Studio X, as I think I've mentioned before, doesn't have much in the way of written materials. Which, given the instructional methodology of the system, I'm beginning to think is a pretty bad idea.
A lot of the instruction of the lower ranks is done by upper-rank students. The format of a typical class is warm-up calisthenics, a little bit of sparring, and then beginning students are broken up into groups by rank and handed off to a black-belt for further instruction in that group's material. Which is a good system, at least in abstract, given the amount of material (rather a lot, IMHO) that students are expected to learn at each level.
The problem is that the quality of instruction varies immensely depending on which black-belt is doing the teaching. Some of them don't have a good grasp of the material; they teach forms/techniques by wrote and don't understand the application which underlies the techniques/forms. Which is partly just a matter of quality control; the chief instructor needs to be more discriminating in who is allowed to instruct.
Even with better controls in place, however, things are going to get mangled in transmission. I offer, as an example, the comments associated with my transcription of the rank 3 sparring techniques. Scav asked about Jade Ring stance, so when I had an opportunity I asked one of the student instructors about the stances used in technique #12. This instructor, a 2nd degree blackbelt who generally has an excellent understanding of the system, told me something which didn't seem quite right, so I asked the chief instructor about Jade Ring stance explicitly.
The long and the short is that the 2nd degree has been doing technique #12 wrong for years. That's a problem because martial arts systems aren't necessarily self-correcting; ey's transmitted a broken #12 to who knows how many students. The only reason I caught the mistake is that the chief instructor had previously shown me the technique and I care more about the details of execution than the average student.
From a practical standpoint this is nitpicking; the version of #12 which the 2nd degree showed me works fine. But each technique, especially in the lower rank material, (allegedly) has a specific reason for being included in the curriculum. This obviously holds true for #12; it's there to teach students how to get under a guard using Jade Ring Stance and an Upward Block. You don't get that if you do it the way the 2nd degree showed me.
So what to do about this? The simplest approach, it seems to me, is to just write things down, but that happens less frequently that it should; of the three systems in which I've studied only one had a decent manual. I think that's primarily a function of effort; the system which had a manual was a large, multi-studio affair, while the ones which didn't were small and mostly-independent. It takes a lot of work, as well as writing and organizational talent, to get material down on paper in a systematic fashion. However, if I were a chief instructor, and my concern was the reliable and efficient transmission of basic material, I would absolutely spend the time necessary to do so on the grounds that it would improve the quality of the studio.
As a secondary explanation, however, I believe there's also a unconscious bias, in some branches of the martial arts at least, in favor of strictly oral transmission. Historically a systems' techniques were viewed as trade secrets which were at risk of compromise if they were put down on paper. "Secret techniques" might have once had a place in a more militant era1, but they're unsuited to contemporary circumstances. If a student gets into a fight nowadays they're going to win because they understand basic concepts, not because they know the Five Point Palm. Which also argues in favor of writing things down in order to promote a solid understanding of the material.
1 Miyamoto Musashi carps about this in the Book of Five Rings. I don't have my copy in front of me at the moment to give an exact reference, but his take is that its better to just be an excellent martial artist than to rely on secret techniques that catch your opponent by surprise.
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