Fostering Self-Assessment with Cross-Training

Originally published in the July 2020 edition of APTA News & Views.

One of the positives from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we are able to attend classes and seminars from the comfort of our own homes. On the May long weekend, I was able to participate in an international martial arts seminar that was hosted in Guelph, Ontario. For someone who trains in four somewhat rare martial arts, the Zoominar was a priceless opportunity to work with some of the top instructors in Canada, to listen to one of the highest ranking instructors in the world from his home in England, and to meet practitioners from around the world.

The focus of all the sessions was to give attendees tools to take ownership of their physical distancing training. Immediately, I could see how these self-assessment tools and drills could be adapted to help music students do the same. Here are some of the tools and tips that my students and I have added into our practicing.

Galligan Sensei’s Quadrants

Carole Galligan sensei is the highest ranking female in Canada for Iaido, the art of cutting from the sword draw. With her preparing for her 7th degree black belt grading, she shared how she was continuing to train without the benefit of being in the same room as her sensei. Like music teachers, sensei normally physically adjust arms, hands and body position or demonstrate concepts via partner work.

She held up this diagram while saying that each of our techniques contain these elements. Then she led us through various exercises to identify our dominant quadrant. Our weakest quadrant lays kitty-corner to it.

Galligan sensei holds up her quadrants for us to work through during the 2020 Guelph Seminar.

In discussion with my students, this is how we adapted sensei’s quadrants for music:

My teen and adult students have set out to identify their overall dominant quadrant, as well as their dominant for each piece. That done, they are now focussing their practices on “levelling up” their weakest. The younger students are picking one quadrant to focus on per practice.

Whether my students think that Galligan sensei is cool or they love the tool, I am seeing and hearing immediate results.

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

Galligan sensei also showed us several photos of her doing various techniques incorrectly and asked us to identify what was wrong. She then challenged us to do the same when reviewing photos and videos of ourselves practising. Some practitioners admitted that they were uncomfortable watching themselves. Sensei recommended they start by studying photos and videos of other people.

This translates extremely well to music practice. This past week, I have played videos of other people performing my students’ repertoire, asking them to identify what was good (and not so good) about the performances. Some of them have already jumped to Stage 2, which is to record and review their own practices.

Play it Backwards Drill

Galligan sensei confused several of us when she asked us to execute a kata (form) from end to start. It jolted us all out of complacency, forcing us to really concentrate. By the time we performed the kata normally, we noticed that overall, we were cleaner and smoother.

Several of my students have jumped onto this drill, immediately applying it to all of their troublespots. Others needed more repetitions or smaller practice chunks. The improvement has ranged from noticeable to incredible.

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I asked my student to try a practice drill that Galligan sensei had us try at the Guelph Iaido and Jodo Zoominar, which was to do everything backwards. My student ran through the Coda of Dennis Alexander's Nocturne in D, reading from right to left. Then she played the Coda normally. The improvement in flow had us both excited. #pianolesson #onlinepianolessons #practicemakesconsistent #practiceideas #practicedrills

A post shared by Musespeak/Rhona-Mae Arca (@musespeakstudio) on May 20, 2020 at 11:19am PDT

Green Sensei’s Adaptability Drill

In his session, David Green sensei (6 degree black belt in Iaido) covered changing one or more elements in our practice space and routine to jolt our brains out of complacency and challenge our ability to adapt. For example, training on a different surface or facing a different direction.

With us being housebound we, along with our students, have lost a bit of our adaptability savvy developed from performing on different pianos. My students came up with these changes to practice adaptability: change the lighting, practice with eyes closed, move objects and music to a different spot in the room, change chairs, and to record practices.

Tribe Sensei’s Tips on Dealing with Conflicting Advice

Eric Tribe sensei (6 degree black belt in Iaido and Jodo) is the CKF Head Examiner for Jodo in Eastern Canada (the art of the Japanese short staff), as well as the President of Jodo Canada. In his session, he presented video clips from two different instructors on the subject of technique.

On the surface, it seemed like they were coming at it from opposite sides. Tribe sensei had us try the technique, following the advice of each instructor. He then asked us to find the common ground between the two viewpoints. Between the commonalities and discussing what felt natural and logical, we were able to find our middle ground.

This also translates very well for music. My teen students have been listening to three or more performances of their pieces. Not only have they been comparing and contrasting, but they are also gaining ideas for experimentation. *

It has been a lot of fun adapting these drills and tools for music practice. My sensei have all been encouraging of this type of cross-training. Perhaps there is something that you do as a hobby or for exercise that you can adapt and use with your students. Or maybe there is something that your students do that can have applications to music. A little cross-training is good for everyone.

Music and Injuries, Budo and Injuries

It’s amazing what can happen in a split second. That’s all it took for me to back into a parked car in my 20s. I was distracted, talking with my friend sitting beside me. It was dark and I didn’t take that extra second to do one last shoulder check. Thankfully, the vehicle was unoccupied and my friend and I were able to locate the owner. Eleven years ago, a second was all it took to lose control of a knife while cutting a pot roast, watch it fly out of my hand, and cut my finger. I needed stitches and was unable to practice piano with my right hand for at least two weeks. That made preparing for Piano Camp rather interesting.

A split second was all it took for me to cut a nerve in another finger, six weeks ago. The Coles’ Notes version: Our order of new swords arrived at the dojo that evening and we were all excited. I was trying to get a new sword - a live blade - unstuck from its scabbard. When it became unstuck, I was not careful enough and LH2 got cut. The nerve was cut cleanly, so stitching it back together was a straightforward procedure. It was a stark reminder to be fully present whenever doing something that should have your complete attention.

It is healing well and my finger is expected to regain full sensation (if not, pretty darn close). For that, I am thankful to my quick thinking friends, the staff at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, my rockin’ surgical team, my physiotherapist, and God.

I was debating whether or not to write anything about it here. It was a careless moment that could have been much worse. Lesson learned. One of my dojo mates suggested that I share how playing and practising music didn’t stop because of my injury. Budo training didn’t stop because of my injury. If the desire and motivation are there, you can find ways to practice safely with an injury.

MIttori Keiko: Training by Watching

The accident happened just before Ka Muso Kai’s biennial seminar with Colin Hyakutake Watkin sensei, Menkyo Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu and 12th Shihan, Choken Battojutsu Kagéryu. With my injured finger in a splint for three weeks, I became the official notetaker for the seminar.

Martial arts seminars are quite intense and sometimes, it is hard to remember the big revelation you had 30 minutes prior because you’re so focussed on trying to get the current technique right. Pen in hand, I was able to take copious notes and follow Watkin sensei around to catch additional tips and corrections.

As I had several students preparing for summer exams and piano camp, I still had to practice music. I dusted off the practice techniques I employ whenever I suffer an repetitive strain injury (or the aforementioned pot roast incident): scorestudy, rhythm work and studying videos of performances.

It was rinse and repeat on the budo side of things. Between notes, training manuals and videos, I had plenty to study.

One-Handed Piano and Sword Practice

Shortly after the accident, I contacted several colleagues for repertoire suggestions for the right-hand alone. I remembered that composer and pedagogue, Dennis Alexander, composed a piece for another colleague, Ingrid Clarfield (the first clinician we had at Piano Camp). Dennis sent me a list of all of his compositions for right-hand alone. Here’s Arioso:

I wound up with a sizeable list of repertoire for one hand. It’s a longer list than I actually needed, but I’ll hang onto it in case someone else suffers a hand injury. Another colleague reminded me to practice my blues licks. However, I found that hard to do without my left hand. I wound up playing a simple bass line with one or two fingers, being careful not to jostle my index finger.

I also used the opportunity to work on my ear training, by playing one hand’s piano part and trying to sing the other hand’s part. Let’s just say that needs more work.

My kouhai were surprised to see me at the dojo a week after the seminar. With their Jodo grading fast approaching, I wanted to be on hand to assist with preparations. When not coaching, I worked on my footwork and right-handed sword cuts.

Practising the Other Instruments

Brightly coloured wrap - because #YOLO.

Singing and conducting got plenty of practice time last month. I wound up filling in for our choir directors at church. It probably looked odd conducting with a finger in a splint, and wrapped in brightly coloured cohesive wrap but hey, it gave my finger something to do. I was allowed to do gentle flexing movements, so it could handle cues and cut-offs just fine. My morning routine of rolling small items around on my kitchen table with my injured index finger paid off.

My poor finger worked incredibly hard in those first three weeks to reconnect the affected nerves. The “Re-connection Parties” were quite intense whenever I practised or trained. The neurons fired madly, as if the finger knew that it should be playing or training.

Easing Back into Regular Practice and Training with a Hand Injury

The splint came off at the three week mark and I was cleared for physiotherapy. My surgeon also gave the green light to ease myself back into piano practice, but to hold off on the other instruments and putting a sword or jo in my left hand for a bit longer.

I had to train my brain to accept that LH2 feeling funny is normal - at least until the neuroregeneration process is complete. As my left hand was significantly weaker than my right, I pulled out several technical exercise books from my shelves: Schmitt, Jazz Hanon, Dozen a Day, etc. Even just practicing good ol’ scales, chords, and arpeggii, analyzing my fingers and hand position helped.

In fact, I learned that my injured finger really needs to practice daily as part of my hand rehabilitation. I didn’t practice piano for a day-and-a-half during the August long weekend. By 10 pm, my hand was screaming for the piano. Practising was the only thing that made the pain stop.

Week 6: On the Road to Being a Fully Functional Musician & Budoka Once Again

On the weekend, I eased myself back into regular training at the dojo. Remember in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Harry and his newly repaired holly and phoenix feather wand had a joyful reunion? That’s what it felt like when my left hand was able to hold my iaito.

Left-hand and sword reunited. Photo: R-M Arca.

I started with two-handed sword cuts and working through the Seitei Iaido kata. Although I had to take frequent breaks to stretch my finger and massage scar tissue, my hand “felt” happy to be back at training.

Last night, I worked on Jodo kata in partners, as well as the majority of the Iaido kata I know. The scar tissue proved annoying more than anything else, but I managed to get some good training in. I should be able to handle this weekend’s Iaido and Jodo seminar, so long as I give my finger all the stretch and massage breaks it needs.

This week, the tenderness decreased enough for me to resume barehanded cajón playing. I can already tell that it will be a great way to break up the scar tissue.

Flexibility, dexterity, sensation, and strength are coming back steadily. Both my surgeon and physiotherapist are pleased with my finger’s progress. Based on their reactions, it seems like my finger is recovering faster than they anticipated.

Almost a fist. Steady progress.

Although I can’t handle playing advanced piano repertoire or technique up to speed, I’m getting pretty close. The new nerves are slowly making their way down to my hand. In the meantime, I am taking this opportunity to read through my student repertoire library, play through all the technical exercise books I own, and take a bunch of online piano pedagogy courses. Pretty productive despite a hand injury.

Check out my hand rehabilitation journey on the Studio’s Instagram feed:

Work and Budo Modifications with a Back Injury

As some of you know, I injured my back a couple of weeks ago. No, I wasn’t doing anything really cool like one of our awesome Iaido or Jodo kata, or going really wild on the cajón. I was simply sitting poorly at my desk and twisted funny when I got up to grab something from the printer. That’s when I felt a terrible twinge in my lower back. Next thing I knew, my body completely closed in and I could barely walk.

Thankfully, I was able to see my chiropractor the following day for an emergency adjustment. He said that I completely jammed up my sacral region. I then compounded things by still using my active sitting discs while doubled up in pain for an additional day, thus aggravating my coccyx (tailbone) while sitting.

“This isn’t going to feel better right away,” he told me. “It will take a few adjustments.” He sent me hobbling off with the following advice, “Keep moving and try to avoid sitting as much as you can.” Well, considering that I need to sit at two of my instruments and work on a computer quite a bit, adjustments needed to be made.

Modifying the Studio for a Back Injury

The first thing that I rolled out of the studio was my exercise ball, which I used as my teaching chair. Next, I raised the stand for my digital piano so that I could play from standing. I spend half my time teaching from standing, so that wasn’t a big deal. However, I needed to come up with a different way to rest my muscles during lessons somehow.

I discovered during one of my shorter ushering shifts was that kneeling and going in and out of seiza was perfectly fine for my back. Seiza is the formal Japanese way of sitting, which we use in martial arts training. It’s more of a kneeling sit, although our buttocks float over our ankles. So teaching from kneeling or seiza made the afternoon and evening lessons go well. And stretching. Lots of stretching. I used these sacral release stretches quit a bit.

I’ve been getting into Child’s pose more regularly since my back injury. Credit: Iveto

My trusty Dr. Ho and Maestro’s old infrared pad have been a great help in the healing process. When I’m out running errands or working at one of my part-time jobs, I use Icy Hot patches.

Five days after my injury, I bought a Coccyx wedge to use in the car. I thought I could use it in the office and studio, but half the time, the wedge went flying off the seat because I move so much.

Coccyx cushion. Credit: R-M Arca.

One week after my back injury, I bought a kneeling chair from Staples to use in the office and studio. Too bad I got rid of my original chair a few years back. I am sitting in this one properly though, which is a huge improvement from last time.

Now that I’m using the kneeling chair properly (no slouching), things are going swimmingly. Credit: R-M Arca.

I’m in the process of building up my sitting endurance at the piano and cajón. I sit more or less properly at my instruments, so the only big change is that I still need to do short practice sessions with time to do sacral release stretches in between.

It was extremely easy to reconfigure my piano studio in such as way that I could take it easy on my back. Credit: R-M Arca.

Modifying Budo Training with a Back Injury

My chiropractor and massage therapist probably got tired of me asking, “When can I go back to training?” One visit, my chiropractor asked me describe the movements involved when we train. He was already grimacing when I started to show how we unsheathe our swords. I promptly stopped before my back said, “Don’t make me do sayabiki!”

Then, I tried to slowly demonstrate Uke nagashi, our third Iaido kata from the seitei set:

He stopped me very quickly and told me hold off until my back had healed some more. “No twisting.”

I have had to make myself content with practising my footwork and moving in and out of seiza. I have also been drilling small sections in my kata, such as o-chiburi, that don’t involve me to change directions. My visualization isn’t the greatest, but I’ve been mentally reviewing my troublespots and asking sensei questions every few days about something I’ve noticed or read.

However, the main way that I’ve been keeping up with training is studying. I’ve got years’ worth of notes to review, as well as manuals for the four marital arts we practice (Iaido, Jodo, Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu, and Choken Battojutsu Kageryu). Plus, there are always videos featuring some of of our sensei that I can watch.

Today, my chiropractor cleared me to ease myself back into regular training. I have a feeling that I’ll be doing a lot of solo practice at “Tai Chi slow” speed, taking time to dissect every movement for the first little while.

Lessons Learned from Injuring my Back

If anything, hurting my back has given me the opportunity to assess and adjust how I move and sit. During the first few days, I really had to break down how I did things like get on or off my bed into small segments. I am certainly sitting and getting on and off chairs more carefully these days.

I have definitely become more mindful of my body’s state as a result. Being more mindful can only be good, right?

Beats and Budo

Several months ago, one of my fellow iaidoka (AKA, “The Tiny Samurai”) posed a question to Kim Taylor sensei of Sei Do Kai with regards to beats and budo. Taylor sensei shared some of his thoughts here, then made a reference to me (AKA, “The Tinier Samurai”) to try tackling the question.

When I first began my Iai journey in the mid 2000s, I recognized immediately the many shared themes between music and martial arts. Beats and budo, now this is something that I have been grappling with since Day One. More on that later. First, I’ll touch upon some of Taylor sensei’s other points that resonated with me.

Music as a Metaphor for the Story

Taylor sensei said that music can be used to tell the riai, the story of a kata. That makes a lot of sense to me as a musician and an iaidoka. Whereas books tell stories through words, music tells stories through sound and silence. Of all the performing arts, kata is most like dance, as both tell a story through movement.

I recently stumbled upon a draft of some scores I wrote back in 2007 where I began to translate the kata into music. This is as far as I got.

In Mokuso, I used a major pentatonic scale and quartal harmonies to give an Oriental sound. I gradually slowed the rhythm down to show the progression from having jumbled thoughts to achieving mushin (“no mind”), where I am calm and alert.

In Mae, I used a Locrian mode. I find it the creepiest of all the old church modes. I used two voices. The high voice depicts the iaidoka, while the piano is the teki.  Register depicts movement up and down, dissonance and dynamics indicate the sword’s movement, while  rhythm represents jo ha kyu. You’ll notice in the score that I even scribbled down what was happening in the kata.

My early scribbles for setting Ippon Me Mae to music. The top staff is the iaidoka, while the bottom two represent teki. Credit: R-M Arca.

Add a training hiatus in the middle of my journey, age, increased knowledge and experience, and I have a slightly different perspective on my budo. These days, I’m really trying to refine my jo ha kyu timing. If I were to translate the kata now, I would take a different approach. Rhythm would play a much bigger role. It would most likely be non-metrical or polymeter. Plus, I’d use one of the Japanese scales I learned earlier this year.

Copying Another’s Performance to Achieve Mastery

In his post, Taylor sensei said that “A perfect copy of James Ehnes is going to be an actor playing the part.” Agreed. Does parroting a famous artist show that you truly understand what’s going on? No. Does it show that you understand the instrument? Nope. Does it show who you are? Not at all.

On a related note: Can a robot perform a piece better than a person? Can a machine completely capture the essence of a person’s performance? Technology can now recreate the performances of famous pianists. Check out the Steinway Spirio:

When I saw the Spirio in action at Steinway Pianos for the first time, my initial reaction was, “Creepy.” Sure, it was cool to see that we can do this, but it just felt like it was a shadow of Gershwin’s actual performance. I was drawn more to Gershwin’s recorded performance on the TV screen versus the piano’s recreation of it. It had more soul to me.

I could see George’s expression, the speed of his attack, his arm gestures, and his breathing. Those little things told me much more about the story and his playing than watching keys being pressed by mechanical means.

Music students who work through either the Royal Conservatory of Music or Conservatory Canada have a set list of repertoire to choose from. Some pieces are more popular than others, so sometimes, teachers, adjudicators, and examiners hear the same pieces countless times from multiple students. The notes are the same, but each student’s interpretation is unique. Not only that, each time they work with their own teacher or obtain feedback from an adjudicator or coach, it undergoes another metamorphosis.

One student make take a piece at the low end of the recommended tempo range, whereas the next may perform it at the opposite end. One may use a heavier touch. Another may use dramatic dynamic contrasts. One may choose to take extra time in Bar 8, while another may push the tempo in that same spot.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that one student has achieved a higher level of mastery than another. For that, one must ask if technical fluency was in evidence and whether the performer convincingly told us the story in a way that is in style with the form and the idiom.

To a practiced listener, it is possible to recognize a musician by their sound, or to recognize a musician’s lineage by how they play. Budo has that too. Although we strive to get our timing in line with “dojo timing,” each of us has a slightly different internal timing. Whenever we run through our Seitei Iaido kata as a club, the group timing differs ever so slightly, depending upon who is leading, who is there, and how focussed everyone is. Regardless, it should still be relatively close to sensei’s timing.

That’s the beauty of it. We don’t want to be carbon copies of someone else. The subtle differences provide some variety to the same story - and that’s what keeps things interesting.

The Same Art but Different Eras or Regions

Perhaps one day, I’ll get around to completing my musical set of Iaido kata. Unfortunately, that day isn’t anytime soon. Real life commitments have a tendency to cut into composing time.

Since The Tiny Samurai posed her question, I have also pondered Iaido kata on a structural and stylistic level. The seitei set reminds me of a Baroque suite of dances. Each dance represents a different country, e.g. a sarabande is Spanish, whereas a minuet is French.

Baroque dances have a set structure, binary or rounded binary. They also have a set order of steps. Some have telltale rhythms. The time signature changes depending upon the dance, but the tonic key remains the same. Very little markings are given in terms of dynamics and expression, leaving room for various interpretations of the same story.

I see the koyru iaido sets as being akin to character or mood music from the Romantic era. These are generally composed in ternary form, although other structures, like through-composed, crop up from time to time. Like certain pieces, e.g. polonaise or lieder, each koryu can represent a different region.

My mind wanders to Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Each piece depicts a different painting that two characters are viewing and sometimes, debating over:

Another way to describe this musically is to have two pieces with the same title and same overall structure. However, each are completely different:

Leitmotif in Budo

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines leitmotif as “an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation especially in a Wagnerian music drama.” John Williams made good use of it in the Star Wars movies with “Luke’s Theme,” the “Imperial March,” and so on. Taylor sensei also mentioned it in his beats and budo post.

I could see one leitmotif for Muso Shinden Ryu noto and a different one for Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. O-chiburi could be notated a little differently from yoko chiburi. Musically, that would provide unity and consistency.

Beats and Budo - Reprise

Beats and budo - Miyamoto Musashi called this rhythm-timing in the Go rin no sho. Ever since reading that, I’ve been playing around with beats. I came up with timing for the opening etiquette, which I waxed poetic on in The Iaido Journal. Here’s the link to the article, entitled Rhythm and Flow.

I’ve been experimenting with the following rhythms for jo ha kyu:

My rhythmic representation of jo ha kyu in 2007. Credit: R-M Arca.

A screenshot revealing the waveforms for that same section of music. The iaidoka's jo starts just after the cursor. Credit: R-M Arca.

Jo Ha Kyu circa 2016. Credit: R-M Arca.

The last one is the one I’ve been playing around with. I don’t hear pitches. When I’m by myself, I’ll use a bit of singspiel, saying “Jo ha kyu”, in rhythm, from the moment my hands to go my tsuka to nukitsuke in Mae. I use dynamics for intensity.

Last night, I was studying a video of Alex Cook sensei practising Mae and improvising at the piano to it. I used the Hirajoshi scale and a lot of tone clusters. The result isn’t pretty sounding, but then, when you think about the riai for Mae, it’s not supposed to be:

Studying the waveforms made it easier to see how I need to have more ha not only in my iai but in my musical interpretation of the riai.

The waveforms reveal the quickening of sound during ha, yet still distinctly shows that there is a ha. This is what I must work on. Credit: R-M Arca.

I will do a bit of rhythmic dictation and attempt to notate sensei’s rhythm. I have a feeling that until I have the rhythm notated in a way that I can count the beats, I will be playing with jo ha kyu for a while longer yet.

On Muscle Memory and Sword Techniques

In January, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of my return to martial arts training. It has been quite the journey, relearning Iaido sword techniques along with Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu waza. The past year has been an adventure in rediscovery and debugging. It has also been one of adventure as I began studying two additional martial arts: Jodo and Kage Ryu.

On Muscle Memory and Aging

It's amazing just how well muscle memory works. My body remembered quite a bit, in spite of my five-ish year hiatus. My mental memory? A bit more rusty.

Body and mind remembered the good habits as well as the bad. That's why this time around, I have been more focussed on debugging my troublespots.

One thing that has changed has been the degree of built-up body tension. I lost quite a bit of flexibility during my time off. Blame it on Father Time and an increased sedentary lifestyle during my hiatus. On the plus side, I am stretching more and taking better care of my elbow and knee joints.

My sword cuts have always been a bit wobbly.  I knew this time, I needed to fix that - fast. My progress was slow at first, with my body remembering my old sword grip, and then spending months breaking that down to correct the amount of hand and arm tension.

It is as I say to my students: "Relax your arm until the point of impact." It applies to pressing down on a piano key just as well as it does imagining your iaito striking your imaginary target.

Exploring Local Martial Arts Seminars

I attended three seminars last year, hosted by my club, Ka Muso Kai. The session in February 2014 with Kim Taylor sensei of Sei Do Kai provided a much needed crash course into Iaido kata and basic Iaido techniques. It also gave me a chance to try out Jodo.

Jodo is the Japanese martial art of the short staff. To this day, the Japanese police use the jo for crowd control. There are 12 basic jodo techniques and 12 two-person kata.

I discovered that I quite enjoy Jodo. I appreciate the practicality of being able to use a staff (or even more practical, a broomstick) for defense and containment.

More practice is needed, however. I am finding that learning something new takes a bit longer than it used to. That pesky memory!

In August, Ka Muso Kai Calgary hosted two weekend seminars: one on Iaido with Kim Taylor sensei. The following week, Colin Watkin sensei taught us Niten Ichi Ryu and Kage Ryu. He's one of the prominent sensei in the world for these two arts. Although most participants were from Calgary, our Edmonton branch, Saskatoon and Antagonish clubs were represented as well.

Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu is a Japanese martial art that employs two-sword techniques,  hence, "Ni" (two) "ten" (sword). It was developed by the samurai Miyamoto Mushashi (1584 - 1645) who is famous for his Book of Five Rings.

Kage Ryu is another old sword art.  The waza employ the long sword and sometimes a smaller sword.

Traditionally, practitioners use a choken, but as you see, I have a bit of a challenge with that:

Watkin sensei brought over an old sanshaku bokuto for me to use. I just had to give it some TLC:

The Other Aspects of Martial Arts: Club Bonding Over Geekery, Cards, and...Pumpkins?

One thing we have noticed with our martial arts is that club members are huge geeks. Whether it's photography or anime, tabletop games or LEGO, we are geeks (and proud of it).

In the spring, our club attended the Calgary Expo as an exhibitor. It was such a cool experience. We are all looking forward to this year's Expo.

In October, we held our annual pumpkin cutting event. Our sword technique improved by leaps and bounds afterwards:

At our AGM and Christmas party, we played Seven-Card Samurai. Samurai-in-training beating each other up with samurai, ronin, bandits and ninjas and stealing rice from one another? Rice barrels of fun.

***

Which brings me to today. I'm serving on the Ka Muso Kai board for a second term. This year's project: revamping the website.

This month, I began working on the ninth Seitei Iaido kata: Soete zuki. Later this year, I plan to grade for my Shodan in Iaido and my Ikkyu in Jodo.

Now, 14 months in, I face the same challenge that I do as a multi-instrumentalist: how to practice all arts regularly with limited time. Thankfully, the sword arts share some common techniques, but quite often, I am limited to a few minutes here and there. My bokuto and jo are situated where I can grab them and review one technique or one kata between students' lessons.

I have even taken to practising footwork during downtimes in my volunteer shifts or ushering job. Lately, I have taken to practising enzen no metsuke when keeping my eyes peeled during a show or when driving.

That's all well and good. However, like music, I also came to a conclusion: it's best to have one primary art (or in music, instrument) that gets the bulk of your practice time. The others take a back seat and are practised on a rotating basis. It seems to be working for the most part, although I guess the true test is when I go for a grading.