Any Tips for Arm Fatigue?

[crazy chris]

just wondering if anyone else experiences this during live performances...and what tips you might have

at one point in my show...my main character is in the air for 11 minutes straight... i start to feel the burn about 8 minutes in...

the way my stage is set up... we stand behind a short curtain (which is directly behind a lower front curtain)... and extend our arms forward at an odd angle... i noticed most puppeteers who do television and film operate their puppets over the head... but i dont have that luxury given the fact that the puppets would be 8 feet in the air...

i also have issues with my co-puppeteers being somewhat shorter than me... thus making our curtain level needs at odds all the time...so i feel the need to scrunch a bit

cc

 

[crazy chris]

ps- i wrote the show to purposefully have breaks for the character ...knowing i couldnt extend my arm out forever.... but during this particular segment its unavoidable

cc

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Arm fatigue is a problem for all puppeteers I think. The solution is to develop long term muscular endurance. The easiest way to do that is probably to just rehearse a lot. Other than that, you can look in to resistance training and other forms of exercise designed to increase endurance, especially in your arms, shoulders, and the rest of your upper body.

 

[crazy chris]

thanks for the tips buck! ive been working out and practicing 3 or 4 run throughs a day... its definately helping....slowly

cc

 

[Puppetainer]

Okay Chris I'm going to suggest a solution that I haven't actually tested out yet but am planning on trying. I'm planning on shooting some puppet videos. We have puppeteers that come in a wide range of heights as well. The larger problem I'm facing though (no pun intended) is the limited ceiling space we have. If I were to build the sets high enough so that even the shortest of our puppeteers was working standing up with their arm above their head...well we'd need to put in a sky light.

As that is not in the budget I was thinking of using some sort of stools or chairs on casters. This would seemingly solve two problems at once. It would sufficiently lower our working height and as we can adjust seat height fairly easily we could balance the level for everyone. My only real concern is making sure we aren't making "rolling" noises that the mics are going to pic up as we work. Haven't had time to test this whole plan out yet but thought I'd throw that out there for you.

 

[crazy chris]

good idea puppetainer!

i actually checked out a couple rolling stools at hobby lobby one day...but one of my puppeteers said they are death traps...lol... he said if ya sit slightly the wrong way...or sit down at the wrong angle...your in the floor and the stool is across the room

i still wanna try it though....

cc

 

[charlie bird]

Hi ,
I 've usesd chairs with weels in a black lighte performance ,pitch black.I'ts not that hard. In it I actually spinned around a couple of times and used my feet to pool the chair when I went to the other side of the stage.
I came up with it the same day some one asked me to do the show.It worked great for me ,but if you add 3 more people back there it wont be the same storry!

 

[crazy chris]

yeah...we have a hard enough time walking passed each other... let alone doing wheelies and stuff...hahaha

cc

 

[Was Once Ernie]

Okay Chris I'm going to suggest a solution that I haven't actually tested out yet but am planning on trying. I'm planning on shooting some puppet videos. We have puppeteers that come in a wide range of heights as well. The larger problem I'm facing though (no pun intended) is the limited ceiling space we have. If I were to build the sets high enough so that even the shortest of our puppeteers was working standing up with their arm above their head...well we'd need to put in a sky light.

As that is not in the budget I was thinking of using some sort of stools or chairs on casters. This would seemingly solve two problems at once. It would sufficiently lower our working height and as we can adjust seat height fairly easily we could balance the level for everyone. My only real concern is making sure we aren't making "rolling" noises that the mics are going to pic up as we work. Haven't had time to test this whole plan out yet but thought I'd throw that out there for you.

Actually, the Muppets do this all the time when they are in a situation where they have to be lower than standing. I actually own the chairs that they used on "The Muppet Movie". I bought them at an auction right after the movie wrapped and I had seen them being used on the set. The really important part is to have back support, so a rolling stool won't work for that. If you have support for your back, it will extend the time you can comfortably have your arms up. Plus, the Muppet chairs can tilt backwards, so your arms can be vertical, which also takes some of the strain off from trying to hold them at an angle. I've been able to puppeteer for much longer periods of time using these chairs.

 

[muppetperson]

I suppose this could be an expensive idea, but for characters that have a long performance, you could have another duplicate puppet made and another puppeteer,and build the set so there is some kind of object that the puppet can go behind or aside and do a switch, but still keep talking, to give yourself a break.