Multiplexity

(Editor’s Note: The term multiplex refers to a form of juggling in which multiple balls are thrown on the same beat by the same hand. The balls are then caught together in the case of a stacked throw, or separately in the case of a split throw. Other throws exist, but these are the basics.)

The five ball stacked multiplex cascade is the simplest of all multiplex patterns involving that number of props. 

While any sustained multiplex pattern inherently involves some level of complexity, the stacked throw is nigh-universally regarded as the easiest and most introductory skill that can be considered a true multiplex talent. 

I think that anyone honestly looking to develop some modicum of multiplex proficiency–especially with five–would view a stacked cascade as step one and a split cascade as step two. 

Multiplexing is a very interesting avenue of juggling, and one that I have explored tentatively since about the time I started working with four (just before the first of the year). 

I never invested much time at all in trying to develop multiplexing abilities. The most I’d done before last week was make two stacked throws with four, just swapping all four balls between my hands in two tosses.I got pretty good in a relatively short amount of time with this very simple skill, but never made an attempt to make more than one catch each.  I have also worked on a multiplex quickstart into a cascade in which all three are thrown from one hand, but that does not have much real bearing on most true multiplex patterns. 

Last week, after feeling a bit fatigued from working on five-ball flashes, I made an attempt to actually juggle a three ball cascade that included a repeated stacked multiplex toss on every third beat. 

This is a step below a stacked five-ball cascade, which is effectively identical and just involves multiplex tosses on beat two as well as beat three. 

The reason a stacked multiplex is so much simpler than a split throw lies in many dimensions. First off the toss itself is harder to make. To make a split throw work the balls have to follow two separately conceived trajectories. Just getting the balls to work together in a stack is difficult enough, splitting them requires an added level of dexterity and concentration. 

Not only are the tosses themselves more difficult to control, but the pattern as a whole is much more complex. 

When depicted in siteswap notation a multiplex throw is shown in brackets. A three-ball cascade juggle with one extra ball and a single, stacked multiplex throw would thus read as follows:

3 3 [33], 3 3 [33]   (*Note: commas delineate a full iteration of the pattern) 

The bracketed threes represent two balls, thrown together with a beat of three. this looks much like the notation of a regular( 333, 333)  cascade and it juggles the same way–everything is a three. 

Stacked notation stays the same with five balls as well. (3 [33] [33], 3 [33] [33])

Things are not quite as simple with splits. I am not entirely sure i have this down, but as best I can figure out a split three-ball cascade, done with five balls, would look like this. 

[32] [32] [32],  [32] [32] [32] (or just [32] in shorthand) 

Because only one ball is changing hands with each toss, and the other is being tossed and then caught by the same hand, it makes every throw interact with two balls. Yet that is really just half the story. 

Now, since I can juggle neither a six-ball stacked multiplex pattern nor a five-ball split patter, I am not in much of a position to say one is easier than another. However, a six-ball multiplexed three-ball cascade is just the next logical extension of the same stacked pattern with five ([33] [33] [33] in siteswap), whereas splits involves an entirely new skill. 

At the moment even my five-ball stacked cascade is shaky, but it is very fun to juggle. It provides a good distraction from working on honest five-ball patterns (a skill with which I am still stuck on flashes). 

Well, that is enough of this needlessly convoluted issue for the moment. As is always the case improvement is just a matter of practice. I plan to continue working 3 3 [33] as a warmup and 3 [33] [33] as a true challenge for the next few weeks. Once I can juggle the latter comfortably I am going to start trying to work out how to make [32] split tosses. 

Splits look much, much better and the added skill it takes to pull them off is well worth it. 

Until then, 

Happy Juggling.