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File: MM_STD !!! Introduction to MM_STD The MM_STD is a notation invented by MikeDay to describe JugglingPatterns that have HandMovements. The pages given here have been hastily adapted from the original text lessons which were written in plain text and distributed by email. Converting them to HTML is a work in progress, and if you can help with any aspect of improving this explanation then please LetUsKnow. !! Start from here These tutorials will go at a very gentle pace. Some of the concepts involved here will be quite new, subtle and unusual. Please read carefully, do the exercises, and if you have any questions then ask. All feedback is useful, and by giving us your feedback you will play a part in this contribution to juggling theory and practice. !! What is this all about? ! SiteSwap doesn't cover HandMovements. As you may be aware, there is a notation for some JugglingPatterns called the SiteSwap notation. You don't need to know the SiteSwap notation in order to understand these tutorials, but they will occasionally be mentioned. If you want to know more about SiteSwaps, follow the link. One thing that the SiteSwap notation does not cover is HandMovements. In particular, the SiteSwap for MillsMess is just a simple *3*. The thing that makes MillsMess such a beautiful pattern is the smooth, fluid and hypnotic HandMovements. SiteSwaps are used to describe the timing of a JugglingPattern, but until quite recently there has been no simple way of writing down a description of the HandMovements. ! MM_STD does cover some patterns involving HandMovements. It was to solve this problem that MikeDay invented a system for describing HandMovements as related to juggling. This was so successful that it then allowed new patterns to be developed and existing patterns to be analysed and modified. Just as SiteSwaps only concentrate on one specific aspect of juggling, the timing, so the MM_STD concentrates on just one aspect, the HandMovements. Not every possible collection of HandMovements is covered by this system. There are JugglingPatterns that are not described by the MM_STD, although, as with SiteSwaps, there are extensions to the notation to cover most of these other patterns. As with SiteSwaps, the extensions are often technical and awkward, enhancing the notation at the cost of simplicity. We will concentrate in this series on the basic form of the notation, leaving the more extensive version for later. ! Where does the name come from? The full name of the notation is the ********> "Mills Mess State Transition Diagram." ********< Don't you wish you hadn't asked? The notation was originally designed to help analyse, understand and manipulate MillsMess. We don't want to give away too much at this stage, so we won't say any more about what a StateTransitionDiagram actually is. That is the subject of the tutorial series. ! Next step So, on to MM_STD_01