Degree Work Tips -by Aiden Brink

When I first joined my lodge our degree work had much to be desired, it was always haphazard, no one knew which costumes were which, there was always a last minute scramble putting people into each place as needed. Despite this haphazard nature I still fell in love with doing degree work. I began learning parts, not just reading, but actually memorizing and performing. We acquired some nondescript robes and props which gave us more flexibility. Now our quarterly degree days (Hosted every 5th Saturday starting at 9:00 AM at Wisconsin # 14 in Janesville, WI) are on a path of improvement and growth rather than stagnation and disarray. There was no requirement to do this, to put the effort in, to memorize parts, but it so vastly improved the experience that other brothers and sisters pitched in to do their part as well. 

Having this experience made me think that there might be a subset of people like myself out there, who want to improve their degrees, who aren’t satisfied to just throw things together each time, to mumble through lines and then quit early for lunch. I have compiled a set of guidelines and suggestions which hopefully will break down some changes into measurable more bite-sized chunks.

Number One- Learning Lines

I start with this one, because it is by far the most intimidating for many people. The first thing you can do is read through the degree, read through them all. Get familiar with what is going on, and how each scene is described. The degrees cannot be something you only touch when it’s time to perform. Reassurances like “its just reading” do nothing except ensure that it will only EVER be just reading. Learning Lines and practicing degree work is an excellent excuse to get your lodge together and work together. Part of the whole point of degree work is to allow all the lodge members to create something beautiful together, so live the spirit and schedule practices!. 

Once you’ve done your reading, choose a part and learn it. If you look up memorization techniques on youtube you will find a whole host of useful tools. My favorite is to take my lines, and then on a piece of paper write only the first letter of each word, keeping punctuation and capitalization. I will attempt to read this cipher, referencing the full text when needed. Eventually you will be able to just read the ciphered text. Once you can do this, you’re already halfway there, attempting to give the part while only referencing the ciphered text. Once you are able to give the part from memory do not forget the third step of honing your performance. I like to do this in the car while driving, but since you now have the part in your head you can go anywhere. Work with your tone, when to go up or down, what to emphasize, where to pause. If you got that far, congratulations on the beginning of your ritualist journey!

I know this is intimidating, many people have never had to memorize lines for anything, I know I didn’t before joining up, but trust me when I say it makes a world of difference. Even just having certain key characters off book lends a dynamism and seriousness to the proceedings which are unparalleled. The degrees were meant to be performed from memory, and you can see this, juggling props, staves and books just doesn’t work and looks awkward. There is a whole world to unlock once you can put the books down. Don’t let the fact that you aren’t required get in the way of improvement!

I have included a list of the most key parts to learn in each degree in order of which benefit most from memory work. The most important degrees for this kind of work are, in order, initiatory, first, second, then third 

(If other parts are left out of the listing, assume they are all equally important after those listed)

Initiatory
1.Conductor
2. RSS
3.LSS
4. Warden             

1st             
1. Jonathan
2. David
3. King

2nd     
1. Conductor (as prescribed character)
2. Warden (as prescribed character)                                               

3rd
1. Chaplain
2. All NG/VG

Number Two- Costumes 

If you think costumes are fun, congratulations, because so did the oddfellows who wrote the degrees. An excuse to get together with friends, work on something…and wear silly hats? Well that was what it was all about!

Costumes can be a difficult chore for us sometimes, if you have a lodge like mine you have many old robes, some in disrepair, some too small for anyone to reasonably fit, or to close them. Luckily we’ve come up with some solutions to make the most of our current robes, and get new stock. 

Number one, get a nondescript white robe, like a choir robe or something like that (found for cheap when churches close, or for costumes) and put that on, these are much easier to find in normal person sizes so they can close. Next, get your fancy older robe and put it over your shoulder, now you have a cape!

Many of these robes are heavy enough that even if you are gesturing or moving around they won’t fall off, which is pretty handy. This not only eliminates the problem of open robes just showing peoples street clothes, it’s also handy for if during a degree you ever have to take off or put on robes. (There’s one instance where this is particularly helpful and if you know you know)

Number two, Some people get so focused on using specifically oddfellow robes. This is not necessary, the only thing specified about costumes is generally their color, and that they be somehow “trimmed”. These can be found in the degree books. You can find second hand choir robes of many colors, fitting descriptions for various positions. Look around when halloween comes around for useful robes or costumes, you may find things. Old graduation robes can also serve our purposes pretty well and with only basic sewing knowledge you can turn these basic robes a bit fancier. 

With only the crafts supplies or trimmings to be found at your local Walmart you can turn a plain boring piece into something serviceable for a reasonable price!

Want to more about the Odd Fellows? Ask Me I May Know!

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