My name is Barry Parsons and I am a 6th Degree Black Belt. My training in TKD started in the early 70’s in Coventry, England. The City now having a place in Taekwon-Do history as the first TKD school in Europe for the general public was opened here on 2 July 1967 by one of its original pioneers Master Rhee Ki Ha.

My TaeKwon-Do History

In 1978, at the age of 19, I graded to First Degree Black Belt. The examination was taken by Master Rhee and was made even more memorable to me as it took place in my home town of Coventry. Two years later I graded to second degree, again by Master Rhee Ki Ha.

During the next few years many changes took place, with new clubs and associations being formed. I graded 3rd and 4th Degree under Master Hi Ill Cho, and I consider myself to be very lucky to have had the opportunity to train and grade under two of the greatest ITF Pioneers.

Shortly after gaining my 4th degree in 1993 I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend a 5 day seminar with the legendary founder of TaeKwon-Do, General Choi Hong Hi. The seminar turned out to be a real eye opener, but the real surprise was General Choi’s comments regarding the poor standard of TaeKwon-Do in the UK. It was at this point that I consider my training in General Choi’s TaeKwon-Do to have started.

During the next 5 years I attended many General Choi seminars and had the opportunity to talk with him on numerous occasions. I now understand that his remarks came from his passion for his TaeKwon-Do. I then had the honour to be graded to 5th degree under General Choi in 1998.
My present grade, 6th Degree was granted by Master Choi Jung Hwa, son of the founder General Choi, in Hungary in May 2004. Master Choi has a very approachable personality and welcomes new ideas. Therefore, during a seminar in England I presented Master Choi with a Tempo Training CD.
I was later informed by Mr Ried (vip.tkdsource.com) that the Tempo CD had made an impression on Master Choi and he had afterwards spoken very positively about the concept. I felt that this was a great complement to receive from the son of the founder.

Tempo – The Need

In our history of TaeKwon-Do we are proud of the military roots and yet in pattern practise the timing is often disjointed. Even when attending international seminars I have found that each country has its own interpretation of timing as taught by that country’s Master.
General Choi Hong Hi travelled the world to standardise his movements and he would rightly insist that they should be performed in his way.
However, even in club training it is sometimes difficult to get all members moving together. This was the challenge I wanted to overcome and so I set myself the task of developing a pace setter that would allow every student, young or old, beginner or advanced, the time to complete the correct pattern movements as taught by General Choi.


What is Tempo ?

Tempo CD Chon-Gi to Gae-Baek is an audio training aid for groups or individuals to use to pace their movements. Tempo promotes a united student attitude in class during pattern training. It also has the added benefit of helping increase student retention. How?
Any training aid that motivates students should be welcomed and used to add variety to classes. Having a standard rhythm that allows all students, young, old, small or tall, the time to correctly perform the required elements within each movement will soon elevate the students to a higher standard of performance. If training is enjoyable, then students efforts will increase and their rewards will be greater. This is a winning formula.

Tempo – The Idea

I could not say for certain where the idea for Tempo came from. Perhaps it was at an early TKD lesson when my instructor had lost his voice and ran the lesson by demonstration and banging two wooden sticks together to signal the start of the techniques. Or perhaps it was when I attended an international competition in London in 1977 where a demonstration of team patterns was accompanied by a then famous rock drummer beating out the time along with a smoke and light show. It was very memorable.


Early Tempo

Early Tempo started with the drum and finished with the percussion. I guess I saw it as a starting pistol in the 100 metres.

After a time I reversed the sound. This worked well as the breathing would finish on the thump of the drum. All movements in TaeKwon-Do, with very few exceptions, have a one-two rhythm and can be broken down into phases: The initial phase of getting into distance without giving the game away. The second phase of implementing backward movement and knee spring, and the third phase accelerating, creating sine wave and, finally, on completion of the movement, the sharp exhalation of the breath. Within these four phases of a TKD movement the Tempo sound gives enough time to create the perfect technique.

I introduced Tempo to my club in 2000 and have been fine tuning the beats and monitoring the students reaction to pattern work with Tempo ever since. It has been a great success. I also find it a valuable tool for instruction, as it is easy to identify a student working out of time. This student will undoubtedly be missing or adding to one of the phases I have spoken about, for example, missing backward movement, missing knee spring etc etc.

Tempo Goes Public

In 2007 I suddenly found that due to illness I would be unable to instruct for a time and realised that I would need some assistance. I approached Master Oldham, my first TaeKwon-Do instructor who I had not seen for many years, and he immediately offered help by allowing my assistant instructors to attend his BTC Instructors Course which enabled my club to continue during my absence.

Following my return my son, Thomas and a friend, David decided that in order to raise money for the Charity Cancer Research UK, they would take part in the world famous London to Mongolia Rally. Setting out from Hyde Park London in 2008 they drove 10,000 miles in their 17 year old VW Golf. This was a gruelling journey through 17 countries, crossing 2 deserts and 5 mountain ranges.

To help raise money for the charities, my younger son Matthew had the idea of organising a Tempo Seminar. We contacted many groups to ask for their help and support and it was a great success.

We raised over £1,000 for our charities!
It was the largest group I had trained using the TEMPO CD, and the feedback and requests for a copy of the CD received afterwards made me consider offering Tempo to others. My intention for Tempo was always for personal use, to help my own club students, but I was very pleased others were showing an interest.

Since producing the original Tempo CD, I have added a further two CDs to complement the original. TEMPO TUNES and TEMPO KI. These two new versions add even more variety.

Why Tempo Ki? When I started my training in TaeKwon-Do in the 70’s we were all taught to ‘Ki ap’ in our patterns, so I was glad to see the reintroduction of them by Master Choi Jung Hwa’s group. I am not a member of this group but a good idea is a good idea, so in my Club’s training, I get my students to Ki ap using the Tempo Ki CD as a prompt.

Tempo Tunes has the addition of a backing track which not only adds to the enjoyment, but provides the extra concentration challenge – anyone not giving their full attention will lose their way!

Watch Tempo at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EssentialTaeKwonDo

If you are interested in acquiring a Tempo Cd to give a little variety to your pattern training then you should contact me at: barry.parsons@essential-tkd.co.uk

When you contact me quote “Totally TKD” to receive this special offer, buy one get one free: Tempo original + (Tempo Ki & Tempo Tunes on one CD) all for just £10 including P&P.

Don’t miss this great offer!

Thank you for taking the time to read Tempo-The Pace Maker.


What others say about Tempo

Master Oldham VIII Degree, President & founder of the GTUK says:
A great training aid for both junior and senior students. Helps to develop timing and co-ordination for group and individual training. Brings a new challenge to traditional pattern practice.

Master Sahota VII Degree President & Founder of the UKGT says:
Tempo TaeKwon-Do teaches students good rythum and timing as instructed by General Choi Hong Hi. A great training aid that will help even the most advanced students and bring a breath of fresh air into pattern practice.

Mr.Terry Donnelley VI Degree Ireland ITF Daltons says:
I tried it out last night and the response was fantastic. Parents of my juniors were really impressed to see teams of 10 kids (6 year olds) moving in unison. I felt the cd made some of the more scatty individuals concentrate more and realize that they can’t just move to the beat of a different drum. I know that WAS a terrible pun.

Mr.Dave Quigg V Degree USA-3-1060. ITF, USITF, WHA says:
How great is that! Just watching the version on your site, it kind of gets embedded in your mind. Sure beats trying to explain it to students. Sometimes I almost want to resort to "you can never do a pattern to slow" to get the students close to the correct speed. Also quite unique with the sounds changing from continuous motion to regular. A GREAT learning tool.
Mr.Owen Rosewell V Degree Caerphilly TaeKwon-Do says:
I used Tempo TaeKwon-Do at my classes last night for the first time, had a resounding effect. Magic! I can't wait to unleash Tempo-TKD on my next class tomorrow.

Mr. Snow V Degree England ITSI TaeKwon-Do says:
I tried it Wednesday and Thursday last week, the students loved it loads as did I. It is the one thing we have always been poor at is timing, I have done the complete CD and also used it for our own versions drills, We do cardio work outs to music already but this has complimented what we do, Fantastic training aid, I only wish that someone had created it years ago, but as they say you are never too young or rather old to re-learn something. Especial if it benefits members under you. Tae Kwon! I will keep my eyes open for other new features you launch as I am a TEMPO fan.

Mr. Mike Munyon V Degree USA-ITF says:
I just got the CD....I'm looking forward to giving it a go first chance I get. From what everyone has been saying...it's a treasure and excellent training tool. Thanks for sharing.