Devon
Forum Replies Created
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Found it. You should be able to resubmit by posting a comment following mine on the submission page. Regardless this is signed off! Good resubmit. Now my comments:
- In the pausing version of the form, make sure to pause at posta di donna lo soprano (it’s the only one you’re not stopping at — comes between porta di ferro, first, and finestra, third.)
- In your first step, step diagonally across the centreline so that you face fully south (imagining you started facing North)
- Your finestra could be a touch higher with your hands pulled more to the right.
- Tuck your butt in and keep your back a bit straighter in porta di ferro mezzano
- In Bicornu tuck your elbows down more
- Life your frontale higher so that it would collect a sword without risking your head.
Good work on the facings, weightedness in the postures is good. Transitions are in good order. Other than notes above poste are formed well.
Nice work.
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Your consistency and continual forward progress has been inspiring Paul!
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Week 5
Focus: Getting in at least 3 extra practice times outside of my morning routine.
Schedule: Every morning plus Monday evening, Wednesday Evening, and Saturday afternoon.
Plan: Morning meditation and workouts. Running every second day (back to that now that the heat has passed) and play building as my main base for practice.
Contingency: Staff spinning has been a really easy thing for me to engage in when I feel stuck.
This week I also intend to shoot at least one personal video. Going to not be precious about it.
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Days 1 – 5
I have practiced every morning this week: Staff, Longsword, Staff, Longsword, Sidesword (in that order). I also have made three extra practice sessions in. Monday night longsword forms work, Wednesday night longsword again, Thursday some staff work, and today some sidesword.
It has felt good to be working on these longer play builds. Good and challenging.
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Hey Jeff, your first full run is great except for missing the firm footed cut at misura stretta but you got that the second time around.
You’re doing a really nice job with your order and your timing for cutting through the rope and landing your foot. nicely done!
Keep practicing this form. As you gain more confidence of your memory in it its really fun and useful to do quick as well.
You’re signed off!
Devon
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This is hitting the bases on the form now. Good improvements on the mezzani. Note that the first half cut transition should be a mezza volta not a tutta volta. Look at that one closely in the exemplar vid. I also covered this detail in the Q&A at the end of the week of this form.
I’m going to sign you off on this one but don’t stop working on the other feedback I gave. Particularly about getting more step/reach into your cuts. This is the main area I see that needs some solid focus.
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Nice to see you back Jade–I also had a bit of an away from regular recording. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about David, it is good to share grieving with others.
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Wrapping up Week 4
I got in training on all my last days. Largely shorter 15-30 minute sessions. though I got in a much longer training session on Sunday — about an hour of longsword solo play building. Man it was hot.
Happy with the week though I did not shoot a personal video which is something I want to get back into the habit of doing.
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This is a neat form, well written and interesting elements. signed off.
Main feedback:
– Make the connection between your provocation and your response from it a lot clearer. You won’t be able to fully make that transition, arrive in guard, and then wait and respond. The opponent takes the provocation so you’ll end up transitioning from provocation into your defense or counter mid-stream. Let’s see that in the form.
– I think you could increase the connection between your pairs of actions throughout. A parry and counter-attack must be tightly and crisply paired with one another to be effective. Make your play a bit more of a combative action rather than simply a series of moves done in uniform rhythm one after the other.
Your own comments regarding aspects of mechanics are true. Watch your order in particular, extend the arms ahead of the steps in your thrusts.
That all being said, your guard positions are nice, you generally cut in good order, your paths are good and all the actions really make good sense.
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I enjoyed this play. Interesting actions and nice flow in the double cuts. You also did a good job of writing out the description which is technically accurate. Nice work, signed off.
Some nitpicks. I think you might be right in your own comments about the edge alignment in the double cut, worth investigating.
Some areas to target — watch presenting your hands when you come into donna. You want to keep them tucked down or back, don’t let your hands be too far forward of your chest, they’re easy targets.
Pick up your feet a bit more so you aren’t sliding as much and your footwork can then be a little quicker and crisper.
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The form is good and you hit all the bases. Nice crisp footwork. The parries are crisp and go as far as they need to without extra. signed off.
Some feedback:
1. Watch your order on your thrusts after the parries. You want the arms to fully extend before the feet. This makes your counter-attack significantly faster and makes you safer by putting your weapon and structure into the space before your body.
2. At :27 when you’re parrying, these should be into Frontale not finestra (sword point is up), They’re collections. Upon collecting you wind the sword into finestra to thrust letting the point fall and align and the hands lift.
3. Watch out when you’re returning to donna on the left you’re leaving your hands dangerously forward. They’re likely to get cut here by opportunistic opponent’s. Keep them pulled off to the side or tucked down.
Good work on memorizing this form!
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This is well done Steve. Nice work on this. you move smoothly through all the actions with very good footwork. The double cuts are in particulary quite smooth and you’re getting around your head well.
I’m signing it off.
the main thing that would improve this form will be having a partner attack you so you can better target the clearing parries. One example is the parries through finestra (3rd set) need to make a tighter circle so they can get there in time to deflect. They also will need to be angled differently to make a deflection successfully.
In your footwork keep your knees bent when you gather backward. This way you have more power in your legs for returning to strike.
In the breaking actions (last pair) the footwork is slightly different with steps in and forward with the breaking actions. That also is interesting to work with a partner. You can also find content on DTV for the into and way footwork for breaking.
Nice work on this.
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I agree with your personal assessment that your weapon path and smoothness are good throughout the form. You hit the guards generally quite well. The false edge is correct for the full sottani in this form. True is for the half blows into finestra (both of which you are doing).
Improvements for resubmission:
1. Watch your order, make sure to send your weapon a bit more ahead of your step. Then make sure you still step with the cut to get reach in the blow.
2. Your full mezzani could be a bit higher. Think neck cut rather than body cut.
3. Your half blow mezzani are currently being thrown with the true edge from both sides and are quite low. The half blow mezzani with the hands high is done this way to protect the head and bind higher on the opponent’s weapon. Throw the blows from the right with the true edge and the blows from the left with the false edge.
3b. Note that in my transition between the mezzani I’m keeping the arms extended and when I come from the right I use the mezza volta to transition between mandritto and roverso, and when I come the second time starting on the left side I use a tutta volta (sword goes over the head) to go between the roverso and the mandritto. I believe I get into this a bit deeper in the Q&A at the end of week 2. You can also just pay closer attention to that part of the form exemplar.
4. Less important but in your half cuts try to keep your arms more extending, particularly when moving between the fendenti and the sottani. The weapon doesn’t need to be fully retracted in this transition.
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I’d like you to make a few core corrections before I sign you off for the form.
1. You’re skipping posta finestra (the second guard change). The sword should be above your eyeline (it’s called the window guard because you’re looking through the window formed my your sword arms).
2. After you form finestra then place your sword onto your left shoulder while looking to the right (NW) and you’ll be in reverse weighted donna sinistra before you cut into posta longa.
3. Pause a little longer at each guard. currently you pause at some and pass through others without stopping (long to pdf mezzana as an example)
4. You’re taking an extra step currently when going between coda longa and bicornu. This is the reason that at the end of the form you’re not finding yourself back at your starting place. The step is a tutta volta by crossline pass and volta stabile. If you make only this pass of the right foot you’ll then step forward again into cinghiaro mezzano and place yourself back on your starting mark.
Resubmit your form with those changes.
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You’ve got the form. all of the actions are correct and the cut paths and guard are clean.
First and most important is actually hitting the target (ie assessing your measure correctly). It is the five measures form afterall.
Second I look forward to you challenging yourself to increase the smoothness of the form overall. Especially at misura stretta in the multi-cut actions.
Overall good form and nice work.