ebff

Do you not have a regional conservatoire or something where you can play "proper" music in a symphony orchestra? not to be snobbish or anything having played loads of wind band stuff none compares to Brahms 1 Especially not the flute parts (solo in 2nd mvt is unequaled as far as I'm concerned)! But yeah wind band stuff is great fun, good luck with flute 1, I know just how hard it can be to make it there! Politics is everything, skill often has little to do with position... Have you played under Glen Price? I hear the guy's quite famous over the pond, and he is a dude! He could down a pint of guinness faster than the tubas could.. Right I think we've taken over the thread now. Sorry people.

That's the thing, I've never used an actual punching bag, in Wing Chun we used a sandbag (which after about 50 punches took all the skin off your knuckles) and the other people in the room, but obviously I can't do that at home... What's Wavemaster? I'll give it a look thanks.

Hey all. I'm looking for a punching bag to install in my room (fed up of training against the air). Thing is I'm in a big student block and whilst my neighbours seem not to mind waking up the corridor at 3am I have some shreds of morals left so can't really screw a sandbag on the wall. Can't hang something from the ceiling either. Is there anything you could recommend which is cheap-ish (preferably under £40/$70) and I could use for punching and possibly kicking? (thinking of taking up Muay thai) Thanks a lot for taking the time to read, eb

Hard-ish fast rock for punching practice, otherwise classical (late romantic period piano concertos to be precise, sometimes also opera, it's motivating) for slower stuff like pressups etc. Nothing whilst running, mainly cos I don't have pockets

I find it quite strange how in the US you have so many "bands" but so little proper repertoire symphony orchestras... although I guess that's what you mean by "symphonic flute"? If you like the trumpet may I recommend the horn? It's the best orchestral instrument in that 1. the parts are usually quite easy so you can sight-read most of the stuff during the performance if you're good (work at it if you're not) 2. it gets all the nice singing emotive solos (and you sleep or read during rehearsals). Oh and there's almost no hornplayers around so you'll always get good parts as opposed to flutes and violins who fight for solos. And you'll have the respect of both the woodwind who see you as part of the brass and the brass who see you as a nobler part of them. Mmmm sorry forgot no politics on karateforums

Antibiotics do nothing for a cold which is a virus! I'd say vitamin C and cover yourself and get enough sleep. And don't go about in a T-shirt in -10 either once you're healed.

deff know what you mean about relaxing! When I have far too much work I go book a room with a piano and play for 2 hours, it's a great stress relief! especially late at night... I think you should come visit the UK sometime, it's a country of musicians. Cynical ones, but amazing too. How come you don't own your own flute?

My laptop has an excellent LCD, it's very very bright - even in the sun I can still see stuff very well and it can be painful in the dark. If you wait a couple of years a prof at my uni is developing a system which will absolutely kick the bum of all current screen technologies. Can't say what it is obviously but it's pure genius and... well... just wait!

Musician (hornplayer) here. I've done far too much and reached the peak of music playing when I was in the National Youth Orchestra (the only way to ever play in something better is to become pro) hence the going towards MA now.

Racist stuff told to me when I moved to the UK. It's mostly stopped now that I'm at uni (and I don't care any more anyway) but at the time it was VERY painful. Racism isn't just colour! The absolute worst was when one of my teachers was being racist - sure when kids in your class have a go at you for not speaking English very well you get over it (and also you can hit back hehehe) but when it's a grown member of society who is responsible for educating you... an English teacher as well... the f***er is now trying to stop my brother from getting into med school (he's his referee).

We were bored during a fencing training session so I suggested we try Kendo - with metal sabres and no protection on the left (or right if you're LHed) hand. Twas much fun until said unprotected hand was hit. I still have the bloodstains (they won't come out or maybe I should try and wash harder) but the scar has somewhat disappeared which is strange. Since then the instructor screams at anybody who grabs their sabre with two hands Again during a fencing tournament I somehow by luck got to the eighth finals and was against this guy who seemed both bigger and faster than me. First point he attacked me with loads of aggressivity. I kinda got scared and for the remaining of the match I wasn't fencing, I was kinda hitting as if I was trying to defend my life. Result: match stopped 8 times for a minute to let him recover from various wrist and other injuries provided by yours truly, and I broke a blade on him as well. Embarassment when my coach came up to me after I won the match and told me it was a miracle I hadn't gotten a yellow card or been disqualified, and I shouldn't be very proud (the other guy was looking at me with fear clutching his now almost useless wrist). I most definitely wasn't proud! Last during a team event, we were up against a really crap team (which incidently had a woman in it since they didn't have enough women for a female team). Everybody let the girl get some points cos she was really useless but I just let my match be over as quickly as possible with just direct (fast) hits on the head every point, and she looked really unhappy afterwards. We may have won by points, but I feel I lost morally.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr [think lion breathing out for 10s], see you next week!" (said in heavy Chinese accent) Never ever missed saying that. Me and brother ended up using the arrrrr as a way to crack ourselves up when we were bored in trains etc.

During Wing Chun: "Sifu is really short. Damn he's small. Haha little small man. Bit of an inferiority complex, that's probably why he's shouting at us like a drill sergeant." "I wonder if that 2m10 120kg muscle mass on my left attacked the sifu, whether sifu would beat him. Or how." (question answered when the 1m50 sifu to prove his might punched down on said giant's shoulder making him kneel down by 20cm - maybe there's something to this "chi" stuff after all) "What's for dinner tonight" "This room really smells" "I wish I wasn't standing next to the bloody fan again" "oh f*** I've paired up with the psycho again" (resulting in split lip cos even my strongest block didn't do anything) "this guy's breath REALLY stinks. Maybe he should have gone light on the strawberry yogurt. PLEASE stop burping small man." "the floor is slippery when you're wearing socks. Why can sifu wear shoes?" "how p***** off would sifu be if I insulted him right now and tried to wind him up?" (+ variations on "what would happen if somebody/if I attacked sifu?") "I wish he'd give us a paper with the first form printed on it rather than go through it at double speed" (still couldn't remember it after the 10th session) "bugger forgot the deo" (turned out not to be a problem as I was paired with rotten strawberry breath) "ah **** genna get bruised again when will it stop" "please don't pick me... bugger" (followed by a demonstration by sifu of how one should be relaxed during practice and a demonstration by me on how not to be relaxed when the sifu is in front of you demonstrating a technique and his arms feel like iron bars. Oh and the kwoon legend passed on by instructors that sifu was able to punch somebody through the ribs to their heart.) "what's for dinner" During fencing: "what if I kicked that blade out of the way rather than parry? the legs aren't electric" "I wonder if I can apply chi sao to sabre i.e. sticky blades?" (doesn't work) "what's for dinner" "please let's not have another 4 hour session I've had too much lunch" (usually results in getting a longer tougher session) (sizing up championship prizes) "right if I lose against him and win against this one then I can get the box of cadbury's" (my pride couldn't take losing so I won the championship and got the haribo's instead - gave them to the team which instantly earned me loads of respect... kids are kids even at 17!) Ah the wonders of being a teenager again... those were the days Right, now back to that report.

A friend of mine was a boxer (he had trained for a bit) and he wanted me to show him some wing chun (yes I know, it's very bad to teach people stuff out of the kwoon, leave me alone, I paid £15 per class for the stuff) so I tried teaching him some basic sticky hands stuff and he ended up stopping after 2-3 tries saying he "wasn't used to being hit during training". Now the guy trained as a boxer, which makes me think that boxing's "tough" reputation is perhaps undeserved. However I'm sure proper boxers are incredibly tough, and when they went in they knew what to expect - being pummeled in the head until KO as opposed to flying acrobatics.

This is a very interesting topic! When I was training wing chun the sifu's opinion was that you were a wimp if you complained about bruises and they were normal. Result: I spent a year with the bottom half of my arms continuously deep black, and they bled a couple of times too (it never got better, and my practising with my brother every day didn't help either). I thought it was normal. He also advised punching a wall 200 times a day for fist conditioning because "in a fight, you pick up an asktray, I prefer to use my fist because it's tougher than the ashtray". A doctor I know told me that this usually results in you developing micro-fractures in the knuckles so perhaps not the best thing to do... He apparently trained in a shaolin temple which might explain that approach but still...

The simplest way is to do 1.5 hours of intensive swimming every other day. Results in a month! And you don't even need to work out. If you're good do 2 hours a day but that's tougher. Watch out it's knackering. The advantage being with swimming you train every muscle + cardio so everything will be toned up by the end. That's what I found with my training anyway. As for foods... if you do enough, you'll try and eat as much as possible regardless of what it is My rowers friends always have the equivalent of three full meals every time I have lunch with them...

Theoretically if you learn Sabre very well, and always fence very technically well (e.g. only parry with the lower third of the blade etc.) then learn the same techniques using the katana then ok (there's no poking, it's all slashing). Now in reality most fencers tend to use their handguard a lot for parrying, and the sabre is extremely light - I haven't held a katana but I'm assuming considering its size it's probably much heavier. However in contemporary fencing both epee (touch anywhere on the body) and foil (touch torso only) have a "gun"-like handle (because it's a "poking" weapon - they used to have normal flat handles before though) whereas sabres have flat handles (like a tennis racket or a katana) so maybe it would work. Anyway sabre is the most fun, I recommend it for anybody taking up fencing. I found foil very tiresome, very technical and to be fair too arsy for my tastes. Never tried epee but they don't move very much.

Awesome, thanks for your reply! When training wing chun we used no protection whatsoever and it was quite painful at times but Sohan I have to say once you get punched and it hurts you'll pay more attention to your guard, that's what I mean Right enough thread highjacking I'll let the thread go on now

Yes that's endurance muscles. All the long-distance runners i know are extremely thin with very thin but very dense muscles. So run 10k+ a day (not on the first day! work your way up) or train for longer periods I'd say. Climbing is also very good cos it will make your arms that much stronger (but it's seriously painful unless you know when to stop - I tend to go on until my hands can't grab and I fall ) If you find running difficult (and it is especially if you're big) then swim - it's just as tough cardio-wise and will make you very muscly indeed, now I'm not sure those are the right muscles for karate (you can train that as well though) but your stamina will definitely go through the roof. The key is to training for long enough to get really tired, then swim for another half hour/hour after you "hit the wall". If you're not a very good swimmer then join a competition club which will put you through hell (for your own good). However I'm not a qualified trainer or very proficient martial artist so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about - I just found that kind of stuff useful when I was training. Good luck with your training!

But do you actually learn the self-defense aspect of Muay Thai, as in anything useful in a fight if you don't actually fight in the ring? I always thought the only way to know how to fight was to actually fight, no learnt set of actions will work unless you know what it's like to be punched in the head and you don't panic...

I've performed, learnt and taught for more than 13 years now and upon hearing aikidoka's accounts of "blending" in the art... I've found exactly the same to apply in music. Except it's something you develop with a lot of experience, with a group where everybody is very good - you don't just play anymore, you blend your sound within the group's sound. The result can be heard live if you go and listen to orchestras like the London Symphony Orchestra or the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra who have brought this technique to an insane level - they play all so well in tune that if a clarinet and a flute (for example) are playing together even professional musicians can't tell them apart. I think a lot of this applies to martial arts. I'm taking the path music => martial arts, but you can most certainly take it the other way round. But don't learn the violin or piano whatever you do, there's far too many out there!

I've heard caffeine means your body breaks down more lipids. Possibly an espresso before the run? I run every other morning before breakfast, the disadvantage is that I'm then knackered for lectures but hey everyone sleeps through them anyway. What's the technique for running? Do you dig your heels in when you run? or run on the point of the feet? Thanks

YES that is so true! I've found that to be true when teaching music to kids, you can tell them all you want about musicality and style but eventually the best ones are those who first learn the technique and then develop musicality by themselves - then they have a feel for it, it's their own stuff. As in, they try and play beautifully, not because you tell them 24/7 to try and play beautifully, but because they want to. Haven't done enough MA to comment on that aspect too but I'm sure it applies as you said.

Well that's the thing, I think ultimately aikido would be more rewarding, it's probably an easier art on your body to train in as well (I most definitely want to sparr, a martial art without sparring is like going to an opera with a mask on your eyes). But muay thai would be great for fitness... I think I'll try aikikai aikido, it's the most convenient (after all this talking). Also my Japanese neighbour is a karate black belt and says he thinks aikido is ultimately a really good art, if very hard. Challenges are good. Thank you very much for your help!

Hey all! I've browsed the forums a bit and finally decided to post, I'd be really grateful if you could help me out! I'm a student in the UK and would like to start a martial art this term to help stay sane during exam term and generally for fitness purposes (you can only do so many different half hour jogs every morning before you get really bored). Obviously there's the added advantage of getting at least some fighting experience on the side which could be useful later (although running is often the best defence) but I'm not too fussed about that. Now the question is, which art to start? I've narrowed it down to 4 schools in the area, and it would be awesome if you could help me choose one. First there's aikido. I've always wanted to study aikido, and it has the added advantage of letting you finish a fight without permanently injuring the other person which in today's lawsuit-mad world is a plus. However I'm not so sure about the general fitness aspect of the sport, it doesn't seem to include that much moving (jumps etc.) compared to say muay thai or karate. It's still pretty cool to be able to do breakfalls and rolls and I find the whole "blending" aspect of the art very appealing - I developed a similar concept playing chamber music. There's two dojos in my area, one teaches aikikai style aikido and the other iwama style. I have no idea what the difference is on a practical basis though - according to the second website iwama style is more focused on weapons training and more akin to o sensei's earlier aikido but aikikai style is the most popular and most widespread as well as being closest to o sensei's later art. There's also the cost factor where iwama is twice as much as the other! Another art I've always been really interested in is muay thai. I knew a guy who did it and he was incredibly fit, could run up walls and flip back down onto his feet etc., there's a lot of moving about involved and this is definitely a factor. Also it seems the art is very effective in fighting situations but only if you practice sparring which does break your bones a lot. The school seems very friendly and professional, is very cheap for students and does a lot of work with the local community - it does feel like the most attractive option. Finally I have done a year of Wing Chun but I feel it was mostly useless in terms of teaching me the art (useful to learn about martial arts training, mentalities in China etc.) considering I couldn't do a quarter of the first form after the year. But that's more my fault than the kwoon. There is a kwoon nearby but it seems like a shadow of my previous kwoon, just a westernized watered-down version. Still an option though. I've also done two years of sabre which I thought taught me a lot so I wouldn't mind an art which is similar to fencing (except with limbs rather than steel blades) but my MA experience is so incredibly small that I have no idea how that applies - maybe all arts end up in a similar fashion once a certain level is reached? Also important, to practitioners of the arts in question: how often and how do you get injured during training? I found the deep black bruising involved in wing chun irritating but alright but broken bones would be a disaster during exams, and I'd like to avoid head damage too. At the end of the day I'd like to try all the schools but I have limited time and limited funds! And every school has a different insurance policy, and I can only afford one as of now... Sorry for the long speech, I've been wanting to post this for some time! What do you think? Thank you very much for your time.