Juggling Thread

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 20 Jun 2005 15:46

Try it again with some wrist weights that people use while jogging. Just a few pounds, but you can feel it.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 08 Mar 2006 19:15

Can someone suggest some basic tricks?
I've looked at the links posted, but it's kind of hard to follow the java demos, especially without descriptions of what they're doing.

I can only cascade, basically, and a few simple tricks.
Any tips for 4-ball juggling? I'm really close, but can only really do a couple rotations.

I think I used to be better and I was close to the box and mills mess, but I haven't juggled for a long time. I tried the 3-ball trick where you throw them all from one hand around your back and juggle out of it -- I did it beesauce and it felt super good

That was from a link on here somewhere, but most of the tricks don't feel very newbie-friendly to me >_____<

EDIT: I'm looking at http://hem.passagen.se/hoss/juggleanim.htm
I don't understand a lot of the tricks, like Chops and Reachover (and Eating Apples, etc). I haven't really gone far beyond that yet, but I can do columns and I'm learning the other variations of columns, which are fun. And I'm doing the over-head cascade now too.

Is there some kind of Job's Notation in juggling?

sampotter · Post by **sampotter** » 08 Mar 2006 20:16

Hey Erik,

The site that really got me started in juggling is the following: http://homepage.mac.com/abramr/juggling ... index.html

It has a lot of videos of beginning tricks -- both slow-mo, and regular speed videos. There are broken down steps for learning things like Mill's Mess, and general advice for each trick.

The "job's notation" for juggling is called siteswap. It's scary and I haven't tried learning it. Perhaps I will. Good luck with it. It appears to be worse than jobs.

Juggling is a blast! Juggling with other footbaggers is almost my favorite thing to do at tournaments anymore. It's really fun getting a chance to look at peoples' approach to hobbies and how that translates with other hobbies - style-wise, especially. More footbaggers need to be enthusiastic about juggling so juggling circles pop up at tourneys with more regularity.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 09 Mar 2006 08:20

I have been juggling HARD for the last few months!!

I guess having KFM meetings with the juggling club every week helps alot.

I have most of the basics under control, cascades, mills, columns, full/half shower, the box etc. I love juggle shred!!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 09 Mar 2006 23:01

Any advice on 4-ball cascade?
I can do '2 in one hand' in both hands at once, but cascade is just really evading me...I get crazy happy if I can do anything more than a single rotation!

sampotter · Post by **sampotter** » 10 Mar 2006 07:28

http://www.win.tue.nl/~sjouke/misc/jug/techreport.html

Are you talking about a different pattern, Erik?

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 10 Mar 2006 16:27

Holy, that's way too intimidating to read.
Are you saying that 4-ball cascade doesn't exist?
Maybe I don't know the definition of cascade. I mean starting with two in each hand, tossing one and then another one from each side (inside/under?) to the other, and, immediately after tossing the first two, tossing the second two to opposite sides > repeat. Isn't this called cascade? Like the first example on this page, but with an extra ball..

What is the standard method of juggling 4 balls?
I can do the "two columns", but I don't think I've even done 3-ball shower. Is 4-ball shower the standard 4-ball pattern?

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 10 Mar 2006 19:31

Erik Chan wrote:What is the standard method of juggling 4 balls?
I can do the "two columns", but I don't think I've even done 3-ball shower. Is 4-ball shower the standard 4-ball pattern?

The 'standard' 4-ball pattern is done with 2 balls in each hand. You can do it synchronously or asynchronously.

Going from in-to-out you just juggle 2 in each hand. If you do it asynch. it winds up *looking* like they are crossing even though they are not. That being said, you can do the pattern with them crossing too, but the most common/standard pattern is asynch. 2 in each hand.

jake · Post by **jake** » 10 Mar 2006 20:24

i got a juggling kit a few years back liked it for a while but thne just kinda put it in the closet and stoped maybe ill whip it out and juggle sometime.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 10 Mar 2006 21:53

So by doing what I thought was 4-ball cascade, I'm really just doing 2 balls in each hand but crossing? Nobody is really answering my question. Does 4-ball cascade not exist? When I see people juggling, like, 7 balls, is that a shower (all going around in a circle in one direction?)? Is this the same with 4 balls? That's what I'm trying to understand.

Dat · Post by **Dat** » 10 Mar 2006 22:55

Yeah Erik, there's no 4 ball cascade really. Only odd amounts cross ie balls move back and forth between hands.

7 can be done in a shower or cascade.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 10 Mar 2006 23:41

Oh, so cascade is only an odd number? Okay. I'm not sure I get it, but that makes sense...

Tom's suggestion totally helped me too! Instead of doing columns (is it columns with 2 in each hand?) at the same time in each hand, I just alternated the toss and it looks like 'cascade' -- so it's pretty easy and it looks good now

So...any tips on shower now? My hands tend to get confused really easily trying anything where I have to toss directly to the other hand.

Dat · Post by **Dat** » 11 Mar 2006 02:22

Practice throwing 2 balls straight across between your hands. Have one go over the other. And practice going the other way too. This will improve your 1 throws.

This SiteSwap notation guide is easier to read:

http://www.juggling.org/help/siteswap/ssintro/

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 16 Mar 2006 02:49

Hey, does anyone have tips on Eating Apples??
From what I understand it's the Chops pattern but on every catch you move the ball up to your face and back before throwing up again. Is this right? It seems like you have to be ridiculously fast...

I'm still pretty weak at just Chops, but I'm practicing an 'Eating Apples'-esque , 2-ball, one-hand pattern and I can't even do this very well -- am I misunderstanding something, or do you actually have to move fast enough to move each ball up to your face and back between every single throw?

Is this a basic trick? I can do 6 rotations of the one-hand version, and I can do 16 full rotations of Chops...so I kind of have the idea, but even thinking about combining the two blows my mind @______@

PS: Thanks Dat! the throwing back and forth helped. I'm pretty good with my good Shower, though my best flip Shower is only 3 full rotations -- this is super hard for me flipside!! That also helped me with a two-ball Box pattern I was trying to figure out before I go into 3-ball Box. One thing I have a problem with, though, is that I tend to cheat and "toss" from very short distances when doing my 2-ball Box...it's more of a grab a lot of the time, especially with my flip hand... Any tips on cleaning up this movement? I watched a Jorden juggling video recently and he did this SO clean (is there a name for it?)

PPS: Could someone give some perspective on what it's like starting to learn juggling? Maybe compared to footbag. Footbag is the only other freestyle activity I've ever played, and I started YEEARS ago, so I've forgotten what it's like to be a newb. I have a few tricks, but I find it intimidating to try to learn a whole bunch more, because as it is I forget what patterns I've learned and can never throw them into a "run".
Should I concentrate on single tricks until I can do a few small combos really easily and for a long time and then worry about more tricks? I'm not quite sure what to do. I know I've only been juggling for a few days, but it feels like I could be doing more since I have a workable variety of tricks I can mix together.

Any tips/suggestions/feedback on what it's like being a juggling newb? Any more websites or videos? Is there a forum for juggling like Modified for footbag?

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 16 Mar 2006 08:53

I think it kinda sounds like you are skipping ahead of yourself a little.

You may find it adventageous to really get the basic throws down solid before really working on any specific patterns.

To learn the shower you need the foundations of it (like any footbag trick), have you tried a 2-ball snake before? You can drill this to learn the throws for shower.

With two in one hand and one in the other, in succession toss the two from the one hand and *while they are in the air* toss the single ball to the other hand. As the first of the two balls that are chasing eachother gets to your other hand quickly toss them back up in a controlled arc and again toss the single ball straight across to the other hand.

So two are chasing eachother in the air like a snake and the single ball is just being thrown back and forth while the others are in the air arcing.

Even more basic than that, and where you should really start, is to do that without the third ball. Just try to keep the two balls so that most of the time they are in the air together and not one sitting in a hand while the other flies.

This drill will help for learning the box.. kinda.

Also, to practice the box use two balls, one in each hand. Really focus on one being thrown sideways at the same time that the other one goes straight up and down. Drill that over and over and over until it happens automatically.

Have fun!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 16 Mar 2006 10:20

Yeah, I do that 2-ball exercise of the Box.
I have no idea what "the basics" are, though, because I haven't found any websites that really guide you through this sort of thing. All I have really found is tricks lists and video demos...I got really confused because at first I thought I had to go through these lists move by move (like they were listed in order of difficulty) -- then I realize that they aren't, and I'm starting to look at other patterns.

I have no idea what to do to practice patterns before the patterns themselves. How am I supposed to know that? I thought it was pretty brilliant of my to think to do the Box with only 2 balls...

I can do Shower fine on my good side, it's just my flip that I have a lot of trouble with. I also don't understand how you do the snake motion you mentioned. I was practicing 3-ball multiplex in one hand, and the video demo showed what you are describing, but I didn't really understand how that worked, so I just threw them at the same time and snatched them out of the air in no particular order (this is probably harder?). How do you get the balls to chase each other??

All of the advice I'm getting seems very vague to me

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 16 Mar 2006 12:52

You need to find a local juggling club to learn from!

Think of all the newbie shredders that excel because they have more advanced players to learn from?

Alot of the 'basics' drills I do were suggested to me by the jugglers in the Kingston club, I meet with them twice a week!

I will film a clip of the snake tonight for you, it's really quite simple, but you have to do it precisely or it is unclean. (theee!!!

)

You don't just chuck them in the air, you throw one, then quickly after you throw the second, they should be like.. a foot to a foot and a half apart as they arc through the air.

Doing this repeating helps you drill the throws needed for full shower.

Oh yeah, and juggle 'shred' is totally fun, you don't have to do full patterns or anything, you can just do lots of little tricks that are not much more complicated than cascade and just flow with it.

I want to juggle with you Erik!

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 16 Mar 2006 16:41

Yeh thats what i love about 3 ball too Tom! The 'shred' kind of feel it can have to it if you do lots of tricks quickly in succession, sometimes only like 1 completion of pattern or something and straight into something else. Its sweet!

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 16 Mar 2006 17:31

Okay -- thanks for the clarification, Tom. It's hard to tell from the java demos, I guess -- it totally looked like they were throwing them at the same time.

Yeah, I've tried the shred thing too. I will practice that more -- I do mirages a lot when I try to shred with actual juggling tricks

Eric Reile is really good at juggling triple dex tricks for a very long time!

How did you find a juggling club? Are they common? Is there a listing somewhere that could help me find a local group?

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 16 Mar 2006 18:21

Check local newspapers... besides the city newspaper, there's lots of small, often free papers, for more local news and events.... in my area anyways. I guess some might be found by google as well.

EDIT: some links I'm finding:
http://www.juggling.org/meetings/Maps/ -Listing
http://www.jugglingdb.com/clubs/index.php?record=139 -Winnipeg Juggling Club (from http://www.jugglingdb.com/clubs/)