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sadamspmp New user Sunny Tampa, Florida 34 Posts |
I've spent several weeks on the Café asking many questions about magic and have received excellent advice. In the hope that others might benefit, I've consolidated my findings here. I hope the information is useful. This short post describes four key questions I used to select the tricks I felt would be best for a beginner.
Who is my audience? How much time will they have to watch a trick? What is my current skill level? What style of trick am I interested in? Who do you plan to perform for? Where will you perform? For how many people, of what ages? As I considered this I realized that realistically my "audience" was limited to my two young children, wife and in-laws in addition to a few co-workers and business aquaintances. I wasn't going to walk down the street and perform for stangers nor was I going to become a professional. With the exception of my children and wife I would have the opportunity to perform perhaps once a month (so as not to drive my co-workers and business acquaintances insane). I read a post on the Café that said it was better to do fewer tricks on fewer occasions and leave them guessing than to become an annoyance. I liked the idea of creating an image of "if you can get him to do a trick, you'll be amazed" rather than "Oh no here comes the creepy magic guy with a trick again, RUN!" I also considered the amount of time I'd have my audience's attention. At home, my kids might give me 5 minutes at best before Nickelodeon distracts them, My wife might give me the same as she'll certainly get tired of being my test subject. Furthermore, my co-workers might have 5 minutes to spend and my business acquaintances might spend up to ten minutes over dinner watching a trick. I muddled my way through questions and posts regarding card tricks, coin tricks, mentalism, gimmick tricks, etc. I purchased a fair share of DVDs, tricks, books, etc. and was soon able to answer two more questions. The first, "What is my skill level?" and the second "What is my style of trick?" For me the opportunity to perform arises rarely so I must be prepared with something that is relatively easy to carry and easy to perform for my skill level as a beginner. Although many of the DVDs and tricks I purchased were far too advanced for my skill I did learn what I liked and did not based on trying the tricks and watching the videos. It was valuable to see the tricks and determine if they would fit into the constraints I mentioned above even if they were too advanced for me at this time. My last question had to do with how much time I could dedicate to practice. Wow, this was an eye-opener. With a career and a family and an addiction to the fall television season (Lost!). I have maybe an hour daily to practice if luck is on my side. This one factor helped narrow down my selection the most. Self working tricks or tricks with simple sleights would be the best for me until my skill level grew. Thanks to the members of the Café who responded to my numerous questions my final selection of tricks to begin with are as follows. These seemed to be the classics that met my criteria of being short, relatively simple and interesting for my audience and myself. Additionally, they seemed to withstand the test of time. In no particular they are... TT for bill switches, vanishes, productions etc. (This was mentioned by nearly all) Scotch & Soda (This also was mention by nearly all respondents) Dime to Penny X Rating Pen Spare Change Color Monte Hot Rod Rubberbands for Crazy Man's Handcuffs Brainwave D-Lites PK effects a/k/a get a strong m***** and have fun Thanks for all your help!!! |
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