How to get a bird's attention: Spin yer balls!

[Buteo]

My hands have been a little stiff lately, so I've been using my balls again to try and keep things loosened up. I used to use them quite a bit recovering from minor hand injuries years ago.

I hadn't used them in a while. Being that I was a little outta practice, occassionally they would clack together. I believe this is why Petey found it disturbing at first.
Now he finds it fascinating watching me when I'm playing around with them.

I wondered how other birds would react.
While I was in Superpets, I again found the birds wary at first, but so long as they didn't clang together, most of the birds avidly watching them in my hands. Some of the other human customers that were walking around thought I was outta my mind , but that's my life.

Anyway I started slowly spinning them in "the natural" direction; clockwise with the right hand, counter-clockwise with the left hand. The many of the birds were looking around trying to figure out where "the jingling bells" were coming from. Once my balls had warmed up and my hands had a chance to relax, I started increasing the rpms over a period of a few mins.

To work the hands a little and keep my feathered audience interested, I'd stop and slowly start spinning them in the opposite direction; ccwise with the right hand, cwise with the left hand.
I'd stop and there's 3/4 of the birds around me shifting around trying to see better and wondering what I'd do next.
So I spin cwise with both for 30-40 revs....
then I spin ccwise with both for 30-40 revs....
I had a blast & I think the birds enjoyed the show.

When I'm totally "into it", I can make these balls sing.
As funny as is sounds, it's like another force is at work; as though I don't have to so much as put effort into rotating them, as I do controlling the forces in my hands.
The Chinese have known for hundreds of years the benefits these exercises. They say it stimulates the accupressure points in the palms of the hands & helps to align your chi. The stories also say that when you're Chi is aligned, your balls will "resonate with your harmony".

Of course, the tonal quality depends on the size, manufacture quality and the material they're made of.
Having the right size for your hand is very important for acheiving any speed.

I've tried many different sizes & types. The most common are chrome steel versions, but after a while the chrome starts to wear & flake off. I also found the tones were rather harsh, almost "tinny".

I had a pair of the painted & inlayed porcelain ones.
Tiger Vs Dragon on one, Raven Vs Bird of Paradise on the other.
The sound from them was nice, but I always worried about how the wear of using them would destroy their artistic beauty.
It became a moot point the day a buddy of mine grabbed them and wasn't so careful when he was done "checkin them out".
He dropped them.
On a concrete floor.
Both of them shattered.

Then I found a matching pair of the brass sets. One has a Dragon carved into it, the other has the Lyretail Bird of Paradise.
I find the tones from their sounding boards very mellow and more soothing than the steel ones. The carved patterns in the brass produce a really unusual sounds too, almost sound like choir singers or monks doing harmonic ranges.

I think they're beautiful.
Would ya like to see them?

[Buteo]

I don't know where the written inserts are for these particular ones, but I think they're from a place called BaoDing in China.

[Buteo]

Now that you've seen them.......
what did you think I was talking about?

[Tiki]

Lmao! You did have me going for a minute!

[Quito's Qage]

That's pretty cool! You may have discovered a new "bird whispering" technique! Now, when you have them hypnotized with the balls, you have to figure out how to introduce subliminal suggestions designed to alter behavior.

[cfulhage]

We have some of those that my mom brought home from one of her trips overseas. I've used them once or twice in front of Ollie and she just ignores me.

[Buteo]

Originally Posted by cfulhage

We have some of those that my mom brought home from one of her trips overseas. I've used them once or twice in front of Ollie and she just ignores me.

As I'm sure you discovered, they're harder to use than most people think.
One guy that was watching me the one day was absolutely convinced I was using some kind of magnetic motor in my sleeves to get them to spin so fast.

[homebird]

I knew what you were talking about but I must say My Eyebrows were up at the allusion you were creating - remember the minors! & the monitors!

I've always wondered about those - but have never seen anyone use them. Didn't know about the 'sound' effects tho. Great lesson in permance - loosing the beautiful set.

‘Nice of you’, to entertain the inmates at the local Pet Store. They may look forward to your visits more.
Don't worry about the 'folk' - you can't please everyone.
Do you know how to upload Video & of course do you have access to a video camera?
We need closure here.

[jimpierce7]

I'm no idiot..........I ain't gonna mess with a guy that has brass balls..............and yes I knew what you were talkin about!!! But I gotta say I had that half cocked grin most the time I was reading!

[Irish]

Buteo, I knew right away.... but I was still grinning the whole time :-).

My daughter juggles, so she's got some amazingly agile hands. I've seen her play those musical balls and am just in awe of what she can do with them (no, she doesn't juggle them! LOL!). I play around with them, and I'm just lucky I don't drop 'em on the floor :-).