Teaching techniques and things.

Well, there's no point learning a system if you don't have anyone to help you test it- so the first thing that needs to be done (once you've started to understand what the hell he's going on about) is to explain it to someone else, in clear and straight forward terms. Preferably in some kind of sensible order.

Flicking through the notes I've been taking while trying to understand Swetnam, has made me aware that they are pretty useless for teaching. Not only that, they're not very useful on the field- even in a natty little A5 ring binder that fits in the front pocket of my sword bag. How have I overcome this?

Index cards.

Not only that, they're typed, mainly because my handwriting is blasted shoddy. I am contemplating sharing them here, once they're done. Maybe in several stages, so you can follow the path of understanding that I am travelling. Maybe they'll help you, dear reader, maybe they'll just end up with you being confused.

It's quite likely that you'll end up being confused because I'm not one for 'correct' terminology. I have a hotchpotch education within HEMA and I pick up anything that looks interesting, learn some of those principles and move on. I think I'm more of a fighter than an artist- I don't care if it looks a bit sloppy providing I hit them without being hit myself. I also seem to have developed the English habit of throwing in occasional Italian terms where I'm only vaguely aware of what they actually mean. It's perfectly acceptable, on a historic level, but it's not helpful if you're writing for someone else.

I've also done this with Capoferro's plays- mainly trying to remove the excessive wordiness and translate it to movement rather than explanation, but I'm not sure how accurate they are since I've not had time to run through them or any form of double checking.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

You can be serious about something without taking it seriously. I don't have the linguistic knowledge to translate something from medieval/renaissance Italian to proper English- the kind anyone with half a brain can understand. My understanding goes back 400 years or so and no further than the M25.

How about this for a newsflash: HemaGoth wants to be paid wear leather trousers, sit in a puddle of alleged real beer. and proclaim that in the name of the Queen that this beer is good. My casual wear has meant that I've had to take Americans to one side and explain that I'm not an exhibit and, yes, this is me. (by the way, I believe a co-owner of the Rake in Southwark is one of us. The beer is worth every penny and it is not cheap). Part of this blog was intended to take the piss out of a hobby I love.

Anyway, I digress... Swetnam is an intriguing source of frustration to me. My sloppy notes combine Fiore, Silver and CapoFerro. Due to my sinestre nature, I can't see things in terms of left and right- it's sword and not sword- despite the fact that I tend to fight right handed.

Anyone who has tried to understand an original text has wanted sneak into a bedroom and press a pillow to the author's face. These things aren't easy to understand, you've got to translate them, dictionaries weren't invented and they're not really a "teach yourself" book.

I'd love to see some sarky interpretations/annotations appear online-I've got quite a few things to say about Swetnam and Silver. Some of Silver's bits read like an awful action/horror movie that should be panned for constant xenophobia. Swetnam... Well, there's a reason I'm confident in saying that I'm in the top 10 practitioners in the country (There's about 5 of us... if that)- He's in desperate need of a good editor.

Rapier and Dagger, The English Way.

In keeping with our English focus- my esteemed and honourable Maestro and myself have been looking at Swetnam's rapier and dagger. Swetnam is quite a character, he has more hits in Google for his misogynist ranting than he has for his book on stabbing people. This book follows in what appears to be a tradition in English fighting manuals for waffling on somewhat (I've only looked at two, but it's a 100% hit rate so far... Silver pretty much forgot that he was writing a book about fighting. )

Swetnam is also a blasted idiot. Or innumerate. Or using a different method of measure than normal human beings. Or a blasted idiot.

Anyway, I digress: I'll come to that again, later, once I've finished reading his book.

This one is more difficult for me to read, mostly because I don't have a physical copy and I'm working from a PDF, partially because the scan is less than perfect, and partially because I have to keep changing from thinking in diuerse ways like thif to modern typography. Something I find easy when making notes by hand.

I like books and in a perfect world, I'd read this over a few pints then come back and make notes from the important parts.

Anyway- It can get confusing, let's take this:

When thou dost practise with thy friend or companion; at the first get thy backe to the wall, and let him that playeth with thee stand about twelve foote distance , and set thy left heel close to the wall , and thy right foot heele to the great joynte of the left foote great toe.....

He goes on a bit but doesn't really say what the purpose of this is or what to do after that, except to get proper technique for the lunge. Your sword is about 3 and a half feet long, your pace is about the same. You might make 9 feet if you start with your arm in a half-reasonable guard.

I'm just starting my third year of this stuff and I've been bouncing about, watching some people, joining in other lessons and this sounds roughly like Dave Rawling's introduction to time and distance (or whatever he calls it). Your partner stands well out of distance and walks towards you. You strike when he's in range.

This is a far more sensible way to interpret this than a 12 foot lunge (the length of a snooker table). However, this is merely an educated guess that sounds more likely than an extra 3 feet of stabbyness appearing from thin air. Swetnam does not give you the information needed to make that interpretation.

I'm glad I'm not one of the poor sods translating things from medieval Italian.