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Martin Kristjansen New user Aalborg, Denmark 19 Posts |
Hey there everyone.
Through my time as a lurker and after I started as a member here I have seen a lot of questions of how to practice magic. How do be a better technician and performer. And the answers are great and more or less all have one mutual thing to say: That you HAVE to practice the performance to become more than a trickster. I agree about that, but that's not what this post is about. This post is about when YOU realized that what you did was only tricks and that you just thought that you did magic. I did tricks for two years and the last one of those I thought I did magic. Then a magic magazine I get had a article named "12 books you must read before you die." They were all books that was about the philosophy of magic and not all of the books contained tricks to practice with. Here was a book containing some of Ascanio's work and was called "The Structural Conception of Magic." Ascanio was a very theoretical man which fits my character and I felt I understud everything and everything he said was so clear to me. I'm not advertising for the book but trying to tell how I felt when I read the book and made a realization. A realization of how to improve and think about magic. So here I am, believing that I am improving every day and by every trick I do, simply because I see the result of a performance in a new prospective. But who knows? Maybe I'll fell smarter in one year and I hope I will! The magic journey is never-ending but I fell this book started my road of magic instead of the road of tricks. Am I the only one with this kind of experience? I don't thing so but I also think that some or most people learned it by taking another past. So, I'm not asking of what "real magic" is. I'm asking of your experience with the feeling of “knowing” how to find and do real magic. Now some of my thoughts are shared, I hope you enjoyed it and made you think just a little. Greetings - Martin |
Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
My first 15 years magic was only a hobby to me. Next, it became my profession.
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Father Photius Grammar Host El Paso, TX (Formerly Amarillo) 17161 Posts |
Part of your question can best be answered by a book called "The Ostrich Factor" it is written by one of our Magic Café members and is an excellent book on practice and improving ones performance. A must have for any serious magician. The Author is Gerald Edmundson. You can order his book from http://www.geraldedmundson.com he uses the screen name Gerald if you want to pm him and ask any questions about his book.
Everyone's magic history is different. Published mine here many times. Short story, I fell in love with magic watching a local Dallas, TX TV show back in the 1950's called Time for Magic. Its stars Mark Wilson and wife Nani Darnell went on to do a national network television show "Magic Land of Allakazam", and mark also publishes the Mark Wilson Complete Course in Magic which many magicians have used to get their start in magic. I got a Mark Wilson magic kit for Christmas one year and started doing tricks (I was not yet in elementary school). A trip by my parents to visit some folks who were friends and my dad took me by to meet his old "uncle" Uncle Harry turned out to be Harry Blackstone, Sr. Of course he encouraged my magic. I was probably around 12 when I realized there was a difference between doing tricks and performing magic. Uncle Harry helped a lot with that. And Mark Wilson also helped as well as continues to be an inspiration and guide to me. That ah ha! moment, I don't exactly recall, but I do recall around that age starting to understand that it took more than just doing tricks to perform magic.
"Now here's the man with the 25 cent hands, that two bit magician..."
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Leland Inner circle St Louis 1180 Posts |
For me it was a kid’s show that I was doing. I noticed the parents were not interested in what I was doing. I felt that there had to be a way to involve them at the same time.
But I didn’t find a way until a few years later when I read "Magic and Showmanship" a must read book recommended by a fellow Café member, see I do read and listen. It opened my eyes to the many possibilities. My Magic has taken off, or so it feels, I know there is always room for improvement. I now know that it is not about learning the slight or move but about the presentation. Magic is a long journey with many paths… mine continues.
Life of Magic!
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Martin Kristjansen New user Aalborg, Denmark 19 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-12-12 17:41, Father Photius wrote: I also had a theory that those who started early as you might not feel, or remember, a specific moment where it "became clear." My interest in magic came as I had just turned 19 and I'm 21 now and properly doing my first paid gig this January. Maybe those things come more natural when you are younger compared to when you are starting later. Quote:
On 2011-12-12 17:51, Leland wrote: So true, so true! |
DWRackley Inner circle Chattanooga, TN 1909 Posts |
I guess I was a slow learner. Started doing magic tricks around 15 or 16. My first “for pay” job was working as a demonstrator in a magic shop. I fooled a bunch of people, started booking performances and doing corporate parties. But it was still just tricks.
Eventually life got more complicated, and I disappeared into the bowels of a computer and didn’t come out for nearly 20 years. It was very comfortable, and it took getting downsized to shake me loose. Two things became available. (They always were, but I wasn’t looking!) I’d always wanted to write, and suddenly that became an outlet. I love movies, but I’m usually disappointed in most of them. I knew I could do better than most of the directors I’d seen, so I started studying, then I started doing. (Still haven’t made my big blockbuster yet, but I’ve been directing a small troop of players for almost 10 years). About 3 years ago was my “A HA” moment. I knew I could control a crowd (crowds are MUCH easier than individuals!) I knew had the ability to draw every person in the room under my spell. It can become a little heady, actually. Then one day my (then) 8 year old was digging through the garage and found several boxes of my old magic stuff. “Daddy, what’s this?” was the starting shot. Slowly I started finding ways of incorporating the magic into those times I was going to be onstage anyway. It was probably more amazing to me than to the audience. I think I actually do believe in real magic, and that comes across to whoever is watching. Mentalism is no different in that respect. I believe the stuff I’m doing is real, and people just can’t help being drawn in. If there were any regrets at all, it would be for the twenty years spent in the Data Center.
...what if I could read your mind?
Chattanooga's Premier Mentalist Donatelli and Company at ChattanoogaPerformers.com also on FaceBook |
vinh31 New user 51 Posts |
I never had any exposure to magic in my youth.
4 years ago, I stumbled across a magic shop in Toulouse (France). Bought a trick. Took lessons. Practiced every day, every night. Only family, friends and acquaintances would see a trick from time to time. 2 years ago, some teenagers came to my company (aircraft manufacturing company in Toulouse) and I was asked to tell them about our products. I work in Marketing. How to get their interest? Magic, of course. I started creating my own "aircraft deck", and by doing an ACR I was illustrating that our products were lighter and did not fatigue. Using some coins, I was explaining that you could save money. It worked so well, that the teenagers kept talking about it all day long. My management heard about that. They asked me to perform and loved the routine. My hands were shaking. So was my voice. They would pay for everything, and send me to many events around the world to perform. Last month, I was sent to China and just before a long winded technical presentation full of BS, I was asked to start by the trick. It worked great. People smiled immediately and were much friendlier afterwards. After doing the same trick 200 times for different audience, I started to understand what pros might feel. This is when I felt that I had started doing magic, as in "magic", because it transformed my life. Vinh |
metaljohn Loyal user Montreal, QC 280 Posts |
I was a trickster until I started watching professional magicians and I realized the one thing that made them more entertaining was just that, they were more entertaining. Wether it was with their jokes, quirky behaviour, fast talking motor mouth, etc, they entertained. They never once had a silent moment. That's when I realized that I had plenty of silent moments and never had anyone truly intrigued.
It was around that time that I started to get serious with cards. I had just finished Royal Road To Card Magic and started Card College. The subtleties, the psychology all started hitting me like a ton of breaks all at once. Especially Card College Volume 2, Chapter 27 - Theory. Those 80 pages or so was and is to this day for me some of the greatest knowledge I could have ever read on magic. I still go back to it once in a while. Eventually, I started reading Harry Lorayne books and when I bought his Best Ever DVDs, I got to see the tricks from his books performed by him and really started to understand performance a lot more. That's when I went from a handful of co-workers knowing that I do card tricks to a good number of people knowing because the original handful started to get impressed and would tell everyone else. Now I get asked once every two days or so if I can do a card trick or some sort of close-up magic trick. It's a good feeling knowing you can impress people after a few years of practicing and going nowhere. When I say nowhere, I mean performance-wise which I sucked a lot at for a couple of years. |
motown Inner circle Atlanta by way of Detroit 6127 Posts |
Was that John Carney's list of books to read by any chance.
"If you ever write anything about me after I'm gone, I will come back and haunt you."
– Karl Germain |
satellite23 Elite user 424 Posts |
You know, I think that every performance is another lesson in performing. I thought I was doing magic when I first showed my grandpa a trick that I read out of a book HE gave me, but it was only a simple trick. Then I thought I was doing magic when I started showing my family and friends, but they didn't think anything of it. Then I thought I was doing magic when I was performing for a few strangers, and they enjoyed it but quickly forgot about it because of my lack or performance. Then I thought I was doing magic when I landed my first gig, and I really got a head full of confidence. And now I think I am doing magic, although I know that I am not, and probably never will. In fact, nobody ever will or has. Houdini never performed magic, Vernon never performed magic, nobody ever has.
You know why? Because magic is the art of illusion. And the greatest illusionist of all is the human mind. When you really want to do something, such as magic, your mind tricks you into thinking that you are never good enough at it, therefore you are not. The mind tricks you into believing that you are a terrible magician, even though you might be the best in the world. That is why Houdini never performed magic; because deep inside his mind, he always strived to become a better magician, and probably never lived up to his own expectations of himself. Ever. I know I haven't. And when I do reach my expectations, it'll be so far down the road that I'll have higher expectations. Yes, I have gotten...shall we say, "better" at magic and performing since I started two and a half years ago. But I bet I'm not half as good as I will be in another year. Or tomorrow. Or an hour from now. Or maybe right fter I get done typing this and read some more from the Café about magic and entertaining. And even then, my expectations will only go even higher, even if it is only by a fraction. |
Mr. Mystoffelees Inner circle I haven't changed anyone's opinion in 3623 Posts |
To me, the feeling you speak of is transient, becoming more whole as you practice, rehearse and, finally, perform. It requires a connection, empathy if you will, with the audience, for that is where the "magic" really resides.
The transcience relates both to the audience, and to your practice and rehearsal with an effect (I do not like to call them "tricks"). For example, I first felt I was performing real magic with my kids shows. Later with forgiving adults, then with hecklers and finally magicians. However, if I try to perform ANY EFFECT before I have put in the requisite practice and rehearsal, there is no magic in the effect. Of course, the amount of P&R varies according to the difficulty and my particular talent for the effect. To this day, I do not perform "Torn" even though it is one of my favorite effects- I just am not at the "magic" point with it. Others, even, I have had to put away as they required something I couldn't do or couldn't justify time-wise. Chest of Nostradamus comes to mind - a stunning effect if you have the time to master it. Sadly, there are some who, due to their nature, beliefs, knowledge, will never see the magic - like not hearing the bell in "Polar Express". Just asking that question tells me you are on a great path - good luck! Jim
Also known, when doing rope magic, as "Cordini"
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Gerald Veteran user Arkansas 325 Posts |
Father Photius,
Thank you once again for recommending The Ostrich Factor. I do appreciate it. Thanks again! Gerald |
YLyoo Regular user South Korea 108 Posts |
I think it truly is an important step in learning magic.
You eventually learn by watching great magicians perform, why you were doing 'tricks' not 'magic'. That is possibly the best way to learn. |
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