Hi, I'm only fourteen but I've been practicing magic and my routines for a couple of years. I've learned quite a bit and have started performing.

I obviously don't want any kids to figure out my tricks, but I want them to understand the tricks so they can be amazed as well as somebody else. I can only go so high until they become too close to my age and they eventually stop having birthday parties!

I think that 8-11 is about good, but does anybody have any suggestion? I have mostly all close-up (cards coins ropes) except for linking rings and other things.

Also, maybe am I performing tricks that should be performed for adults, or young adults? Anybody have ideas?

Vanished,
You write:

I'm sure there are many on this board who would be only too happy to offer advice. But first of all, we'd have to know what are the "other things". You may be doing the very things that some of us would recommend.

Can you be a little more specific?

After all, we're here to help.

My routine goes like this...

1) Disappearing hanky routine (tip)
2) The marker card
3) Unequal ropes
4) Bitten loony
5) Black red black red (card)

7) Open your MOUTH! (card)
8) Changing coins
9) Cut and restored rope

11) Disappearing ping-pong ball
12) Beam down that quarter! (latex...best trick)
13) Impossible knot (tie a knot in the rope without letting go)
14) Amazing Linking Rings
15) Ambitious card routine
The Grand Finale:
16) The Birthday Card

Okay, that's a bit better.
Black, red, black red is, I assume, either Oil and Water or Out Of This World.
And what are Changing Coins, Presto Prediction, and the Birthday Card?
(And I don't even want to guess what Open Your Mouth is about!)
Your list seems fine for that age group (I only WISH it were true that one stopped having birthdays after about age 10!).
Personally, I would drop some of the card tricks and move the linking rings farther along the list towards the "big close".
For that age group, there are a few basic rules that I follow:
Keep the show to about a half an hour; that's about anyone's attention span for watching one individual.

Keep the individual tricks short.

Have a powerhouse of a closer, so it's the last thing they see and the thing that they remember you by.

You have, indeed, learned quite a bit in a relatively short time, though.

cheers,
Peter Marucci
showtimecol@aol.com

Hey Peter,

Here is something to ponder about attention spans. I get this from my other life as a psychologist. The average attention span for anyone including adults is ten minutes.

This means every ten minutes you have to be doing something different. Pacing, content, etc. Very easy to do in a magic show where everything is different!

For kids the thirty minute time limit, a concept with which I wholeheartedly agree, has more to do with tolerance limits than attention span. Adults, because of age can tolerate more and will watch a longer show.

I realize this may simply be a distinction without a difference but I know you'd enjoy pondering this.

Hope you had a glorious Turkey Day!

Frank

Black red black red is a pile of red and black cards that change from out of order (brbrbr), to in order (rrrbbb)

Changing coin is two coins changing types (loony in right hand penny in other... loony changes to penny, penny changes to loony, might take the trick out of the show.)

Open Your Mouth is a funny trick. I have child sits on his card. I tell him to open his mouth and I say, "I can see your card! It’s... hearts...king of hearts!" it causes a lot of laughs!

Presto prediction is card prediction from "Worlds Greatest Card Tricks" and is just a way of predicting a card.

Lastly, the Birthday Card is when a singed card appears inside a Birthday Card sealed in an envelope taken from a bag (thought of it in my sleep!)

You guys have really helped me out! Thanks.

Vanished,
Don't be too quick to dismiss Out of Your Mouth as a "simple card force." It can be very funny, indeed. (Watch Harry Anderson do a variation of it!)
You seem to have a good, solid selection and are aiming at dropping the right things.
Good on you for a well-rounded routine!
Keep up the good work.

I would agree that perhaps dropping some of the card tricks and building up more on the linking rings and rope effects.

Thanks again! I'll have to remove a couple of the card tricks, but the reason they're there is because I play with cards and know many card tricks and flourishes and I practice them the most.

P.S. I edited the routine.

Cards are great and you should continue to work and learn with them. It has just been my experience that with doing children's shows, that card effects do not play that well with the younger kids.

Not only this, but too much cards will effect the flow and pace of your show. You want to pace the show nicely and have a good variety of different types of effects. This allows your audience to see new things and the entertainment value will go up.

Yah, a magician I know said that with younger kids you can pretty much forget the cards. It's probably because you need to understand a deck of cards to be entertained by a trick. I think I'll do some more routine editing.

I'm constantly changing my routine and learning new material so I'm always open to ideas. Are colorful gimmick tricks better for kids? I don't want to forget about my slight of hand, because those tricks are great and you’re left clean.

Tricks that are colorful don't necessarily have to be gimmicked, although they usually are.

For example, probably the best youngsters' trick ever is the coloring book (Sammy Smith has a wonderful way of doing it; he only uses two of the three changes.)

But flash and color are definite winners with young people - and seniors!

Keep each individual trick short and keep the whole show moving smoothly and rapidly and you won't go wrong.

BTW, worth thinking about - because, among other things, it is totally ungimmicked - is the Miser's Dream (and, although you CAN get gimmicked versions, I have no idea why anyone would want one!)

Actually, I just might be getting the Coloring Book for Christmas (it was on my list and cheap, maybe a stocking stuffer.).

My costume is colorful, and I'm planning on putting some colored material on case.

The Misers Dream sounds like a good idea, but I'll need to get 10 more posts to discuss the effect of it in the secret room. I've almost got it down pat, just a few bumps need smoothing.

I'll just have to wait and see until Christmas to see what I get!

Ok, this is not what you wanted to know, but if "Open your MOUTH" consists in taking something out of or putting something into your mouth, drop it out of your act.

The children can copy you, and end up dead. Many children die each year because they have choked on different objects.

Other than that, it's great to see you are already performing and earning money!


Mikael

Hahah nope! Thanks for being concerned though. The most dangerous thing I've done is sitting a kid on my 5' unicycle. It's just looking INSIDE a kid’s mouth. Read the 6th post from the top.

Oh, I didn't see that, sorry!

Mikael

I now have a revised routine that I'll be using until Christmas. Could you look it over and tell me if you have any suggestions?
Any tricks you don't know about just ask.

1. The disappearing hanky routine
2. Disappearing ping-pong ball
3. Oil and Water
4. Open your MOUTH!
5. Ambitious Card
6. Bitten Loony
7. Quarter through latex
8. Cut and restored rope
9. Unequal Ropes
10. Impossible knot
11. Liko Pang Ring Penetration
12. Linking Rings
13. Siamese Ropes
14. Change Bag Routine (in the makings)
15. The Birthday Card

Thanks, Ty