Hey! I’m so happy to have you here on my research blog!

If you have any thoughts on anything at all, please send me an email: hello@danielsimu.com

Individual posts are below, or you can read my thesis:
“Tricky throws and pretty patterns: improving upon 40 years of juggling notation”

Enjoy! -Daniel

Future Research

Future Research
What research still needs to be done with Rhythmic Catches and IMBO?
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Limitations of Rhythmic Catches and IMBO

Limitations of Rhythmic Catches and IMBO
What known and unknown shortcomings do Rhythmic Catches and IMBO have?
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Tricky throws and pretty patterns: improving upon 40 years of juggling notation

Tricky throws and pretty patterns: improving upon 40 years of juggling notation
In this overview post I will guide you through the rest of the blog in the structure and order of a thesis.
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Evaluating Rhythmic Catches and IMBO

Evaluating Rhythmic Catches and IMBO

In the end, are RC and IMBO any good? Do they achieve their goals?

Short answer: Yes!

Long answer: Read the article ;)

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Notating tricky tricks

Notating tricky tricks
About 4 months ago I analyzed 13 tricky ball juggling tricks. Can I now notate them with Rhythmic Catches and IMBO?
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Notation Comparison Evaluations

Notation Comparison Evaluations
How do the different notations systems compare when applied to the standard trick list? Which are better than others?
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Rhythmic Catches (RC)

Rhythmic Catches (RC)
In this post I explain how the new notation system Rhythmic Catches should be used.
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Interaction points on the body

Interaction points on the body
A republishing and slight update of Roudaut’s Points Stratégiques du Corps Jonglé to make it even more suitable for Rhythmic Catches
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Standard tricks transcribed into 8 notation systems

Standard tricks transcribed into 8 notation systems
All tricks from Daniel’s 3 ball trick list with their transcriptions in various notation systems
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Daniel’s 3 ball trick list

Daniel's 3 ball trick list
For the purpose of comparing various juggling notation systems with each other, here is a generic list of 22 patterns with 3 balls.
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Inside & outside

Inside & outside
“Inside” & “outside” are common modifiers of juggling throws. I believed that almost every throw in a juggling pattern was either inside or outside. But how does one know which of the two it is?
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Siteswap based vs rhythm based pattern notation

Siteswap based vs rhythm based pattern notation
Going forward, should I be using dNote or rhythmic catches? Siteswap based or rhythm based?
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Siteswap and rhythm: Solutions (part 2)

Siteswap and rhythm: Solutions (part 2)
To clarify rhythm we discuss about 0x, Harmonic Throws, and ultimately I propose a new notation system: Rhythmic Catches.
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Siteswap and rhythm: Problems (part 1)

Siteswap and rhythm: Problems (part 1)
How should rhythm be interpreted in a siteswap pattern? Using 441 as an example we take a deep dive in the possible relationships between siteswap and rhythm.
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Siteswap State Toy

Siteswap State Toy
In this short video demonstration I show an electronic gadget that can display siteswap states.
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Why do we notate juggling?

Why do we notate juggling?
What are the motivations, functions and reasons for notating at all? Can’t we just film our tricks?
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Analyzing Ball Juggling Tricks

Analyzing Ball Juggling Tricks

To understand what features make up a juggling pattern, I analyze 13 modern ball juggling tricks from top jugglers.

Which features are can be described with existing notation, and which can not?

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Improved Body Trick Notation (IMBO)

Improved Body Trick Notation (IMBO)
IMBO is a new extension of Body Trick Notation which can accurately describe almost all known (and unknown) body tricks. There is a textual and a graphical notation for the system, which are described in detail in this post.
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Music Notation

Music Notation
There are countless ways to notate music, but modern staff notation appears to be very successful. What can we learn about music notation that might be relevant to the study of juggling notation?
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Dance Notation

Dance Notation

Dance notation is the act of describing human movement on paper with symbols or abbreviations.

As juggling involves movement of the body, and in order to get more understanding of different ways of notating, I needed to know the basics of dance notation and its history.

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dNote, a siteswap extension

dNote, a siteswap extension
This is my first draft of a proposed alternative for siteswaps. It makes it easier to deal with synch/asynch hybrid patterns and allows for extra manipulation sites such as a third hand, a foot or a head to be easily included.
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Existing Juggling Notation Systems

Existing Juggling Notation Systems

What juggling notation systems are already out there, and how do they compare?

What do they describe, and what do they not describe?

This article mixes personal opinions with personal observations, but in the conclusions at the bottom we will hopefully find some objective truths about the differences between these notation systems.

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Observations from the siteswaps DVD

Observations from the siteswaps DVD
These are notes I took whilst rewatching the interviews on the Gandini Siteswaps DVD.
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Timing and Spacing

Timing and Spacing
Juggling… It’s all in the timing and in the spacing.
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Posts Archive

This page contains an archive of all posts.
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