Motley wrote:Ah interesting discussion, you teach Keith-jitsu! That is after all, all you can do.
I like that term. Keith-jitsu is what I shall be teaching form hereon. Problem solved

Motley wrote:For example you must have seen many times in your class, where you have just explained and demonstrated a techniques in person and some students are doing it completely differently. Way out of the stadium differently. And they just saw it! We are trying to follow advice separated by hundreds of years, culture and language. How can it ever be 'right'?
Oh yes, it drives me up the wall! Means I just need to get better at expressing/demonstrating precisely what I want my students to do. In any case, it is a good comparison. My students are trying to learn historical fencing from me, as best they can, given the learning materials that I provide for them. Likewise I am trying to learn historical styles of fencing from the historical masters, as best I can, given the learning materials that have been preserved so far and also those that have been produced by modern translators. I think it is certainly worth trying to get it as right as I can.
On the flip side, since there are so many good reasons why I am teaching a derivative of Liechtenauer's system, the same rationale means that people have fewer reasons to say that I'm wrong about certain things

after all, if none of us are teaching the style precisely as Liechtenauer himself, then what qualification do modern practitioners have to tell me that my Krumphaw or my Zwerhaw is wrong?
Of course, that is an entirely different discussion just threatening to happen!
Motley wrote:As to how do you teach it like him? No big no. I doubt he had 10 - 30 people lined up in a sports hall. I suspect from what we see in I.33 it was more one on one lessons like we actually see with, God forbid, modern fencing.
The best I think we can hope for is 'informed' by and actually that is good enough

Interesting observation about the one-on-one lesson thing, I have to agree with you there. "Informed by" is probably the safest term and is quite a reasonable way of qualifying quite what I teach.