Creating Forms
- Thread starter Azulx
- Start date
Langenschwert
Master Black Belt
In my previous club we had to come up with our own (called a flourish) as part of grading. Essentially it was dealing with a few imaginary opponents in succession. It's good in that you can use techniques that flow well together for you, rather than what worked for someone else in combination in the past.
Creating your own form is really quite easy, and you should be doing it all the time, but rather than techs that just seem to flow together, I would choose a theme.
Making up forms? Sure. Lots of people do. But those forms are not part of the curriculum.
Unless of course, creating your own form, for your purple belt test, is part of the curriculum.
Secondly, two man form are quite common in grappling, yeah somebody did it before, but not the way you do it. So, if you have a willing partner, made up grappling forms, should be part of the curriculum, if it isn't.
Unless of course, creating your own form, for your purple belt test, is part of the curriculum.
I think it ought to be fairly self-evident that since the OP queried if instructors create forms as part of "their curriculum" that the answers would also be about "their" (meaning the respondents) curriculum. Not the curriculum of every school in every system in every organization in every country of the entire world.
Or, in simpler terms...
Duh...
- Thread Starter
- #8
The reason I ask is because there are many TKD school in my area, mine included, that teach Ch'ang Hon forms. The thing is we all have differences when we do them. Chambering is a big difference between schools, what sets us apart is that for the beginner through intermediate forms (Dan-gun - Won-Hyo) we spin clockwise while most schools spin counter-clockwise. Honestly I have never seen a school spin clockwise for these forms. I competed in a tournament last year and placed 4th out 5 in forms. I did Yul-gok pattern ,and two other competitors did Yul-gok and each was different, some with different moves and speeds. I t's crazy how many variations there are to these forms.
kuniggety
2nd Black Belt
I used to study Bak Sil Lum (Bei Shaolin in Mandarin). There is a particular form called tun da (short strike) that is so popular that a lot of schools that don't even teach BSL will teach tun da. The variations I've seen in it are huge.
I have created 3 forms, 2 long fist (northern Shaolin) forms and 1 Shuai Chiao form.
The 1st form was created for a dancing group "Yuan Ji Wu" organization in California.
The form was designed to map into this music.
If you start the form clip when the music clip start to sing (at 0.33), you can see the form and music can match perfectly. Each and every kick or punch try to map to the drum beat in that music. When the music stops, the form stops too.
The 2nd form was created which combine 14 forms into 1 so students can learn 1 form instead of having to learn 14 forms.
Those 14 forms are:
1. long fist Tan Tui,
2. long fist Lien Bu Chuan,
3. long fist Kung Li Chuan,
4. long fist little 5 hands,
5. long fist Mai Fu 1st road,
6. long fist Mai Fu 2nd road,
7. long fist Xi Zi Tan,
8. long fist Pao Chuan 3rd road,
9. long fist Si Lou Ben Da,
10. long fist Shao Hu Yen,
11. long fist Za Chuan 4th road,
12. long fist Tai Zhu long fist,
13, 7 star praying mantis Lian Ja,
14. 7 star praying mantis Zia Yao,
The 3rd form combines 13 Tai Bo (13 Shuai Chiao static postures training) and 24 moves throwing combos.
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So you're not really asking about creating new forms so much as how common it is for forms to be modified by individual instructors?
That is far from uncommon. Some of these changes are intentional, some related to when forms were learned (eg: whether or not sine wave is used in Chang Hon tul), errors in transmission (they learned it wrong or misunderstood something), or changes that drifted in unnoticed.
The Palgwae forms we teach are not identical to the originals. Our KJN has made some changes. He's the head of our MDK org, so he certainly has the right to do so.
Personally, I've tried to learn both the originals and the modified versions we teach. The differences are small, and I can understand the thinking behind the changes KJN has made. I do my best to prevent errors in transmission and drift, but humans being humans, there will likely always be some variation over time.
Forms get modified by various teachers for lots of reasons. Sometimes, a teacher wants to emphasis a particular aspect or element, so they teach the form in a way that puts an emphasis on that part. Then, their students pass on the alteration without always understanding or knowing that it was changed. Or something is simply misunderstood or missed when someone learns it in the first place and that misunderstanding gets passed on down the line... A teacher with a bad knee might teach a form without using a kneeling stance, because they can't stand back up easily... and again the modification gets passed on. There's an old story about a school teaching a form with a sudden jump back at a point that just made no sense... When the students asked about it, the instructor could only say "that's how I learned it." Finally they had a chance to ask a grandmaster... and the answer was "Oh, that? That's not part of the form... the old training hall was didn't have enough room to do the form without moving back at that point!"
The important thing is to recognize the "textbook" version -- and understand why things are different. Then, remember which version to do for which instructor!
The important thing is to recognize the "textbook" version -- and understand why things are different. Then, remember which version to do for which instructor!
