most common note-giving mistakes:

Mistake: #1: The “Kitchen Sink” Strategy: How many times have you finished a show only to immediately have your coach go through notes on each and every scene and game, one by one? How many times have you done that as a coach? Sometimes it’s hard to resist, because as a coach, you watched the show, and you saw all the errors, and you want the team to know about them, because you don’t want them to happen again…any of them!

But here’s the thing: It’s an improv show! Those scenes…they’re never going to happen again. So the errors the team made (or the choices that were okay but could have been better), they’re never going to get made again, at least not in those exact circumstances. And giving specific and isolated notes on the specific choices made in each scene (or any scene) does almost nothing to help a player avoid mistakes or repeat good choices in the future. Giving a note like, “The bit with the cat didn’t make sense in context of the scene,” says nothing about why the move didn’t work, and why moves like it will tend not to work in future scenes. As a performer, I may simply think, “Okay…so he didn’t like my cat bit. Whatever. I thought it was funny. Moving on.”

Fix #1: Instead of making specific comments about specific events in each scene, notice trends and use the specific scenes as examples. This reverses the process and helps your team see how these specific choices are part of larger issues that can be addressed in future shows.

E.g. “we had a lot of premises in this show rather than grounded scenes: the ‘Dog Boy’ scene, the scene with the two people fighting over a garden hose…they were funny ideas, but we didn’t know who you were to each other or why what you were doing mattered. What tends to happen in a show with premise-heavy first-beat scenes like this one is that show ends up tending toward premise as you move through it, since that’s the strongest element. But then it can get too wacky because you don’t have those relationships to bring back and explore and balance the goofiness.”

Mistake #2: Non-Actionable Notes. You’ve gotten this kind of note before. The “don’t do that,” or “that could have been better” sort of note—the note that may be accurate, but provides you with no way of correcting the mistake in the future. You get it, you understand it, but there’s no way to grow from it. Notes like, “I think you could have found the game a little bit sooner” from the aforementioned video is a great and hilarious example of a note with absolutely no actionable take away. Yes, we all know it’s preferable to discover and hone in on the core of the interaction between the two players in a scene as quickly as possible. But noting that in this particular scene the performers were not able to do so, without suggesting why that might have happened (Were they not listening enough in the beginning of the scene? Was there a lack of clarity about the environment that led to confusion?) or what can be done to avoid this lag in the future, isn’t a note; it’s just a gripe.

Fix #2: Provide an action-step with every note. If you don’t have a thought on how one might correct the problem you want to point out, don’t give the note. Or, better yet, stop and think about it, figure out a possible fix, then give the note with the actionable suggestion. For example, “Guys, don’t talk over each other during a Press Conference,” is only half a note. How might they avoid talking over in the future? Just not do it? You’re their coach—provide a strategy: “Guys, remember to raise your hands or do something else to indicate whose turn it is, and remember that the person who initiated the Press Conference is in control of where the focus goes. That’s going to keep you from talking over each other like you did in the show tonight” That’s a note the team can use to improve in future shows, when situations like this arise again.

As a coach, it’s easy to check yourself to see if your note is worth giving. Just ask yourself:

  1. Is this something that can be applied beyond this particular scene/show?
  2. Is there something the performer(s) can do to correct this in the future?
  3. If yes to question #2, what is that thing? Can I accurately describe it?

And players, while you don’t want to undermine your coach, there are also things you can do to get notes that help you grow:

  1. If a note is specific to one moment in a show, ask your coach if he sees it as a trend in your or the group’s performing or if he thinks it was just an isolated incident. In other words, you’re asking, “Did you just want to point this one thing out to me, or is this something I need to be actively working on?”
  2. If your coach doesn’t provide an action step, ask for one. Say, “Thanks for the note. Can you think of some strategies I can use or things I can do to avoid this in the future?”

Of course, the best time to do this kind of follow-up is not during a note-giving session with the whole team present (unless that kind of back and forth is already part of the tone of how your team does notes). Ask to talk to your coach for a second during a rehearsal break. Email him with your questions.  I actually usually give my notes via email, to the whole team, and quite often get both emails back to the whole group affirming them or asking for follow-up, and emails just to me from team members asking for further tips on how to work on a certain skill. If you’re respectful and show that you’re just trying to get better, no coach should feel threatened by a request for a follow-up to her notes.

And finally, as a coach, it’s important to see notes to your team as notes to yourself, as their coach. Do the “mistakes” they made reveal a gap in your coaching? Is the skill that’s lacking something that just needs a quick reminder, or is it something that might be worth working on explicitly in an upcoming rehearsal? And how will you work on it?

Because really, that show…it’s over. And it’s never coming back. So give the notes that are worth giving, then get yourself out to the bar and have a beer, for God’s sake. I mean, come on…it’s just improv, guys. 

  1. steurermgwu38277 reblogged this from thehousethatdelbuilt
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  4. improvobsession reblogged this from thehousethatdelbuilt and added:
    Some really solid...notes. Great for coaches,...for students...
  5. talkingimprov reblogged this from thehousethatdelbuilt and added:
    fantastic write-up...note-taking. Coaches (and future coaches),
  6. chuckgivens reblogged this from thehousethatdelbuilt and added:
    writing this. Every
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