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HypnotizeAmerica Veteran user 399 Posts |
Greetings Friends -
If I wanted to get started in Mentalism what would be the best way to do so? I bought my first ebook which covers a couple of Derren Brown mentalism issues and I'd like to get more. The first effect I am working on is the memory maker which I am able to select the one out of 3 memories. I'd like to learn more of these that require few, if any props. Thanks for your help. |
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Piers Inner circle A Limited Edition of 1394 Posts |
The best way is to search this forum, relentlessly.
It's an excellent source of information and comment. Piers. PS. Use appropriate key words to search on ... www.justgiving.com/piers-cancer-fund www.justgiving.com/Piers-Cancer-Fund-2 www.justgiving.com/Piers-Cancer-Fund-3 Finished my 4 months of Chemotherapy in 2009. 3 monthly checks since... and into 2021! As seen on the QE2 and QM2. Author of Salem's Cornucopia - SUC Book |
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sjdavison Inner circle Surrey, UK 1379 Posts |
Hi there,
Welcome to the Café! Before anyone else jumps in and says it, the best place to start is the 13 steps to Mentailism by Corinda, and Annemann's Practical Mental Effects. These can be purchased very inexpensively, and are a thorough and excellent grounding nto mentalism. Once read these, I would firmly recommend OSterlind's Easy to Master Mental Miracles - to see many classics bought to life, that people thought were outdated or not practical. Enjoy! Si |
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mackmania Regular user Orange County 137 Posts |
May I offer a quick tip on reading 13 Steps? In my experience, I believe it needs to be broken down step by step. For instance, don't read the book cover to cover, instead pick any step (good to start with the Swami as it's the first step) and study it. Make notation, dwell on certain effects, and wonder how you can apply Corinda's wisdom to your work. For a book of mentalism tricks, I'd go with Annemann. Don't get me wrong, I love Annemann, but if you had to pick one, get 13 Steps. It is a virtual encyclopedia and has much more on theory than Practical Mental Effects, IMO. For DVDs, anything by Osterlind is teriffic and Mind Mysteries is not very difficult for the beginning mentalist. I also would say that The Jinx is teriffic to have. This was Annemann's newsletter that much of the material in Practical Mental Effects came from.
Cheers, mackmania
"For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice." ---Joseph "the Amazing" Dunninger
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entity Inner circle Canada 5060 Posts |
Another good step to begin is NOT to buy ebooks purporting to tell you how Derren Brown does what he does.
The people responsible for such ebooks are stealing material that is not theirs and are selling it without permission of the originator. - entity
email: tomebaxter@icloud.com
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kerpa Special user Michael Miller 594 Posts |
Speaking strictly as an amateur, I think Simon Lovell's advice about magic in general would apply to mentalism as well - I would be interested in comments, however. That is, start with your own personality - get to know yourself and how your personality can best use mentalism as a vehicle to connect with spectators. Then select the specific effects that best suit your personality (persona, to be more precise).
kerpa a/k/a Michael Miller Chicago area
Michael Miller
(Michael Merlin: original family --and stage-- name) |
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ALEXANDRE Inner circle 3024 Posts |
Sjdavison is right on the money. Great way to start.
HERE'S A SECRET ...
http://www.lybrary.com/mystic-alexandre-m-354.html |
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HypnotizeAmerica Veteran user 399 Posts |
SJ -
Thanks for the advice. I am going to purchase Annemann's Practical Mental Effects and go from there. Thanks for the advice. |
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magickdabid--uk Loyal user 245 Posts |
My advice (for what it's worth...) do like Vernon said, "Be Yourself" don't try to be a Brown, Osterlind or Maven, be true to yourself, find the effects that suit you and the "act" your going to portray, don't rush, a good act takes time, a long time working the same stuff again and again before diffrent people, untill you have all the bugs worked out, and your "Performing an act" not doing tricks...
for what it's worth....keep at it. Dave |
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Matt Andrews Loyal user Switzerland 219 Posts |
Although I fully agree with Dave in "being yourself", you have to start somewhere to "find yourself".
When you start Mentalism , it's like for a piano player to start to play Jazz music. Now in Jazz music you also have different ways to play the piano (from Jerry Roll Morton to Oscar Peterson, from John Lewis to Chick Corea or Keith Jarrett). What I did was to play the tunes in the style of .... until I had the resonnance in me and I knew that this particular way of playing would be me. So before you perform "for real", try several effects in different styles and "feel" which style felt the best. Sincerely, Matt
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Because nice matters |
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HypnotizeAmerica Veteran user 399 Posts |
As I stated before my first effect is using NLP and eye movements to determine what type of memory (out of 3) the person is thinking about. I like it because it requires minimal setup and also just simple tools (paper and pen). I tried it last night with great results but I can tell that with mentalism it is going to be 10% effect, 90% performance (setup, actions, etc). I like effects like these because they require me to get out of my shell and talk with people (mostly women) and can be done anywhere as long as I remember the effect steps.
I saw Chris Angel do something similar on his show but he was able to find out the persons name in the memory and recall certain events that happened. That I think would be great to do along with other effects. Can anyone recommend some other effects using NLP and such that require minimal props and can be done anywhere at the drop of a hat? |
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Matt Andrews Loyal user Switzerland 219 Posts |
As you already found out, 10% technique and 90% performance (although 10% is probably too high) are required.
I'm getting slightly worried about your last post. You certainlly can learn one effect or two (and here I would recommend Richard Osterlind PCT, or using mnemonics), but if it is just to include them in the middle of card tricks, it would just not do. Integrated in a hypnotism show, they would do great. But if your foundations aren't right (and believe me, people want to believe that what you do can be real), then it just won't be right. And to continue the simile (and not a metaphor) with a Jazz pianist, the Jazz pianist knows his scales and chords and harmonics by heart. So please study Corinda, Annemann, Richard Osterlind's Trilogy and his Priciples of Magic and then you will bring a sense of wonder to your audience. But to quote Chet (on the café), I never metaphor I didn't like Sincerely, Matt
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Because nice matters |
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magickdabid--uk Loyal user 245 Posts |
I may be wrong, but I think it's supposed to be 90% persperation, 10% final product......
Matt, I agree, we all had to start somewhere, and yes we should know of Basics off by heart, nothing is more important than a very good understanding of what it is we do, the downside is watching the stuff, that's where all the copycats come from, the latest fads etc, at the end of the day, you either follow the pack or you start with the end in mind and work towards that goal and be your own performer, then you'll be one of the Greats......... Dave |
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Memory-Jah Inner circle Germany 1438 Posts |
Get a esp deck from penguin magic for about 6 bucks and get a small lecture with many esp effects in it. that's my advice. osterlind has great stuff too. and of course the greatest mentalist of all times in my personal opinion banachek should be checked out by you.
Jah
"Dropping your pants while you set off flash paper may allow your pass to go undetected, but it's still not invisible." - Count Elmsley
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sbays Inner circle Burbank, CA 1065 Posts |
As mentioned ... start with 13 Steps to Mentalism by Corinda to get a grasp of what mentalism is and develop some basics. There is enough in that book to keep you busy for along time. Anything from Osterlind is brilliant! I would advise against going out and buying Mentalism "tricks" until you really get an understanding of how it should be performed. The line between mentalism and magic trick can be a very fine one indeed!
"Opportunity may only knock once, but temptation leans on the doorbell."
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Logan Five Inner circle Northern California 1434 Posts |
Get you a tomb on mentalism like Mind, Myth & Magick and dive into it. It will keep you busy for years. On the performance side of things get Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz..I believe it will help one to be a better performer. Last piece of advice..see what everyone else is doing and do the opposite.
rick
Self concept is destiny..
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Snail Regular user UK 163 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-12-10 10:02, mackmania wrote: I could not agree with this more. Everyone says how basic 13 Steps is. Really? I suppose pencil reading, sound reading and muscle reading is basic(!) Really look at each chapter as though it were a separate book (which they were at one stage) and work on it - hard. There is so much depth. Think about the effects and how you can apply them to what you do. Also, read up on subtleties, character, wording, etc... because so much of this is to do with the finer details. |
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mormonyoyoman Inner circle I dug 5,000 postholes, but I have only 2440 Posts |
Bob Cassidy says something wise: start with *the Amateur Magician's Handbook.* You'll not only learn from some very clear-written text, you'll not only get some great routines from the Great Annemann, but you'll learn the secrets which are much more important than how to perform a mentalism routine. You'll learn how to present, how to act, and how to manage your audience. You get those three things down, and you'll have the whole thing licked.
After that, I VERY, VERY strongly recommend Osterlinds books. Start with *Making Magic Real* (http://osterlindstore.com/catalog/produc......ts_id/59) and prepare to have your mind expanded. *jeep! --Chet (Who nevertheless considers Osterlind's DVDs absolutely invaluable!) PS: Hey, Matt! Thanks for making me an Officially Quoted Café Poster!
#ShareGoodness #ldsconf
--Grandpa Chet |
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Zeusranger New user 5 Posts |
Hi guys, Im also new in the world of mentalism. Could you name us some MUST KNOW tricks. Or tricks we should be starting with !?
Thanks a lot Zeus |
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sjdavison Inner circle Surrey, UK 1379 Posts |
As mentioned, it is not so much 'tricks' that you buy - I would suggest looking in the books and DVD's mentioned above, and working with what works for you.
For example, the sw*** gimmick is a TOOL, not a trick. However, I would say this is a must have, yet is applicable to countless 'tricks'. Read the above books, and this whole world will open up - mentalism I would say is a far more creative field - it is not about buying the latest 'trick', it is about applying what you have learnt to your own style. Si |
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