What do you think about musical form in tournaments?

[Sens55]

I can't stand them. I think it's nothing more than gymnastics in a gi. Yes, it's nice to look at, but the same can be said for gymnastics. I can't possibly imagine spending the kind of time it takes to do the routines on something that'll I'll never use another day in my life. I would never belong to a dojo that performs in such tournaments either.

 

Oh well, to each his own.

[shotokanwarrior]

I do not really care for them. I see a lot of mcdojo's do them.

[Fryia]

i have seen some of the "biton twerlers" at turnys and not just in musical forms. and they seem to get mixed marks from the judges. now wepons is not my thing but it is interesting to watch them do that

[searcher]

I* have been on both sides of the fence in this area and I have to say that it doe srequire a great deal of time to get the routine down and it does look quite impressive in competition, but as for the combative aspects of this type of forms competition it is a bit of yes and no. The people doing them have to mix the flashier martial arts techniques with the extremely flashy gymnastics moves. It is intended to be more FLASH than combative and this is the reason it has its own division in competitions. Now as for the reason for doing this type of training it developes rhythm and timing. The Late and VERY great Mas Oyama himself said that if you gave him a dancer he can make them a fighter and I guess if anyone would know it would be him. Now as for not being willing to compete in a tourney that has these divisions I would have to ask if you are afraid of getting beat by someone doing these types of forms?

[TangSooGuy]

Well I've seen some really good ones and some really bad ones. the trend seems to be towards the more flashy stuff, which bothers me, but when done well, he music can actually be an enhancement to a well thought out form.

 

We train in martial arts, there are two sides to that: martial and art. Music can help to enhance the art side of things, but it needs to be balanced out with the martial. Swinging too far to either side - too much 'martial' without any 'art', or in the cases of some of the musical forms I've seen, too much 'art' without any 'martial' application, is detrimental to both the practitioner and the art itself.

 

So, if theyare well balanced,I think there is a place for them. i do not however believe that musical forms and traditional forms should appear in the same division in a tournament. I think the flavors and feeling are just too different. Each type of form should have its own division.

 

Oh well, that just my 2 cents...

[shazaam]

Musical forms are good if they have a good beat. The create good technique just as traditional kata but have a tendency to include unrealistic flashy techniques quite the opposite of traditional kata.

[sindian]

You can still do a traditional form to music. I don't really have a problem with musical forms. I'm generally not into the flashy techniques though. I prefer traditional forms in general. I guess it's nice to be able to do the flashy stuff. Doing those insane jump kicks can be pretty fun actually.

 

Flashy stuff in forms is one thing, but some throw the flashy stuff while sparring. That's just insane. If someone throws a cartwheel kick at me, I'm going to knock him down with a quickness. Sorry, pet peeve. I really hate kids who do that. They're just inviting a beatdown. Thankfully, it hasn't happened often.

 

It's possible I'm just intensely envious of the kids who can do cartwheels.

[sindian]

Btw, I agree with TangSooGuy completely.

[stl_karateka]

I think musical forms have their place. I like to compare it to the WWE --- for the wrestling fans --- WWE is great....for the 'real' pro wrestlers...maybe from a college team, or in the olympics...its all flare...but that is what gets the hype.

 

I do traditional only. But thats been cause I've only attended schools that teach traditional. My reason for joining karate was not for show.

 

But I don't hate on others that can do these creative and musical forms IF they have a strong foundation.

 

What I can't stand is underbelts (lets say green and under) doing musical forms. You can have the greatest form in the world, but all the time and energy spent on that form could have been spent towards achieving your next belt.

 

I'm sure some will disagree with the statement above, but its my honest opinion.

 

Ciao,

 

Kita

[The Evil Betty]

 

I think that traditional musical forms are a lot of fun, and help you to look at a form in a new way. Or if it's an open form, it's fun being creative and pasting together new or different techniques. The music really pumps me up if it's got a good beat, and if it's a mellow song (classical, romantic, soundtrack, etc), then it helps me slow it down a notch, pace myself more, focus, etc.

 

I do NOT feel that "baton-twirling", acrobatics, dance moves, shakin' the butt, etc are appropriate, as this takes away from the form and techniques themselves.

 

I wish that there were more competitions that had them though - they really give me a new perspective on the same old forms, and I like the adrenaline rush.