Often times in instructional videos, I hear magicians speak of beats, and tension/release. Is there a good lecture for me to watch, book for me to read, dvd for me to buy, that will go further into this topic.

I'm also looking for suggestions about material that goes into topics of this sort. General principles that will help with misdirection, pacing, focus, etc.

Thanks,
Ben

Ben, I don't know of one video that covers that specifically. Welcome to the Café, by the way!

It's a learned thing, the off-beat. It cannot be taught in a book very well. Not bragging, but I do an off-beat rather well. Specifically with coins. Wanna see a guy who is VERY good at doing an off-beat? Watch Mickey Silver (Google him).

Doug

Look into tommy wonders books of wonder. He has given us VERY valuable essays on this subject. the first volume has a long section about this at the beginning.

Thanks so much for the advice. I've had a passion for as long as I can remember, but this year I've really been working hard at it. I work professionally as a web developer, but in nearly all my free time I've been practicing magic. I've been working on cleaning up all of my basic moves. I'm mainly a card guy, both manipulation and close-up. Somehow over the years my progression got messed up however. For years I could do split fan productions better than I could do a double lift. Now I'm trying to go back to the beginning and fill in all of the gaps so that I'm able to put a full cohesive act together. I also have, what I believe to be, a killer original trick. I'm not willing to try and commercially develop it until I have all the skills to back it up. For years my focus was just the sleights, and figuring out the working of tricks, rather than putting together a set that would fool a layperson. I love what some people would call "Magic for Magicians".

For me, magic has long been a solitary activity: hours of practicing alone in my room or in front of a mirror. The only feedback I get on most of my stuff is from family and a few close friends. I live and work in Manhattan, NY and was wondering whether there were any other magicians from there area who would want to meet up and chat about magic some time.

Thanks for all the advice,
Ben