BSL Lyrics: Shaolin #6 (The short strike)
Here's one we all should know (all us BSLer's at least) since it's almost always the first of the core ten to be taught. It's also the one that has the most in common with Songshan Shaolin. The monks got very excited and cheered when I demoed this for them because it looks almost exactly like the traditional stuff they do.
TUN DA: SHAOLIN #6 (The short strike)
1. Fast as an arrow, steal the heart.
2. Light steps like the wind through the willow, facing fists.
3. Flower hand, strike to the right.
4. Horse stance, horizontal punch.
5. Golden rooster stands on one leg.
6. Grab the rice, horse stance, hanging elbow technique.
7. Block down and up, striking technique.
8. Leaning the body, waiting for the tiger.
9. Monkey climbs up the tree, double toe kick.
10. Planting technique.
11. Left heel kick, shuffle, right toe kick.
12. Horse stance, striking the tiger technique.
13. Flower hand, back step.
14. Front and back sweep, striking technique.
15. Wild tiger comes out of the cave.
16. Shooting palm, heel kick.
17. Front and back strike, flat pole technique.
18. Turn around, stand on the earth holding the sky technique.
19. Fierce tiger comes out of the mountain to grab the sheep.
20. Right "crossed" character kick.
21. Right lean out punch.
22. Front step, "yin" striking palm.
23. Break the earth, planting technique.
24. Tornado kick.
25. Land in horse stance, striking technique.
26. Hanging punch to the back.
27. Sleeve wiping palm.
28. Grab the hand, horizontal punch.
29. Right "crossed" character kick.
30. Turn around, chain punches.
31. Left diagonal punch.
32. Horse stance, striking the tiger technique.
33. Back step, penetrating palm, finishing form.
Strike the tiger. et. al.
NS: You continue to amaze me with your research. I glad that you have kept track of all these variations and hope that our little exchange here continues to forward your work.
KL: Strike the tiger often refers to Hero Wusong from Outlaws of the Marsh. You might check out our most recent issue - Jul/Aug 2002 - since Wusong is the subject of our cover story. It's often called Hero's pose in Shaolin, after monk Jinnaluo Wang, and considered a signature pose for Shaolin styles, both BSL and Songshan.
Different interpretations of #6: Wing Lam vs. Lai Hung
Oh, #6. I could never practice you again and still remember every movement till the day I die.
Warning: long post that might not make much sense to non-BSLers.
I wanted to bring this up just so I could talk a little about the two different versions of the set I've learned. One is from Wing Lam, my first Sifu, though I learned it from some of his students a year or two before he started teaching me personally. Recently, I learned the set again from Lai Hung and his students. It was definitely fun to see the differences and the reasoning behind them. With some of his students, they would show me a few moves the way they do them and then I would show them Wing Lam's version, and we'd talk about it. Very enlightening.
Background info:
I'm going to talk a bit about me so you can see where I'm coming from, so if you're not interested, skip this part.
I started with Wing Lam's school in February 2000, while Gene was head instructor there. I learned from one of WL's students - Jimmy - first before he started teaching me personally around March or April 2002. I left in August 2005 to move to Davis, CA to go to the University here.
When I came, I was aware of Lai Hung and his class on UC Davis' campus, but I didn't get started until maybe two months ago. I spoke with WL about it, and he supported the idea, so I started training with the LH group. I'd also previously asked NS and Gene about their opinions and no one was against it, so I figured it was a good idea.
LH doesn't speak much English, but he was happy to find out I'm a WL student. He is old, but he's very animated and loves to smile. He's a very hands-on teacher, so he still gets his point across even if it's hard to understand his words.
WL's BSL comes through Yen Shang Wo, whereas LH's comes through Lung Tze Hsiang. YSW and LTH were classmates, students of Ku Yu Cheong. If I'm not mistaken, they are the two in this photo. YSW on the left, LTH on the right. So WL and LH are fairly closely related in the family tree, but there are some key differences it how they express the sets.
General differences:
Rather than getting into specifics first, I wanted to mention some general differences.
WL is primarily a forms man. He's taught sparring and his chin na is quite good, but he isn't really known as a fighter. Especially at this later point in WL's carreer, he's not too interested in fighting anymore, though he always made a point about key applications that we should work on and proper structure, etc. By contrast, LH is known specifically because he was a fighter. He fought in China as well as internationally in the 50's and 60's. I think this affects his expression of the forms a great deal. Where at the WL school, we keep the shoulder down and the head high while punching in the sets, LH wants me to tuck my chin and raise my shoulder, like a boxer.
Neither one of the men were purely BSL stylists. WL practiced a number of different styles, but his main ones were Hung Gar, Ha Say Fu, BSL, and the big 3 internal styles. I see some overlap, to be sure, but he has a strong understanding about why different styles work for their own reasons. His HG looks nothing like his BSL and vice versa. LH has allowed his styles, being Choy Li Fut and BSL, to blend a little more, and I see it pretty strongly in his expression of the sets. The BSL flows more in comparison to the CLF, but I think that's due to the composition of the set. WL's BSL is lighter, quicker, more relaxed, and more fluid, whereas LH's BSL is more sparring-oriented and "hard." I'm making no negative judgments, because I see the value in each approach and can appreciate them. To me, having two different approaches broadens my concept of the style.
LH adds some movements to the sets. There is a right-left double toe kick at the start of #6 (before lyric #1) that I don't see in anyone else's version. The same kick is at the beginning of his broadsword set. Also, there are several times in which he inserts a tight hooking punch technique into a series a movements. It's similar to the low block & hammer fist/inside block part of lyric #12, but with a hooking punch (or elbow strike) instead of the hammer fist/block. There's one after the double kick (between lyrics #9 and 10), one in the middle of lyric #11, one before lyric #12, and one before lyric #32 when we turn around after the diagonal punch (#31). Also, he teaches to turn around and throw a tiger claw in the cat stance right before the sweep (between #13 and 14). Otherwise, the movements are the same, but done differently.
In his expression of the techniques, LH tends to add in the "hidden" kicks. In any cat or crane stance, it's understood that a kick can be inserted into the application, and they're not expressed in WL's forms as often. In LH's sets, almost every kick implied by the WL version is shown, which I found very interesting and reinforced that part of my understanding.
Some specific differences:
I'm just going to choose a few moves in particular to talk to about. I'll try to explain the differences in the set and then the applications that these different versions imply to me. You all would probably get something different, but that's part of the art. It's really hard to explain the differences without actually showing them, but I'll do my best...
Lyric #1. I think I associate this move with #6 more than any other because it's the opener. In WL's version, it's very explosive. We drop down into cat with a stomp, shooting both hands out in a throat jab, then swinging them back in vertical hook blocks. In LH's version, we jump up in a right-left double kick, landing in left cat, then circle the hands out and in to the waist, then bringing them up in a double upward cross block, palms facing in. The hands then swing out to the sides in crane hands. The main differences here are the double cross block vs. double hand jab and the path of the crane hands. In the WL version, the crane hands swing vertically down and back, whereas the LH crane hands swing out and back. To me, the WL version suggests more aggression (stomp to distract, quick strike, the crane hand could be a pull into a knee or a kick), whereas the LH version is a counter (block high, then counter grab, rather than actively going for it). Just two facets of the same technique. Also, the WL version has the application of parrying a low/body kick and follow with a counter kick, whereas the path of the LH crane hands would not cover that part of the body.
Lyric #12. Other than the aforementioned hook punch addition before this technique, the main difference here is the expression of the pose itself. In WL's set, we slide our right foot back into staggered horse as we turn with a low block and hook punch. The arms are very open, making a semicircle if viewed from above. Our hips are turned as well. LH's expression of this is more 2-D, that is, no staggered horse and the hips remain square. The top hand comes forward first and then pulls back to just in front of the forehead. In WL's, we usually show this as a low block (or pulling down and out) and hook punch. In LH's, I'm thinking it's more of a grab/pull with the high hand and the low hand may actually be the striking arm (elbow to the body and/or slap to the groin maybe).
Lyric #18. In the WL set, we chamber the left hand and high parry to the left with the right palm as we turn, then left high/right low parry to the right. Palms switch high/low positions, then we turn to sqaure as we double push forward. In the LH set, we have a double high/low left forearm block, double high/low right forearm block, "hold the ball" in front of us, then push the right arm up and the left arm down as we throw a left thrust kick and land in left bow. In both cases, the double block can be applied with active footwork to parry a kick and jam the opponent's lead hand. With the LH version, though, it's easier to see the top hand being applied as a strike - specifically a chop or hammer fist - after a low outside parry or after sweeping an arm out of the way with the low hand. The double forward push vs. the high/low push and kick is a little harder to decipher. In the WL version, I figured one hand pushed down and forward to jam an arm while the other hand attacks high. At a greater distance though, one could apply the LH version as a high or low block and simultaneous kick.
These are just a few major movements that I wanted to mention. Every technique has at least something different in terms of alignment, angles, power generation, etc. The spinning backfist comes to mind... looks almost exactly the same, but the power generation is very different due to how the right foot steps.
I hope this is interesting to at least somebody. Other BSL people, please chime in on how you might express or apply any of these movements... assuming you can figure out what I'm talking about from the descriptions/lyrics. The movements all differ from school to school, but applications in particular are often different for everybody, so it would be cool to discuss how everyone applies the most basic core set of BSL. :cool:
