Most people are eager to jump straight into training the techniques described in the Fechtbücher. This is understandable, as these are the only surviving literature to describe the techniques. However, by jumping straight to the techniques and sequences, people miss training many of the low-level, fundamental skills that they need in order to be able to apply the techniques correctly.
Much of my own recent teaching at my club and at events has drawn back from teaching the sequences and techniques from the Fechtbücher, since I have realised that not only do my students tend to lack some necessary fundamental skills, but I also lack these skills in very important areas. Therefore, I have been working on remedial exercises to shore up the fundamentals, and have been putting effort into analysing techniques and sequences to identify the required fundamental skills. Once identified, these skills can be trained, and the scene can be set for more successful implementation of historical techniques from the sources.
Keith’s workshop and lecture will be linked thematically. Attending the workshop will help to exemplify what will be discussed in the lecture, while attending the lecture will allow practitioners to see more of the pedagogical theory that underpinned the workshop.
