Theme of the Week: Rhythm

Some people have musical talent while others don’t.  This is true.  It is also true that almost everyone can learn to play music – regardless of their initial talent level.  And while to many people music and martial arts seem unrelated… they aren’t.

Most of us can find the strong beats in a pop song (it’s usually the bass drum on the 1 and the snare on the 3) but how many of us can follow a song in 5/4?  Maybe we don’t need to but back to the connection between music and martial arts.

Most folks move in a rhythm – a pattern.  If you can find that pattern, you can exploit it.  If you can draw someone else into your rhythm, you can then break that pattern and “get” them.

For an exploration of the more rhythmical side of martial arts, we played a bit of Capoeira tonight in sparring.  Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art, which is taught side by side with music – you aren’t considered a accomplished Capoeista if you only play the game – you have to be able to play the music as well.  We didn’t go too deep into it, but hopefully students gained a bit of appreciation for Capoeira specifically and the role that rhythm plays generally in martial arts.  As promised, here are a couple links to some fun Capoeira videos: Movie style & MMA style.