Hey everyone!
I was just wondering how skilled magicians were as kids. Could you do serious sleight of hand at that time?

I was a complete klutz, James.

Nowadays, I am dextrous but unco-ordinated: I can do medium level coin and card stuff reasonably well and with little conscious thought, but still have to concentrate to avoid dropping the #$!! things when I put them from one hand to the other.

Some things never change...

As a child I relied too much on the gimmicks. I couldn't do slights very well, and I had no idea what patter was. I used to try to convince people I could do real magic and I possesed real powers. I have aged and changed ALOT of my thinking. I now realize it's about entertainment, and patter is used for a variety of things. I have perfected my slights but I don't try to convince anyone I have supernatural powers. I have graduated from the child performer I was to the grown up child performer I am now. I have seen skilled magicians as young as 8 or 9. I have seen poorly executed routines by magi's of every age. I think young kids lack the knowledge and dexterity to be highly skilled, but there may be a prodigy out there like in any other entertainment genre. My wife says I'm just a big kid with money and I work hard at being unpredictable to all that are in my life. My wifes co-workers think I'm nutz and my kids are sometimes more mature than me. Uh huh! Yes I am! Uh HUH! Uh HUH!! Growing older is mandatory, growing up is optional!! UH HUH!!!

I am a co-leader of an SYM assembly here in Philadelphia. It always has boggled my mind just how good some of these kids really are. Too many people take them for granted. Also, often times you will notice that the junior competitions at conventions are more creative thinking then the adults are.

I think the important thing in any young magician's life is to get hooked up with a good mentor or a good club early on. This really makes a difference so that you lerarn magic the right way before bad habits set in that are often hard to change later on in life.

Kyle

I was doing dumb tricks thinking they were soooooooooo cool, then I read klutz, but now I'm getting better

I think the one thing as a child magician is that you tend to think magic is about the "wow" factor and about fooling as many people as you can. Hopefully, through a mentor or through trial and error or even through a magic club, a young performer in time will learn that it is more about entertainment then anything else. This is a hard thing to grasp for the beginner.

Kyle

I agree Kyle...that was me when I was young. I didn't have a mentor, or a club, and there was very little on TV back then. Todays kids have an advatage..cable TV, the internet, and DVD's/videos. I thought I was a great magician til I saw one one day, and he fooled the pants off me. I was about 10 at the time. I was really humbled and wanted to learn more. I have come a long way since then, but I still remember my ball and vase, my cups and balls routine, and my pull. They would antiques now if I still had them.

The important thing is that we are to grow as a magician and continue to put yourself in a psoition for growth. Even after as many years as I have been in magic, I always seek to learn new things everywhere I go. I never styop learning nor do I settle for my show being finished. My show is always evolving and being improved upon. It makes me more creative and that carries over to more audience appreciation for what I do.

Kyle