copyright
©
2011 Douglas Tong, all rights reserved.
Fred
Wilson:
“Before you cry a lot, you oughta ask the natives on that
island what they thought of losing Kong.”
Jack Prescott: “Actually,
they’ll miss him a lot.”
Fred Wilson: “Yeah, like
leprosy.”
Jack Prescott: “No, you’re
dead wrong. He was the terror, the mystery of their lives,…
and the magic. A year from now, that’ll be an island full of
burnt-out drunks. When we took Kong, we kidnapped their
god.”
From the movie: King Kong
(1976)
Once upon a time, there was an old master of martial arts. He
was very old but very knowledgeable. He looked frail but he
was not weak. The students admired him because although he was
not strong at his advanced age, he was still very skilled. It
was difficult for the students to best him since he was so
elusive. It was difficult for his students to get a bead on
him since he was so fluid and natural in his movements. When
he performed kata, his body movements were graceful and his
handwork was fluid and quick. One move flowed into the next
move, natural, seamless, free-flowing. There was rhythm,
beauty. Onlookers remarked how stylish his movements were,
like a ballet or a beautiful dance. When the old master
taught, he showed his students his example but he explained
little. Words could not convey the essence. They tried to
follow. It was difficult because the old man was very fluid
and his movements very complex and sophisticated. The students
were in awe but tried hard to reproduce what they saw. The old
master just performed the kata and the techniques at a high
level of sophistication. The students shook their heads. “Wow!
Look at that. I want to be able to do that.” And every time
they saw the old man perform, it spurred them on to try to be
like him and do what he did.
But alas, the old master did eventually pass away at a ripe
old age. His successor was a highly skilled practitioner as
well but a little different in outlook and philosophy than the
old master. This new master knew how difficult the art was to
learn and he knew that this difficulty caused many problems
for the beginning students. He decided to make it easier for
the students. He simplified many of the movements. He changed
the style to focus more on the fundamentals.Complexity was
out, simplicity was in. Fluidity was problematic since it
demanded so much skill and talent, so to make it easier for
the majority of less skilled practitioners, a more basic
approach was instituted. All the superfluous and stylish
elements were abandoned in favour of more pragmatic
considerations. Hand movements were changed from the graceful
and flamboyant to a more stark, direct movement. Moves which
the older students used to admire and try to imitate from the
old master now had reasons for them. Every movement had a
rationale. The movements were broken down systematically into
discrete points. Do move A, then do move B, then do move C,
and so on. An analytical approach was adopted. The kata and
its movements and techniques were dissected,
compartmentalized, and re-packaged. It didn’t look like a
dance anymore or a ballet. Movements were functional,
pragmatic, stripped down to bare essentials. Now it was easy
to see and easy to understand. Now it made complete sense. It
was easy to learn and easy to perform. All was good except for
one issue: the students became very mechanical. For the new
students, it didn’t matter since they knew no better. But for
the much older students, this new reality represented the
death of an era and a style.
For those of us who have been around the block in martial
arts, I am sure you have heard of or even experienced this
kind of scenario before. A new headmaster comes in and changes
things. In this case (which is based on a true story), the new
approach becomes very mechanical. Everything is broken down
too much into discrete points. There is no flow anymore, no
fluidity, no complexity. In short, there is no magic.
Sure, it’s better now. There is a rationale for everything.
Everything is explained. Right out there in the open. Let’s
state it for the world to see and hear and learn from. Ahh,
the students croon. I get it! Makes complete sense. Now I can
do my kata and know that this is the reason for each discrete
item in the kata. If we are studying karate, this is why I
turn my knuckle into the strike point like this. If it is
iaido or iaijutsu, this is why I have this little finishing
slicing motion. If it is jujutsu, ahh, this is why I twist my
wrist just this little way.
It’s now scientific. Analyzed, explained, categorized. Perfect
Western Aristotlelian scientific approach. The investigation
of living phenomena by breaking the form down by detailed,
systematic work into what he termed “causes”. In other words,
rationales, reasons. Dissection, analysis, and classification.
Logical and systematic. Empirical.
But what about magic…. ??
I understand the rationale of making it easier for beginners
to learn it or for students to master it. Anything can be made
easy if you break it down enough into its elemental forms. I
was eating a cupcake the other day. It was not particularly
well-made so it crumbled apart easily. I sat there looking at
this defunct cupcake and realized that basically it is
composed of these crumbs. Hundreds of crumbs. But when you put
them all together, they make up a cupcake. Amazing. You could
eat all the little crumbs separately and although you get the
net effect of filling your stomach, it just isn’t the same as
eating a nice full cupcake with nice chocolate icing and
sprinkles on top! I don’t know what it is. We’re eating the
same thing from a net weight point of view. The cupcake has
been dissected, analyzed, broken down systematically into
component parts. We ingest each miniscule component part
(i.e., the crumbs) but somehow it is not fulfilling. On the
other hand, we get this nice fat cupcake which looks
spectacular and mouth-watering and you bite into it and it’s
like heaven. Praise the Lord! We are still eating the
component parts but somehow it is a radically different
experience.
I guess I could use the same analogy for a steak. I guess I
could slice up the sirloin into micro-fibers and we could
ingest the fibers individually until it’s all gone but it just
is not the same as slicing off a nice big mouthful of a juicy
steak. We are getting the same thing but it is not the same.
There is no magic in micro-fibers. There is no mystery in
crumbs. I am not inspired to want to eat component parts or
micro-fibers. I need magic. I need mystery. I need
inspiration.
This is a story I recently overheard at a dojo which sparked
my interest in writing this article. The student told his
teacher that he felt that the new approach they were made to
follow made sense but something was missing. He asked his
teacher, “Is this the way you learned it?” His teacher told
him the truth, “No, it isn’t.The old master didn’t teach it
like this. There wasn’t much explanation. Just observe and
follow.”
The student later came and talked to me aside and remarked
that he felt some injustice. I asked why. He said that his
teacher is very skilled and very fluid and sophisticated in
his technique and performance of kata because he was taught
the old way. But now, with the new headmaster, they were
forced to do things differently and he noticed that the skill
level was different. How different, I asked. He said, not as
skilled, not as fluid, not as natural, not as graceful. The
moves were all there but it was more mechanical, more
efficient. Isn’t that good? I asked. No, he replied, it is not
stylish. It’s lacking. For the rest of the conversation, he
lamented that it was too bad he did not have the chance to
study under the old master. But now his teacher taught them
the new way, everything explained and rationalized. He
understood that his teacher was ordered to teach it this way
but he feared that they as students would never equal their
teacher in skill because the methodology used to teach them
now was so simplistic and the focus was now on efficiency and
essentials.
This conversation sparked some thoughts in me. Basically, the
way I see it, in this situation, the new approach, the new
mind-set makes the job of learning easy for the student. Maybe
too easy. I completely understand the teacher wanting to make
it easy for the student but sometimes this good intention is
the worst methodology. The teacher (or in this case, the new
headmaster) learned it differently from the previous
headmaster, more holistically*. What was initially a mystery
to this young teacher (i.e., the eventual new headmaster), he
eventually broke it down and analyzed it, made sense of it and
adapted it to his body and mind. He discovered the secret to
mastering it. After he discovered the secret then he went back
to look at how to do it properly, to rationalize it in light
of this new hypothesis. Went back and looked at the kata,
looked at the techniques, made sense of them, rationalized
them. How best to learn it, how best to teach it. This was his
journey of enlightenment.
I understand the rationale for making it easy for the
students. Like parents say, I want to make it easier for my
child than it was for me. All good intentions. But in doing
so, you rob them of that journey of discovery that you had.
You take away the mystery, that puzzle that drives them to
want to find out how it works. That’s why sequels of
successful movies rarely pan out. The first movie was
successful because there was some mystery to it. Now the
mystery is gone.
Sure, you can deconstruct the kata into component parts, like
our crumbs. But students need to see the magic. You can make
it easy for them but you take away the fun for them. They need
to go through the same process of discovery, of making sense
of it their own way. They need to uncover the mystery
themselves. Like dating a new girlfriend. That’s what
motivates them to want to study it and learn more about it.
They want to find out how it works.
That’s the danger of micro-managing the learning process too
much. It does not allow the imaginative spirit to be free.
Reminds me of a good, old Canadian song:
Somethin's at the edge of
your mind, you don't know what it is
Somethin' you were hopin'
to find but your not sure what it is
Then you hear the music and
it all comes crystal clear
The music does the talkin'
says the things you want to hear
CHORUS:
I'm young, I'm wild and I'm
free
I got the magic power of
the music in me
She climbs into bed, pull
the covers overhead and turns her little radio on
She's had a rotten day so
she hopes the DJ is gonna play her favorite song
It makes her feel much
better, brings her closer to her dreams
A little magic power makes
it better that it seems
CHORUS:
She's young now, she's wild
now, she wants to be free
She gets the magic power of
the music from me
If you're thinkin' it over
but you just can't sort it out
Do you want someone to tell
you what they think it's all about
Are you the one and only
who's sad and lonely, reachin' for the top
Well the music keeps you
goin' and it's never gonna stop
The world is full of
compromise, infinite red tape
But the music's got the
magic, it's your one chance for escape
So turn me on - turn me up
- it's your time to dream
A little magic power makes
it better than it seems
CHORUS
I'm young now, I'm wild now
and I’m free
I got the magic power of
the music in me….
From:
Triumph
“Magic Power”
Triumph:
"Magic Power" (Original Music Video)
Like the cupcake. Like the steak. Like Triumph. Like King
Kong.
“He was the terror, the
mystery of their lives,… and the magic. A year from now,
that’ll be an island full of burnt-out drunks. When we took
Kong, we kidnapped their god.”
We all need a little magic in our lives…
* Definition of HOLISTIC:
2: relating to or concerned
with wholes or with complete systems ratherthan with the
analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts;
examples: <holistic medicine attempts to treat both the
mind andthe body> <holistic ecology views humans and
the environment as a single system>
Mr. Tong has a Master’s in Education in Curriculum Studies.
