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danaruns Special user The City of Angels 808 Posts |
I thought I'd start this thread for people to list practical magic tips they live by. I'd love to see a useful collection here.
Here's a little one, and one of the first things I learned: Keep your table clean. When performing, the only thing on the table is the prop you are using at the time. When you are done with a trick, put the prop away and go get your next one. Never leave anything on the table. Leaving things on the table just looks messy, it pulls focus away from your work, and allows spectators to mess with props. Okay, what's your practical tip?
"Dana Douglas is the greatest magician alive. Plus, I'm drunk." -- Foster Brooks
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Eldini Regular user Las Vegas 127 Posts |
Learn tricks, not moves. A trap I fell into was leaning card slights without having a trick to preform them in. If you set out to learn the ambitious card, you will learn a double lift. The opposite is not true!
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Harry Lorayne 1926 - 2023 New York City 8558 Posts |
That was a main point in The Magic Book. I wanted to save you the forty years I wasted learning/practicing sleights that I never used.
[email]harrylorayne@earthlink.net[/email]
http://www.harrylorayne.com http://www.harryloraynemagic.com |
Lord Anacho Regular user Kessel-Lo, Belgium 157 Posts |
There is a time for play, there is a time for practice and there is a time for rehearsal. All require different mindsets
"The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything" (Alfred Borden in The Prestige)
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Mr. Woolery Inner circle Fairbanks, AK 2149 Posts |
Work out two go-to tricks. This is aimed at casual performers, not professionals, who will have a lot of material at the ready. It feels really lame to tell someone you are learning magic and then be unable to do anything when they request a trick.
Work our two tricks you can do without having to think about it. They don’t have to be A-quality tricks, but you would be well served to make them entertaining. As long as you keep those two rehearsed, you are prepared for any request you may get in a casual situation. If they want more, you can legitimately say “I didn’t bring anything else with me, but I will have something for you next time.” Patrick |
Levi Bennett Inner circle 1778 Posts |
Pratice a lot and aim high, but also be patient. Don't let a lack of gigs or lack of progress toward achieving any dreams you may have steal away your pure love of magic. Have fun and enjoy the journey as well as the little destinations.
Performing magic unprofessionally since 2008!
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Terrible Wizard Inner circle 1973 Posts |
Magic for the amatuer hobbyist and magic for the professional are quite different, require different investments, props, tricks, resources and mind sets. Don't mistake advice for one as advice suitable for the other. If you seriously want to become a professional magician you will have to work on some different skill sets, like stagecraft and business skills, whereas casual magicians will need to build up a larger repertoire of relatively easy to do tricks with cheap, regular, carriable, examinable props.
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danaruns Special user The City of Angels 808 Posts |
Here's a tip: If you're working to music, make sure the music works before your set starts.
Sounds obvious, but just this week I learned it the hard way. Gave my mic receiver and my music to the sound guy. Did a mic check, but I was busy loading in and it didn't occur to me that he didn't test my music. It's all set up and I've done it a gazillion times, he just has to plug it in and I control it from the stage. So I took it for granted and didn't think to test it. Bulletproof, right? Not so much, as it turns out. I was excited about this gig because I had been working on a 5-minute silent vignette to music, and this was my first performance of it. The emcee introduced me, I came out ready to rock 'n roll, and . . . nothing. Silence. Told the sound guy to turn on my music. Still silence. Some technical problem that I would have known about had I insisted on a sound check for the music. So there I was doing a brand new 5-minute routine that now felt like a 5-hour routine, and trying to make up a script as I went, all because I didn't think to check the music, like an idiot. Something that is usually habit. Don't be an idiot like me. Check your music before the show every time.
"Dana Douglas is the greatest magician alive. Plus, I'm drunk." -- Foster Brooks
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Ray Bertrand Inner circle Ottawa, Ontario 1452 Posts |
Great advice from danaruns. My presentations are not always associated with magic. I am constantly facilitating workshops and I use a lot of PowerPoint modules. I always check my audio/visuals before each performance. I have seen too many presentations where nothing was checked beforehand and it took 20 minutes to a half hour before anything started. Check out the venue and everything associated at least a half hour before. That way you won't get flustered when something doesn't work.
Ray
Mentalism in Ontario.
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lochmann4522 New user 50 Posts |
First of all you should find out how you can be able to entertain the audience...
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pmarzionna New user Washington, DC 81 Posts |
For amateurs, like me: alcohol and magic(ian) don't go together. If in a party or dinner the topic that you're into magic comes up, and someone asks you to show something, please do not attempt to perform if you know (or at least should know) that your reflexes might be impaired by the alcohol. As a rule of thumb, if you shouldn't be driving, you probably shouldn't be doing any magic either...
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