Reddit Reddit reviews The Science of Fencing: A Comprehensive Training Manual for Master and Student; Including Lesson Plans for Foil, Sabre and Epee Instruction

We found 3 Reddit comments about The Science of Fencing: A Comprehensive Training Manual for Master and Student; Including Lesson Plans for Foil, Sabre and Epee Instruction. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Science of Fencing: A Comprehensive Training Manual for Master and Student; Including Lesson Plans for Foil, Sabre and Epee Instruction
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3 Reddit comments about The Science of Fencing: A Comprehensive Training Manual for Master and Student; Including Lesson Plans for Foil, Sabre and Epee Instruction:

u/olorin1984 · 4 pointsr/wma

Hi, where are you located? The nice thing about sabre is that it is still a living tradition, and there are a lot of people around that can teach it to you. Depending on where you are, you could probably learn quite a lot from a modern club. Ideally though, you'd probably get more out of a more classically-oriented group because sabre has changed a lot in recent years, and a lot of things that will be useful for heavier weight sabres (circular cuts, low line parries, expulsions, etc...) aren't really used anymore.

I was trained in classical Italian sabre, which is well documented and still has a living tradition. The earliest basis for this system comes from Radaelli, who method was written down by Settimo Del Frate and recently translated by Chris Holzman, who added a lot of his own material that would help someone get started. You can get it here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dueling-Sabre-Christopher-Holzman/dp/0978902262

Masaniello Parise also wrote about sabre in his book from 1883, and while his book was chosen to be the basis of all military training, most people preferred Radaelli's method, and he ended up hiring a number of his students to teach at the newly formed Scuola Magistrale in Rome. Some of those students, Pecoraro and Pessina cowrote their own book on sabre which was basically Radaelli's system but with an organization more consistent with what was already being taught in Rome. Barbasetti, also did something similar. Unfortunately, Parise's and Pecoraro's and Pessina's book haven't been translated to English yet. Barbasetti's book is available in English (http://medievalswordmanship.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/the-art-of-the-sabre-and-the-epee.pdf)

My training came through Maestro William Guagler's (who trained under Pessina's son, Giorgio and was a graduate of the program in Rome) program which was based on this same method. The sabre in his book, The Science of Fencing (http://www.amazon.com/The-Science-Fencing-Comprehensive-Instruction/dp/1884528058) , is very similar to Pecoraro and Pessina's book and is an excellent overview of the theory. If you look at this one, Barbasetti, and Chris's translation, you can get a pretty good picture of what 19th century Italian sabre would have been like.

u/Earl_of_Donuts · 2 pointsr/Fencing

Glad to help!

Dr. Gaugler passed away in 2011 and since then Science of Fencing has become a little harder to come by. You should still be able to find a copy on Amazon that won't cost you too horribly much.

My school is not affiliated with HEMA so I can't give much advise there but if you are have any quesitons about the Science or Classical Italian in general feel free to pick my brain and I'll do my best to get you the information.

u/TheNewDavout · 2 pointsr/wma

I've personally done both classical fencing and HEMA/WMA and modern fencing (epee). Very little in classical sabre will be applicable to modern, at least from what I've seen. It has, at least for me, made me think more creatively and tactically in all my sword-sports.

In terms of where to start other than local clubs, I'd recommend two books: Gaugler's science of fencing (http://www.amazon.com/The-Science-Fencing-Comprehensive-Instruction/dp/1884528058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397083438&sr=8-1&keywords=the+science+of+fencing) and Chris Holzman's book on radaellian sabre (http://shop.swordplaybooks.com/product.sc?productId=12&categoryId=12). Gaugler is writing specifically from a southern Italian perspective, but he's good for general theory. Chris' book is nothing short of fantastic, and offers lots of insight into the dueling culture around fencing in 19th century Italy.