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Lanky T. Clown New user 19 Posts |
I am a younger magician.(14) And I have been asked to perform at my school during a dance/Fundraiser.
I have some large tricks: Metamorposis, Across stage appirition,Timmy the toilate Paper,Comedy water suspension(slush poowder) and some basic card manipulation routines. I need to impress my peers as I am kind of a "magic nerd" at school. I want to look proffesional and impressive. Does anyone have suggestions for tricks that are easy to learn and/or make at home? (I do want to use mouth coils as often as possible)? |
Sam Sandler Inner circle 2487 Posts |
Lanky- can I be real honest with you here.
first I understand you wanting to "impress" you class mates BUT that is the first sign of your failing and falling hard in front of them. don't worry about impressing them rather focus on performing your routines professionally and properly rehearsed! this is how you will impress them. it is not the tricks you perform but how well you perform them. that being said yes there are some tricks that will play better for this audience then others. first start with things that you like being that you are that age you will find that they like similar things as you do. second decide how long the show will be. for this type of group and the type of event they are hosting I can only recommend stuff and not tell you exactly how long to go but I can say that in these situations usually Less is More. shoot for a solid 20-25 minutes closing with your sub trunk. pick the routines you will perform and then practice like crazy! when you feel you have practiced enough--practice some more. if you can video your routines and watch them back. time your self so that you know where you are. keep in mind if you practice by yourself at home and it comes out to 20 minutes on stage that will translate to closer to 30-35 minutes. WHY because of real world situations. meaning time to get a volunteer, larger stage working area so longer to wheel some thing on and off as well as a host of other things that can happen in a live show. I know that is not what you wanted to hear but this is what you Needed to hear. you listed some tricks already and if you already have good experience with them it is better to continue to work them rather then buying new stuff just to try and "impress" your friends and classmates. that being said I know you want a NEW trick so I will suggest a trick that I find works very well for this age group and I perform all the time in these types of shows. B'wave - but get the Jumbo version the cards are about 8"x10" thus visible to the audience. pretty easy to perform just need to work up a routine and practice it A LOT! hope that helps and let us know how you do. may I also ask when is the show?? maybe I should have asked that first. sam
sam sandler- America's only full-time DEAF Illusionist
http://www.samsandler.com http://www.deafinitelymagic.com |
Blair Marshall Inner circle Montreal, Canada 3660 Posts |
In this case less is more....I know you would want to show your "stuff" but I would even suggest to shoot for the 15 minute mark. Leave them wanting more!!!
If your audience are strictly your school friends ie. no parents, adults etc. then based on your description of yourself I would stay away from comedy especially if you have to use an audience member. They may want to upstage you and you may not have the experience (or size) to handle them. My choice would be two smaller routines (perhaps one with a volunteer) ending with sub trunk, have a younger student or a teacher (wood shop??)examine the trunk, this should give you the 15 minutes approx. if you are having the trunk examined. Best of luck, make sure you have fun, and try to look like you are having fun also. Go with the flow, and if something should go wrong don' sweat it, even the best have a bad day now and then. These are just my thoughts (having "been there, done that"). B
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magicbymccauley Special user 830 Posts |
Sam is correct. B'wave is correct, it fools the hell out of people and is easy to do. Practice the wordplay many MANY times and do the small version for people OVER AND OVER until you become comfortable with it. Then do jumbo B'wave on stage. It's great, visual, deceptive and mentalism really fools high school age people.
You may not fool a lot of people your age. That's okay. Just aim at NOT screwing up, NOT making a fool of YOURSELF. That's the biggest danger. Don't do the hardest thing you can do. Do the most deceptive thing you can do the easiest. Aim at a C, not at an A. People always do stuff that is TOO HARD for them at your age. Don't make that mistake. You should be doing material that you can do in your sleep. Do each piece of material ten times, if you can for ten different audiences. If you did it ten times without messing up, then you should do it on stage. If not, FORGET IT. It's better to do basic magic expertly than expert magic badly. DON'T DO STUFF THAT IS TOO HARD, YOU WILL END UP LOOKING LIKE AN IDIOT. Comedy Torn and Restored with a mouth coil ending is great. It fills the stage, and is funny and magical and pretty easy to do. You can either do the T&R as a straight magic trick, and then just load a mouthcoil from your pocket, or get it from the pocket as you take out a magic wand or magic coin. For this one, use only half a deck (you'll see why in a minute). Do the card manipulation briskly and not too many moves or people will catch on. Three or four and that's it, as an intro to a card trick. Call someone up and have them pick a card, and sign it. Do the easiest most bulletproof control to the top of the deck. Insert a ruler or bookmark with a little adhesive on one side between the top card and the rest of the deck. Light it. All the cards will fall to the floor in a big flash except the top card stuck to the ruler. It's big, flashy and most of all, easy. If they won't let you use flash paper (they may not), then you can do the same thing with a small soft wooden table and a thumb tack (you can also put corkboard on the table to make it easier to put the thumbtack in). Again, just use half a deck (or less, it makes things easier) and crimp, leave a substance on, or pierce a hole in a card with the thumbtack. Force the card which is tactile marked and then blindfold yourself, spread the cards out and find the card by sense of touch and then thumbtack the card firmly to the table. Tilt the table forward and all the cards will fall onto the floor except the thumbtacked one. Take off the blindfold and show the card. There are many ways to do this trick, pm me if you really need some other methods. A simple rope routine to music would be nice, rope is very consistent and most people won't screw it up. It doesn't have to be fancy, professor's nightmare to a nice tune is perfectly fine. You can also change the length of the song with some audio editing software. End with the Sub-Trunk, and try not to make it too convoluted, but quick and snappy. The point is to do things which are SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE. Good luck.
"Tricks are about objects, Magic is about life."
-Max Maven |
magicbymccauley Special user 830 Posts |
Oops! Forgot to say in the above that you wrap the half deck in flash paper and tie it with flash string.
"Tricks are about objects, Magic is about life."
-Max Maven |
TheMagicOfDean Regular user What!? I Only Have 105 Posts |
Hi there! I am 14 this year too. I have been performed shows and I will have a talent night this year and I am in the midst of coming up with a routine. As it it is a talent show, my duration of the act is pretty short at around 5 minutes. I do have some suggestions in mind for performing for the high school teens. If you need any help, please feel free to drop me a PM and I will be happy to be able to help you.
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Sam Sandler Inner circle 2487 Posts |
Magic of dean- yes for a talent show I agree 5 minutes is a good time. my daughter who just turned 14 won her school talent show last year performing her magic routine. however it seems that Lanky is performing at a dance so 15-20 minutes should be fine.
I hope he contacts you as being the same age and sharing the same interest will be helpful. good luck to all. sam
sam sandler- America's only full-time DEAF Illusionist
http://www.samsandler.com http://www.deafinitelymagic.com |
MichaelOzMagic Loyal user Des Moines, Iowa 234 Posts |
Hey I am 16 and have been preforming magic since I was little. I won my schools Talent show every year and I even won my states talent show. I was only able to do 3 minutes. Ive also preformed and competed in a couple different bigger named conventions. If you need any help I would love to help. Just PM me.
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Kent Wong Inner circle Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 2458 Posts |
This is a very awkward gig. Think about your audience. These are fellow students who either know you or know of you. You are not a stranger coming into the school who can pretend to be anyone he wants. Your "character" is already defined in the eyes of this audience. So, don't try to be anything but a slightly "larger than life" version of yourself.
Also, realize this is a teenage audience. Although I may be stereotyping, many teenagers think they know it all. They also want to be seen among their friends as a person who knows it all. Knowing this, you need to be careful about the message you are either sending or implying to your audience. You really don't want to send the message that, "I'm better than you". Instead, focus on a message like, "You know me. I'm one of you. The only difference is I have a really strange hobby. Let me share it with you and, hopefully, we can have some fun." Kent
"Believing is Seeing"
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