Why do people transcribe strings?

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 08 Mar 2005 23:57

I just don't understand the motivation I guess. There's probably a great reason, I'm sure.

ebo · Post by **ebo** » 09 Mar 2005 00:30

I'll give you 4 reasons:

It's a way of trying to understand a player's style and selection of tricks.

Also, it helped me a great deal following long runs with lots of hard
and fast tricks in it. Before, I would still try to figure out that one trick,
and thereby miss out on the next 5-6. Like, "ok, that was a DOD, but what
was the set again? Damnm, that was too fast."
I can follow videos so much easier since transcribing.

Furthermore, it's a nice pasttime when I don't have anything to do at
work.

Plus, I like to provide a helpful service to all people who have
difficulties in keeping pace in Pro-Freestyle videos. If they're happy by
it, I'm happy.

shreddaily · Post by **shreddaily** » 09 Mar 2005 10:58

I believe the term is "transcribe strings", but I've been wrong b4. Tranpose refers to displacing.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 09 Mar 2005 11:07

I've done one transcription, and it taught me how to spin out of clippers.

It helps with on the fly transcription skills (scoring shred 30?), and...

Why wouldn't you?

Why do baseball games keep scoresheets?

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 09 Mar 2005 11:12

There can be only one logical reason for this...

Yes! I'm sure of it!!

It must be!!

too much freetime...

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 09 Mar 2005 12:23

shreddaily wrote:I believe the term is "transcribe strings", but I've been wrong b4. Tranpose refers to displacing.

Right. I was working on some music at the time...but it's fixed now.

@ Ebo: I suppose it helps with calling moves as they are hit Ebo, but in my opinion, that comes with just watching video whilst progressing in your own game. You become more tuned to the movements and positions, and can understand what's going on a lot easier. I've never transcribed any string, and I can usually call tricks (sometimes adds) on the fly. It's a bit tougher with more complex players like Vasek and Jorden and Felix, where they hit a lot of stuff that includes more uncommon movements. I don't know, if it works for you I guess.

@ Colin: Your comments do not appease me.

I'm not sure I understand how writing down what someone hit helps you to perform it yourself. I could write down that Vasek hit Symp Whirling Swirl > Superfly > Marius > Spinning Osis > Jani, but I still won't be able to hit any of those moves. Except Symp Whirling Swirl. Once.

"Why not!" is hardly a valid reason, nor is it at all helpful.

I don't know why there are scoresheets in baseball games. For the purpose of stats and improvement upon them maybe? But even then, that's to improve on your own game. I suspect that a coach would look over the scoresheet, see who's doing their job and who isn't.

I guess transcribing your OWN strings from video might help you in that regard, but we're talking about analyzing some other person's game. What do you gain by writing down Lon's 97 contacts? Why not just watch and say, "Oh slick Fairy ss Double Down!" ?

I think I'm going to agree with Anssi on this one.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 09 Mar 2005 13:01

If someone were to ask you why you played footbag, then snubbed your responce and decided that you simply had too much free time, what would you think?

That's what I think about you right now.

dazza · Post by **dazza** » 09 Mar 2005 13:26

easy now !

personally i like that peeps like Bjoern use their time and skill to provide
those transcriptions.
of course, the increasement of skill and footbag knowledge
is most important to understand whats going on in a run ;
vids that didnt make sense to me 4 months ago, i can
follow much better now, since my actual game progressed.

BUT , i still am fairly new to this, so i wouldnt mind some transcriptions
on lets say Mr Irish segment in the latest sickness vid ;
the impressions and wow's you get are the most fun part from the
visual side of things, but i find that everything that helps to
recap, understand or simply to follow stuff cant be a waste
of time per se.

its a bit like reading lyrics, lets assume, of Mars Volta on the net.
of course i could listen to the same cd for one year to get all the lyrics
right, but i can also read the words on the net, which would definitly add 2
my appreciation for their music by understanding the lyrical content.

To me that also works for footbag, but i kinda understand your point
aswell Kevin, since i'm not into "the making of.." sections on dvd's,
nevertheless i can see why some people are...

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 09 Mar 2005 13:32

NuR wrote:its a bit like reading lyrics, lets assume, of Mars Volta on the net.
of course i could listen to the same cd for one year to get all the lyrics
right, but i can also read the words on the net, which would definitly add 2
my appreciation for their music by understanding the lyrical content.

I like that point. That was a good answer.

And Colin, give me a break. That's not the same thing at all, and you didn't actually answer my questions either. I really do wonder how you learned to clipper spin by writing tricks down.

footbinc · Post by **footbinc** » 09 Mar 2005 13:34

I think Kevin woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Or he is mad im leaving friday and not saturday for Missoula!

muhahhahahahahahahaha

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 09 Mar 2005 14:34

Oh come on now, I winked for god's sake! All in good fun.

I learned how to spin out of a clipper because I watched Lon do it about 30 times going frame by frame. Simple as that. I also came to a deeper understanding of how Lon shifts his weight while he spins than he probably has. (I can't explain it now, but at the time it was quite clear.)

Also, in regards to my analogy, I think it's the exact same thing. Everybody has their hobbies. Our mutual hobby is footbag, which has taught me well to respect the next guy's hobby, and that includes erasing the 'too much time on their hands' mentality for hobbies I don't get.

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 09 Mar 2005 14:43

Newf wrote:I learned how to spin out of a clipper because I watched Lon do it about 30 times going frame by frame. Simple as that. I also came to a deeper understanding of how Lon shifts his weight while he spins than he probably has. (I can't explain it now, but at the time it was quite clear.)

Where does writing it down come in?

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 09 Mar 2005 14:49

You're not winning any points in your 'give me a break' request.

Yes, I suppose that just watching it slowly would have done the same thing, but then some other person wouldn't have gotten to read the transcription. I don't know if other people like to do that, but I do.

qphox · Post by **qphox** » 09 Mar 2005 15:55

If you asked me why I play footbag, I would answer you with a straight up statement. I wouldn't say, "Why not? Why do baseball games have scoresheets?" because I know exactly why I play footbag.

If you responded, "Well, clearly that's a waste of time," you either didn't fully understand my motivations or just didn't care in the first place.

I didn't fully understand your motivation. You said you learned clipper spinning by transcribing. I couldn't understand how writing something down could help your technique. I said as much. You responded by saying you watched Lon do it a load of times in slow motion.

I'm not being a prick, I just didn't get any real answer out of your first post except for maybe the "on the fly transcription" point. That might help, I don't know. Like I said, I've never transcribed anything, and I'm pretty adept at calling tricks in videos.

*shrug*

ebo · Post by **ebo** » 09 Mar 2005 16:03

For my point, transcribing help me a great deal in following complex
runs. Before, I would miss out on some of tricks while thinking of "that thing
he just hit". After having transcribed Final Shred, my understanding
of watching footbag was much more comprehensive than before,
because I studied it so closely.

Also, it's fun to do. Don't ask me why, maybe I like statistics.

And a question for Anssi: Can one actually have too much freetime?

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 09 Mar 2005 17:46

We use transcribing in jazz to help us reach a new level of analysis of the music/solo. I believe that after you have transcribed a player's run in footbag, it would be easier to compare his/her other runs and know what s/he is exactly doing. It's simply a new level of analysis.

In addition, a younger player (youth in experience, not age) should transcribe runs to gain the knowledge needed to identify moves on the fly. It takes a while to do the first few transcriptions in jazz... I'm still on my first few, but I know that after a while they become easier and my ear will become more in tune with what any other player is doing, while also giving me ideas to play myself. Maybe this is a good analogy for footbag string transcribing.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 09 Mar 2005 18:05

I'd assumed that you had already considered and dismissed as invalid that people might find it fun. Well, I find it fun. Does that change anything?

It's a fun low-impact time killer, which has the side benefit of increased knowledge of freestyle.

I didn't mean to say you were being a prick. I don't communicate well by text. (Or in person, for that matter)

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 09 Mar 2005 18:09

Huh. I always just assumed people transcribed videos as a service to those of us unable to view certain videos. Like, if I can`t want a video because its .avi format, then at least I can read the transcript and `see` the video in my head.

Johnny · Post by **Johnny** » 09 Mar 2005 19:57

I don't know why people do it, but thanks to all that do, because it really helps. Not being able to know whats hit in a video is bunk, especially if its because of having a crappy setup.

BOOO.

Thanks though.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 09 Mar 2005 20:03

So, Kevin ...

Why do you play footbag?