BSL Lyrics: Shaolin #4 (Strike to the heart)

[NShaolin]

i was wondering how do you know how to do the moves because hearing the names and stuff doesn't really help me learn the form =\

[Wong Ying Home]

Tong Teen Pao
Tong teen Keun Faht

Both meen punching upward towards heaven in essence

One (Pao) means cannon (Teen) means heaven

They seem to be a northern stroke southern saying for the same/similar punch in application or usage

[Ravenshaw]

NS's doppelganger,

You can't learn the sets from the poems. There's a lot of interpretation in the lyrics to be done. The same lyric can apply to more than one technique and the same technique can be called different names.

Edit: beaten by original NS

Double Edit: I'm actually part way through learning a second interpretation of this set. Wing Lam originally taught me #4 and now I'm learning #4 from Lai Hung. Convenient that this thread popped up when it did. Once I know the whole thing, I might dig this up again and talk about it a bit. In fact, I might try that with #6 later. They are recognizably the same set, but there are key differences in mechanics, expression, and execution that I find interesting, as well as additions to Lai Hung's sets. Wing Lam's BSL comes from YSW, whereas Lai Hung's come from YSW's classmate Lung Tze Hsiang, so we're closely related.

[NShaolin]

oh ok thanks i was wondering about this becaues i see some people reading these lyrics as they do their forms

[GeneChing]

I'd say that the study of lyrics is intermediate to advanced for non-Chinese speakers, but beginning for Chinese speakers. When you learn in Chinese, you often learn these poetic names of the movements as you learn the form. Some non-Chinese speakers never even engage the lyrics.

Herein lies a classic example of the cultural gap of CMA. There's actually a lot of information in the lyrics. Chinese is an immensily dense language, poetic to the core, so many of the lyrics are pregnant with information about how to deliver a move. It can be a fascinating study, since some of the lyrics are really deep. Of course, some aren't deep - some are just like 'right punch, left kick' and that's all. But occasionally, you can unlock something with a lyric.

I remember doing some lyric translation with a young student and Sifu Wing Lam once. We hit this phrase that literally said 'strike to the yin'. The young student, being somewhat brash, interpreted this to mean 'strike to the groin'. We played the move as a strike to the throat. He changed his interpretation of the form to accomodate the lyrics, so while everyone else was doing throat strikes, he did a groin strike. Sifu was amused but didn't comment. I picked at it like a scab - such is my nature. Sifu said yin could be interpreted here as shadow, or more specifically, any part of the anatomy that was in shadow under the noonday sun, ie. eyes, throat, armpits, groin. These were choice targets - the soft and tenders. The student just took one interpretation and it threw him off track. By picking at it, I uncovered some fresh new skin - a whole new way to look at targets - a kung fu way. That's just one thing I've learned from lyric translation. Here's another.

[NorthernShaolin]

NS,

The purpose of the lyrics is not to help you learn the forms but to aid you in remembering. The lyrics posted for BSL are a combination of old traditional lyrics i.e., Brave Tiger comes out of Cave, or Hero Single leg to more comtemportary lyrics,i.e., Grabbing arm, straight Punch. Contemportary lyrics are replacement lyrics because the older lyrices are lost and are generally more descriptive in its moves.

Also lyrics are generally always consistant throughout the style and are not necessary the same to another style.

What is even more confusing is that some lyrics like Hero Single Leg can be found in several related styles but in other styles the same move will be called something else.

One can imagine two individuals fighting and their sifus calling out their specific lyrics for their style as the students fight. Each student is listening to the lyrics and struggling, not only trying to figure out their own move, but guessing what his opponent's next techniques is going to be. Makes a good movie huh?

But seriously, in summary, lyrics are generally specific to certain styles and are only meaningful after one has learned the set and needs only to read the different lyrics to "visualize the set in his head". Obvisously lyrics were a popular method for remembering and was used extentively before the invention of photo, film, video, etc.

Today lyrics are not that important to today's MA as it was in the past but some of us like to know the lyrics for historical or traditional reasons.