Having Problems?

Here is the place to come in the Compendium when everything is going wrong. A quiet corner among these busy pages where helpful advice and words of comfort are offered to jugglers who are finding it hard to cope. Maybe your Double spins aren't working too well. Perhaps your thumbs are bruised, your Five Club Cascade is giving you gip, your Three Club Start just smashed you in the teeth and your Kickups seem anatomically impossible.

 

You are, in short, a failure. You feel like giving up and doing something useful with your life instead. Good plan. Why not grab the paper and see if there are any good movies on? Go and have some fun for a change!

 

But no, you want to persevere, to try a little harder, perhaps even achieve something. Fear not, dear reader, the Compendium is here to help.

 

I refer you immediately to the entry for Having Problems in the Encyclopaedia of Ball Juggling, but perhaps you do not have a copy of that book in which case you now have even more problems than you thought you did a moment ago.

 

Learning to juggle is difficult, if it wasn't then there's a good chance that you would never have bothered to get interested in the first place. The fact that you are desperately frustrated at being wholly unable to make your body do a simple juggling trick that your brain understands perfectly well is a classic illustration of the first of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths -all life is suffering. To paraphrase in the modem idiom - life is a bitch.

 

Juggling is like life. You know what you want to do (fast cars, big houses, impress your friends and so on), you know what you should do (get up early, eat good food, think carefully before opening your mouth etc.) and somehow you still manage to get it all wrong.

 

Your problem is that you can't manage a juggling trick - it's driving you nuts. The solution is to give yourself a jolt, change tack, view the problem from a new perspective, see the wood for the trees and have a bit of fun for a change. The secret is to sidle up to the problem and catch it unawares.

 

Give up working on the trick you are stuck on immediately. Learn this one instead.

Take two clubs, one in each hand. Toss both clubs simultaneously and catch them, each in the throwing hand - one club is to perform a perfect Single spin while the other is to do a Reverse Spin.

 

Gotcha! 99% of jugglers find this completely impossible on the first attempt and yet you'll be able to do it after just a little practice. Be sure to learn it both ways around (so that each hand gets to practise the Reverse Spin).

With this new and incredible skill wired into your consciousness you may return to work on whatever was stumping you before. You'll find that the quick stretch you have just given to your 'learning muscle' has done wonders for your general coordination and dexterity.

 

Late Single

The Late Single is an obscure and largely unknown Syncopation for patterns of the three­clubs-per-juggler persuasion. It's a moderately advanced trick so I'd leave learning it until you are skilled enough to throw Syncopations in a Three Count.

 

Being obscure, its most common use is to surprise your partner into dropping a perfectly catchable throw. A Late Single can be thrown in any regular count (except the One Count) and is a Single pass, made one beat late, and aimed at the 'wrong' hand. It's therefore caught exactly like a Late Double.

 

ln a Four Count you throw a Late Single pass on the two beat, one beat after the regular pass. You have to miss the regular pass to make that throw. This is a non-trivial juggling problem.

 

The neatest method is to throw a right to right self Double on the pass beat (throw the club straight up, to yourself, instead of to your partner) and then throw the Late Single on the two beat immediately afterwards.

 

There's a strong possibility of a collision between your outbound Late Single and the incoming pass from your partner. You avoid this by throwing your pass inside theirs, just as you would if you were juggling a One Count.

Throwing a Late Single pass in a Four Count. The regular pass is missed by throwing a self Double.

 

For most people this move goes 'against the grain' and some furious coordination is required of the head-patting and stomach-rubbing variety.

 

Catching the Late Single is exactly like catching a Late Double (or any other late pass) except that it's a little harder to spot what is going on in time to react. Your partner will probably be caught by surprise the first time this unexpected pass is made so it's best to warm them up with a few Late Doubles before throwing them their first Late Single ­ unless you want them to screw up!

 

There is a technically easier method of setting yourself up for the Late Single which has an unconventional elegance that I simply adore.

 

Juggle the Four Count and after making a pass you stop your pattern dead, with two clubs in the right hand -Clack!

 

Freeze like this for two beats and then throw the Late Single to your partner (one beat after their pass) and resume your cascade.

 

They juggle:

Pass-two-three-four-pass-two-three-four­ pass..

 

You juggle:

Pass-two-clackl-wait -wait -Pass-three-four­ pass..

 

The secret is to concentrate on the timing of the move. The most common mistake is that of throwing the Late Single too early, typically at the same time as your partner's normal pass - it must be thrown one beat after their pass.

 

If you and your partner take it in turns to throw Late Singles using the clack technique you'll find yourselves juggling to a very hypnotic rhythm punctuated by the sound of clubs clacking together. It may be easy but it's awesome juggling!

 

Late Singles, as I said earlier, can be thrown in Two Count and Three Count patterns but not in One Counts.

 

In the Three Count you throw a self Double so as to miss the regular pass and throw the Late Single on the two beat.

 

Since the Three Count is an ambidextrous pattern you have two versions to learn - left-handed and right-handed.

 

In the Two Count it's a little more hectic but at least there is only one side to learn it on!

 

Once again, throw a self Double on the pass beat and the Late Single on the two beat. Note that the Late Single is followed immediately by a normal pass -so it feels as if you are juggling Pass Pass Self for a moment.

 

Over the Shoulder

Easier than Behind the Back, harder than standing on one leg; an Over the Shoulder throw is usually a right to right, or left to left Double that turns with Reverse Spin.

 

Practise the throw with just one club until you start to get a feel for where it is heading. Use a Double spin.

 

The beginner tends to look to the side when throwing Over the Shoulder, trying to keep an eye on its whole flight. The expert looks up, waiting for the club to appear out of nowhere.

 

Now add some Over the Shoulder throws to your Three Club Cascade. They fit into the pattern just like self Doubles, the pattern 'freezes' for a moment, waiting for the club to drop back in.

 

If you can Flourish a club you'll find that an Over the Shoulder throw can be tacked onto the end of the Flourish creating a very spectacular move.

 

You can make a very low and tight Over the Shoulder if you begin the move with a Wrong End catch and give the club One and a Half spins instead of a Double. The club practically wraps itself around your shoulder, missing it by millimetres.

 

Because the throw is so low it arrives back in the throwing hand very quickly, you need to keep the other two clubs out of the way during the move by juggling a couple of throws of in your left hand while throwing the trick in the right.

 

Highly skilled four club jugglers can throw Over the Shoulder in a Four Club Fountain.

 

See also Behind the Back, Under the Ann, Under the Leg, and SIapover.

If you have any comments or suggestions for Juggler's Workshop, write to: Juggler's Workshop, Palo Alto, CA or call Martin Frost.