Notation

Man is a language-making animal.

This statment is not just meant to assert in some tautologous way that she uses language to communicate. Indeed, it usually intends the coining of new words, such as street slang or specialist jargon. It is also true, however, that people do invent complete new languages – and not solely in the way that Tolkien did. Languages communicate, and any time we find a wholly new and complete way to convey an experience, practise or activity, we arguably create a new language - albeit one in which only certain things can be said.

One of my recent purchases from Oddballs was an ‘Encyclopaedia of Ball Juggling’ (Charlie Dancey, 2005). As is often the case in publications about juggling, this is full of cartoons, jokey exhortations and personal opinions. (It does however try for a measure of comprehensiveness).

Flicking though the book in the shop, I discovered the new world of juggling notation. In essence, it’s a language, as I suggest is any comprehensive system of descriptive notation. This one is used to describe what a juggling trick involves. I was fascinated by the diagrams and numbers, and the detailed explanations.

So I bought the book.

The book is careful to say that few if any people can learn a manoeuvre from a notation, but that it can be useful to explain the sequence of moves that make it up. The notation is a systematic communication of precisely what is involved.

Whatever.

I now find myself deep in the world of Ladder Notation, Siteswap, Causal Diagrams and the mighty Mills’ Mess State Transition Diagram (MMSTD):-


Each of these solutions tries to get across something of the character of a trick from its own perspective. None of them seem easy to understand or to use – I have to work through the examples very slowly, mumbling under my breath. And with my tongue stuck out.

(As an aside, I suspect there may be a similarity with those notations used to describe dance steps. I have a memory of a children’s story – Blyton or Crompton? – where the hero suspects the new visitor in the village is a spy when they come across his ballet notation. They assume it is a secret code. That is certainly how Siteswap feels sometimes).

I’m fascinated by these systems, and would love to use them. However, possibly because there seem to be a fair number of mathematician jugglers, the notations do seem quite subtle to grasp. I'm struggling at the moment.

Thankfully, I can revert to all of the little cartoons of jugglers doing specific tricks in the book. I feel more at home with them and they do seem to know what they are doing. And nowadays there are lots of really helpful videos and DVDs. And finally, software is becoming available that connects the friendly diagrams and the notation together. So that's all right. It just doesn't seem to stop me dropping stuff...