[Mark Wilkie]

Dear myArmoury community

I am in need of the help of those that teach german longsword, i have was asked by a group of mates to start a longsword grop at my uni. So i did and we have had a couple of classes in which i covered foot work and the basic guards.

Now i am experienced in longsword, well more so than the rest of my mates. so what i ask all of you what is a good way to teach a class, i know this is vague but i cant think of a better way to word it. i suppose what i want to know is a good way to stucture a class and any good exercise to use with my group be it single or partner based.

Many thanks
Mark

[Sam Barris]

Have you seen this book?
http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.1891448463.html

There's also this one, which is geared more towards classical fencing, but might give you something that you can adapt to your own practice:
http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.0965946800.html

[Jean Thibodeau]

There are also the books by Christian Tobler, Hugh Knight and Guy Windsor that might be helpful, if you don't already know about them or have read them. ( Which you probably already know of but just mentioning for others who might not. )

All of the above and those mentioned by Sam are useful but I find the ones written by Hugh to be well explained and illustrated by clear and well posed photographs.

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...highlight=

By the way, it's not easy to teach if one arrives without some sort of teaching plan on the day.

Not sure how I would approach it myself and it would make a great deal of difference if I was trying to teach people completely new to the subject versus people who had at least read up on it a little or already had some experience even if just the very basics.

I guess using one of the books suggested and after giving a general overview of the master strokes, distance/measure, timing, foot work then start with one thing and slowly add something from each topic/chapter shown in one of the training books.

A little history of it all maybe also useful to give period contexts ? Try to keep it fun but still approached in a systematic way and avoid trying to explain to much all at once ...... as I'm probably illustrating right now.

So much is not just visual but in the tactile feel of hard and soft at the sword that only comes with practice, but one has to start somewhere.

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

Aw, why just longsword?
Anyway, I guess the first thing is to decide which, dare I say, school you choose to follow (Italian, English, German), then stick to that for a time.
Secondly, I assume you have some wasters or something to hand out so that those without can join in.
Lesson planwise I'd go thusly:
1. Stretches/Warm ups and general chit-chat.
2. Basic solo drills (so you basicaly showing them what to do and they follow).
3. Give demonstration on that lessons "move". Then get class to pair up (More experianced with less experianced).
4. Everyone practicing, then rotate once in a while.
5. Rinse repeat.
6. Then everyone just relax... Then have a game of British Bulldog or a general melee just for fun (sometimes we fight in pairs from corners of the room. Last team standing wins).

So yeah, hope that helps.

[David Teague]

Hello All,

As a instructor of German Longsword let me say this:
Choose the style (i.e German, Italian, or English) and choose an single author's interpretation to work from (ie Hugh Knight , Christian Tobler, ARMA's , Guy Windsor, Brian Price et al). Choose a time period ( if in the German Tradition, early vs late). It will keep you sane and on track.

It sounds like you have a base in German longsword, so that would be a good place to start. Who's interpretation do you know? How did you learn? Did you take classes? Did you teach yourself? Have you had any feedback on your own footwork, form, movements and power generation?

Footwork, form, movements and power generation are the foundations needed to be be a good martial artist in any art and the lead student needs to have those dialed in to teach a class.

There are books out there that have a modern progression to teach from. One such book is Christian Tobler's Fighting with the German Longsword. He has made adjustments to his interpretation since that book was published. It's the one I used at first to base my classes off of.

How I run my classes:

Opening class salute with the sword, warm up, laps, warm up games, solo foot work drills, solo guard drills, failing drills,solo cutting forms, paired drills (and coached freeplay for more advanced students) ending salute with the sword and clean up.

I started with CHT books, traveled to events to take his classes, took other instructors classes to see who's teaching style's I liked and I brought those games, techniques, and teaching skills back home with me and blended them into my teaching style and class.

Good luck with it.

Cheers,

David

[Mark Wilkie]

Thank you to everyone who has replyed, your help is greatly needed


"It sounds like you have a base in German longsword, so that would be a good place to start. Who's interpretation do you know? How did you learn? Did you take classes? Did you teach yourself? Have you had any feedback on your own footwork, form, movements and power generation?"

I do have my base in german longsword i use Hanko Dobringer's interpretation from 1389, i was taught by dave rawlings and have had feedback on form, movement, footwork, and power generation.

I hope answering these questions will allow you to help me further.

many thanks
mark

[Craig Peters]

While Doebringer's manual is good- his intensive discussions about vor and nach and the vorschlag and nachschlag are unparalleled, to my knowledge- you might want to supplement his work with another relatively early German master, such as Ringeck or von Danzig. I don't think that the Doebringer manual is as good on the technical side of the art as some of the other masters.

[David Teague]