I'm Wondering If Anyone Knows How I Should Divide My Time When Learning The Palmer Method?

[TestTube]

I'm wondering if anyone knows how I should divide my time when learning the Palmer Method?

 

For example: If I spend 1 hour, maybe I should do 10min of drills, 30min of practice with certain letters, 20min sentences.

 

Thank you. =)

[cellmatrix]

I recommend getting the book ‘modern business penmanship’ by e c mills. I think Edward Mills provides the most beautiful letterforms of monolayer business writing (aka palmer), and many others here agree too. Once you get the book (you can download it online for free see link below) spend a half hour to an hour on each page, starting with the exercises. After finishing the book, you should start to feel comfortable using this style as your everyday writing and write at least an hour a day in note taking, correspondence, journaling etc. for practice. In addition revisit the book periodically, maybe an hour a week, to brush up on your skills. For example if you find an individual letter is giving you trouble, then that week spend some time on drills with that letter. That’s what I’ve done and I’m happy with the results- good luck!


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Modern_Business_Penmanship_by_Edward_C._Mills_1903.pdf

[DiveDr]

Not quite clear here whether or not I understand, is the Palmer method suggesting that writing be accomplished with movements of the arm not the hand and wrist?

[BaronWulfraed]

Not quite clear here whether or not I understand, is the Palmer method suggesting that writing be accomplished with movements of the arm not the hand and wrist?

Short answer: YES.

 

Longer answer: The hand/wrist are used to "lock" the pen angle (azimuth/elevation) relative to the paper. It is not a style conducive to using flex nibs for line variation (but may work well with stub and italic nibs).

 

Imagine drawing the letters using your computer mouse: move the mouse as a unit, no rotation at the wrist. Now remove the mouse from under your palm and slip a pen between thumb/index fingers (curve middle finger under for support). Use the same arm movements to draw letters with the pen.

 

 

Do I practice with that? NO... I'd been given two weeks to learn cursive after moving from a school district that used block print at start of 3rd grade to one that transitioned to cursive at the end of 2nd grade. Two weeks going through a multi-month lesson book, on my own time, didn't lead to a very fancy or legible hand.

[DiveDr]

Wow! I do not think I can do that!

[TestTube]

DiveDr: You will feel stupid at first. Almost like you feel like it's a complete waste of time.

 

This will go on for at least a couple weeks, maybe even a month or 2 depending on how much you practice.

 

I have been practicing for 1 month now and by week 2 I was wondering if I was making any progress AT ALL, it wasn't until week 3 that I realized I made progress finally by comparing old writing to how I'm writing now.

 

I will admit though that I practiced for at least a couple hours every day.

 

Now I'm determined to keep going until this is completely 2nd nature to me.

 

I have another question for people that have learned the Palmer method though:

 

In your personal opinion, how much do you guys think the exercises / drills actually help? (The circles, lines, etc)...It seems like I'm not building muscle memory for writing the actual letters and that time would be better spent practicing the actual letters over and over...BUT at the same time I feel like these drills are to get your arm used to making small movements...I'm just not sure though that this translates to actual writing ability.

 

So, what do you guys think?

[AAAndrew]

The drills are to gain consistency. By being able to make the standard shapes consistently, your letters will be consistent.

 

As a spur to keep going, here is my grandmother's Palmer certificate from 1918. She was 15-years-old.

 

[ItsMeDave]

The drills are to gain consistency. By being able to make the standard shapes consistently, your letters will be consistent.

 

As a spur to keep going, here is my grandmother's Palmer certificate from 1918. She was 15-years-old.

 

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That is fantastic! Love it.

Edited January 8, 2020 by ItsMeDave

[Winslo]

Hi,

This is how I worked on my cursive retraining. This may or may not work for you, you need to find your own balance. But you can use this as a starting point and adapt to it.

I started with “Champion Method of Practical Business Writing - Mary L. Champion” and then went on to “Arm Movement Method of Rapid Writing - Charles Paxton Zaner, 1904,” both can be found on IAMPETH. I supplemented each with the “Theory of Spencerian Penmanship,” to get second opinion or to look for extra info if I felt the need. It doesn't matter which method you use, just find the one that you feel comfortable with, are all similar.

I spent 20 to 45 minutes daily, during my lunch hour at work, working through these two books. I tried to ‘master’ each of the lessons until I moved on to the next. I did not put a set term on each lesson; whether it took one week or took 2 months, it didn’t matter. I just kept at it until I thought I had grasped the concept in each lesson.

I’ve been at it for almost a year and my writing has dramatically improved. The key is consistency. Your have to practice regularly and you have to do targeted practice. i.e. analyze your writing and look for mistakes and fix those mistakes. Analyze each sample letter. Slow way down. Do not make the second stroke of the letter until you know in your mind where the pen is moving to. Even now I momentarily pause at the top of each stroke.

 

The exercises / drills are the most import aspect of these books. I did not realize it until I got better. I now use them as warm up exercises before practice. I have reached the point where I am practicing writing various texts to improve my consistency. Do not work on these exercises without thought. Again work on target practice. The line drills is particularly helpful in creating the forward slant. Remember the down stroke is towards the center of your chest. The circular drills helps with making your letters look consistent. I, however, don't agree with the speed drills. I find that they did not help me.

I do not follow a particular set of letters styles, I look for and adapt what I think I pleasing to me. I always keep an eye out for peoples hand writing to see which letter I can adapt to my style.

It’s not easy and it take time. If it was easy everyone would have nice penmanship.

Hope my experience helps.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Winslo

[Aminah]

I recommend getting the book ‘modern business penmanship’ by e c mills. . . . That’s what I’ve done and I’m happy with the results- good luck!

 

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Modern_Business_Penmanship_by_Edward_C._Mills_1903.pdf

Thank you for this. Looks to be exactly what I needed. I am thrilled to have found this and to get started after my seyes paper arrives from Goulet.

[Aminah]

It’s not easy and it take time. If it was easy everyone would have nice penmanship.

Hope my experience helps.

 

Touche! Thanks for this reminder. It makes so much sense.

[Aminah]

The drills are to gain consistency. By being able to make the standard shapes consistently, your letters will be consistent.

 

As a spur to keep going, here is my grandmother's Palmer certificate from 1918. She was 15-years-old.

 

-

That is fantastic! Love it.

Oops, now I see it.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Lyric