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Jaxon
Inner circle
Kalamazoo, Mi.
2459 Posts
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Posted: Apr 5, 2005 8:34pm
A few people have contacted me saying that they think I should put together a book on beginning in magic. I'm not sure I'm knowledgeable enough to write an entire book on the subject and there are plenty of other magicians who are very knowledgeable on the subject and share some great advice. I figured I'd start writing some thoughts and just see how it goes. Below is a small portion of what I've started to write. I have a few other chapters written but this is just a short portion of one chapter.
I'm not a writer so I'm asking for opinion. I'm sure I'll need someone to help with Grammar and I might not be so good at wording all my thoughts but this is just a rough graph of trying it out.
I'd love to read your opinions, suggestions and feel free to discuss the topic this is written about. It's a pretty long read but I hope someone enjoys it and possible finds something to think about.
Thanks!
_____________________________________________
DON’T BECOME A CLONE
One of the hardest things to be is an original. Especially when you are learning or inspired by another performer. In the beginning of your studies in magic it’s impossible to know exactly what performing style you’ll end up with. You’ll be to busy learning how to do the sleights and tricks. But during this process of learning from others it’s very easy to become a clone of the performers you learn from. This doesn’t just happen when learning magic. It happens in any area of life where you are adapting to something new. If you suddenly moved to a new area and made new friends, chances are you’ll end up listening to the style of music your new friends listen to. You might start dressing like them and even start to talk like them. So the point is it’s kind of natural to adjust to your new surroundings. But eventually you’ll have to develop yourself and an individual and set yourself apart from your new surroundings.
This will also happen in magic and the sooner you realize this the better your chances of being original. In the beginning you’re just “learning to crawl” so to speak. Learning all the tricks you see that you don’t know how to do. You’ll learn that trick or move and without realizing it you’ll not only duplicate the moves as it was taught to you. You’ll also duplicate the patter they used. The style they performed and you might even talk and move like that other performer who you learned it from. You won’t realize you are doing this. You’ll feel you are doing it exactly how it’s suppose to be done because the person who taught you did it this way. You might not yet have the experience or knowledge to understand what makes the trick work and what is just part of the performing style. When you’ve gained more experience you’ll have a better understanding of what is right for you and how you can bring a little more of your personal style of performing to whatever you do.
THE DAVID CLONES (Street magic and Copperfield)
I’m not knocking Blaine or Copperfield at all by that comment. In fact I think it’s great that their specials have shown many people a different side of magic. Many people still saw magic as the guy pulling rabbits out of the hat for kids before David Blaine, David Copperfield, Mark Wilson and other publicly known magicians showed a different side on TV. But there are far to many Blaine Clones out there today.
Search the web and you’ll discover that site that use to have sections on “close up” magic now call that section “Street Magic”. You’ll see a guy wearing a black t-shirt squatting down with a deck of cards in his hand posing very similar to Blaine. The truth is modern street magic is not street magic at all. It’s more like a fad. Every trick Blaine did on his TV specials would have been called Close up magic before he did it on TV and titled the show “Street Magic”.
I know this might make a few people mad because they are so proud to call themselves street magicians. First let me say that there’s nothing wrong with being a street magician. In fact it’s one of the hardest arenas to present magic in because you really have to know how to not only attract and audience of people who are probably on their way to get somewhere as they walk down the street. You also have to hold them there long enough to see the show.
Now I ask you. If you call yourself a street magician, are you really working the streets? Or are you just calling yourself that because you are performing the style that Blaine and other similar performers did on those TV specials?
Why do I seem to be putting Blaine and Street magic down? Really, I’m not trying to. I did enjoy his specials on TV so I’m not putting anyone down here. I’m just trying to show just how far this clone epidemic has gone. Blaine has his style of performing and now there are many others out there performing the same style. They aren’t being original. They are being like someone else. Or you could say they are a “clone” of him.
There are far too many David Copperfield clones out there in stage magic too. I can name a few who seem to be carbon copies of him. I’m sure you’ve seen them. When I see these acts I can just picture Copperfield sitting there watching it saying, “He looks, moves, dresses and talks just like me”. It’s easy to want to be like him because he is a great performer. But there’s a huge difference between being inspired by someone and wanting to be like them. It’s okay to want to be like them in a way that’s successful but to be exactly like him is impossible no matter how much some people try. Plus, he’s a known performer. If someone else is acting, moving, talking, dressing and performing like him then their audiences will know who he's copying.
It’s very hard to be original when you don’t know enough to be your “performing” self yet. I know quite a few magicians in my area who are learning from Tony Gerard (The owner of the local magic shop) who are performing exactly like he does because he’s the one who taught them quite a bit. I use to do be the same way. I use to talk like him, act like him and perform like him. But eventually I broke free of that and I now perform my own thing. Luckily Tony understood this and once I was advanced enough to find things that fit me a little better. He encouraged me to do those things. Whenever he saw, thought of or learned of a trick that he felt I might enjoy he’d point it out to me and this was a big help.
So make sure you aren’t a clone of someone else. Don’t worry about it too much if you haven’t yet learned enough of the basics. You should learn the basic first because without it there’s no way you’ll know what will work for you or not. But really put some thought into it. If you were performing like someone else then why would anyone want you to perform for him or her when they could just get that other performer instead? Look at some of the most known magicians today. They all have something unique about them. Some of them admit that they aren’t that advanced in magic in the technical aspect but they are still successful because they are unique. They won’t call themselves a “Street magician” or a “Stage Magician”. There shows will be titled “The (Name) show”. And that’s a goal you should have for yourself. Perform things that fit your personality and if you don’t yet have an original performing style then one of your goals will be to obtain one. Don’t worry if nothing strikes you just yet. It took years for me to develop one but it eventually evolved into me.
That’s the key to being original is to just get out there and perform. It doesn’t matter if all the tricks you do are your own creation. How you perform is much more important then what you perform. You’ll never know what works for you until you give things a try and let it evolve. It’ll eventually happen so don’t push it. Just entertain people and learn what works and what doesn’t. Just don’t try to be like anyone else in the process.
Ron Jaxon
"The map is not the Territory"
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irishguy
Special user
Ohio
629 Posts
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Posted: Apr 5, 2005 9:42pm
It's pretty good. As you said, it could use some polishing. I would add some suggestions as to assisting in being original. It is of the utmost importance to outline what someone shouldn't do, but at the same time, a list of things that someone should do is important as well.
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Shaner316
Loyal user
St. Catharines, ON. Canada
213 Posts
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Posted: Apr 5, 2005 10:10pm
Sounds pretty good so far Jaxon.
Keep up the good work!!
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R.T.
Regular user
107 Posts
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Posted: Apr 5, 2005 11:26pm
Looks great...very helpful, espicially since I am a beginer. All your posts are always must reads for me, the way you (please don't take this as an insult) simplify it is tremendous. It's not simple writing, its a very advanced and difficult style to do, because it is so clear and inticing to read. You speak to both magicians AND Laypeople, steer us in the right direction to become better magicians and this is why I think your book could be a great success! GOOD LUCK!
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Zac Vee
Veteran user
Assyrian/Iraq, Greece, UK
367 Posts
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Posted: Apr 6, 2005 6:31am
Its all great Jaxon (per usual). I would say go for it and publish a book.
Good luck
Zac
peace, love and kindness
1001 Magic Nights Blog
www.kasrani1.wordpress.com
http://www.samuelkasrani.com/
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rikbrooks
Inner circle
Olive Branch, Mississippi
1297 Posts
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Posted: Apr 6, 2005 7:38am
Jaxon, I've really come to look forward to these posts that you do. This particular one impresses me. I remember well a Kung Fu student of mine that was testing for his instructor status (we don't use black belts in my style). Another master that was one rank less than me was on the judging panel. He did the 9 dragon form for his exam, a particularly long and athletic form. When I failed the student the other master questioned me. He said that the student had performed the form flawlessly, in fact, he looked just like me.
"That's why he failed." I told the master. "He has just mimicked my movements. He has not put any of HIMSELF in the form."
As you pointed out, we begin with mimicking, but mastery means giving it our own personality. Just as an aside, the highest rank in my style literally translates to 'Owner' in English. It is when the student has taken his style and so internalized it that it no longer seems to be the original style. That's how you get so many 'sub-styles' of Kung Fu like Sun Tai Chi or Yang Tai Chi.
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calexa
Inner circle
Germany
1634 Posts
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Posted: Apr 6, 2005 9:04am
He was flawless and you failed him - interesting.
jaxon, I like the way you write. but I would shorten it a little, because you repeat very often that the performer shouldn't be a clone of somebody else.
just my two cents....
magixx
Optimists have more fun.....
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rikbrooks
Inner circle
Olive Branch, Mississippi
1297 Posts
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Posted: Apr 6, 2005 12:18pm
Quote:
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On 2005-04-06 09:04, calexa wrote:
He was flawless and you failed him - interesting.
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In the interest of brevity I didn't mention that he was TECHNICALLY flawless, but had not integrated the form. In other words, he moved like a man imitating a dragon while he should have moved like a dragon.
With some more instruction he did pass the exam the next month - and several since then.
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Jaxon
Inner circle
Kalamazoo, Mi.
2459 Posts
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Posted: Apr 6, 2005 2:01pm
Thanks everyone.
Does anyone have any suggestion on improving the layout of a book like this? I know some are just going to say to go back to school and learn some of the skills needed to improve. I'd love to do that someday but right now it's just can't fit into my schedule.
Would there be services I can call to have things edited and worded better? I guess I'd need an editor of some kind huh? 
Also thanks for the suggestions of things to add to this. I only posted a short section of one chapter but I kind of wanted to get some feed back on the kind of things I'm writing about. There won't be many tricks in this. I figured there are plenty of sources people can learn tricks and sleights from. I wanted to write about the things I've learned while performing in the real world and hopefully share some of that with others so they won't have to learn all of it the hard way. I make it very clear in the intro I started to write that I could never know it all and that some of the things they'll read about won't necessarily work for them, but I still hope it'll give them something to think about.
Ron Jaxon
"The map is not the Territory"
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GeorgeSantos
Inner circle
San Diego, CA
1106 Posts
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Posted: Apr 6, 2005 11:29pm
Ron Jaxon,
I really liked your words. It's a great lesson to all those who seek to have their original performance style.
I would love to hear more about your book. 
"David Roth is the greatest coin manipulator in the entire world.."
-Dai Vernon "The Professor"
I AM A FILIPINO MAGICIAN
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calexa
Inner circle
Germany
1634 Posts
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Posted: Apr 7, 2005 9:21am
Thanks for your answer rikbrooks. I did Karate for some years, so I was really wondering what problem your student had.
Magixx
Optimists have more fun.....
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bigchuck
Veteran user
Nothing clever has ever been said in my
398 Posts
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Posted: Apr 7, 2005 11:09am
I don't think you need to worry SO MUCH about grammar and such -- it's the material that matters... Cellini has a book out which was basically translated and then went straight to the bookshelf complete with grammatical errors and sometimes the words sound a bit awkward, but the material in the book is like a goldmine -- its one of my favorites.
IMO not many people are checking to see if you should use a colon or a semi colon when there is good information to be found especially when you keep a conversational tone throughout.
"The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact
mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows. - Frank Zappa"
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krist0pher
New user
66 Posts
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Posted: Apr 7, 2005 1:32pm
Quote:
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jaxon, I like the way you write. but I would shorten it a little, because you repeat very often that the performer shouldn't be a clone of somebody else.
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I thought the same,...but it's great! Nothing that just tad of editing couldn't fix. I'd love to read more.
Kristopher Scofield
Myspace.com/imkrisscofield
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Benji Bruce
Elite user
429 Posts
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Posted: Apr 10, 2005 4:59pm
A lot of magicians probably dissagree with me but I don't believe you should scacrafice entertainment for originality. magicians who have been performing for a long time cant think like a laymen. when someone sees a magic trick they don't know if you copied it from david blaine or somebody else. what the audience is looking at is YOU doing the trick and THEY are experiencing it. if the audience doesn't know you then the experience to them is A LOT more important than you doing the trick. to become a professional I would say you have to be original but as a beginner you shouldnt sacrafice originality for entertainment. if you go up to somebody and do a trick EXACTLY like david blaine (and give them the stare) that person will not say "oh...wow...you did that just like that blaine guy." the person would be more impressed with the miracle you just showed them. I would say you shouldnt sacrafice originality for entertainment unless you want to be a professional.
The Charming Mentalist
www.BenjiBruce.com
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Jaxon
Inner circle
Kalamazoo, Mi.
2459 Posts
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Posted: Apr 10, 2005 5:33pm
Thanks for joining this discussion and I sort of agree with you in that when someone is fairly new to magic they don't yet have the experience to develop their own performing style. Then it's very hard to be original. But it should still be a goal obtain that original performing style.
It doesn't matter if you're a professional or not. What makes one a professional magician is an entirely different topic but one doesn't have to do magic for a living to be a good and original performer. There are plenty of hobbyist magicians out there who are excellent performers who have their own unique style.
Being an original performer really has very little to do with weather they perform original tricks or not. It also doesn't matter how advanced they are at sleight of hand. Being an original performer has to do with putting some of yourself into the act. After all we are all original people. If someone is not putting themselves into the act then they are just playing the part of another magician. Even a professional actor would have a hard time making that believable without having some experience in magic as well. Then to go a step further no two actors would play that part the same either. So if someone is copying another performer it really does show. Especially in close up or parlor performances. If they are performing like someone else and following the "script" of the original. Then they loose the ability to be spontaneous because they have to stick with that script. If the mood of the audience doesn't fit then they performer is stuck.
So while I agree that an amateur with little experience more in likely hasn't developed an original performing persona yet. I disagree that it won't effect the performance. If someone gets a good reaction when they present it like someone else then they'd get an even better reaction if they presented it in their own unique style.
So it's not a matter of sacrificing entertainment for originality. It's a matter of having both at the same time.
In closing. Think of any of your favorite magicians. Do any of them perform like someone else?
"The map is not the Territory"
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Benji Bruce
Elite user
429 Posts
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Posted: Apr 10, 2005 7:02pm
"So while I agree that an amateur with little experience more in likely hasn't developed an original performing persona yet. I disagree that it won't effect the performance. If someone gets a good reaction when they present it like someone else then they'd get an even better reaction if they presented it in their own unique style."
I disagree with your disagreeing statement:) (if that makes any sense)....what I'm trying to say is that laymen do not know if you are copying another magician or not....only fellow magicians know that and fellow magicians are not the target audience unless your at a convention...i have seen many people copy blaine and get the same reaction... the magicians who are "clones" either don't want to spend time to figure out who they are and how to encorperate it into their show or they are using someone elses sytle because it has been proven effective...laymen do not know whose trick you are performing and whose style it is...they are seeing whatever is presented to them whether its your style or not
In closing ( I need one because mr jaxon had one:) ) Think of any of your favorite magicians....do you know if they are copying someones style when you see a trick?
The Charming Mentalist
www.BenjiBruce.com
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irishguy
Special user
Ohio
629 Posts
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Posted: Apr 10, 2005 8:40pm
Quote:
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On 2005-04-10 19:02, BBMagic wrote:
I disagree with your disagreeing statement:) (if that makes any sense)....what I'm trying to say is that laymen do not know if you are copying another magician or not....only fellow magicians know that and fellow magicians are not the target audience unless your at a convention...i have seen many people copy blaine and get the same reaction... the magicians who are "clones" either don't want to spend time to figure out who they are and how to encorperate it into their show or they are using someone elses sytle because it has been proven effective...laymen do not know whose trick you are performing and whose style it is...they are seeing whatever is presented to them whether its your style or not |
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I would disagree. Most new magicians are cloning someone they saw on television. There is a really good chance your audience saw the same guy.
Beyond that, you are cloning presentation and mannerisms that aren't yours...which will become abundently obvious the second you need to actually converse with the audience. Suddenly, your whole demeanor will change because that other guy just isn't you.
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Benji Bruce
Elite user
429 Posts
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Posted: Apr 11, 2005 12:55am
You guys seriously do not understand what I'm saying....why don't you experiment...look at one of david blaines tricks and perform it exactly the way he does to a stranger...im sure that stranger will not care if you do it just like david blaine...the important part to him is that HE EXPERIENCED THE IMPOSSIBLE...not that you showed him the impossible
The Charming Mentalist
www.BenjiBruce.com
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Peter Marucci
Inner circle
Fergus, Ontario, Canada
5381 Posts
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Posted: Apr 11, 2005 5:05am
Jaxon writes: "Then (when you are starting out) it's very hard to be original. But it should still be a goal obtain that original performing style."
Absolutely.
It may be hard but, if it were easy, then everyone would be doing it! <G> (BTW, the grin shouldn't take anything away from the validity of the comment.)
If you do something exactly the way Blaine or Copperfield to it, and show it to a lay person, and that person has seen the original on TV by Blaine or Copperfield, then he or she is going to say (or, at least, think), "Hey, that's the same as David (B or C) only not as good!"
cheers,
Peter Marucci
showtimecol@aol.com
http://journals.aol.ca/showtimecol/magiccom/
"Better a man honor his profession than be honored by it." -- Robert-Houdin
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rikbrooks
Inner circle
Olive Branch, Mississippi
1297 Posts
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Posted: Apr 11, 2005 5:45am
If you do something enough times in character then that something will be cemented. For me, before I even began to consider what type of magic I was going to do I decided on my character. Of course my character is nothing but an amplification of my real character. I think that made everything easier for me.
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rgranville
Elite user
Boston area
438 Posts
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Posted: Apr 11, 2005 9:05am
Quote:
| Jaxon says:
Does anyone have any suggestion on improving the layout of a book like this? I know some are just going to say to go back to school and learn some of the skills needed to improve. I'd love to do that someday but right now it's just can't fit into my schedule.
Would there be services I can call to have things edited and worded better? I guess I'd need an editor of some kind huh? |
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Jaxon,
I applaud your appreciation of the value of proper spelling and grammar. It takes considerable effort to wade through ungrammatical constructs and misspellings to figure out what the author is trying to say. I personally would much rather have a reader expend such effort on thinking about what I'm saying.
To answer your question, there are several ways you could find people who can help you edit a manuscript. If you're near a college, you could approach either the faculty or students of the English Department. Alternatively, with forums like the Café you should be able to find people who know their way around prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses. You might want to consider collaborating with such a person.
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blindbo
Special user
Bucks County, PA
785 Posts
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Posted: Apr 11, 2005 10:07am
Good work, Ron.
Brings to mind a Yogism...
"If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."
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sloopcamelot
New user
13 Posts
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Posted: Apr 14, 2005 12:07am
Jaxon,
Don't worry about grammer or sentence structure when you first begin writing. Get the ideas down on paper (or computer.) Too often worries about spelling or grammer get in way of ideas. So sit down and write, write, write. As you write, the layout of the book will probably become obvious to you. Later comes the hard part: editing. This means critically looking at your own work, just like you do when you polish a new act. This is where you tighten up sentences, correct spelling, research references, etc. This is when others can help. But be careful, if you bring them in too soon, criticism can stunt your creativity.
I am new to magic, and have found your many posts extremely helpful. Please, Go for it!
Fay
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Jaxon
Inner circle
Kalamazoo, Mi.
2459 Posts
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Posted: Dec 10, 2005 7:32pm
I'm just surfing around the board looking at discussion I've participated in and haven't checked in on for a while.
I'm still writing and working on this project but I'm in no hurry to get it done. I want to make sure it'll be something worth reading so I'm taking my time on this one. Writing thoughts and ideas down as they come then I'll go back and figure out which parts I'll use and polish them up. So who knows how long it'll take to put this together but I feel it deserves to be done right.
Thanks for the encouragement everyone.
Ron Jaxon
"The map is not the Territory"
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Roldero
New user
Central Florida
34 Posts
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Posted: Dec 11, 2005 7:20pm
Ron,
I just started getting into magic a few months ago and so qualify as a member of the target audience for your "Beginning in Magic" book. I have tons and of thoughts and suggestions regarding this topic. I'll try to get them down coherently and not to ramble too much.
I liked the "Don't be a clone" article and can see where you are coming from, but I'm wondering how important it is for the beginner magi. I noticed that you yourself stated that it took several years to develop your own style, (maybe because you didn't have an older you giving advice?) so how important is it to some one starting out? I think most magic books I have read suggest you substitute your own patter, or say "..or words to that effect" which seem to indicate that you should use what you are comfortable with. However, as a beginner, I need to be told what to do and say so I know how to perform a trick. Once I can perform a trick, then I'll start to adapt it to my style.
Having re-read the above, I'm wondering if your article is more aimed at the magi that ARE copying Blaine or Copperfield, or at the real beginner. Which now makes me wonder what you mean by "beginning in magic". Is it someone who has never picked up a stripper deck and wants to start learning some magic, or is it a hobbyist who now wants to begin a career as a professional magician? (or neither or both?)
The biggest problem for me as I started my journey into Magicdom was being overwhelmed by the many different areas of magic that I wanted to learn: Cards, Coins, Rope, Sponge Balls, Cups and Balls, TT, IT, Mentalism, etc, etc. With all of these area, there are amazing demo videos that make me say “Yes, that’s what I want to do!”. Come to the Magic Café and search around and you’ll find that, for each of these areas, there are three or four books and several DVDs/Videos that are recommended. So where do I start?!
I do have Mark Wilson’s “Complete Course In Magic” and do realize that it covers a lot of these areas, but, so far, have found the few tricks I have tried not as effective as I had hoped (I’ll freely admit that this could have been down to my inexperience rather than the trick). I also found that this book is lacking in how to put together a routine and make your effects transition from one to the other.
I think my ideal book would:
- Introduce me to all the different types of magic around, with a brief description of what they are like and how to get started. If possible, a brief effect in each area that would be included in the following:
- A good 30 minute routine that has a suggested patter that has good transitions from one effect to the other
- Where to go next to learn about a specific area that interests the reader. (could be a chapter in the same book)
I realize that my “ideal book” may not be what everybody is looking for, but as a hobbyist, I set myself the goal of doing a short Christmas show for friends and relative’s. I’m actually at the point of not doing the show this year, as I am not comfortable enough with what I have.
With regard to writing your book, I would suggest the following, if you haven’t already done so (My wife is a Romance author who had her first book published this year and has sold two more, so I have learnt some of this stuff via osmosis).
- Identify your target audience and set a goal for this book. I.e. “This book is intended for complete beginners in magic. The goal is to get them competent enough to perform their first 30 minute show.”
- Outline the structure on how you are going to reach your goal
- Write your material as you see fit when your “muse” allows. Don’t worry about grammar, etc. when you first put your ideas down; just get them down as they come to you. You will be going back and revising them later anyway.
- Avoid editorial services that you have to pay to edit your book for you.
- Find a couple of knowledgeable friends that are willing to critique your book for you and give you constructive feedback. (Don’t ask your Mum, she’ll like everything you write:))
I hope some of this makes sense and is useful to you.
Good luck with your endeavor.
Mike
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Foucault
Elite user
New Jersey, USA
424 Posts
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Posted: Dec 12, 2005 12:59pm
Mike - I think you've really hit the nail on the head. There are some great books out there (Wilson's included), but each has strengths and weaknesses. I think you've correctly identified the weaknesses in the Complete Course.
I think it's important for complete beginners to try the "clone thing" for a while. When novice musicians start, they usually begin by playing other people's music, in other people's styles, and later they begin to find their own voice. I think the same is true for magic. It can be most bewildering to be told "You've got to be original" before you've performed a trick. Try someone else's words and actions, and see why they work (or don't!).
I think Whit Haydn has some good thoughts on this subject, and there are some methods available which try to bridge that gap. "Magic for Dummies" is very good, because it not only teaches tricks, but gives you the presentation, gives you help with what to do when something goes wrong, with routining, etc. From what I've heard, Ron Bauer's series of individual trick manuscripts has this same philosophy.
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Jaxon
Inner circle
Kalamazoo, Mi.
2459 Posts
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Posted: Dec 12, 2005 6:12pm
Thanks so much for your feed back and advice. Your advice on making the book is very helpful Roldero and I thank you for taking the time to share that with me. Do keep in mind that this is only a small portion of what I'm writing. The above excerpt about "Don't be a clone" is far from finished and I've written and rewritten a lot of it since then. The thing is my thoughts, ideas and I guess you can call them lessons are of a wide variety. So what I'll have to do is go back and find the ones that fit a structure and polish them.
So far the articles I've written most about are:
-Don't be a clone
-The importance of learning the basics
-The three types of sleights and how to present them.
-The shakes(on confidence and nervousness)
-Have you considered your looks
-Know when to Stop Performing
-Getting their attention
-Creating your own Magic
-The Growing Audience
There are some others but I haven't written enough on them to even mention them here.
As you can see the topics are pretty stretched but I do feel that many of the points will be useful to someone who's new to magic or is working to improve their performances. For example if they find themselves getting nervous before a performance they might find something in (The shakes) chapter to help them. If they get hired to perform walk around then some other chapters such as (Know when to Stop Performing), (Getting their attention) and (The growing audience) might give them some useful advice.
The things I'm writing about are things that either I personally experienced and learned lessons from or things that magicians I've help (Kind of mentored) had trouble with and we found the solutions together.
I will teach some tricks in the book. The tricks I'll include will mainly serve the purpose of illustrating the lessons of that chapter. For example in the (Three types of sleights) I'll teach some tricks that illustrate those kinds of moves.
Anyway. Thanks again for the advice and I'll keep working on it. I hope it turns out useful to someone.
I just had a thought. I'm going to post a portion of another article here on the Café just to get some feed back on it. Look for a post titled (The importance of learning the basics) in this section of the board.
Ron Jaxon
"The map is not the Territory"
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Roldero
New user
Central Florida
34 Posts
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Posted: Dec 23, 2005 10:40am
Thanks for the support Foucalt, I was afraid to answer the front door for a few days in case the magic police were coming to get me for not raving about Wilson's Complete Course in Magic
I have read "Magic for Dummies" and did like the way the book focused on more than just the trick. I was lucky enough to find the book at the library, and will probably borrow it again at somepoint to review it in the light of what I have learned.
Ron, I'm glad my comments have helped. I'll definitely be checking out your other posts and plan on giving you some feedback.
Mike
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magicman226
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Loyal user
San Antonio, Texas
234 Posts
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Posted: Dec 25, 2005 1:48pm
I liked that excerpt, Jaxon.
I admit when I first started out, I tried to copy Blaine. I was good, but I had nothing going. I soon found I'm better at performing when I'm wisecracking. Everyone loves a short, wise-cracking 13-year-old magician.
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Jaxon
Inner circle
Kalamazoo, Mi.
2459 Posts
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Posted: May 9, 2007 9:47pm
I know this is an old discussion but someone just posted another discuscion that contains a couple fo videos that kind of demonstrate the "don't be a clone".
Check it out here:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=209740&forum=7&5
Even if the acts is flawless and the video editing is expertly done. Who they seem to clone is obvious. There's nothing wrong with being inspired by others but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed in my opinion.
Ron Jaxon
"The map is not the Territory"
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