I believe that I exist in several quite different manifestations, and these have precious little to do with each other. Moving between one can another can be a disturbing experience. Tomorrow there will be the first meeting of the new annual programme of the regional Italian Circle for the Bradford and Harrogate area. Foolishly I agreed at the end of last year to take on the role of President of the Circle, and tomorrow will be the first occasion at which I will be required to exercise this function. Not surprisingly, I am experiencing a fair degree of nervousness.
It is a long time since I was required to use my Italian language, largely due to the intervention of the Covid pandemic, one casualty of which was my weekly language class. Although I have kept up rather intermittently my reading, I am aware that it is a long time since I was required to actually speak Italian. Our recent holiday in Italy was dreadfully disappointing in this respect, as there were very few opportunities for conversation. As a consequence I am anticipating tomorrow with some anxiety.
The biggest problem is that I am committed to making a brief survey of the big recent stories in the Italian media. It has not been difficult putting this together, but having drafted some observations it has become clear that articulating these to a room full of people is likely to be quite a challenge. Not to put too fine a point on it, my mouth doesn’t function in quite the way I might have hoped. Using a foreign language is a very physical thing which goes well beyond what you might call “knowing” the language.
In anticipation of this I have looked up on the internet today a number of those vocal exercises which actors use in preparation for a performance, and have given myself a good work-out. It is interesting to discover that I can really feel the difference in the muscles of my face. I hope that I can fit in a couple more sessions before my presentation tomorrow.
Last night was the first of the season’s life-drawing classes at the Art School in Ilkley, and it is curious to reflect on the similarity of these two experiences. I don’t think that I had really grasped before just how very physical is drawing as an activity. I presume that most people probably thing of themselves as living in their heads–their minds. It is experiences like this, however, that I am reminded of the essential embodiment (the physicality) of our being.