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The Amazing Noobini Inner circle Oslo, Norway 1658 Posts 
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You are right Erik, about an AC routine perhaps not being the wisest choice with shaky hands. I tend to surprise myself sometimes by suddenly taking chances in order to test things for the first time. Even with all the fear of getting 'busted', a part of me still cannot resist walking just a little further out on the ice to see if it cracks.
I haven't found any self working effects I really want to do for some reason, although since I speak Aronson, there are a lot of memdeck possibilities for times when the mind is somewhat steady even though the hands may shake. Not long ago I started looking into Rain Man, Random Sample Shuffle Bored and other versions of it, such as the one by John Bannon, the name of which escapes me at the moment. I have however halted that and retreated into the pure practice of a few selected sleights, leaving all ideas of performance and routining/scripting aside for now. I did start reading Scripting Magic with the intent to really sit down and think a few effects through more thoroughly. I am an ex screenwriter after all. I should be able to do that. But I've had other things to do and think about so for now, practicing sleights while lying down to rest is the most convenient for me. I have spent around 4 months on a specific shuffle now, 2 to perfect it and 2 more so far after I realized that it wasn't good enough and that I needed to redo it from the beginning. I have also finally taken on the problems of the Pinkie Count and the Classic Palm the way it should really be done, and they are all finally showing signs of improvement. Just a couple of months more now... I have also started on Card College from the beginning. Since I have at least some level of prior knowledge of most of the material so far, it isn't so impossibly slow to get through as I had feared. Halfway through volume 2 already. I didn't know about the Light version until quite recently and I won't start on that until I have finished the rest of the series. I need to stay the race through with these books. Just to have done the basics properly. So... I feel relaxed because I have no intentions whatsoever of performing anything for anyone until at least the summer of 2009. Hopefully the therapy will have kicked in by then. 
Thank you all again for your amazing contribution to this thread. Hopefully, as Thales point out, it will be a resource for other people in the future!
"Talk about melodrama... and being born in the wrong part of the world." (Raf Robert)
"You, my friend, have a lot to learn." (S. Youell) "Nonsensical Raving of a lunatic mind..." (Larry) |
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Lord Anacho Regular user Kessel-Lo, Belgium 157 Posts
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Another thing Noobini
From your story I learned that the guy turned hostile and did his utmost to fry you. Now this could be something in the guy's character. If so, tough titty... But consider this. Fred Kaps used to say: "There is no place for challenge in professional magic". Now if you are a shy person and radiating it, well, there are people that prey on the weak. The last thing you should perform for such a guy is an ACR. ACR is almost by definition a 'challenge"-effect. "You see the card go in the middle? Hey it's back on top! Now how did I do that, I gather you haven't got a clue, eh? Let's do it again..." To get rid of 'the challenge state-of-mind' in this effect is very difficult. Darwin Ortiz in Strong Magic has many words of wisdom about this. Magic should always be presented as entertainment through mystification, not as: 'I can do what you cannot do'. You are your own boss Noobini, but my very strong suggestion would be to get a copy of Card College Light NOW. There is no need whatsoever to wait until you finished the Card College series. I promise you there are true bafflers in Card College Light, which definitely can help you perform whilst avoiding the shakes. There are actually a good number of effects in there, where you hardly have to touch the deck at all. Good luck to you Ciao for now Erik
"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything" (Alfred Borden in The Prestige)
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Thales Elite user You may have read one of my 415 Posts
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An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I was at my dentists office getting a cleaning and my hygienist asked me to do a magic trick for her. She remembered the tricks I had done 6 months ago. So I did a few simple things that I knew I could do perfectly and would get a good reaction, and I did and they did.
This dentist is very high tech and they now take your blood pressure with an electronic device they put on your wrist to screen for any health problems. So my hygienist starts to hook the blood pressure gauge on my wrist and tells me that I have to do some tricks for the girls in the front office before I leave. So I start to think about the various magic effects I had on me (about 10) and which ones I should do. I did not think I was very stressed out about it but then my blood pressure came out high (90 over 170 I think) which is not normal for me. So she asks me all kinds of medical questions, was I in a rush to get there, on any meds, etc. (no and no) So she agrees to take it again when we are done and by then I had figured out that the high reading was because I was thinking about preforming magic but did not tell her that. So at the end of my cleaning I make sure to think calm thoughts and my blood pressure dropped to normal. I found the whole thing very interesting. I never once thought I was getting nervous about preforming a few trick but my blood pressure went way up. I wonder if it would be possible to wear a portable blood pressure monitor while we practice magic effects and when we do them for spectators to see, and possibly learn to control, what the effects are. I think from this experience that maybe we all get nervous when we preform magic (or in my case just think about preforming magic) but some of us just show it more than others.
"If you can't change the method, change the moment." Vernon
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Allan Olive Regular user Charlotte 180 Posts
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Noobini,
I read your post with great interest as I myself have made similar post in the past. With a thousand post under your belt here on the forum I can guess that you have been at it awhile and are not entirely a "Noob". I pastor a church and can get in front of hundreds of people and not be nervous at all, but let a friend ask me to show them a trick and you would think they just asked me to go skinny dipping in a public theme park. Sometimes my hands would shake so hard I could hardly hold a deck of cards. Forget trying to speak and breath at the same time. Like you, practice wasn't my primary problem, it was confidence. I struggle with it still. Although nothing seems to build your confidence quite like practice After posting on the forum here I got tons of great advice. For me it all came down to realizing I am doing this for fun and I want to share this fun with others. When I quit trying to be perfect with every aspect of it everything seemed to flow more naturally. I made up my mind before doing anything that I would give my best and if a mistake was made then I would not make a big deal with it and just move onto something else. Another thing that has helped is having an out that you can rely upon when doing an effect. That way, even if something does go wrong, or if there is someone who is trying to expose your method you can fall back on your out and do something even more amazing. For me, it all came down to confidence and having fun. |
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WV Loyal user South Africa, Durban 293 Posts
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Hi.
I have not read all of the above post so what I say might echoe some of the advice that preceeds mine. This might sound corny, but get a diary. Write down exactly how every performance made you feel. Write down exactly what you did wrong. Once it is written down, you have to read it again and again. Read it before you perform. Once you "talk" to your diary (or MS Word document) it won't haunt you or cause you to be fearful. Trust me. Once I write down about a performance and what went wrong, it does not go wrong again - sure someday I might slip up again, but then I'll just write it down again! As for the shakes, welll, many people try to get rid of the shakes. Don't. You shake because adrenaline is released and you feel "different" - like a rush, or a high if you will - and you are scared that people will see this difference. Well they should. Adrenaline can also cause you to perform better. The best thing to do is to do REALY easy and corny trick to start off with. People don't see this "change" in your body as a negative, infact, if you embrace this "high" they will be drawn to your performance. I had the shakes, I learned to use that as my "fuel". I do start off with something that is sure not to go wrong, cause when people gasp, I get encourage. After some time this shakes will be so easy to turn into "fuel" that it will be almost instant! Good luck!
Vernesto
"I'm not perfect, just forgiven!" |
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Jumbopenny Loyal user Bay Area, Northern California USA 257 Posts
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The Amazing Noobini,
Writing on a subject like this can get very extensive. I'll try to be direct, and to the point. First problem is that you are trying to play golf like Tiger Woods when you can't even hit a basic stroke. You are failing at things that you shouldn't be attempting and then putting yourself down for them. At this stage you shouldn't be perfoming things that "you want to perform," but things that you need to perform to get better. If you are training for a marathon you can't just go out and run the 26 miles instantly. You run a couple miles at a time until you build up to it. For example, your friend can see right through your ACR. Then start with a basic card trasnpo using a DL. Simple, fast, impressive. Professionals do this all the time. Or start with pick a card, do a DL showing the wrong card and say is this your card? They say NO, put the right card in there hand do a magical move and it turns into there card. If you can pull this off regularly then you know your DL is good enough, and you don't have all the pressure of remembering the whole sequence and patter for an ACR. You need to practice PERFORMING a simple DL instead of training by yourself for months, and then saying I need to start all over. You don't understand one of the real secrets of magic. The secret of acting. You perform as yourself, the person who is really bad at magic and fails everytime. If you want to be confident you have to ACT confident. Why not pretend you are someone else when you perform. Pick your favorite confident magician and watch a video of them. Pay attention to the pace and volume they speak. How their eyes move. The next time you perform pretend you are that person and have their mask on. Do things the way they would do it. Magic is a performance art. You are putting on a mini play and you are a person who performs miracles. Be that person. Right now you are choosing to be a weak ineffective person. Life is about choice and performance. Choose what you want to be and then perform it. Your feelings initially are irrelevant. After you act a certain way for a period then you will start to believe it. Maybe you could post some tricks that you have performed succesfully. Can you even perform Invisible Deck or Brainwave? If not, then your problem is not magic, it's you. You need to work on yourself. Suggestions on tricks that are basic, but hard hitting: 1)rising card with loops or with forefinger. 2)one coin production, vanish, reapperance, change into jumbo coin. 3)color change: pick a card, is this your card? NO? do a color change into their card. 4)Rosini double reversed card. Only when you can do basic routines like this without shaking can you progress to longer more diffucult routines. Your shaking is partly b/c you're focused on the outcome of the trick. I speak from experience. I once had an episode of my hands shaking violently while performing, and I was overly focused on not being caught doing the sleights. It hasn't happened since. It really surprised me while it was happening though. Make a contract with yourself that you are not going to be concerned with the outcome while you are PERFORMING. A magic trick is a gift to your spectator of surprise, laughter, and fun. If you can pull it off well then it's like they unwrap a box and these things are for them. If you just focus on yourself and your feelings then you may fail, and no one wins. Focus on them, and RELAX. Oh, one more thing. When you perform don't forget you ARE the AMAZING Noobini. Let your performance be that. Best Wishes |
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ralphs007 Inner circle 1087 Posts
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Quote:
On 2009-01-25 17:00, Jumbopenny wrote: Nice post, good info. thanks Ralph
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him".
James D. Miles |
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Posted: Dec 9, 2008 09:21 pm 
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