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MattSD
New user
14 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 3:50pm
I've been told that you should never perform a trick if you don't have it down solid. It's good advice that I follow but every once in a while, I'll perform something I've been a number of times and then it happens, I flash the sleight! I don't know how or why it happened but it did and now I'm stuck! Being an amateur I know this is going to happen but would rather it be with family/friends rather than strangers.
For instance, just the other day I was doing the three rope trick, the Professor's Nightmare I believe, when transferring ropes, I exposed the essence of how it was done.
I felt dead in the water and was extremely upset at myself! Luckily I was with friends so they just blew it off.
Any advice on ways to work around this if it happens, especially when you're out and about with larger audience?
Thanks!
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epsilon97
Regular user
105 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 4:27pm
Great question Matt. I am in the same position as you, and I can't wait to read the advice from some of the veterans on the forum.
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Erdnase27
Inner circle
2360 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 4:49pm
There isn't a soul on planet earth who have never butchered a trick or never flashed a sleight.
Do like your friends do.. blew it off 
"He must be content to rank with the common herd." - S.W. Erdnase
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hestonsmagic
New user
78 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 5:26pm
I started working with my kids in 2007 for stage performances. At ages 11 and 9 they were rough. What we found was practice.. Expect it to happen... It will... With our boys when the practiced each night in the living room if something went wrong we taught them to keep going.. For when in a compitition, or talent show you can not start over... so be on gaurd and when it happens pass it off. So when they entered a compitition in 2007 they had a horrible mistake while cuffing my oldest for the mailbag escape... the cuffs flew off when he went to show they were on tight... OOPS....
Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ScLo2sFDB4
In the video we had magicians at this convention come and congradulate them on keeping goins...some even said they did not think they could have recovered like this...
Remember It will... We all do it... My Stage name is Brandon Heston the Worlds 5th Worst magician... I picked this name because when I started out I blew things... but that added to the comedy of the routine... If I blew the trick I exaggerated it... blew it up even bigger... but when all of a sudden you stop and say... Why do you think you got me so cheep.. I told you I was the World's 5th worst... This comes a little cheaper... people laugh.. and I get bigger tips...
So my advice is practice.. practice, and practice... That is what the old timers told me... and they told me when I practice if after I have it down I slip up.. practice how to keep going or blend into a new trick....
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davidpaul$
Inner circle
Pittsburgh, Pa
1967 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 6:26pm
I perform several times a week and IT HAPPENS. You just keep going as if nothing happened. Don't call attention or show any negative emotion to your mishap. Just because YOU realized you screwed up doesn't mean your audience knows even though it may seem obvious. Keep on going with the rest of your routine and chances are if they did indeed spot the mishap they will have forgotten about it provided you continue strongly. Good advice from Brandon Heston above too! 
NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU SWEAT...
If you can't help worrying, remember worrying can't help you!
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MattSD
New user
14 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 7:17pm
Great advice from you all! Thanks! My mentor tells me that most people don't know what you'll be doing anyways, so as long as you keep your cool, you can find a way out and they'd never know!
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The Burnaby Kid
Inner circle
GwangJu, South Korea
2720 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 8:18pm
Quote:
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On 2012-05-14 15:50, MattSD wrote:
Any advice on ways to work around this if it happens, especially when you're out and about with larger audience?
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In all honesty, I would recommend not pursuing this line of thought. Rather, practice and rehearse more.
It sounds like harsh advice, I know, but it's not directed at you. If the magician flashes, they've given away information, and our job (as Jay Sankey once said) is essentially about the management of information. Become paranoid about flashing. Take it personally. Borrow a friend's camera and record your act looking for every conceivable opportunity for flashing. If you've already been doing it, do it some more.
Yeah, I have some recovery strategies. Most performers do. And I hate it any time that I have to use one of them.
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Dynamike
Eternal Order
20605 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 9:04pm
Before you be great, you gotta be good. Before you be good, you gotta be bad. Before you be bad, you gotta try.
Dynamike
Oakland County Magician Macomb County Magician Wayne County Magician Detroit Magician Detroit Clown
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Brad Burt
Inner circle
2410 Posts
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Posted: May 14, 2012 10:14pm
This has been covered before, but it's a real problem when you are just getting started. The solution is oddly simple: Never, ever, ever admit you have made a mistake no matter how blatant it might seem to YOU. Always, always, always proceed as if the mistake did not happen. In the vast majority of cases the audience will not know that anything untoward has happened UNLESS YOU TELL THEM! Don't TELL THEM!
Here's an example of getting out of the worst possible senario. This actually happened to me. I had the card selected, signed, placed back in the deck. It started the routine proper and ..... flubbed. I literally lost the deck from my hands and it fell to the floor.
Here's how I recoverd: Without missing a beat I looked at the audience and said the following (more or less), "O.k., does everyone understand what is going on? The procedure, etc.? GREAT! O.k., let's start again and do this." Until you tell the audience that you did in fact screw up they mostly won't know. You HAVE to work pass what you preceive as a problem and 99.5% of the time it will work itself out.
I just picked up the deck and started the entire routine over again and did just fine. I did it as if it was 'kind of' a joke.
What throws a professional show off are stage waits while the freaked out performer tries to figure out what he should do. You gotta KNOW what to do brother. Any, even if it's not the best thing...you gotta DO SOMETHING with out hemming and hawing about like a doofus.
You have to stay in the moment. Stay in the stream of the performance. Stay in the relationship that you, hopefully, built with the audience. They are amazingly forgiving if you don't act like a jerk. Stuff happens to the biggest names in show business.
You know what it is...it's like the base philosophy behind a TT. You gotta just ACT like it doesn't exist. Same thing with mistakes.
Best,
Brad Burt
Brad Burt's Magic Shop Online
www.bradburtsmagicshop.com
Brad Burt's Private Lesson Teaching DVDS:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Category18
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harris
Inner circle
Harris Deutsch
6106 Posts
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Posted: May 15, 2012 9:33am
In my younger days, I remember doing a show at an opening of a Golf course. Tom Watson was in the group as I shuffled my cards. My nervousness,led me to drop the entire deck onto the floor. I quipped...I think they are shuffled know.
During one of the few times I have competed, I started to do a coin routine that I have done for many years. I realized one of the judges was a great coin guy. The moves I took for granite, turned my fluid hands to stone. I even had trouble doing a coin roll with only one coin. (I can usually do them with 2 or 3 in each hand) Fear is something I react to differently these days. I use the energy..and even talk about it. Adding me to my routines was at first difficult. Now it helps not only me, but in my connections with my audiences.
These days I realize that fame(or famous people) is only at a distance. They are just like you and me. They have ups and downs on this wonderful ride of life.
Harris
Harris Deutsch
aka dr laugh
drlaugh4u@gmail.com
music, magic and marvelous toys
http://magician.org/member/drlaugh4u
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Tryllejakob
New user
Denmark
51 Posts
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Posted: May 15, 2012 12:52pm
As mention before keep going, and change the trick, it is your performance and your trick so you chose.
I think you also need to practice in a different way, most new magicians are nervous about the techniques and performances, meaning they practice the moves and only the moves.
There performance will be very stiff and unnatural, this means your audience will not catch your secrets but they will know when you did the move, because your body signals them.
A way to solve that problem is practicing your routines without the items, like a coin routine you are going to mime the tricks, this will give you a hole different trick. Because you will focus on the “acting” instead of the technique, and the body signal will disappear.
Also think about the routine, without doing it, just perform it in your mind, then the performance will be automatic and much more natural.
Best Regards
Jakob Rasmussen
Denmark
www.magicshow.dk
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hestonsmagic
New user
78 Posts
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Posted: May 15, 2012 2:27pm
I totally agree with Tryllejakob... Practice with the trick, then without, practice with patter, and without... but I stick to my guns, when you practice and make a mistake.. keep going... this will prepare you for the rare occasion you do flash... you will be prepared to make it look natural and like nothing happened....
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Ray Bertrand
Special user
674 Posts
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Posted: May 15, 2012 3:32pm
Quote:
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On 2012-05-14 22:14, Brad Burt wrote:
This has been covered before, but it's a real problem when you are just getting started. The solution is oddly simple: Never, ever, ever admit you have made a mistake no matter how blatant it might seem to YOU. Always, always, always proceed as if the mistake did not happen. In the vast majority of cases the audience will not know that anything untoward has happened UNLESS YOU TELL THEM! Don't TELL THEM!
Here's an example of getting out of the worst possible senario. This actually happened to me. I had the card selected, signed, placed back in the deck. It started the routine proper and ..... flubbed. I literally lost the deck from my hands and it fell to the floor.
Here's how I recoverd: Without missing a beat I looked at the audience and said the following (more or less), "O.k., does everyone understand what is going on? The procedure, etc.? GREAT! O.k., let's start again and do this." Until you tell the audience that you did in fact screw up they mostly won't know. You HAVE to work pass what you preceive as a problem and 99.5% of the time it will work itself out.
I just picked up the deck and started the entire routine over again and did just fine. I did it as if it was 'kind of' a joke.
What throws a professional show off are stage waits while the freaked out performer tries to figure out what he should do. You gotta KNOW what to do brother. Any, even if it's not the best thing...you gotta DO SOMETHING with out hemming and hawing about like a doofus.
You have to stay in the moment. Stay in the stream of the performance. Stay in the relationship that you, hopefully, built with the audience. They are amazingly forgiving if you don't act like a jerk. Stuff happens to the biggest names in show business.
You know what it is...it's like the base philosophy behind a TT. You gotta just ACT like it doesn't exist. Same thing with mistakes.
Best,
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In a similar situation I used the line: "I just washed my hands this morning and I can't do a thing with them". I then proceeded with the effect to a satisfactory conclusion.
Ray
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MattSD
New user
14 Posts
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Posted: May 15, 2012 4:33pm
All great advice. Thanks!
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Dougini
Inner circle
I have killed more topics with my
4525 Posts
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Posted: May 16, 2012 5:27pm
Quote:
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On 2012-05-14 15:50, MattSD wrote:
I've been told that you should never perform a trick if you don't have it down solid...For instance, just the other day I was doing the three rope trick, the Professor's Nightmare I believe, when transferring ropes, I exposed the essence of how it was done...
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I feel ya pain, Matt! I have been practicing my Cups & Balls routine for about a year in front of the mirror, and then I bought a camcorder. I am so glad I did that! If I performed that routine, I'd be known as a "flasher"! Ha! Almost every move = exposed!
Back to the drawing board!
Doug
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Preacherman
New user
Montana, where I've facetiously added
66 Posts
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Posted: May 16, 2012 6:11pm
The advice to keep going is the best advice, in my opinion - depending upon how bad the flub is, you might have to move on to another trick. If this is the only trick you're doing, you might have to get a bit creative in order to turn the focus away from the flub and onto something else.
What I've experienced is that if you have a minor flub and can hold it together, the audience will go with your flow. If you fall to pieces, they just might eat you for lunch. If you hold it together, they just might have a new-found respect for you. When I was working on a coin routine (hoppin' half), I thought I had it down and ready for a performance - so I pulled it out at the barber shop one morning and commenced to "flash" one of the moves so clearly that both of the spectators saw something they were not supposed to see...I continued the trick as if nothing had happened and they were still fooled. They know that there is some kind of "trick" involved, and they might think they know what they saw, but as I continued through the routine it drew attention away from the flub and they were still a little dumbfounded as the routine concluded.
I was doing one of my first packet tricks (it's done with mirrors) once and had forgotten to reset the packet...pretty hard to recover from flashing the incorrect card. The spectators saw something that didn't make sense, we laughed a bit and I put that packet away and pulled out another one (capitulating queens)...this lesson taught me to always have two things with me and ready to go all the time...I usually have two card packets and at least one coin routine (usually two) with me and ready.
A bit of confidence in the midst of the screw up will go a long, long way. If you do make a mistake (and you will), have a bit of fun and keep your composure.
JD
"The right hand is, of course, the hand with the thumb to the left side." Fred Kaps
"A little magic now and then never hurts" Grandpa Munster
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craig1985
New user
united kingdom
8 Posts
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Posted: May 17, 2012 4:01pm
I have had this happen at times but you will notice it because you know what you are doing, the chances are, the audience won't even notice anything. Don't get disheartened and simply power on. We are human after all.
Good luck
http://www.maskedmagic.com
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sgtgrey
Loyal user
Austin, TX
248 Posts
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Posted: May 17, 2012 4:57pm
I also agree on the not noticing. When I first started out, I had practiced Twisted Sisters by John Bannon until the cows came home, and then went to perform to my older brother. Unfortunately, I not only flashed a gimmicked card, but I dropped it and he picked it up for me...and never had a clue it was gimmicked! That was an eye opening experience for me to remember that I magnify my mistakes about 1000 times greater than any spectator would notice.
I think the more seasoned performers here have it right when they say to keep going if you can, and if you can't, try to make a successful conclusion to the trick. Otherwise, move on and do something else. Never apologize
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Magic Rik
Loyal user
Eastern Canada
247 Posts
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Posted: May 17, 2012 9:26pm
I was doing a version of the Chicago open and when I did the lift I turned 3 instead of 2. I was going to show them the card they had picked. I said "You're not going to believe this..." blew the lift, knew right away what I had done. They said - "No , that was not their card." so I threw in Pop Haydn's line "I told you you wouldn't believe it!" Did the lift properly and there was their card.
Like the others have said - don't tell them. The people I was performing for never knew anything was amiss.
Magic Rik
Life itself is magic - I just want to help a bit!
https://www.facebook.com/Magic.by.Rik
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Mr. Mystoffelees
Inner circle
I haven't changed anyone's opinion in
3358 Posts
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Posted: May 18, 2012 7:57am
I agree with most of what is above. In addition I would add - just don't flash. A great quote (paraphrased) is "an amateur practices until they can do it right, a professional practices until they can't do it wrong". We all need someone willing to suffer thru being our initial spec, perhaps even your entire family or card club, but before you do it for "real" in the real world, pay your dues- practice until you have it solid. Then you will watch your reputation as a magician rise...
As I felt the soft, cool mud squish between my toes, I thought "Man, these are not very good shoes" Jack Handey
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MHamel
New user
New Hampshire
71 Posts
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Posted: May 18, 2012 10:05am
Often time we practice and practice to be perfect that we forget to think and practice what we will do if we mess up. For me I know what my weaknesses are and I practice non stop in order to fix that but as we know, everyone messes up once in a while. Although some people might have seen what you did, some might have missed it also. In my opinion your in a situation where you need to finish the routine no matter what. So instead of getting mad, try your hardest to be cool and just play it off.
People will notice this and often times its when mistakes happen that it shows who the true profesionals are.
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shellgame-al
New user
California, USA
96 Posts
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Posted: May 21, 2012 11:03pm
I think laughing it off with fun can work good and it shows you are normal. It can be entertaining to see a magician screw up and make fun of it.
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sgtgrey
Loyal user
Austin, TX
248 Posts
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Posted: May 24, 2012 1:54pm
No matter how much you practice, you WILL screw up at some point. If it really is show-stopping and just that bad that you can't recover, there's nothing wrong with laughing it off and moving on. If you take your mishap well and laugh it off, the audience will likely laugh it off as well. As someone who has performed theater a lot, I can even say it is possible they will forget the whole thing, especially if you don't make a big deal of it and move on to other magical wonders. They will remember you for the amazing magic you DID do rather than the one mistake...unless, of course, you get all upset and rail on yourself. How could they forget that?
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Akil
New user
53 Posts
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Posted: May 24, 2012 3:36pm
Sometimes people wont even notice it if you have strong enough showmanship. Your presentation can many times be the determining factor.
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Mr. Mystoffelees
Inner circle
I haven't changed anyone's opinion in
3358 Posts
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Posted: May 24, 2012 9:33pm
"You can fool some of the people some of the time..."
IF you have put in the requisite study, practice and rehearsal, perhaps you will OCCASIONALLY make a small mistake. I have never seen Yanni do it, or Bocelli, or Segovia, or Copperfield, or Ammar, or any of a great number of professional artists who perform live... if you are doing it as a hobby well, then, you are on a different path than those mentioned above...
As I felt the soft, cool mud squish between my toes, I thought "Man, these are not very good shoes" Jack Handey
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Bob Sanders
Grammar Supervisor
Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama
19258 Posts
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Posted: May 25, 2012 10:36am
Never flashing for a magician is as dumb as a rodeo contestant thinking he'll never buck down. Disney World is in Florida. Pure delusion is in Washington DC!
The best mentor I ever had in that area was Tony Slydini. In real shows we really do flash. In real shows we learn to really master misdirection. Tony would purposely drop a silk on the floor and openly pick up a silk fountain off of his table as he picked up the silk on the floor. To an amateur that is worse than a flash. It is a totally exposed steal. Audiences never saw a thing! Tony controlled the focus!
To me this is one of the characteristics of video versus live shows. Videos will show flashes that the audience of a good magician never noticed due to misdirection. A camera does not look where the audiences look! The focus is very different in a real live magic show.
Certainly, we don't set out to flash. Practice helps. But never, never, never forget that practicing misdirection is critical.
Control the audiences' focus and attention to where YOU need it. That is where the magic is happening!
Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander
Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander / The Amazed Wiz
AmazedWiz@yahoo.com
SilkMagic@DoveLite.com
http://www.magicbysander.com/
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Mr. Mystoffelees
Inner circle
I haven't changed anyone's opinion in
3358 Posts
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Posted: May 25, 2012 5:01pm
I do not disagree with the essence of what you are saying, Bob, but "New To Magic" is not where I would start the thought that flashing is almost "OK". Sorry, but I see (in the US) a continuous trend toward being satisfied with whatever you are when you leave the couch...
Jim
As I felt the soft, cool mud squish between my toes, I thought "Man, these are not very good shoes" Jack Handey
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Bob Sanders
Grammar Supervisor
Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama
19258 Posts
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Posted: May 25, 2012 6:01pm
LOL! Jim, we don't disagree. The point was hardly "please flash". It does recognize that we do.
On the greater point, I'm more upset than you are. The USA is the home of compromised objective. As an old graduate university professor (marketing, management and finance) I am too aware of the attitude in the USA. The policy is "If you can't hit the target, move the target". Standards are embarrassingly low from the top down and still being lowered. It is not just in magic, banking, government, and education. Smart money is leaving the USA for many of the right reasons. Facebook is a follower, not the leader.
We do flash and there is more than mechanics to practice. Magic is a vehicle for an entertainer and not the end. Magic is much more than a puzzle.
True, those new to magic may not be ready for that. Often they are still simply learning solutions to the puzzle before someone else does. Becoming an entertainer may never happen. But let's wait and see. Encouragement at this stage can matter.
Bob
Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander / The Amazed Wiz
AmazedWiz@yahoo.com
SilkMagic@DoveLite.com
http://www.magicbysander.com/
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Mr. Mystoffelees
Inner circle
I haven't changed anyone's opinion in
3358 Posts
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Posted: May 25, 2012 9:55pm
VERY sage thoughts, Bob- I am with you! Thanks for the reply, and good magic to you!
Jim
As I felt the soft, cool mud squish between my toes, I thought "Man, these are not very good shoes" Jack Handey
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EXTREMENINJA1
Regular user
134 Posts
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Posted: May 26, 2012 3:56pm
I try to recover, maybe using an out such as invisible deck but if the trick has failed and the spectators know it I just admit it. I say "You know what? This tricks gone wrong. Let me show you something better " Works well.
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