Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm...

Karamazov Brothers erase the fine line between juggling and music

Stepping into the spotlight on an otherwise darkened stage, Ivan Karamazov declares:

 

"Juggling is a series of events, throws and catches, happening with respect to time. Music, similarly, is a series of events, notes, as graphed against a continuum of time. Now this relationship between time and events in music is called rhythm. That same term - rhythm - can also be applied to the same relationship in juggling. So, as we've just seen, juggling is rhythm and music is rhythm. Now, logic tells us that if A=B and B=C then A=C. Therefore, juggling is music."

 

First-time witnesses of the FKB are surprised by many things, from dummies falling out of the rafters to kittens blown back up into them. But the most remarkable feat, as measured by audience response, is the way in which the FKB create rhythm and melody with juggling patterns and props.

 

Howard Patterson (Ivan) introduces the first musical piece with the soliloquy above. At its conclusion, his four fellow Karamazov Brothers join him on stage. They carry plastic clubs in hands sheathed with "whackos," an onomatapoetic name for their rivet-studded leather gloves.

 

Standing in a line facing the audience, they begin making a precise series of single and double-spun throws in a synchronized percussion quintet in 5/4 time. The base beat each man juggles is a right hand double, left hand double and then single­single. The middle juggler's clubs are wound with jingle bells to accent the jazzy click from the others. A third, softer sound comes from tapping the clubs on thighs as they're caught. To drive the message further, voices call out "I've-got-rhythm!" in a truly convincing demonstration of creative team juggling.

 

It is the last sketch before the audience is released for intermission, and gives just an intriguing hint of the degree to which the Karamazov Brothers troupe has explored the possibilities of making music with juggling instruments.

 

The musical concept is a driving force for this 12-year-old troupe of California origin which has become an American juggling legend. Randy Nelson (Alyosha) said, "The part of the show that touches us most profoundly is where we make music." They currently perform four musical numbers, one with gloves and clubs, one ball bounce on trap drum solo, and two arrangements for balls on drums and clubs struck on a marimba (a form of xylophone made of wood).