Spirit = technique?

With the quarterly tests at the dojo just behind me and my own coming up in a few months, I was thinking about how much spirit has to do with one's success on a test.

Poor spirit will fail you on a test, even if your physical technique is spot-on. Without the intention behind a technique, the movements are empty, and therefore the technique is weak.

I have never seen anyone really put themselves into their techniques with fervor but with weak kiai and response to commands. Conversely, I've never seen anyone kiai and respond with intention yet do movements with lackluster effort. In this way, spirit and technique mirror each other.

Can spirit actually make your moves stronger or faster? I would argue that it can! Spirit as intention can help you realize what your technique should be. Maybe you're just kicking at the air, but imagining an opponent who doesn't want to get hit will give you a reason to kick faster, kick harder. Maybe you're just playing shime at a practice, but imagining an audience who paid to see you will give you a reason to be "on" instead of going through the motions.

It's frustrating to see people fail a test or be dead on stage simply due to a lack of spirit. As someone who teaches both taiko and karate, it's one of the last things I ever want. I can show someone how to align their body, how to strike, how to stand, but I can't make someone have spirit.

Having said all this, I will admit I'm not usually a fan of all-out kiai that I see in some arts, both martial and musical. Screaming one's head off as a show of strong spirit reads to me as a lack of understanding of what spirit is and is annoying aesthetically. But that's me.

So what do you think? How does your spirit shape your technique? How good can your technique be without intention behind it? And what forms can that intention take?