Ok, now to talk about kata and aspect number four (actually I’m home working on Turbo Tax today and sneaking a break away from the numbers and paperwork)….timing/rhythm. You know the sequence, have pretty good form, and have at least a rudimentary vision of what the moves and key combinations within a particular kata mean to you. Now we can do a brief examination of timing and rhythm (at least from my viewpoint), as these apply to kata. Like the other aspects, T/R exists on several different levels and, unless you’re part of some competition three-person kata team, is a little different for each person.

Of course, there is the basic timing we’re taught when we learn the kata. No kata, not even Heian Shodan, consists of exactly the same cadence from move to move….the most obvious segment being the three stepping age-ukes, and later in the kata, the three stepping oi-zukes. So, in our first Shotokan kata, we’re introduced to a timing change, a speed-up between the second and third techniques in both the stepping blocks and the stepping punches. As we learn other katas, there are many other speed-ups, slow-downs, and outright pauses throughout each one. Without an awareness of these basic timing changes, we would truly perform kata like some gi-clad robot. I’ve only seen one person perform a kata in this fashion…turns out he had learned the kata from photos in a book. Like sequence, like posture, like bunkai…the timing and rhythm of the same kata is often different from style to style, from organization to organization, from dojo to dojo. The best way to pick up the prescribed kata timing for your particular dojo is to closely watch your instructor and the sempais around you as they perform it, to ask questions, and to practice, practice, practice once you have a basic feel for the timing.

While in high school, both Matt and Trisha spent countless hours in the concert bands and symphonies, as well as the marching bands. Today, both still perform much music; Trisha in leading Praise and Worship, Matt in two popular local bands. The point is, they always told me about how important the drums and percussion section was to the entire band. That without proper timing and rhythm, it didn’t matter that the rest of the group was technically great…the performance would come out flawed. So it can be with kata. I’m not talking about performing the basic timing correctly and passing an examination or winning some kata competition. The assumption is that you already know the prescribed timing for the kata. Everyone’s body is unique, every competent karateka accomplishes his/her movements through a complex coordination that has taken years to fashion together. Much of the “advanced” timing found within the higher katas are related to the underlying application and certain points of emphasis. Take the old “picking in the yard” analogy…we all know that each of us can increase our picking pace up to a certain point, because the pick is quite heavy, and it takes each of us varying times to kime the pick point into the ground, break soil, and lift the pick back up, into position, above our heads. A child doing pretend picking (with no real experience) might raise his/her picking cadence far beyond what is realistic. Yes, at a real yard, we would alll pick at a slightly difference cadence, dictated by the weight of the pick, our body shape/size, our muscularity, the hardness of the soil, and so on. In other words, the timing and rhythm of the activity would be shaped by our individual circumstances, although these may be close. Just as in musical rhythm there are all kinds of variations, progressions, syncopations, etc…timing and rhythm in karate-do can be as complex as it can seem simple.

Before I “pick too deep a hole” with this subject, I did want to mention that besides things I’ve touched upon, possibly the most important driver and key to improving your T/R is your breathing. Last class, we were focusing on our breathing patterns as we execute the most basic techniques, intermediate combinations, and more rapid step movements that require more oxygen from us. Remember, even if you’re in excellent condition, you will breathe a certain way while walking…however, once you start jogging…if you don’t change your breathing pattern, you’ll be trying to swallow your tongue and sucking air into your lungs in a haphazard fashion. In a similar way, your breathing pattern determines timing and rhythm in each movement….and in your kata. Breathing is a bit of a segue into kiai and other things, but I think I’ll leave that for the next note on the aspect of expression within a kata.