Hello improviser!

This week is all about receiving feedback in improv... notes... the tough stuff. We're going to talk about what it does to the brain, and how to handle it to make you a better improviser in the end. I have also recently dropped two lengthy guides about this subject, and this week is the final week to get a bonus add-on discount for the guides. One guide is focused on students, and the other if you're teaching improv (how to give notes your students can utilize better).

Getting feedback in improv

Every piece of feedback has two layers. There's the content, the actual information about what happened in the scene. And then there's the framing, which is how that information arrives. The tone of voice, whether it was said in front of the class or privately, whether your inner critic added its own spin before you even finished hearing the words coming out of your teacher's mouth. Most of us respond to the framing, and quite often the content gets lost somewhere behind that framing.

This is the thing I keep coming back to in this metacognition series (this is the final episode of that series, btw). Eileen Gu did something really specific after a reporter framed her Olympic silver as "two golds lost." She didn't accept that frame and instead separated the useful content (her actual result, five Olympic medals, the most decorated female freestyle skier in history) from the emotional framing (you lost something) and responded to the content instead. Which is a skill we can build on in improv, and one of the ways we can apply it is to how we handle notes in improv.

Improv teacher Brian James O'Connell (BOC) has a framework for this that I really like (which he paraphrases it from a screenwriting teacher called Billy Mai, and now I'm about to paraphrase his paraphrase like a good ol game of telephone though hopefully it's still accurate). Anyway. You put every note into one of three categories: "That's great, I'm gonna try it." Or "That's how you would do it, and this is how I would do it." Or "Fuck you, that's crazy, I ain't changing it." The useful thing about these categories is that they require you to find the content first, which is our goal.

One thing that helps with all of this is writing the note down as close to the original words as you can, before your brain has time to rewrite it. Because by the time you've replayed the interaction a few times, the original note has probably been rewritten into something bigger and more personal than what was actually said. Your written version becomes the evidence and then the rumination version is more like an affirmation at that point and is henceforth not all that trustworthy.

Then there is the nervous system, and neurodivergent brains to think about. Which I do in this week's episode. More on that below.

Oh yeah, and you can find all four episodes in one place, all linked on this page. What's up next? Oh. Just steamrolling, that's all! Next week we're gettin' into it.

Watch or Listen to the Ep

Understanding notes and applying them takes practice! I made a new episode about all of this, and I go into exercises you can try with a scene partner and on your own. I also have a PDF and workbook for getting and receiving notes at improvupdate.com/notes if you want something structured to work with. Check out the latest ep here:

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Links and resources from this week's episode:

Contact BOC: https://www.instagram.com/b3oc ​

BOC will travel to teach you! https://highwireimprov.com/boc-tour/​

Watch Billy Mai in this movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089491​

Free PDF note tracker: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/post-improv-productive-reflection​

Evidence based approach episode: https://improvupdate.com/why-just-be-confident-doesnt-work-and-what-to-do-instead/​

Last week for the bonus discount

I just released two guides (totalling over 50 pages!) about giving and receiving notes in improv - what this week's episode is all about. It'll make you a better improviser and/or improv teacher.

The first one is for students. It covers why notes are so hard to process, what your brain is actually doing when you receive feedback after a scene, and what to do about it. It includes frameworks and worksheets. More information and a TOC can be found here.

The second one is for teachers and coaches, and I think this one fills a gap that I genuinely haven't seen anyone else fill. It covers what's happening inside your students' brains during notes that you can't see from the outside. If you teach or coach improv, you have neurodivergent students. This guide gives you that context, along with direct, simple strategies that will make your notes be heard better for every student in the room. Do it for Autistic Acceptance month.

If you want the discount, grab it now! I'm offering a temp discount, and you can also get 50% off a guide if you get both.

$10.00 $8.50 Processing Notes: A guide and workbook for improv students In the guide: Understand how notes work, why they're hard, and what your brain is actually doing when you receive them.... Read more Get it now!

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$10.00 $8.50 Notes They Can Actually Hear: Guide for Improv Teachers This 27-page guide is about what's happening inside your students' brains during notes that you can't see from the... Read more Get it now!

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