Module learnings

Apart from the obvious and by that I mean what I learnt from my inquiry what other things did the course teach me?

I'm using social media much more for networking and learning about my job than ever before. Not that I enjoy it that much but I appreciate it is a form of information and will only advance in the years to come. I do try and keep human contact as much as possible as I believe social media is killing human connection and social behaviour skills.

My most important learning wasn't really learnt but realised. It was brought from the shadows of my mind and given meaning and relevance. Reflection, evaluation and analysis! As mentioned in my blog 'relating to me' I've used reflection in-action and on-action for many years with-out realising its importance.

As a coach I'm required to reflect, evaluate and analyse.

Reflect upon the session I just delivered. Analyse certain aspects and evaluate for future reference.

http://sportplan.net/drills/planner/planner.jsp?sportName=Hockey

This is an example of a session I created and at the bottom you can see the evaluation section split into two. Self-evaluation and the evaluation of the session.

Both parts require consideration. Feedback from other coaches and participants is vital in order to progress in the areas of designing and delivering sessions and personal coaching methods.

The course highlighted the necessity of the three processes and just how much I actually use them.

Feedback issue

While conversing with my SIG the issue of feedback came up as I informed them that as a coach I'm required to deliver it to the athletes I reject so they can work on their weaknesses to keep improving.

Would this help performers deal with rejection better?

The answer to a survey question of mine came back with a resounding positive to the fact that performers think if they reach the finals of an audition they should receive feedback as to why they didn't get the job.

It has both pros and cons.

"What if they said it was because of your hair colour? You'd say...I can dye it. I don't think that would make it easier to accept. It would probably make it worse." (Friend 1)

"Equally if you were told you didn't get it because someone was better than you on the day, how is that going to help? Only if you tried your best and failed would that be a positive. Likewise if they said they just preferred the look of someone else, would it make it easier to take? Who knows? That would depend on the individual." (Friend 2)

There are endless ways of looking at this particular issue. One persons yes would be another persons no.

Personally I cannot see it working in a positive manner as it is too difficult to police.

It becomes fine margins when dealing with professional performers. If you weren't suited for the show in a dance/singing/acting capability you probably wouldn't be at the final so to receive feedback detailing your dancing was off or someone was better  probably wouldn't help. Would you go away and work on it? Probably not....that's just how it was that day. Or maybe you would because you knew you weren't at your best....but that would make it your fault anyway which always make you feel bad so the feedback wouldn't help.

Put that into context with sports feedback where it is generally an issue of technique so feedback will always offer a way of improving. Only at the very top levels does psychology enter the fray becoming an issue. Looks and appearance don't come into the equation when sport is concerned so to link the two becomes difficult. 

Conversation re interview participants.

While out for lunch and drinks with friends who are also ex-professional musical theatre performer's the subject of my uni work arose. After some general chit-chat about the course and my inquiry topic the subject of the interviews was brought up. They had enquired which stage I was at in the process to which I replied that my next step was to decide who I would be asking to participate in the interview stage of the inquiry. I planned on holding five interviews, three female and two male as I would be taking my own views and experience on rejection into account. Basically they were being nosey and wanted to know if I would be asking them or if it was anyone they knew!!

My plan was to interview two fairly new professionals. Lets say who had been in the business 2/3 years. Two more who had 5-8 years experience and then one more professional who had 12+ years experience. My reasoning behind this was that I'd get a wide range of experience when it came to experiencing rejection and also the certain coping mechanisms used. I was hoping the participants mind-set would be different at each stage enabling more varied answers.

My friends, both of them, disagreed.

"I can see your point but the way you handle rejection changes over the years through experience so to get better information I wouldn't use the younger pros but more experienced ones." (Friend 1)

"He's right. When you're young you can take it personally and not fully understand the process. Knowledge through knowing the business and having experienced all manner of rejections will bring you the best results." (Friend 2)

I countered.
"But to see the difference between way its developed using younger pros will give insight into their mind-set and older ones into theirs."

"Yes. But...The younger ones won't be able to tell you how they've adapted or things they've learnt. They'll still be in the here and now. So in effect you'll be wasting two interviews because the data you'll collect will be short." (Friend 1)

I had to think back to my aim. What was my objective? What were the questions I would asking?
'Has the way you've handled rejection altered over the years?' This was one question and even though the younger members would be able to answer it their knowledge would be limited by no fault of their own.
The point also arose that I'd have to search for particularly unsuccessful young pros to help out as young performers who have worked may have only been rejected a handful of times limiting their worth to me.
Whereas older pros would have encountered many rejections enhancing the data I was hoping to collect.

In the end it was my decision but having taken the discussion into account I now believed the participants would be more helpful if they'd had at least 12 years experience in the profession. Asking the potential interviewees to recall certain experiences wouldn't be a problem because I know I can. The following half hour with my friends was spent recalling all manner of rejections. Some you could laugh at. Some still baffled you and others still hurt.

The subject of differing personalities was then raised. Was I to just ask random performers from my network or would I attempt to pick differing personalities in the hope the answers and data would be more varied. My thoughts were that it would be difficult to differentiate as you have no-way of knowing how any particular person would react at any one time.

"It's true. Every audition means something different to the individual but performers have different auditioning personalities. Some are extra keen. Some nervous...always. I'm sure you could tell me what I was like as I you two." (Friend 2)

"But will that have an effect on the results?"

"Who knows? But if you pick 5 performers who are the relaxed type, always at the back, trusting their talent will get them noticed they probably will be less affected after being rejected because that's what their attitude suggests. Isn't it better to try and select differing personalities?" (Friend 2)

"Yes the meaning of each audition is different to each individual so that will have an effect no matter the personalities but it could make a difference to the data with regards to coping mechanisms and time taken to recover from rejections." (Friend 1)

It was a good point and something to consider. Searching my network and memory would be a challenge to come up with the differing personalities. Getting them to participate would be a whole other ball game.

Other personalities we came up with.....

Nervous

Calm

Fiery

Bubbly

Flustered

Concentrated

Pushy

Cavalier

In the end the conversation turned out very helpful. It was my version of a SIG considering my current pathway.  

Summary

A musical theatre performer will experience a variety of negative emotions after being rejected throughout their career. More often than not experiencing a few at a time. The severity of the emotion depends on the audition's relevance to the performer, at what stage of the process they failed and the reason for being rejected. These factors determine which emotions are felt and their duration. 

It's human nature to take rejection personally but advantageous to ones self-esteem to realise that the majority of the time that's not the case. If you have performed to the best of your ability you can hold your head high. This comes from experience and a certain maturity leading to positivity and confidence and is a good coping mechanism. 

Outside professional chat

While chatting with a very experienced west end performer the subject of my inquiry topic popped up so I took the opportunity to ask her opinion on the matter of rejection in the business. Specifically on the variety of types of rejection.

"You learn quickly that the majority of the time you are not in control. You do your part by turning up to the audition, being well prepared in all aspects and doing your best. Then no matter the outcome you can walk away with your head held high because you'll know deep down there was nothing more you could have done. If however you haven't prepared properly then the fault may lie with you and you can start to beat yourself up. Over the years you learn your type, which style you suit and you must accept that you will suit certain parts and not others."

I agree completely. Through experience which shows suited me and which didn't. In your head you may imagine you could be right for everything but the reality is you have a stereotype and the casting directors know that....that's their job! Accepting the way you look goes a long way towards being able to deal with rejection.

"It's a tough business and rejection is a big part of it. No-one gets every job they go for. You'll experience rejections you don't mind so much, ones that you don't understand, ones you do, ones that shock you (how comes they kept her, I was much better?) One of the most difficult things to handle is  the further you go through the audition process the more you get your hopes up. It's only natural. You start imagining yourself in the job, day dreaming if you like. Then when the phone call doesn't come it's like punch in the stomach. There's no explanation. It's an awful feeling."

"How do you get over it?"

"Different ways. Talk it through with my husband or friends. Go for a run. Clean. I think it's important to vent. Get it out in the open and analyse it. You'll probably be disappointed for anything up to a week maybe more. It all depends on the personality. The bad ones stay with you a while."

Being able to put the negative feelings aside is a necessity for the performer to be able to move on looking forward to the next opportunity. It takes a strong character. It does however beat some people. After a few rejections in a row the self-esteem will lower. Doubt of ones ability enters the mind leading to a lack of confidence which will be noticeable in the next audition. Sink or swim time.

Module 3 update....

Well hello readers of the blog. 

Surveys have been returned. Interviews conducted and analysis very nearly completed. I thought I'd fill you in!!

I'm fairly pleased so far as the process has gone according to plan. Any changes that had to be made were minimal. Originally the plan had been to interview face to face but arranging a convenient time and place for it to take place proved harder than anticipated so I had to settle for telephone conversations.

The subject up for discussion was rejection so being able to call upon ex-colleagues proved a distinct advantage because they were very open and honest providing me with good material to analyse. I had a series of questions prepared but found once we'd started the majority of them were answered in the conversation. Us 'artists' do like to talk about ourselves!!

I got to thinking that I was fortunate to have a relaxed atmosphere during the interviews but I wondered how many fellow students interviewed strangers and it proved to be difficult. Was the relevant data collected? Did you have to literally force it out of them? Or maybe they were a modern professional and were really helpful.

The statistics on percentages of surveys returned was accurate from my experience. 25-30%.  Advice from Alan on a couple of question changes helped immensely. I'm glad I put the time in creating suitable questions as the data gathered was helpful and tied in with the interviews. Did others get many responses from their surveys? I would have obviously liked more but I would never have got to the magic 1000 mark which one requires to prove an absolute. (As told by Ms P. Nottingham)!

Analysing the data collected was fairly straight forward. My difficulty will come when drawing conclusions as when dealing with people's emotions it all becomes very apparent to personalities and the situation at that moment in time. All will be explained in the report! 

  

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Pin-pointing a specific line of inquiry proved difficult for me. This surprised me due to the fact many initial questions sprang to mind.

http://ljpwebster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/deep-space-inquiry.html

Finding a topic that would enhance my knowledge and be of a future benefit in the work place took me a long time. I attribute this to my not being directly involved to a job in performing arts. I had to come up with a topic that would hold my interest and link to what I have planned in the future.

Much of the SIG activity centred around teaching aspects or topics specifically catered to dance so at the beginning these weren't of any use in helping me develop a line of inquiry. Discussion in the SIG's just seemed to cement areas I didn't want to concentrate on. Dancing and teaching dance were in my past.

Reflecting now I realise there was nothing I could do to speed up the process of developing a line of inquiry. Ex-colleagues and work associates were instrumental in helping me settle on a topic. The longevity of my decision making did have an affect on discussion time with the SIG's. The lateness of my arrival at a specific, detailed topic and questions resulted in limited discussions however points that arose were valid and provoked further interesting questions.

http://ljpwebster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/sig-questions-and-repiles-2.html

Emma's and Gabrielle's comments brought to light the many varying factors of facing rejection. Everyone's character is different but can dealing with rejection on a day to day basis change one's character? Do only the strong survive? All these questions sparked an interest on a line of inquiry I could take forward with me.

Choosing the appropriate inquiry tools was a straight forward task. I required musical theatre performers of a variety of ages to re-count experiences of rejection to help me gather information to analyse. 

http://ljpwebster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/6b-inquiry-tools.html

As mentioned I realised which methods would be advantageous to my inquiry after considering my options. Identifying the tools and the situations they were suited for helped develop my plan further by pin-pointing how I would specifically achieve my results. One-on-one interviews are preferred to group ones for control purposes. Having strong, forward characters is a general trait of performers and too many of those in a room could be a disaster. It's better for the inquiry to take a little longer in order to prevent harm being done.  

Taking into account the emotional nature of being rejected the participants may find it difficult to experience past memories. Many negative emotions will be encountered possibly affecting the individuals moving forward. This was brought to my attention by a colleague when discussing the matter. I regret not blogging or recording the conversation as a source of information but as a result the necessary safeguards were considered and implemented.

I'm looking forward to discovering positive methods of coping with rejection in order to better prepare individuals interested in a performing arts career and students athletes I encounter in my future profession. Having been on an selection panel wherein I've had to eliminate athletes I've seen first hand the consequences of rejection. My findings will enlighten me in being able to give sound advice in combatting rejection enabling the athletes to move forward positively.