I spent a year getting five balls solid. 30-60 minutes every day. And at the end of that time I'd acquired a skill that society at large was generally indifferent to? Did this upset me? No. And I'll tell you why.

For starters, all that practise taught me things about myself that no amount of navel gazing would have. The targets, the bad days. And always the picking up. 'But what's the point of all that work?' people would ask me. 'What's the value?'

The point, the value, is precisely that there IS no value in modern society's terms. All that time gone for nothing, they say. All that time wasted when you could've been watching TV or out shopping(!)

Yet now, I have in my possession a rare and precious thing. Something that no amount of money can buy. Something that no thief can steal. Anyone can acquire this treasure, rich or poor. But it's not for sale. Skills never are.

So my treasure cannot be bought. But boy oh boy did I have to earn it! And in today's world, where it seems like everything is for sale, its nice to know that not everything is.

Any comments?

Caleb Strange.

Where can I buy one?

Hehe - actually my 5 ball pattern is horrible.

I felt the same way when I first learned clubs. I made my first set out of newspaper. I loved those clubs. I worked on them everyday. I actually developed tendonitis in my shoulder. It's a good thought.... Thanks for sharing.

And to think there are jugglers that juggle 5 & 7 balls in every pattern imaginable. And look at all of the 5 club jugglers now a days too!

Good point. I never (well almost never) juggle more than 3 things in my show, as there is no point to it. Juggling is something you do for yourself first.

My 5 ball is weak; I flash and can multi plex.

Like many other skills the main point is the satisfaction you get inside yourself for having established and reached a difficult goal by hard work. That, and juggling is actually real fun to do! But I do remember the times where I was almost biting those ***ed balls open! Unfortunately, as you observe, no one will care for that. But we don't care for the "don't care" either, do we?

That's funny. I've been working on 5 balls for over a year and it is just starting to become solid. I do spend a lot of time practicing, but I don't spend nearly as much time practicing as I spend on the internet. Anybody who posts regularly on this board spends a lot of time online. What I'm saying is that 20 to 60 minutes a day of juggling isn't a lot of time, and once you're a 5 ball juggler you'll know that it was time well spent.

Some of the things that kept me practicing was my friend Roo, who CJ's as much as I juggle (and sometimes more) I would get the occasional jealousy (he is an incredible CJ'er), and he would say, "Don't worry about it-your 5 ball will be awesome when it comes." And other people who are not as acomplished at juggling as me would be like you're a god if you can do 5 balls.

Also can anybody here do 7? As soon as I master 5, I'm jumping up to the 5 ball flash and 7 balls. I was wondering how much harder it is than 5.

Jonathan

I'm guessing 5 to 7 is as exponential a change as from 3 to 5. It will probably be even more difficult than the leap from 3 to 5, as 3 is a pattern that is like breathing to a juggler... if you can do 5 in any pattern and do several tricks - then I'd say it'd be as difficult as the quantumn leap from 3 to 5.

Personally, I think I would love to be able to have a good 5 ball pattern... but as a performer, I realize that it's not worth the time and effort in my life to justify it, as the actual benefits to my show would be relatively small.

Most laymen see little difference between 4 balls and 5 balls. This being a magic board and all - you can easily see how presentation makes all the difference. Some of the easiest tricks in the world have the same or better results on an audience than their more difficult counterparts.

This also being a magic board, does anybody use a blindfold for juggling? In my early years I used to juggle knives blindfolded on a unicycle or a rola bola. If you can juggle, you CAN juggle blindfolded!

Regards,

Caleb Strange.

Just to be a good poster, I've posted some stuff on juggling blindfolded in a new topic.

ML

Caleb, I really like what you wrote as I found myself agreeing very much with what you said. Indeed, skills are something which no amount of money in the world can buy.

I am not much of a juggler (barely getting a grasp of the basics), but I realise how satisfying it is when one finally learns a new skill, (eg. 3-ball cascade). The fact that one has worked so hard to earn it makes it even more wonderful.

Cheers!

Lithix is right: civilians have no idea how hard it is to juggle five balls. They only look at numbers "Gee, 4 is only one more than 3, and 5 is only one more than 4. What's big deal?"
Only you and other jugglers will appreciate what effort it took to get to five balls. Although I could see this being part of a routine--explaining how long it took to practice, that there is an expontial difference, etc. Done right, it could get a huge response.

My 5 ball isn't good but I have a solid multiplex and my 6 ball Fountin is getting better even though it's hard not to hit the ceiling

I am currently working on my 5-ball cascade. It seems for the most part to be going ok, but if I don't warm up with some 3 and 4-ball tricks then its a mess. Everytime I drop it builds my confidence that much more. When it isn't going so well I just think of all the encouragement that other jugglers have given me.

It has taken me a year and a half to smooth out my five ball. When I look back at where I was when I first started, I am amazed. It's going to be the same thing all over again with 6 and 7. Philip

5 balls is a strange thing. You can be total pants at it for ages and then, all of a sudden, voila! Fortunately, once you have the knack you tend to keep it, even with irregular practice.

But, in the main, juggling over 5 is pretty pointless from a performance point of view. The audience won't appreciate the difference, and other jugglers will just say, "well, Gatto, Garfield and Lucas can do more". There's more money to be earned eating an apple while juggling!

ML

...for our US readers, I mean pants in the underwear sense, not as in trousers. Just to clarify.

And pants means ********, by the way.

I wonder if ******** is allowed?

ML

I agree that juggling over 5 doesn't bring much performance value, but it can bring great satisfaction (and give you something to do). Philip

I've been 5 balls for about 10 years. I've been working on 6 and 7 balls since then. By "working" I mean grabbing my Fergies, throwing and dropping then for about 20 min, and not touching it again for several weeks (I'd rather work on my 5 clubs).

Once you hit 5 balls, which for me happened like a flash of light after a year of frustration, start working on 6 and 7 balls at the same time. When you get that far along, 6 and 7 balls are apples and oranges. Like devil stick and cigar boxes. They feel completely different, and one will not get in the way of the other.

Why spend four years learning 6 then 7 balls, when you can spend three years leaning both simultaneously? Of course, there is that 5 ball bounce pattern, and I'd really like to learn a 5 ball shower. . .

TroyRoark

My practical juggling routine (practical meaning without music) consists of basic 3 ball (I juggle 2 acrylics and a dube stage ball) which gets a response, then advanced 3 ball (Mills Mess, Rubenstiens revenge, the box, etc..) and I catch the odd ball on the back of my neck which gets an even bigger response. I then put those away and take out 4 bean bags and do the fountain columns, another response and then I take out the fifth ball and do my multiplex and 5 ball columns. Then I begin to explain to them how difficult the ball cascade is and that the year and a half of practicing went into what your about to watch. Then I do a quick 5 ball and it gets a tremendous response.

I find that juggling this way and building them up really gets the audience excited and they realise how difficult 5 ball really is.

Just some presentation tips

Jonathan

Early on, I had an "oops" in a show in which I lost control of the very first ball of a 5 ball cascade. Plop! at my feet. I kept going with four, pretending that I didn't notice (or was trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes). The audience howled. They enjoyed that impromptu business much more than the demonstration that I could actually juggle the five!

Doug