I allways say lurn your sleight of hand frist!!! You Never know when you will need to switch in a Gimmick!:)

Very well said! True, true.




Unfortunately many school children aren't even taught to write anymore! Two of my granddaughters who live nearby were not taught to write longhand in school; the school system no longer teaches it - only printing. My daughters taught them penmanship at home because they felt it important, and I agree. Really weird when you think of all the things we know that current and future generations never will!

Thanks!

Jim

You got to be kidding me I heard they were thinking of taking out longhand from the education system. Never thought it would acctually happen though. That is horrible in taking the time to learn that instead of quickly pressing keys you simultaniously learn proper grammer. In quickly keying things you don't have a chance to think as much and can very easily make mistakes. Thus so many typo on this website and many other blogging sites.

"It doesn't matter what you think is best. Its what LOOKS BEST in PERFORMANCE." Ryan Bliss

Says it all.

Perhaps the focus should be what kind of magic effects will be appreciated by younger age cohorts trained in the "quick fix" mentality. Many gaffs allow for suprise approaches over a more anticipitory appraoch as sleights. While a combination of the two is ideal, perhaps the balance has shifted. Mb demonstates how the "flash" appraoch can work without sleights, but many are not willing to put in the work -- magicians also desiring a quick fix.

In the other hand, when my arthritus and wrist problems prevented me from doing many sleights I ustacould, discovery of the TUC led to developing new sleights, moves, effects and finally the book "T.U.C. Appreciation." But without the encouragement of Marion and Tim Feher to attempt sleight again it never would have happened.

Sleight-of-Hand vs The Gimmick...almost sounds like a WWE match-up.

Hey thanks funsway for your good and kind words and you are as much a real inspiration to me.

And believe it or not I've just come up with an amazing way to present that "Flash". . Just some deeper thinking upon some things from Bobo and Mickey Silver I seem to remember, looks amazing...A cross between misdirection and moving a mental object.

I don't know, it's just a small thing but then again so is a diamond I guess.

My motto let your hands be the gimmick,
however a gimmick and slight used together is the best of both worlds
vinny
ps I hate gimmicks

While I tend to scold about making sure younger magician's learn sleight of hand first, I actually love gimmicks...as far as owning and playing with the things. They are tempting, they are fun. You can make magic also collecting hobby by buying the stuff, and certainly a well place gimmick in a clever magician's hands can take a piece of simple sleight of hand, and add immeasurably and make it seem more magic.

But, one needs the maturity of experiance- that previous saturation in Sleight-of-Hand in order to put the props into the perspective that they belong.

I just remember my own start into magic. I was lucky. I somehow got ahold of Ganson's Finale book, a copy of Tarbell #1 and a battered copy of The Amateur Magician's Handbook BEFORE my first props. I was maybe 10 or 11. This is what I attribute to my love for magic. If I had gotten the Funder Box, a Penetration Frame and Milk Pitcher tricks first,(I got them for Christmas a year or two later courtesy of kindly Mack Picknik in collusion with my parents), I might have gotten into that unfortunate frame of mind that tricks are easy to do, require minimal practice to clumsily fool people with. I would quickly have grown bored with the quick fix, and never had the sense of accomplishment and the real skills that Sleight-of-Hand gives a person.

The quick-fixers are much, much less likely to ever become permament magicians if not exposed first to the rewarding manipulation branch of the art. There are those people who have loads of natural charisma who don't NEED to use sleight-of-hand, who are born illusionists that are suited better to the stage and big, showly tricks...but they should discover this AFTER passing through the realm of hands magic.

Hand Magic should be a sort of test by fire, a Boot Camp of magic that shows you the rewards of discipline and that practice can be fun and never work. These basic principles never hurt a blooming magician. A young person is more likely to be driven from the field by boredom at easy, self working tricks that appalled by the awful difficulties of the holds and passes needed for basic sleight-of-hand.

My opinions, of course.

That is just what I was thinking. But I love my gimmicked coins.

Then lurn some Sleight of hand to go with them! A comb. of both is hard to beat!

Whilst I agree with the experts that sleight of hand combined with gimmicks can and does kill when ever I'm working I'm almost always gimmick free as I feel safer and more comfortable with sleight of hand.

Yea you just have to know not just HOW to use a gimmick, BUT WHEN--- to use a gimmick! you just need some lurn some Add. Management skills. and have NO SHAME!!! But that will come with time!

:jump:

What a great thread this turned into! Lots of good advice.
Thanks to all