What’s in a Combo?

Today in kid’s class, we practiced our lion dance beat and some striking combinations.  My hope was that by putting these two elements together in one class, the students would see that putting together two different rhythms (the drum beat and the cymbal beat) is similar to putting together two (or more) different strikes (a punch and a kick, for example).

In my mind, the teaching and practice of any art involves getting a grasp on the basic elements of the art and then putting them together in various ways.  Martial artists learn individual kicks, punches, blocks, throws, rolls, etc.  Musicians learn individual notes, scales, tempos, etc.  These pieces, by themselves, can be beautiful and functional but usually the really cool stuff comes about when the pieces start getting put into combinations.