Submitted by Gretchen, Illinois
Idea posted June 18, 2002
I was enjoying the MusicK8.com's Recorder Karate Dojo last night when a wild idea struck me... before I go on, I should tell you that not too many years ago (seven to be exact), I earned my Purple belt in tae kwon do! Only two belt levels left til black belt, but I moved away. The local TKD school here is too tied into federation junk, and I haven't pursued it further. Anyway...
One of the components of martial arts testing involves sparring. So I got to thinking, how could this be applied to the recorder classes? Well, why not invite two players to come forward with recorders in hand, stand them opposite one another each with a music stand and the same song before them. The higher belt would begin playing the song (after you of course set the pulse), and they would simply play the piece in alternating fashion by measures until one of them broke the pulse, played incorrect notes/rhythms, etc. A point would be awarded to the one who played correctly as far as things got. Allow three tries or three minutes (sparring at tournaments lasts three minutes per contest pairs). The one with the most points, or the one left standing (who didn't give up completely), is declared the winner.
Of course, this could all be modified to fit individual classes. But IF I continue at my job next year, I'm thinking I'll require sparring (as another way of assessment). I'll pair partners of relatively similar playing ability & belt color together, and I'll tell them ahead of time that at the next class it will be their turn to spar (incentive to practice outside of class hopefully?). I may even tell them the piece ahead of time, but more likely I'll just tell them it will be one of several different titles (but I'll give them all the titles so they can practice on more repertoire... hee-hee).
If there is a draw and neither student makes a mistake, then both are declared the winners and they can advance to the next sparring level of repertoire.
I don't know, this is just off the top of my head, but with a bit of tweaking, it could be a neat thing to try. What do you all think??
BTW, to earn our black belts at my TKD school, one would have to spar two people simultaneously. It was intense to say the least. This could be done too with recorders & three players, don't ya think??