Schema and things.

There are theories of learning which revolve around the ideas of interference and integration. Basically, the more links you can make with existing knowledge, the stronger it stays. It gets more complex than that- each thing is a flavour of information and the idea is to find neat little ways to put the new stuff into the existing blocks.

For an example of why this is difficult. Distance- Most of the time, the best distance is wide measure. However, really close is also a good distance and you have to safely cross the bit between.

Or there's stepping in to parry. It's essential for some longsword stuff and can be useful when going for a single time defence with rapier. Our instincts tell us to dodge the blade- especially if you're used to staying in wide measure. So it's a matter of "framing the question". Switching the processes from "not getting hit" to "moving to a better position".

A lot of what I want to do doesn't involve getting people to unlearn things, I'd like them to adapt their flinch reflexes and build on what they already know.

First sparring of the year.

The winter hibernation is nearly over and it's becoming easier to meet up for a quick session now that the days are getting longer. So, this week was my first sparring session since the parks started to close at 5.

Yes, I still haven't got a hall, mainly because I need to get a handle on the subject matter before doing all of that stuff and there's a point where it needs to come out of the books and the notes and be put into steel. Obviously, I will improve as I teach and as all sorts of questions get asked.

So anyway, this week's sparring was just single rapier. To get back into the swing of it all and because my partner left his dagger at home. I'm still quite static and very defensive (which is acceptable, but limiting). My partner needs to work on his blade domination and aim.

Since we're both inconvenienced by the current financial climate, we can meet up during daylight hours and I can work on drills and things to overcome the current problems as well as figure out some of the confusing bits within the text.

Hopefully I'll also get to go rapier and dagger against longsword- that's going to be quite intimidating, but fun.

Damn and blast

I missed my deadline again. So a quicky to keep in the pattern.

This year is when I start really stepping up to the plate and put everything in to action. And I'm not afraid to say this is scary. The reason it's scary is not because of having to do things I don't like- for example, holding court and being the centre of attention- it's because this is important to me. This stuff is brilliant, I repeatedly say how great a hobby this is. I want to add to the collective knowledge rather than harm it.

Everything is pretty new, or at least entirely based upon my own understanding. Moving from explaining my understanding with a bunch of good fighters to becoming an "authority" to random interested people this is a big step, at least as far as I'm concerned. I've worked bloody hard to know this, but thanks to... stuff... I've not been able to test my ideas and face questions. The reasons I want to succeed go much further than the fact I don't want to get stabbed in the face. Hell, if I do this properly, I'll be training up people to be miles better than I am.

I know I need to be challenged to get these things down properly. I need to hear and try to answer the questions that probably haven't crossed my mind... or ones that I've forgotten.

The thing that I'm really aware of is that I've used a lot of people's understanding and hard work to get to where I am at the moment and if I can do this properly- it will make them look even better.

So, in a way, I owe it to them to kick arse. To every person who has run a lesson I have taken or have watched, everyone who has bent over some arcane book and tried to translate it. To the people who have scanned in and uploaded vast quantities of manuals.

And I'm fully aware that the only way to know that I'm doing this properly is by taking people to one side and painstakingly explaining exactly how to stab me in the face.

A late new years.

I've realised that my drafts and prepared questions are too wibblywobbly for immediate posting and the buffer dried up just before Christmas. The only one that's coherent enough to share is the one showing my face.

Which I'm not going to share. This started out as an absolute pretence of anonymity. If you muck about with google and people and- well you will know who I am.

However, it does beg one question. How do I explain what I'm talking about without the use of photos?

Bugger

Well, there goes my buffer of entries. Unfortunately I've been caught up in something and unable to write/study anything for the past couple of weeks.

Pretend this is something witty and insightful and I'll probably be back on schedule after the New Year.

Reflections on HEMA

One of the things that I'm unhappy about is the lack of groups across the country.

Whenever I think about the Swetnam interpretation, I have a slight sinking feeling and confusion about being the best person in the country for this (or at least within the top 10). Not because I've got a lack of faith in my skills or anything like that. It's because I consider myself to be fair and competent... Average, if you wish.

As I've said before- and in fact this was the reason I started this blog- HEMA is fantastic. More people should be doing it. It has a lot of different avenues of enjoyment: fighting, interpretation, history, even something for those people who like shouting at movies. It's a hard interest to pin down because of the wide range of appeal. The fact that a sodding huge bit of pointy metal counters a lot of the traditional disadvantages women face in combative things also widens the appeal.

Maybe it's something to do with the broken tradition and the work that is needed to get a newly discovered book into a teachable form, or doing the same for a curio. But I like that ability to connect with the history.

When I'm swearing at Swetnam and smacking my head against the desk, I'm swearing at him. Several hundred years later and I'm looking at his words and saying "what the hell do you mean by that...?" (or variants of). There is a direct and clear link between me and the originator of the style. Surprisingly, that means a lot to me.

HEMA is great, more people should be doing it.

Advice on Christmas Shopping.

Not much to say this week, unfortunately I've been involved in some quite tedious jiggery pokery.

This is the time when you are likely to be grumpy and fed up with wading through the infinite sea of morons and slack jawed tourists. So, if you find yourself getting stressed and annoyed. Take this advice:

People don't think about London too much, so walk parallel to Oxford Street and only go on to that road when you near the shop you have to visit. Limiting your time on that area is vital to maintaining sanity. If you have to go down Regent's Street then use the back streets between Bond Street and Oxford Circus, leaving the Soho side until you're feeling a lucky.

If you find things getting to you and you're near Selfridges, wander up to the Wallace Collection and bask in the vast array of pointy, stabby, smashy goodness they have there, make yourself an imaginary Christmas list (a challenge for most of you: do not just say "All of them") and then think about how it would ease your tube journey home.

If you're at the other end, you could always relax in the British Museum. It's not quite as satisfying, but it's a good place to regain a little calm.

NEVER and I mean this NEVER visit James Smiths and Son's first. It's a lovely cane shop near Tottenham Court Road, they used to sell sword canes (as shown by their stained glass windows) and they have a passing familiarity with Cunningham, Vichy and Bartitsu. They will be able to supply you with canes that are beautiful, effective and a joy to play with. You do not want to be holding one of these as you walk through the crowds, it could end badly.