Advise on lunging, love, aggrivation and politics. Have a question for Melchior? send it from the contact page. Now for the disclaimers. The questions themselves may have been paraphrased here for brevity or clarity. So don't go getting all pissy if I don't quote you exactly. The answers here are Mel's "Opinion", they may be right, they may be wrong, I may change my mind, deal with it.
-Mel
Q: What is the Academie?
A: First and foremost it is a guild of rapier enthusiasts who have sworn an oath to uphold certain ideals and tenets. In its most basic form this oath is an agreement to be true and loyal to Their Majesties and Kingdom, to do what is within your abilities to further the arte and science of period rapier combat within our society and to strive to be an honorable and chivalrous, both on and off of the lyst field.
Q: Is every authorized rapier fighter in Atlantia a member? Do I have to join?
A: In short: no and no. Joining the Academie is a personal choice, not a requirement. If you make the choice to join our little club, groovy and welcome! However if you decide not to join, that is fine too. What is important to remember is that we are here to have a good time. Do what you feel is best for you.
Q: What is the scarfing system? How does it work in the Academie?
A: The scarf system is an internal ranking system, autonomous to the Academie d’Espee. The structure of which is loosely based on the London Master's of Defense. The first two levels of the Academie structure are completely internal and unofficial in the eyes of the Kingdom. The third level is the only Academie rank officially recognized by the Kingdom. It is bestowed by the crown as a grant level award, Companion Of the White Scarf, members of this order are known as Provosts.
- Scholar (Blue Scarf) is first tier of the Academie. Any authorized rapier fighter may choose to take the Scholar’s Oath at any time, most people do so right after their initial authorization. Once a person has taken the Scholar’s Oath they are presented with a blue scarf.
- Free Scholar (Gold Scarf) is the second, middle, tier of the Academie. Free Scholars are inducted by the sponsorship of three Provosts (see below). The scholar is notified that three sponsors have come forward and offered the opportunity to Play the Prize. The Prize is a public event where the scholar faces all comers. After the prize has been played the scholar takes the Free Scholars Oath, and is presented with a gold scarf.
- Provost (White Scarf) is a kingdom level polling order of high merit, conferring a grant of arms. “Provosts are chosen by Their Royal Majesties, based upon their service unto the rapier community, impact by teaching, leading and marshalling, skill at arms and generally setting an example for all to emulate.” (*)
Q: "Hey mel, why do you have parry 5 (Quinte) listed as an inside low parry insteed of the overhead horizontal parry that it usually refers to?"
Dear Parry On,
Well you know that is a really good question. The short version is that the horizontal overhead parry being known as "5" didn't come around untill saber fencing. The Long Version: The orginal version of the parry (the saber 5) is taken from longsword techniques (refered to as a roof parry, if I remember correctly and sometimes refered to as the St. George parry). While a little bit of research will into late period Italian and French parries will turn up a parry/ward/guard with the hilt at a low-inside position, wrist pronated, point up, refered to as 'quinte'. But dont take my word for it, read it your self. *key the reading rainbow music*
Q: "is there any reason to pull a foil out of loaner equipment because they will tend to allow new fencers to use too much of a whippy attack style that will be difficult to unlearn when they start heavy rapier and may even prevent them from passing their epee authorizations if it is too out of control."
Dear 'Foiled Again',
lets address your questions individualy, shall we?
1) Should the weapon be removed from the loaner kit? Nope. At the VERY least any weapon they could face on the field they should practice with and against. Wouldn't it really suck if student Argh had never faced a foil before and had to fence against one during their authorization? So you see, removing the foil from the practice would be a great disservice to the new fencer.
2) Too whippy. If you are training somebody with foil and their technique is "to whippy", i.e. a lower level of control, then you should have taught them better form and technique. "There is no such thing as a bad student only bad teachers" while I don't totally agree with this, there is some truth to it. Students learn what you teach, and while some things are gained via osmoses and simple experience, these concepts of form, style and technique really are the basis which the rest of the students skill will be built. Teach it right, and they will learn it right. new "Melchior rule of fencing"
3) More on technique. In the long term, form is a function of muscle memory. This memory is only gained one way: repetition. Doing somthing properly again and again and again. So while the student is learning parry X and doing it 500-1000 times (and only proper motions count!!!!!) a foil can be very useful. The memory taught to the muscles is the same and the form will transfer to the heavier blades. The main difficulty in transferring to the heavier blades is a matter of the weight, not necessarily blade flexibility.
Q: "is there any way I can get my epee blade to be less stiff? It’s stiffer than my schlager, Which is not what I'm used to."
Dear 'Fencing Stiff',
The more you use the blade the more it will "soften". The only thing I would advise to speed up the softening process would be wall drills. En’gaurd, lunge, hit, and put a 3-4" bend in the blade. Then hold that position for a moment. Do that a couple of hundred times and it should help a bit."
Amendum: The fine Lord Malcolm pointed out somthing to me here that I dont know how I missed putting in, as I preach it myself. So now that the devil has been paid his due :)
One more thing. If you think you have a stiff blade it's probably because you've had some folks complain about hard shots. Just think for a second, is the blade stiff? or is it the shot? EG maybe it's time to go back and do some distance/pressure drills...