Monday, June 14, 2010

Grab a ball and celebrate!

So apparently today, (June 14, 2010) is World Juggling Day! Who knew? A whole day, just for juggling! I have been teaching myself to juggle for about a month now, and even though I’m still dropping balls occasionally, I have improved. It’s actually pretty fun, once you get good enough to get a rhythm going, and there’s a lot more to it than just throwing balls around. I had always thought that juggling was just one or two different ways of throwing balls and catching them, but it turns out that there is a lot more depth to it than that. Cascades, showers, fountains, flash…all these mean different ways to toss and catch the balls, and combining them form different ways to trick juggle. There are different styles, and different ways of passing on a pattern to another fellow juggler. Who would’ve thought that complex math would be involved in juggling? Since I find stuff like this interesting, and in honor of World Juggling Day, here is some information about juggling…

There are two different ways to learn juggling; one is by seeing a pattern, and then practicing it, and the other is by calculating a pattern and then recording it. This last one is called a notation system. Notation systems are used when a juggling pattern is really complex that the tricks have to be recorded on paper. There are two ways to do this. First one is called siteswap, which uses numbers to represent different patterns, and the other is called a diagram-based notation, which uses drawn images. There is also a newer system called beatmap, which uses a little computer drawn stick person juggling balls, and is used for people who learn tricks visually.
Siteswap began in the 1980’s, and is simply a mathematical way to write a juggling pattern. A number is used for each throw. If the pattern is indicated by a single number, then that is the simple way of juggling that number of balls. So a 3 would mean a 3-ball cascade. The number also represents the height and speed of the throw; so a 3 also signifies a simple crossing throw. A 5 represents a higher crossing cascade throw. Numbers also tell the type of throw…odd numbers mean a cascade that is a cross throw from one hand to the other, and evens mean a fountain throw that stays in the same hand. A 1 stands for a horizontal throw or pass from one hand to the other. 0 means an empty hand, such as in the 40 pattern, where two balls juggle in one hand while the other is empty. A 2 represents a hold or gap, where the ball is not being thrown or caught. So a 42 would mean two balls are in one hand, while the hold is in the other.

The Numbers

0: empty hand
1: pass between hands
2: hold or gap
3: balls crossing or cascading
4: two balls juggled in one hand
5: high throw

Crazy, huh? It gets better…

Patterns have rhythms, just like music. So instead of writing it over and over again, (Example, 5151515151) you would just write 51. Notations will only work if the sum of all the numbers can be reduced to the amount of balls that are being thrown. So 51 would have to be a 3 ball pattern, because 5+1=6/2=3 (balls) 52 would not be a valid siteswap because 5+2=7/2=3.5 (balls) Obviously you can’t juggle half a ball….

I figure that’s probably enough info… I think it’s so interesting that something as simple as throwing balls around has that much science and math involved… That’s cool.

~Ro

p.s. Info above came from the book Master Juggling, by Cassandra Beckerman.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my gosh, there's a juggling day?! That's sp awesome...I had no idea there was so much to it, all I know is is looks super super neat :]

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