Koshiki
Brown Belt
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2013
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It seems that perhaps there are a varieties of commonly understood meanings to the term advanced, as relates to technique. The several main branches seem to be based on varying understandings of what exactly we are referring to.
In one view, based on a somewhat loose and less formal definition of "advanced," something is advanced when it is complex, difficult, esoteric. Basically, stuff that's hard to do is advanced. This could be, in one view, techniques, sets of techniques, or tactics which just have a lot of "moves," or which require great physical skill, plain and simple. In the understanding that something which is tricky is therefore advanced, this makes perfect sense, and would lead us to classify difficult, rare submissions; jumping, spinning, double-legged kicks; and intricate striking combinations as advanced.
In a slightly different but closely related view, "advanced" still means "real hard, man," but the focus is on nuance as the source of difficulty, rather than technical complexity or physical demands. Basically though, the concept remains the same, we just end up with a set of subtle and sophisticated uses of techniques which, to the beginner, would have otherwise appeared straightforward and easy, or basic.
I think that, in a general, informal sense, these are fine. I might take issue with the two views based on the fact that dictionaries tend not to promote "advanced" as primarily meaning "difficult" or "taxing," but rather, in a general and broadly interpretable way, at the front, or ahead of.
A different approach would be slightly more formal, perhaps, making the assumption that "advanced" means "developed from simpler things, and having proceeded from them." We use this definition of the word a lot. Humans are more "Advanced" than sea sponges. Trigonometry is more "advanced" than arithmetic. Black Belts are more "advanced" than white belts, having once been white belts, and then having progressed over time into something else.
Taking this meaning of the word, it's pretty obvious to me that Advanced technique is technique that builds off previous technique, whether by increased complexity, increased sensitivity, increased understanding, or just by the order in which material is taught within a system. If the technique/nuance/comprehension/whatever comes after others, it is more advanced.
But then, we could really make the claim that "advanced" mostly means being progressive and at the forefront. In this understanding, "advanced" techniques might only be the newest, hippest, freshest-off-the-press techniques are advanced. A new way to pass guard? Advanced, for now, until everyone learns it and it becomes old-hat. A new strategy for self-defense? Advanced, at least until it becomes accepted and absorbed by most self-defense oriented practitioners...
But who are we kidding? The real, true, one and only 100% infallible and unquestionable definition of "advanced" (taken as an adjective rather than a verb) is something which has been or which is in advance of other things. To be in advance is to be ahead of, to come ahead of the rest.
So perhaps the only techniques which we can truly and undeniably consider "advanced" are those we teach to the newest students, moments after they walk into their first class. In that sense, I suppose "advanced" and "basic" mean literally *exactly* the same thing.
But at the heart of it, there really is only the body of technique, your understanding of it, and your ability to apply that understanding. We can segregate and separate those three aspects as many ways as we like, just like we can categorize any grouping of anything in as many creative ways as we like.
I don't mean that to sound deep, you know, like "All technique is one and I am she and we are all together." I mean rather, that this really is, as a few people have stated, a discussion of semantics, albeit one which is only further muddled by the use of dictionaries, rather than assisted.
In the meantime, how many pins can we stick in an angel?
In one view, based on a somewhat loose and less formal definition of "advanced," something is advanced when it is complex, difficult, esoteric. Basically, stuff that's hard to do is advanced. This could be, in one view, techniques, sets of techniques, or tactics which just have a lot of "moves," or which require great physical skill, plain and simple. In the understanding that something which is tricky is therefore advanced, this makes perfect sense, and would lead us to classify difficult, rare submissions; jumping, spinning, double-legged kicks; and intricate striking combinations as advanced.
In a slightly different but closely related view, "advanced" still means "real hard, man," but the focus is on nuance as the source of difficulty, rather than technical complexity or physical demands. Basically though, the concept remains the same, we just end up with a set of subtle and sophisticated uses of techniques which, to the beginner, would have otherwise appeared straightforward and easy, or basic.
I think that, in a general, informal sense, these are fine. I might take issue with the two views based on the fact that dictionaries tend not to promote "advanced" as primarily meaning "difficult" or "taxing," but rather, in a general and broadly interpretable way, at the front, or ahead of.
A different approach would be slightly more formal, perhaps, making the assumption that "advanced" means "developed from simpler things, and having proceeded from them." We use this definition of the word a lot. Humans are more "Advanced" than sea sponges. Trigonometry is more "advanced" than arithmetic. Black Belts are more "advanced" than white belts, having once been white belts, and then having progressed over time into something else.
Taking this meaning of the word, it's pretty obvious to me that Advanced technique is technique that builds off previous technique, whether by increased complexity, increased sensitivity, increased understanding, or just by the order in which material is taught within a system. If the technique/nuance/comprehension/whatever comes after others, it is more advanced.
But then, we could really make the claim that "advanced" mostly means being progressive and at the forefront. In this understanding, "advanced" techniques might only be the newest, hippest, freshest-off-the-press techniques are advanced. A new way to pass guard? Advanced, for now, until everyone learns it and it becomes old-hat. A new strategy for self-defense? Advanced, at least until it becomes accepted and absorbed by most self-defense oriented practitioners...
But who are we kidding? The real, true, one and only 100% infallible and unquestionable definition of "advanced" (taken as an adjective rather than a verb) is something which has been or which is in advance of other things. To be in advance is to be ahead of, to come ahead of the rest.
So perhaps the only techniques which we can truly and undeniably consider "advanced" are those we teach to the newest students, moments after they walk into their first class. In that sense, I suppose "advanced" and "basic" mean literally *exactly* the same thing.
But at the heart of it, there really is only the body of technique, your understanding of it, and your ability to apply that understanding. We can segregate and separate those three aspects as many ways as we like, just like we can categorize any grouping of anything in as many creative ways as we like.
I don't mean that to sound deep, you know, like "All technique is one and I am she and we are all together." I mean rather, that this really is, as a few people have stated, a discussion of semantics, albeit one which is only further muddled by the use of dictionaries, rather than assisted.
In the meantime, how many pins can we stick in an angel?
