Translator: Jena Hayama Reviewer: Riaki Poništ
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Masaki Sato.
It's great to be here today.
After I graduated from college, I just drifted from job to job.
I happened to have a dream of someday joining the Shiki Theatre Company.
After five years of intense training, I passed the audition just before age 28,
and after eight years with the theatre, I finally got to play a lead role.
That's a brief summary of my rather eccentric career.
In my 20s and 30s, my life was about pursuing the art
of getting our messages across and moving the audience.
You too, probably, in your day-to-day lives,
think about how to best convey your thoughts to someone else
or how to reach your audiences.
But I bet most people think about how to reach or move an audience
only on an intuitive level, and can't really explain it.
So, as someone who plunged into this career as an adult,
worked really hard to figure out questions that arose
until the answers became second nature,
I'm going to show you this "reaching" and "moving" part in action
so that it's more than just a vague feeling.
So stay with me.
First, I want to share with you a story about a time that I really felt moved
by seeing a message getting across.
It was a friend's speech at a wedding.
The best man and maid of honor each gave a speech.
The maid of honor went first.
The MC called her up to the mic, "Next, XX, the maid of honor."
And then she stood up like this.
She was confident from the moment she started walking.
She said, "Daigo, Miki, congratulations on your wedding today."
She sounded just like a TV announcer, maybe a professional speech trainer.
I was impressed by how naturally it came to her.
She ended with, "Congratulations," and gracefully returned to her seat.
She had such great articulation.
It was a happy occasion, so we applauded.
(Speaker clapping)
But the next speech was super interesting!
The best man!
The MC said, "Now, let's hear from the best man, XX."
And all the guests turned to look at him, like this.
I looked too.
And what happened next was super interesting.
All the blood drained from his face the moment he stood up.
He went up to the front
with his arms and legs moving together like this.
He took a piece of paper out of his pocket
and started reading from his notes.
"Daigo ... Mi ... Miki ... Congrat ... "
(Paper rustling)
"Co ... con ... congratulations."
The wedding guests started talking amongst themselves
like, "Hey, is he okay?!"
You could hear the women saying, "You can do it!"
By the way, ladies,
telling men "You can do it!" in front of everyone tends to humiliate them.
Please keep this in mind. (Laughter)
It really makes us feel miserable.
Right, so where was I?
So this guy, he was reading his speech like this.
He couldn't read, he was shaking so much.
Here he did something interesting.
He said, "Damn it."
(Laughs)
"God damn it!!"
He threw the paper away, like this.
He threw it away, then started talking in his own words.
"Daigo, Miki, I never imagined that the barbecue I planned
would lead to you two meeting and then getting married."
He started talking.
At that moment, everyone fell dead silent and began listening to his words.
The most moving thing - everyone was moved,
even I got all choked up.
The most moving thing was that the groom did something so out of character.
He was really a stone-faced guy,
but his eyes were welling up as if he was about to cry.
And what did the best man say? He said, "Dude, you can't cry now!"
And he turned around facing the other way.
Even though there were guests there, he turned his back on them.
But his back was talking.
He didn't use words.
His back was talking even though he didn't say a thing.
Just looking at his back, I was overcome with emotion.
Finally, he turned around and said "Congratulations," in his own voice
and went back to his seat, almost like he was running away.
Right then, the audience burst out in applause.
The whole audience, together.
In other words, he had completely captivated the entire audience.
Even I was moved, and after the wedding everyone was talking about him.
They were saying, "That guy stole the whole show."
Was he good at speaking? No, he was terrible.
Did he at least have talent? Not at all.
Was his speech well articulated?
It was bad.
But he was able to captivate and move the whole room
by speaking in his own words.
I'm sure you've all experienced this before.
For example, with presentation materials.
Speakers that bore you even with great materials.
And speakers who just scribble ugly letters on the whiteboard
yet draw in your undivided attention.
Even when reading the same sales script, some people make sales and others can't.
"I this, I that ... " "I took this course and I ... "
People who really put you off by speaking with over-exaggerated emotion.
And people who speak with a neutral tone yet are nevertheless fascinating.
You've experienced these people.
Why does this happen?
To understand this phenomenon, today I want to introduce to you
three centers of consciousness, which are:
Number one,
the first center of consciousness, which is the "head."
Your consciousness is in your head
when you're trying to think of what to say next
or when you're just reading a script.
Using analytical appeal.
Number two.
It's when your consciousness is in the "chest."
It often goes to your chest in these situations:
When you're nervous. When your heart is racing.
When you're desperate.
When you're giving it everything you have.
When you're trying to sound emotional.
Usually during these situations your consciousness is in the chest.
Finally, there's the place where your consciousness should be.
That's right here.
The "belly."
When you put your consciousness in your belly, this is what happens.
"That person was so persuasive."
"That person seems so self-assured."
"Nothing fazes that person."
"That person has presence."
And yet, somehow so natural.
In Japan, the word "belly" appears in many of our idioms
about trying to deepen the level of communication with others
or trying to convey deeper thoughts to others.
”Break open your belly and talk (To be candid with the other)"
"My belly is boiling over (I'm furious)"
"Decide from /Bind up your your belly (To make up your mind)"
"Dropped to my belly (The penny drops)"
This is because we've always thought of the belly as the source of life power.
At least, in the pro theatre world, the belly is everything.
Dance also focuses on the belly.
The belly is nothing new to dancers.
For example, people who do dance work to steady their core.
People who don't steady their core look like this.
The body is unstable.
But people who dance always ground themselves using the belly.
Then it looks like this.
The body remains stable.
It's the same with jumping.
If you don't use your core, it looks like this.
But using your core,
it will look like this.
Any kind of dance like this follows the same principle.
You focus on the belly.
And in doing so, it really helps to maintain balance.
For anyone who dances, using the belly is the most foundational skill.
You move from your belly.
Turning is the same.
But this doesn't only apply to dancing.
The same principle affects the nuance of words.
The words come from your belly.
We utter words.
When we utter words, there is always a reason for the uttering the words.
When the reason for the utterance matches the words, it becomes speech.
If the word is "delicious," that's because there's a reason to say it.
Only then emerges the word "delicious."
When your consciousness is in your head,
when the words are in your head, we call this "reciting."
It sounds like this: "delicious."
If you feel the words in your chest,
many of us try to approach our performance from our chests.
Especially if you're doing something in front of others.
"I've got to do my best to convey this, I have to put feelings into my words."
You try to express your feelings by inflecting it in your voice.
For example, "Delicious!"
You try to express an idea by speaking with emotion.
This gives you the feeling that you conveyed the emotion.
But does speaking in an emotional way pay the bills?
In the world of theatre, most often it doesn't.
Was it more enjoyable for you or for the audience?
In most cases it's more fun for the speaker than the audience.
Does it move the audience?
Most often it doesn't.
So what should we do?
You already get the gist.
Right, you must understand from your core the reason for uttering the words.
That's what it takes to please your audience.
In the world of theatre, we call it "polished phrasing."
"Polished phrasing."
Thoroughly investigate the reasons for uttering each word,
and then "drop them to your belly," understand them fully.
Say the word is "delicious." Instead of an emotional "delicious,"
know the background.
If you were surprised by a drink,
"It's delicious."
"Delicious!!" - not like this.
You need to fully understand the reason why you say it when you say it.
The theme of this TED[x] is "Fusion."
Let's think about "Fusion." I've put this concept into other words.
These words here.
[Live what you speak]
In the theatre world, we call this "speaking through phrasing."
We can also rephrase this as "live what you speak."
Why do we utter a phrase?
Rather than acting out the reason,
rather than putting feeling into it,
we just simply, without trying,
live the reason for the utterance and let the words flow naturally.
Let's say I received a line in a script:
"It's the strangest feeling. As if my heart is tied up in a knot."
That's my line.
If, for example, I'm reciting them from my head when I say these lines:
(Tonelessly) "It's the strangest feeling. As if my heart is tied up in a knot.
It sounds like this.
Some people are satisfied with this.
For example, parents at a school play.
"Our kid is so grown up! He's on the stage performing his lines in a play!"
They're exhilarated just by this.
Now, when many of us try to express something in front of a group,
we try to put feeling into our words.
Then it sounds like this.
(Exaggerated) "It's the strangest feeling. As if my heart is tied up in a knot!"
That's what it sounds like.
This gives the speaker the feeling that she did well.
She thinks, "This conveyed the emotion."
It's interesting, this gap between the speaker and the audience.
So what should we do? Just as I said earlier.
Thoroughly consider the reason and background for uttering each word.
If it's "It's the strangest feeling. As if my heart is tied up in a knot,"
Imagine being a man who has never known love
and feeling the lightening bolt strike on seeing a woman.
"What is this? My heart is racing!
What is this tingling sensation, it's the strangest feeling."
Imagine experiencing this and speak it.
If you do this, it sounds like this. I'll try to do it.
(With natural feeling) "It's the strangest feeling.
As if my heart is tied up in a knot."
(Exaggerated) "It's the strangest feeling! As if my heart is tied up in a knot!"
Very different.
Just like this, we let each word sink in one by one.
Songs in musicals are the same.
When performing a musical,
you have to know why you utter each word and live the lyrics that you speak.
You can't just sing them.
That's why, for example,
let's say "It's the strangest feeling!" are the lyrics of a song.
(Sings) "It's the strangest feeling ... " You can't sing it like this.
A lot of people hate musicals.
Who hates musicals?
Nobody here? Thank you.
But it's quite common. Especially among men.
Why, you ask?
It's the sudden dancing,
(Laughter)
breaking out in song, over-the-top, fake.
Especially the breaking out in song part.
Let's explore this a bit more.
(Reciting) "It's the strangest feeling!
As if my heart is tied up in a knot!"
(Sings) "It's the strangest feeling ... "
This is really creepy.
(Laughter)
You just suddenly start singing.
But what can we do to move the audience?
Same as before, it's not up, but down.
Let me show you.
(Reciting naturally) "It's the strangest feeling.
As if my heart is tied up in a knot."
(Singing, as though speaking) "It's the strangest feeling ... "
If you do it like this, you can work up to the song naturally.
(Applause)
Thank you.
So you could express it from your upper body.
Or, you could let each word sink into your belly one by one.
It's completely different to the audience.
Delivering the words from your belly, living what you speak, can be scary.
You don't feel like you did the job.
You feel like trying harder works better.
But that's not the case.
Moving your audience, conveying the lines, it's in how you live your words.
The same goes for the best man.
At first, he was just reciting his lines.
But then he said "God damn it!" and almost cried.
He held back, and then threw it all away with a bang.
Then he started talking in his own voice.
His words may have been muddled but they were full of energy.
That's why all of us listening felt that he was speaking the truth.
You can't just think of this as something that only applies to theatre.
I think this concept is at work throughout our day-to-day lives.
Greetings, for example.
The theatre world is extremely strict when it comes to greetings.
People who can't greet others won't survive for long.
This is because greetings are a basic communication skill.
You throw some words: "Good morning."
And you catch them. Catch them, and throw them back.
Greetings are the most basic form of playing catchball with words.
That's why a "Good morning" or "Nice to meet you"
spoken with sincerity is a genuine greeting.
So we practice this concept even in our daily lives.
Otherwise, can you get on stage and speak genuine words off the cuff?
No, you can't.
You can't do it in your daily lives, so why should you on stage?
People who can't give genuine greetings
can't play catchball on the stage, either.
If you throw, they don't catch.
Even if they catch it, they throw it away.
It's so easy to see that they can't play catchball.
Think about your daily greetings.
(In a dull voice) "Morning ... " Are you just reciting your words?
Instead, if you're able to convey your genuine feeling
when you say the same words, "Good morning" or "Nice to meet you,"
your eyes shine and the atmosphere improves immediately.
And the same goes for "Welcome" at restaurants, for example.
(Tonelessly) "Welcome ... "
or shout "Welcome!"
Or, although it may be quieter,
I think restaurants that say, "Welcome!" with genuine feeling
seem to have a staff who work together well.
Doesn't it make you want to visit again?
When you enter a shop and hear a server say,
(Tonelessly) "Welcome ... How about fresh fried chicken ..."
does it make you want to buy some?
Or, staff who don't just recite their lines, but say,
(Naturally) "Fresh from the fryer, it's really good, how about some?"
When presented like this you'd think, "Well then, I'll have some."
That's how you can increase sales.
And people will think, "I want to go there again."
Now, I want you all to try some "word catchball" with me.
I appeared in many kids musicals,
and kids can really tell if you're being genuine or not.
So I'm going to say, "Good afternoon,"
and then I want you all to say, "Good afternoon" back to me.
I will say it like I mean it, so I hope you do too.
Are you ready?
Feel the words you're about to say.
I'll go first, then you all go after.
Here I go.
Good afternoon, everyone!
(Right side) Good afternoon!
Good afternoon!!
(Left side) Good afternoon!
Good afternoon!!
(Entire audience) Good afternoon!
Ah, that was great! Thank you.
(Applause)
"Living your words" like this, it leads to deeper communication
which makes both you and your listener feel good.
I think it's what we need for a brighter society as well.
I hope you all try this perspective and be mindful in your daily lives.
Thank you.
(Applause)