I am trying to juggle five balls but cannot seem to get the hang of it. I should give myself more time but I need some advice on what exactly to do. I’ve already checked out juggling.org and have read their tutorial. I am able to do everything except three in one hand and continous three ball flashes. What did other people learn before doing five succesfully? How long did it take you to get to the point where you can juggle five in a sloppy way?
i had 4 down pretty solidly for a while before attempting five. i seriously just did it. i tried for about a week for about 30-45 min each day and just tried to do 5. it’s just like 3 only higher and faster. the biggest problem i had was collisions in the middle, just make sure you maintain a solid pattern and you’ll be fine.
Man, I’ve practiced 5 almost every day for two months, and I can only “qualify” every once in a while.
I Don’t know what to say, but I think it will just take MORE time and MORE practice.
Don’t get discouraged…five is exponentially harder than four. I don’t have it down yet, but I’m finally–after weeks of practicing–starting to be able to see a more solid pattern emerging in the air above my head. At first it was just stuff flying everywhere.
Because of my initial non-results trying 5, I went back and spent some time doing the various recommended exercises, i.e. the continuous 3-ball flashes, then 5-ball throws with no catch attempts (to try to get the right groupings of balls on the floor), then 5-ball flashes, etc. Then at a festival I was talking with Ben Schoenberg, one of the IJA numbers judges, and he said something like “All those lead-up exercises are great, but at some point you need to stop and just focus on juggling the five. And it will eventually come.” So that’s what I’m doing now.
Once you’re able to start seeing the pattern above you, you can at least start working on what you need to adjust. My current problem is that my fourth throw is going higher than the first three. When that happens, I can only get to six catches max before it breaks down. When I pay attention and keep my fourth throw consistent with the first three, I can get up to about 12 catches before it breaks down.
One other thing I’ve been trying to do–not sure if it’s good or not–is to try to end with catches, versus with drops. Think 5-ball flash, but then try to add one more throw before you catch them all and stop. Then two more throws, etc. This helps encourage control, stopping with a success instead of a drop, and allows you to practice alternating hands for the 3-ball catch.
Basically, you just have to keep practicing. Five balls takes forever to learn, and as far as I know, there is no way to get around the huge block of practice time you will have to put in. Count your catches, set goals, and try to have fun. My best run with five was over 600, but I still have a hard time hitting 100 consistently. Once you can get around fifty catches, feel free to try under the leg, half shower, reverse cascade, and flashes.
A major factor is your age, if you can juggle 4, and are around 16 years old then 5 will come quite quickly for many. If you are fifty, then you will probably have to work at it for ten or twenty times as long. If you are not sixteen progress comes in steps, you suddenly find you are doing it noticeably better, you may even think you are nearly there…the reality is that there are many other steps to get past. Take time to figure out what you are doing wrong this time, correct it, and then look for the next problem. 5 balls is not easy. Compared to 3 balls, you might relate it to riding a stacked two wheeler rather than a basic 20 inch uni.
It needs hard work, no doubt about it.
Nao
Make sure you’re working to the right height.
Rule of thumb indications are that when you stand on tiptoes and raise your hand up as high as you can, that is the height you should throw the ball to.
Everyone will have a prefered height, that’s just an indication to help prevent you from trying it too low.
Make sure you throw the second ball to the same height as the first one and not to the height of the first ball when you throw the second ball.
The first one is already on it’s way down by then and by trying to match that height, you’re putting the pattern under pressure right from the start.
Without getting too technical, throw the second throw a bit higher.
Alternate starting with both hands.
The asyncronous 4-ball crossing pattern is very valuable in getting to 5 balls.
If any of this worked for you, let me know, I’m still plowing my way thru it as well.
Perseverance is everything.
I don’t think doing 4 in conventional patterns helps much for doing 5.
There’s one move where, using only 3, you flash all 3 in a high cascade, clap your hands to demo that they are both empty. When those 3 enter your hand, flash them up and clap again. That clap represents that you could be holding 2 more balls.
After returning from an IJA convention in Youngtown, Ohio around 1974, I spent 16 hours in 2 days trying to learn 5 balls. I then said to an older juggler, “Maybe I’m just not ready.” He said: “You’ll never be ready.”
I practiced and learned the next day, and I think his point was that readiness has nothing to do with it. Perseverance is everything.
Billy
I followed all the conventional steps to learn 5 balls. It took a few months. Then I realised it would take as much time to continue to practice the pattern as it had done to learn it. At this point I decided that learning more 4 ball and 3 ball patterns would be more fun and a better use of my time. Since then I have not even tried to juggle 5 balls. Life’s just too short.
Since then I have also discovered unicycling and spend far less time juggling anyway. But 4 ball mills mess was much more fun to learn than 5 ball cascade.
It took me months to learn 5 balls and I think that’s about typical.
Just keep practicing.
Cathy
i am actually still pretty bad at the asychronos 4 ball crossing pattern(s). getting the balls the same height and in the same plane is very important. that is, not having one hand throw far in front of you. my best run of 5 might be 50. maybe a little more. i find counting (until i’ve got the basic pattern down really well) just throws me off. i’ve just never spent more time getting good at 5. i’ve flashed it + done maybe 20 throws for performances to show it can be done and quit. either that or i flash it, then a fellow performer does tricks with 5, and 6, and often 7 balls. maybe in 2006 i’ll get better.
I’ve been practicing 5b cascade 5 or 10 minutes a day for a year and a half. It was a couple months before I could consistently flash, then a few more to consistantly qualify. I can almost always get 20 catches now, and my record is 82 catches, but there’s nothing easy-feeling about it.
A suggestion to try the pattern at different heights helped me, as did working on unrelated patterns such as 3b mills mess, 4b tricks, etc.
Practice, practice, practice. Oh yeah, and a set of nice juggling bags helps a lot, especially when you try to collect all five.
5 Ball Multiplexing
Why not start doing with some multiplexing for a start. It is good fun! An easy to learn 5 ball multiplex pattern in siteswap notation is: [54][22]2
There are plenty of viewers for siteswap notation, for example here: http://jugglinglab.sourceforge.net/bin/example_gen.html
My ten year old son works on then 4 ball version of this one. He only started to juggle about 2 month back. I wonder what he will be able to do in an years time … he wanted a set of clubs for xmas 