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Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
I read in another post a statement that has been oft-repeated here in one form or another:
Quote:
I found this video on YouTube. Where can I learn how to do this? Talk about a reputation maker! One response was: Quote:
This is the X-treme magic of Cyril Takayama of Japan. He takes standard effects and then goes a step or two further than anyone else has gone before. Do some research on him and you will get a re-education on how far you can go with your magic. I did not post this to bash anyone or generate any heat at all. Goodness knows I have zero room to do that!! I mean no offense to the Original Poster - all I want to do is borrow some words to launch a thought of my own, casting no stones at the original thread. But this kind of conversation here begs the question in me of what actually makes my reputation? Or perhaps better asked, what am I looking at to generate my reputation? I've bought too many tricks that I thought were jaw-droppers - and they were when the other person did them! But in my hands and wrapped in my performance, they were only groaners. Should I become a Cyril clone? A Blaine clone? An Angel clone? A Spellbinder clone? There's so much out there that is *so good!!* - if only I could do it like "they" do. Is that what I should be trying for? Am I destined to flop and stumble until one day something clicks - and hopefully I recognize it and can duplicate it? How do I find ~my~ reputation? Ed |
Yekrats Loyal user Dayton, Indiana 209 Posts |
Please don't take this the wrong way, but why do you want a "reputation"? I guess it's a fundamental question of why you are doing magic.
Do you want people's jaws to drop to the floor when they see you do some flashy flourish? Or is it more important just to entertain people? Is it for your benefit, or the audience's? I don't mean this as disparaging to you. If you want a reputation, there's probably easier ways of doing it than by learning magic! :-D
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Corporate or event magic & mentalism: http://WizardoftheWabash.com |
The Amazing Noobini Inner circle Oslo, Norway 1658 Posts |
I would ask why you would want to generate a reputation? Can it be generated? If so would it then in any way be good reputations?
I'm speaking as someone who doesn't perform and these are just my muddled thoughts from reading your post, not any wisdom acquired through performing experience. My impression is that people acquire a reputation through their actions, or the originality in their actions. If you have something, then people will notice you. If you have something extraordinary then thousands will eventually notice you. If you don't then... well you don't, which is OK but if you try to generate a reputation around that, it will not be a favorable one. Now it reads like I'm saying that you're no good or something. I'm obviously not saying that. I'm merely trying to articulate that purposely trying to make a reputation for yourself could be a bit phony. All those web sites where unknown magicians make great claims about their own skills and fame come off as a bit sad. In my opinion. So following your intellect and instincts as to how to make your personal magic as strong as possible seems like a better approach to me than to consider if or not it will lead to a reputation. Trying to acquire a reputation reminds me of those kids in westerns who end up shooting Billy The Kid in the back. Just be yourself and do your best. Buy what you wish to learn and perform what you wish to show.
"Talk about melodrama... and being born in the wrong part of the world." (Raf Robert)
"You, my friend, have a lot to learn." (S. Youell) "Nonsensical Raving of a lunatic mind..." (Larry) |
Stanyon Inner circle Landrum, S.C. by way of Chicago 3433 Posts |
Ed -
Cutting to the chase, I would suggest that you analyze what about a particular effect makes it a "Wowser" in the other guys hands. Is it what they do?, what they say?, attitude during performance?, what they had for lunch?, color of their socks?,... you get the picture? Don't copy, but do see what makes a particular effect a "jaw dropper". Go forth grasshopper and make these effects your own! FWIW Cheers!
Stanyon
aka Steve Taylor "Every move a move!" "If you've enjoyed my performance half as much as I've enjoyed performing for you, then you've enjoyed it twice as much as me!" |
nattefrost Special user 703 Posts |
I've seen a lot about gaining a "reputation" and all that stuff. I just want to have fun performing magic and make people smile. And it's been a great ride so far!
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SilentTuba New user New Jersey 65 Posts |
Let me put it like this...Penn & Teller have been performing together for 35 years. They make a great team and compliment each other well. But try, just for a second, to picture Penn Jillette performing Teller's Shadow Flower routine. It would be a very different trick, to be sure....he'd probably use a chain saw.
Now, I don't mean you need to come up with all of your own tricks, but you need to do them your own way, that works and is comfortable for you. If jaw dropping effects for other people fall flat for you, you need to look at how your presenting it, and if that presentation plays to your strengths as a performer. If you're always smiling and laughing, don't try to be the silent, eerie magician. If you're fairly quiet and soft spoken, don't try to be a comedian. Be yourself, and let your personality show if your performances.
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." -Frank Zappa
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Perry D Winkle Regular user 173 Posts |
Maybe I'm the only one on here that feels this way, but I don't try to emulate anyone... This is a very weird concept to me, and one that never even entered my mind. To me, the magic tricks that I perform are the ones that reinforce my existing personality and let my character shine through. I don't want to be anyone other than me. I'm a joker and a bit of a clown.
During a performance this weekend I loudly announced, 'I used to saw a lady in half but due to our litigious society now I only saw spongeballs.' That wasn't scripted and it got a big laugh. That's what I'm about. Find what appeals to you and get excited about it. When other people see you are engaged, they are engaged. Do what gets you charged and draw them in. For me, this is mostly vanishing and transposition based tricks using silks, spongeballs, coins, etc. And this is what people expect of me. Maybe that's why my card tricks fall flat. I just can't get excited about cards. They are great, I really admire the people that work with them, but I just can't get excited about them. |
Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
To be completely honest, this wasn't necessarily and specifically about _me_, although I am still trying to sort out what I enjoy seeing performed from what I personally can perform. Rather, it was meant to address the overall question in a way that would benefit others.
From what I see, most people new to magic have no idea what performing is all about. I know I don't have a great handle on it - that's one big reason why I don't perform now, and won't until I get some things taken care of with my routines. I've done it, though: I see a trick demo'ed or watch a video clip, and I think "That's it! That's awesome! And if I can do that, then I will also be awesome!" But then we run up against the tired but very true maxim: "It's not the trick - it's the magician." And we have to face the fact that the props and the script have no magic - if the magician doesn't have the magic to put into the performance, then the performance has no magic!! Period! I would like to create a valid performance that customers will pay for more than once. (I remember a Christmas at a friend's house and his Mom had made a fruitcake. There were pieces of fruitcake everywhere with only one bite taken out!) This means a reputation for magic of some kind done well. Therefore I must find magic that I can do well, and learn how to do it well. So for all of us out here trying to figure this out, how do we minimize the stumbling through wasted money and time on the journey to finding "my reputation"? Ed |
MagikDavid Loyal user Cincinnati, OH 297 Posts |
Simply... you generate a reputation by performing for others often. Depending on how well you perform, how well you entertain and how well you 'connect' with your audience, determines the kind of reputation you build.
Bottom line... don't try to 'find' or 'generate' your reputation... just perform to the best of your ability, and your reputation will just happen (for better or worse.) Dave
One good thing about being wrong...
Is the pleasure it brings to others. |
mike256 New user Washington 23 Posts |
I have spent quite a while just "doing" tricks, and am just recently developing a style for myself. I try to avoid emulating any other performer. I feel that I am my own person and am trying to find what works best for me. I can really feel when I'm charged up and I can see it in my audience. I believe its something that you kind of find. if you try to be someone else, your not being true to your self. Just be yourself and have fun. You and your audience will have more fun in the end, and your reputation as a performer will build itself.
just my $.02 |
Johnny Butterfield Veteran user 378 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-04-14 17:09, Ed_Millis wrote: Imagine you're a character in a book. What would you expect that character to do? And how would he do it? Apply that to the effects, the patter and the wardrobe. I often ask myself "would a hipster doofus like me do that trick? Can it be made doofussy enough to fit in with my schtick?"
The current economic crisis is due to all the coins I've vanished.
The poster formerly known as Fman111. |
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