Recording yourself teaching

[Gerry Seymour]

I think unless you are planning on making a series of teaching videos you may be overthinking this idea. I understand the desire to remember the delivery of a particular idea to a class but I suspect that the delivery has also a lot to do with how engaged the class is. In other words, what is said in one situation may or may not work well in future situations given that the audience may be different. If something you said is very well received I suspect you will remember how it was said and can note it down afterwards. You may already do this but I thought I would offer this comment for all it is worth.

I have taken to recording certain portions of my classes to give students an idea on how they are progressing over time. I record things that I feel are important for students to see about their practice so when we review it, I can point to the exact moment of where the improvement should be. We may do this 1 or 2 times in a class and I found it is far superior then using mirrors or just verbal feedback. I have also been recorded teaching and performing. So far it hasn't been used against me.

I'm trying to capture this for myself, mostly. I want to put together better information to pass along, and have a chance to decide which parts might actually need to be delivered via a website (articles for students, etc.). I expect I'd get a few minutes of something useful every few classes, and every now and then it'd be something I'd want to codify and make available without me having to stumble back into saying it again.

You'd be amazed how little of what I say I remember later. My memory for detail is stunning in its absence.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

A simpler option would be: record you teaching/talking, but when they split in groups take a minute of it to go around and record each group, then let a group with 3 rotate who holds it. Or put the camcorder/camera/whatever done at the front of the class, and make an announcement that whoever wants a video of themselves to look back on, set up the camera for that class to get them.

Unless the class is all about the same level, a lot of the teaching happens in those groups. If I have 10 people in class, there will typically be 5 pairs doing entirely different drills, working on entirely different exercises, about half the time. It's a common approach in NGA (at the dojos I've visited), because of the differences among the ranks. Sometimes we pick a technique/drill for the entire class, but that's not the most common mode.

At the moment, I'm not concerned with recording students. Remember, I'm just trying to capture audio right now. Some of it is so I can hear what I'm actually saying, to see if I"m being as clear as I think. Sometimes I hear things later (I've recorded some of my corporate training, for instance) and realize a phrase I like and have used regularly doesn't make as much sense out loud as it does in my head. And sometimes I find I've said something - in a long answer to a complex question - that I can turn into a blog article for someone, for instance.

 

[Deleted member 39746]

Probably covered all ready, you could just set up some CCTV cameras and audio recording equipment, or just hire someone to record you and the audio.

Former has the issue of the people who dont want to be recorded, latter is money. (as well as former being money as well)

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Probably covered all ready, you could just set up some CCTV cameras and audio recording equipment, or just hire someone to record you and the audio.

Former has the issue of the people who dont want to be recorded, latter is money. (as well as former being money as well)

If you read the OP, money is an issue, as is the fact that it's not my space, so I can't install anything.

 

[Deleted member 39746]

If you read the OP, money is an issue, as is the fact that it's not my space, so I can't install anything.

RIP. Other than asking a student to record you using something, thats the only alternative i can see. Promise them a belt upgrade for it or something. Or another instructor.


Oh if you just want audio, you could try and find a sensitive microphone and keep it nearish you. There are many types of them and some can be fitted with tripods and such so its a temporary structure. Kind of a rehash of other people.

Or you could try reverse secret camera, where you get one/audio recording device the size to kept secretly in your uniform but just use it to record yourself without much hassle but i dont know the cost to quality of them.

To actually recover that to something of use.

 

[JP3]

The best, meaning easiest, cheapest and fastest, we ever came up with was for one of the students to run off the mat to grab their phone to shoot an impromptu video. Think of all the violations of tradition in that. But hey, samurai didn't have iPhones etc.

It'd work out OK. Sometimes I'd use the camera in order to put a bit more stress on someone, so they could get the feel for trying to do something which required a lot of smooth coordination while under stress... that works better than you might think. Here's an example of that.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I'm just trying to capture audio right now.

I don't understand your purpose.

I record what I do because one day I may be too old to do those moves. But I will never be too old to talk.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I don't understand your purpose.

I record what I do because one day I may be too old to do those moves. But I will never be too old to talk.

I don't think there's going to be anyone looking at my technique as an example in the future. In fact, I'd rather encourage them not to. My attitude and approach to training are far more important than how I do the techniques.

My purpose in the recording is simply to gather stuff for me to review. I might or might not find another use for it when I hear it.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I don't think there's going to be anyone looking at my technique as an example in the future. In fact, I'd rather encourage them not to.

Why not?

I want my students to learn how I did when I was young. I don't want my students to learn how I did when I'm old. This is why I want to record what I could do when I was still young.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Why not?

I want my students to learn how I did when I was young. I don't want my students to learn how I did when I'm old. This is why I want to record what I could do when I was still young.

I'd rather they look at someone I taught, who is still evolving the technique, rather than my technique at some arbitrary point in time becoming a gold standard. When I'm too old to do the technique well, I'll want someone else demonstrating it. I'm not going to stop during class to pull up a video, so I'd have to have someone do that, anyway.

Don't get me wrong, John - I will eventually get around to putting some things on video, simply because right now I'm the only valid standard for them (nobody else teaches them the way I do at present). But that's a different project, with different needs.

 

[Martial D]

I was thinking the other day I'd love to consistently record what I say when teaching, so I can remember the parts I wanted to document (sometimes I say things really well, mean to add them to an article for future students, then forget what the heck I said). Anyone have any thoughts on how to manage that without having to pay attention to a recording device during class? In an ideal world, I'd be mic'd up with a lavalier/lapel mic, but I can't see how that would ever work out. I'd strangle myself with the wire and end up with plastic shrapnel in unpleasant places. And the space isn't mine, so I can't even consider (even if it weren't expensive) installing mics in the room.

I think there's not a good answer to this, but I thought I'd toss it to the MT folks, and see what kind of foolishness it starts.

Post it to YouTube. I for one would be very interested to see what an NGA session looks like.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Post it to YouTube. I for one would be very interested to see what an NGA session looks like.

If I can ever get things more regular, I’ll likely end up posting some bits for just that reason. As it stands, it’s usually me with one or two students at a time, which doesn’t let me teach the way I’d prefer with a class of 6 or more - some drills just don’t make sense in a small class.

You can find a few YouTube videos of NGA, but they are mostly softer and more compliant on average, or are discussing the Classical forms (how all Classical techniques are taught first).

 

[skribs]

If the goal is to record it for posterity, you don't need cinema-level audio equipment. You just need to hear what you're saying.

 

[Martial D]

If I can ever get things more regular, I’ll likely end up posting some bits for just that reason. As it stands, it’s usually me with one or two students at a time, which doesn’t let me teach the way I’d prefer with a class of 6 or more - some drills just don’t make sense in a small class.

You can find a few YouTube videos of NGA, but they are mostly softer and more compliant on average, or are discussing the Classical forms (how all Classical techniques are taught first).

I've never seen you move, but from your general attitude and a year and more of reading your input here, I feel that I could not find what you teach on YouTube, or anywhere else besides your training mats in your club.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

some drills just don’t make sense in a small class.

Could you explain on this? Most of my classes, I have only 2 students. Almost all the techniques that I have taught has been recorded. I have over 1,000 clips on my computer.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I could not find what you teach on YouTube,

Old Chinese saying said, when a

- geese flies over your head, it's sound will remain in the sky.
- tiger dies, it's skin will be hanged on the wall.
- MA person passes away, his video will be posted on Youtube.

I strongly encourage people to record their MA skill when they are still young.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If the goal is to record it for posterity, you don't need cinema-level audio equipment. You just need to hear what you're saying.

And even less so to just record for myself.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I've never seen you move, but from your general attitude and a year and more of reading your input here, I feel that I could not find what you teach on YouTube, or anywhere else besides your training mats in your club.

Probably true. You also wouldn't see much of me moving in a class I'm teaching. And at the moment, it's just beginners, so you wouldn't even see any NGA (it takes about 10 weeks to even get to the NGA curriculum).

That said, I doubt there's anything all that unusual about my movement, if you look outside NGA. But I take your point.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Could you explain on this? Most of my classes, I have only 2 students. Almost all the techniques that I have taught has been recorded. I have over 1,000 clips on my computer.

I said some drills don't make sense in a small class. For instance, we tend to use "attack lines" rather frequently. It's a drill where the class all lines up, one student steps onto the mats, and the rest of the class takes turns stepping up to "attack" (feed them an attack - the level of intent varies by student/rank, and by the purpose of the drill). If you only have 3 people, this doesn't present the same dynamic as when there are 6 or more. The ideal is that the attackers stay fresh, and the defender gets progressively more tired. With 3 people, that vanishes, as does the variety of who's attacking.

That last point is key in several drills I like - they're designed to get students experiencing different people and how different their input is. If it's me and one student (rather frequent), then they only get my input.

The larger issue for me (as an instructor) is that I like to tinker. So I tend to give too many corrections in rapid succession in a very small group. Give me multiple pairs to work with, and my attention gets spread enough that I don't make that mistake. With just one or two students, I have to make myself go off and ignore them for a few minutes at a time, so they can make mistakes and figure some stuff out. I developed most of my habits teaching classes of 10-20 people at my instructor's school, and that's where they tend to serve best.

 

[mograph]

I'd say that a wireless lav is best for quality. Clip it to a t-shirt under the gi? Tape it to your hairy parts? Yow!
Lavalier mounting: Best practices
Naturally, for this kind of thing, somebody with a boom mic would follow you around, and in your case, duct taping an iphone to a painter's boom might be the thing to do for no-cost. But you'd need somebody to hold it (above their head) and make sure the phone is pointed the right way.
(I used to shoot, and still do post.)