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JamesTong Eternal Order Malaysia 11213 Posts |
I would like to find out everyone's opinion on the dos and don'ts of a card manipulation act. What do you think should be avoided or should not be seen or performed in this act.
Thanks in advance for the contributions. |
Ron Reid Inner circle Phoenix, Arizona 2732 Posts |
Hi James:
I would avoid all of the unnatural "hand washing" moves that seem to be attempts to show off your skill. Also, I would avoid too much repetition, which gets boring real fast. I think if you keep your card routine(s) short and snappy, you're doing the right thing. Ron |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I have had a lot of requests lately from my SYM students and others about tips that I and others have learned over the years that are a big help to the card manipulator. These are simply suggestions that have worked for me over the years and I would like to list some of them below in hopes that it might be of some use to others as well as they continue on with their own learning.
1) Work the cards in - One of the biggest mistakes many beginners make is that the cards they are using and not worked in properly. The cards need to be worked in to make them more pliable to the hands for the many moves you will be making and performing. I even work in manipulators cards like that of Norm Nielson. even these cards can and should be worked in before use. I use a McBride technique for working in cards that is listed on his card videos. It is a simple process of using a table edge to wear down the wax coating on most Bee and Bicycle brands of cards. It works really well. You may want to check this process out for yourself for further details. 2) Do Finger Exercises - This may sound crazy but many people forget to do this. Like any part of your body, your fingers are not used to the many moves that we card manipulators put our hands through. The hands have to get use to the new movements and this means training the muscles to act the way we want them to. This means learning and performing finger exercises several times each week and especially before a performance. it gets the fingers used to the moves and gets them limbered up and ready to go. 3) Do card Warm Ups - Too many manipulators go and do a show totally "cold". By this I mean that they do not warm up properly as they should. You really should take your cards out before a performance and run through all the moves you will be required to make. This warms you up, warms your hands up and gets the cards comfortable to your hands. If you warm up in this process, you will find your performances will tend to run much smoother. 4) Practice with Video NOT a Mirror - This also may seem odd but many manipulators rely to much on the mirror. This is bad practice for 2 reasons. 1) The mirror is opposite of what the audience really is seeing. It is not a true representation of what the audience sees. 2) The manipulator gets too comfortable relying on seeing his/her own reflection in the mirror. Once they are on stage performing, and do not have the mirror, it tends to throw them way off because they want to see that reflection again. The best way to practice is to set up a video camera in your practice area. Videos do not lie and they show exactly what the audience is seeing. It is also good because you do not rely on seeing a reflection that may distract you in a real performance. 5) Keep Your Hands Warm - Manipulation is almost impossible to do well when your fingers are cold. When your hands are cold, your motor skills slow down and your reaction time does as well. It almost feels like your doing manipulation in slow motion. Always keep your hands and fingers warm before every performance you do. Wear gloves if you're going outside or bring a small hair dryer with you to warm them up before you go on. It makes a HUGE difference. 6) Keep Your hands Tacky - There are oils and solutions sold and made just for this purpose and some of them work quite well. You will have to experiment on which work best for you. This may sound a bit gross, but if you do not have any oil or solution for your hands, you can always use saliva. It sounds disgusting, but if your in a tight bind, saliva can add the tack to your hands that will help you along. 7) Keep Your Cards Straight - by this I see too often card manipulators work in their cards and when they are produced, the cards are all bent out of shape. This happens because as you prepare the cards for use, the cards lose the wax coating and become more pliable. Always keep your cards in a card vise or between 2 books over night. This will straighten out the cards again but will still keep them pliable enough for use. 8) Take Care Of Your Cards - Once your cards start getting old or are showing wear and tear, make sure to get rid of them and break in a new deck. image and appearance of your props really does make a difference in the overall impression of your act. I hope some of these tips are of help to you. I look forward to your comments and hearing other tips that may work for you. I will post some other thoughts on what NOT to do for a manipulator a little later today once I have had more time to go through my notes and such. Hope these tips may help. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
kregg Inner circle 1950 Posts |
Don't avoid Kyle's post!!
I can't tell you how many times I've told other magicians to warm up and stretch - having watched several fumble or drop cards. Singer's vocalize, dancer's and athlete's stretch after a light warm up; why wouldn't you? Also, RELAX by breathing properly. Avoid turning upstage to watch yourself.
POOF!
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NickJegor Elite user Lithuania 466 Posts |
Hi James!
I sugest to avoid the Interlock moves, unusual hand washing. |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Thanks Kregg for the kind words. These are just a few things I always try and remember to do for myself before each show and also notes I have written for my SYM group that I teach magic to. It is there to remind me of tips and things I should do and what I should not do and it has made a world of diffference. I will try and elaborate on some more of this later on today. Thanks again.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
kregg Inner circle 1950 Posts |
Nick,
When done properly interlock is great. However, it must be done in a playful manner. It also is great for television for medium close ups (good face time). Sincerely, Kregg
POOF!
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I think with any type of card manipulation, it comes down to whether or not you are performing the move for yourself or for the entertainment value of your audience. Too many manipulators learn 150 moves and decide they have to perform all 150 moves because they know they can do them. This does nothing for the entertainment value of the manipulative act.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
Jeb Sherrill Inner circle Elsewhere 1161 Posts |
First I would have to decide if the routine is for magicians or for lay audiences. The mindsets are totally different. You can do 50 moves and all lay audiences will see is you producing cards. There is no reason to think that if you can produce cards from one position, you couldn't produce them from another. Therefore choices in moves should be aesthetic rather than intended to wow audiences with the number of different productions you can do.
I also second Nick's statements about interlock moves. I think they're great for magicians, but pointless for lay audiences. Magicians see your fingers interlocked and say "Man, that's a tough move". Lay audiences see you producing cards from one hand out in front of nothing, so why should producing cards from two hands in front of your body be impressive. For all they know you're grabbing them out of your shirt (which is what it looks like). After all, you could do it that way, they just don’t know that would be far more difficult. I also have to second Kyle's statement about the number of moves you use. Even if you're working for magicians and trying to show off your skill, they don't want to see every move in your repertoire. And if you are going to do an interlock to impress magicians produce two or three and be done with it. Don't try to produce a whole deck just to show you can. Jeb
I don't believe in reincarnation, but I may have in another life.
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Levent Special user USA 801 Posts |
I think that the main thing to avoid in a Card Manipulation Act is water. Heavy rain could cause real havoc to your split fans.
Just Kidding. Seriously, you guys all did a fine job in this thread, as there is a lot of good advice here. Best regards, Levent P.S. I've been doing card manipulations for nearly thirty years and I still find it necessary to warm up with the cards (as well as the other manipulation props) before every show, otherwise the sleights would look a bit sloppy.
Levent
www.LeventMagic.com |
DJ Trix Inner circle 1197 Posts |
I as well use card manipulation in my act. About 3 months ago I showed my card work to a magician who is helping me and guiding me and he said, "Why don't you just tell your audience how your producing them"! I was confused and he told me that I am doing the same moves for too long. I was producing 6 fans in a row from back palm just because I got my fingers doing it. I was also doing 6 In the front hand possition. He told me that there isn't always joy in repitition. He explained that I am giving the audience too much time to catch on to what I am doing.
So now I only do 3 in each hand, which still could be too much, but understandable. So in my oppinion, and it has been said here many times but should be stressed, DO NOT DO THE SAME MOVE FOR TOO LONG! If your doing backpalm singles I would say stay under 15 productions, same with the front hand. Leave them wanting more... DJ |
cardone Special user 860 Posts |
As Tommy Wonder says.....Make it simple ...not" Keep it simple stupid" ...
simplicity is your friend .....Do 20 nice clean card production ... not 100 too fast card productions Watch the Jeff Sheridan act .... simple and direct....easy to follow and is executed with precision... Great advice from Kyle on the warm up stuff .....This is the Mozart of magic and must be practiced every day and a warmup is very important for your hands and it helps your confidence.... good luck. |
inhumaninferno Elite user 452 Posts |
Good advice on this thread for the most part. Although moves are a matter of taste, the Interlock was good enough for Neil Foster and Norm Nielsen....and it is good enough for you if done properly, which is true of many moves.
Have some purpose to your manipulation (cards or whatever) besides, "look what I can do". Don't forget subtext to drive your routine. Beware of angles when split fanning or back palming-these are good skills to have in your arsenal, however diversify your technique to reflect many real world performing situations. Depending on venue, don't make a mess with your cards on stage. If being followed by dancers or other physical performers, cards on the floor can cause them to slip and injure themselves. Have a prop on stage to catch your card productions and you will be fine. Redundancy can be your enemy. In card manipulation there are many tools available; productions, vanishes, transformations, transferences, fanning, etc. (hey, sounds a lot like many areas of magic) Practice, practice, rehearse, rehearse. Give cards their due and you will be rewarded. |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
As promised, I wanted to chime back in here to dive a little deeper on this topic if I could.
The one main thing I do not want to see is a manipulator standing on stage and forgetting why he or she is there. I do not want to see a magician performing for himself instead of his audience. I also do not want to see a manipulator doing 150 moves with cards, coins or balls just because he can with no ryhme or reason. What I do want to see is creative thought. I want to see a manipulator to go beyond him or herself and do something different and unique. Do something that goes beyond just a mere show of skill. Not that skill should not be there, because it should. However, a manipulator can give an audience so much more then skill alone. I want to see a manipulator striving to add more to the act to give the audience more to grab ahold of. A lay audience does not see manipulative magic in the same way we do. They do not understand the techniques and skills involved and nor should they if what we are doing is supposed to be magical. With this in mind, the audience often will say to themselves... "WHY". Why is this magician doing the same thing over and over again. Why? Because the magician knows he is doing different vanishes and each one is slightly unique. However the audience only knows that the card vanishes, the card returned and now your doing it again. This is why an act of manipulation is very hard to do well if your doing it for 7-8 mins in a normal act time. You do not want your audience ever going "Why" at any time in the routine. So how do you work around this problem of boring your audience to tears? Well that is where research and creativity comes into the picture. It gets back to the point that in a manipulative act you must give the audience "more". It is not good enough to simply show an 8 minute act of pure skill alone doing moves that appear the same to any audience. You can do this but if you are ONLY giving the audience skill alone, then you better be very very good at presenting it because there isnothing else to fall back on. So how do you give your audience more? I have talked about this before so I will dive into it a bit again since it really does apply here. Well you can give them more through the use of themes, character, style, pacing, transition effects and emotional response to just name a few. Let me go on to talk very briefly about each of these I just mentioned. Each could be an article all in itself but I will just give you my tips on each one for now in hopes you can grasps what I am referring to. - Themes: You can give more to your audience in any manipulative act if you simply add in a theme to the act you are doing. This can be a generalized theme in regards to the objects all relating that you are manipulating, or the act itself can be themed around a storyline. In this way you are performing a small 8 min play that just so happens to have magic in it. The audience can relate to the themed objects or the story and get more involved with your act and with you. - Character: Every act you do should have a strong character present on stage. The audience needs to be able to connect with this character. If you can connect the audience with you, then they become more attached to you and can relate to what you are doing on stage. Ask yourself if your character is suave, comical, athletic, hip, sad, down on his luck. Each of these can become a strong character that can be conveyed in your stage movement and even your music. - Style: With style, I mean the way you move on stage and the way you conduct and hold yourself throughout the act. It is something that must be learned over time. It is those little things that make a huge difference to an audience liking you or not. It can be the way you pause at the right moment and look at the audience and wink right before a big production. It could be the way you move and look and smile at the audience as if saying thank you without moving your mouth at all. - Pacing: The way you pace and time your act can make a world of difference to an audience. In many manipulative acts, the audience is being barraged with too much visual input. They can not follow it all the time and so start shutting themselves down from even watching what it is you are doing. You must pace your act and place in it pauses that give the audience a chance to catch up, breathe a bit and give them a chance to applaude you before going into the next sequence. - Transition effects: These are the simple things you can place into your act that changes it up a bit and ads so called "spice" to the act. It gives your audience something more to watch and breaks up the act from being too repetitive. For example: You could be doing a billiard ball act. You do a few vanishes and produce the ball. The ball gets tossed up and as you catch it it turns into a white silk. You do a knots of silk effect and the not becomes the ball again. In this way the ball to silk becomes a transition effect that gives your audience something more to be interested in. - Emotional Response: This is a HUGE one and can work so wonderful if done well. If done right it can make your audience connect with you long after you have left the stage. It is causing an emotional response in your audiences by allowing them to connect and relate to your character and the predicament presented on the stage. It can also work closely in with the theme you are presenting. Every person in your audience has experienced something in common. What is common to us all is emotions. We have all felt fear, love, confusion and happiness. These are common to every person know matter who you are performing for. So if you can connect with them on one or more of these emotions, you can get that audience member to really relate to you because they are remembering a similar situation when they too had that exact same emotion or situation happen to them. they can relate. For example, your manipulative act could be all about this guy at night who is just trying to reach a bus to get home. It is late and he misses his bus and the entire world seems to be passing him buy. He sits on a bench to wait for the next bus and turns on his radio. He drifts off to sleep only to awake moments later. He realizes that magic starts happening to him even though he does not know exactly why it is. Through out the act the magic that happens to him causes him to smile and to realize that life is full of wonder even if we may not always see it. Now this is just a very vague example but you can see how the entire act could be a manipulative routine but now you are relating to them a story of a very well defined character with a well defined theme. You give them an emotional response to the act because most can relate to being in a similar situation in their own life. In this way they relate better to what you are doing on stage. Now these ideas are not meant to be the bible for a great act by any means. They are simply some of my own understandings on what I have experienced that has really worked not only for myself but to other acts that have really "made it." They are meant only to be reviewed and given some thought to. Take even one thing from them and I think you will see your act reaching your audiences in a whole different light. So what I want to see for manipulators is creative thought. I want to see us going above and beyond what others have done. I want us to stop looking at magic for ideas and look outwards for inspiration. Just my 2 cents worth. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
JamesTong Eternal Order Malaysia 11213 Posts |
Thanks, Ron Reid, kregg, Nick Jegor, Jeb Sherrill, Levent, DJ Trix, cardone, inhumaninferno and Kyle.
All of you have posted invaluable information on this subject - that is extremely useful for everyone in this forum. |
poofersmagic Regular user philadelphia 134 Posts |
James:
You are most welcome. I hope that the information posted here may be of help to others. This is what makes the Café such a great place. The freedom to share information for the betterment of our art. Kyle |
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Ooops I forgot I posted under my wifes account. Sorry folks. Just do not want anyone thinking I flipped out here lol.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
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