Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv
Muprov Musings: Exceptionally Average Improv, is a podcast that teaches Long-form, Narrative, Theatrical, Improvisation, or as we call it: Muprov. The hosts, Hal Munger and Julian Bernado are experienced and innovative Muprovisors, who are excited to spread the word about their favorite ways of doing their favorite activity. On the show they provided practice plans that you can use for your ensemble, teach fun formats, and chat with guests who bring a wide variety of perspectives! Intro Music By Sebastian Blue Hochman
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Why Mu?
1) Mu is the greek root of words like muse and music. Ancient poets would invoke the Muses before telling an Epic story. Like an Epic, our shows are long and follow a continuous narrative.
2) Mu is a statistical symbol that represents the population average. We come from a lineage of students of Patricia Ryan Madson, who teaches the improv maxim: Be Average.
3) Mu is an important word in Zen Buddhism, meaning nothing or no. While most improv centers Yes, we believe that sometimes the best was to say Yes is to say No. Our practice involves emptying our minds to that we can be present and react our stage partner.
A NEW PLAY
Our 90-minute improvised stage play, The set, costumes, props, music, lights, and sound are all created on the spot!
Episodes
Sunday May 05, 2024
Sunday May 05, 2024
Calm vibes only on this episode as we chill our way through an invaluable improv tool. If you have never enjoyed a surgical run before, get ready for one of the best ways to get an inside scoop into our minds. It is half way between a practice run and a GIGASPINE and makes for great listening!
Monday Apr 29, 2024
Monday Apr 29, 2024
We are going back to the basics! Shout out to Ken Adams and the storyspine. Lets platform some scenes!
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Most failed scenes are one side-coach away from being great. On this episode we talk through three simple coach lines that can save the day. If you practice it enough with a coach, the voice in your head will begin to remind you all by yourself!
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Improv is all about flexibility and change, so how does the way we teach it change over time as each generation gets to improve on the past? Enter Ness Arikan— who learned improv in this fundamentals curriculum, and now is the current instructor to this same workshop. She has reworked the whole curriculum and can give a rare inside look at the cutting edge of teaching fundamentals!
The next generation of improvisors are crazy :).
Monday Apr 08, 2024
Monday Apr 08, 2024
Gosh this is like five episodes packed into one... Back in the day we taught a whole second version of this class where we deep dived each of them, but lets start with a fundamental understanding....
If you have strong opinions about acronyms then then you will love this episode. Let us know what team you are on in the comment ;)
#TeamCROW #TeameCROWE #COWREmpromise #hardCORE #CREWcrew
Monday Apr 01, 2024
Monday Apr 01, 2024
People talk a lot about supporting your partner in improv, but how do you actually make that happen? Well, everyone is different so it really depends on who your partner is! Here are some ways that we practice the meta-stuff and learn to tailor our support to the people that we play with!
Folk singer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDrKeGqV6qY
Time God:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnvYmgiqrt4
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Sometimes the best thing to do is be obvious. Why not take the path of least resistance? It can be hard to feel confident enough to do things the easy way but at the end of the day that is what fundamentals is all about!
Improv Wisdom, By Patricia Ryan Madson:
https://www.amazon.com/Improv-Wisdom-Dont-Prepare-Just/dp/1400081882
A New Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2qDjmWah6g&t=4306s
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Fundamentals go deep! This episode goes from 0 to 100 starting out with the familiar mirror exercises building from Blocking to Yes And, but then taking it two steps beyond the idea of "Yes, and." Experienced improvisers can skip over some of the initial steps but hopefully it is fun to see the whole trajectory laid out!
Mirror Study: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1108155108
Hofstadters MU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Monday Mar 11, 2024
Whether you are a total beginner or a veteran, if you want to reach the next level of improvisation the best way to do it is to go back to the fundamentals! Rather than going for a traditional intro series, we will pull back the curtain and talk about teaching muprov and how to design a course to teach these fundamentals. You may know some of the exercises, but I bet you will be surprised by the way we use them :). Trey is a wonderful guest and teacher and we are so happy to have him join us to kick off this series!!!
Sunday Mar 03, 2024
Sunday Mar 03, 2024
This episode is a short one ;). Hear our takes on Impro Amsterdam, Birthdays, running, and Tob/Bottom. Stick around to the end of the episode and you might win a prize! We have a lot of fun!
Join us next week for the first episode of our Muprov Fundamentals Series!