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danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1354 Posts |
I was curious about how and when you guys do a new trick. I rehearse it at home, but it seems like no matter what I do, something I didn't anticipate may happen and I may screw it up. Part of it is that I get nervous despite how experienced I am (been doing it since 94'), so I'm more likely to make a mistake. Sometimes it's the simple to do tricks that are a problem because that's when I'm less careful. And sometimes, something that never happened while practicing happens, something I didn't anticipate. And of course the other issue is making it entertaining, and sometimes I don't know the best way for me to present it till I've done it a bunch of times, or I have to figure out what age or crowd type it works well for- or how and when to adjust it for each crowd(despite my experience I don't always guess right). So I tend to try out new stuff on a small gig, or even do it while doing strolling magic.
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://danieljayfreed.com |
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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
Dan, I had to look at your video http://www.magiciandanfreed.com/ from what you described above. I do see you as a great entertainer. I like how you are loosened up and relaxed when you do your performance.
I have a few answers to give you. You think about which one is right if any are right. 1. Maybe a lot of those new tricks you purchased are not for you. I have drawers full of tricks that are not for me. The only way to know is to try it a few times. If you are not entertaining the audience as much as you would like, it might be time for you to sell that trick. 2. You are doing a full show to entertain the audience aren't you? Well how did you get into that? Whenever started you off with that, do it for your new tricks. 3. Just present the trick if you have confidence you can perform it. You must be relaxed with it. 4. Watch others perform the effect on Youtube. You might want to copy the act a few times. After that you should be relaxed enough to change the effect on your own. Do you mind mentioning any of the tricks you are specifically talking about? |
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danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1354 Posts |
Yeah, Dynamike, the "trick might not be right for me" is always a possibility too, though if I eventually get the right reactions then I know it's right for me. Sometimes I do bring a new trick and then decide to skip it if I'm not feeling ready. One thing I can mention is Spoon-Around by Axel hecklau. I only perform for kids, and never got very good reactions with it. I figured I was presenting it wrong, or that it just wasn't a good trick for kids. I kept it as a back-up in my case cause I didn't wan't to give up. Well, I was doing a birthday for a kid named Axell, so I told him I was going to do a trick by a famous magician named Axell, and that time it went really well. I think it went well that time for 2 reasons: first, I was relaxed and confident while doing it, and second, I explained what I was going to do more carefully - I told them that the spoon would turn into a fork, etc. I used to perform it like Axell did, which of course works well for him, but he performs for adults.
How about you guys? Do you have similar experiences?
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://danieljayfreed.com |
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Gerry Walkowski Inner circle 1450 Posts |
Dan,
A couple of things. I just viewed your video as well and I have a suggestion for you. While it looks like everyone is having a lot of fun, I think it would be better if the camera wasn't moving around so much. Honestly, I was getting sea sick. I realize it was probably shot by an audience member, but I think your lead-in video would look so much better if you brought in a professional to shoot it for you. Anyway, it's just a suggestion. As for performing a new trick, Englishman Maurice Day suggests that the best way to practice new tricks is turn up loud music. He was of the opinion that in many ways the loud music represents all the unexpected distraction that will happen during your real show. Anyway, I think it's worth a try. I think it helps to really think a new trick through before you add it into your program. That way you can plan for gags and other bits of business along the way. Of course, let's not forget about practice, practice and practice. Now I have on occasion kept a cheat sheet on my magic table to help me with a new effect in the event I should forget a line or bit of business. It's been my experience that while you may have patter for a new effect, eventually that will evolve after you've performed the effect a few hundred times. Hope this helps. Gerry |
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Red Shadow Inner circle 1788 Posts |
I perform new tricks with my hands. I tried other ways, but they didn't work out.
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
I am constantly trying new tricks. I just try them at a party, and after a few parties I either learn to do it better, or give up, and move on. I always have a couple tricks that I'm experimenting with.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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themagiciansapprentice Inner circle Essex, UK 1381 Posts |
I practice sitting as I read the instructions / wacth the dvd -
then I rehearse in stage clothes with the all props exactly where I want them - I change their location (and script this) as required. EG - often dropping a holder a few cm is all that's required for me to grab it exactly as required from my open top side-table. Sometimes a trick is not you - but I've found you keep it and adapt it to suit special shows and routines a few years later. Sometimes, the theme of the show requires it, sometimes your skill level or interest area has changed.
Have wand will travel! Performing children's magic in the UK for Winter 2014 and Spring 2015.
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danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1354 Posts |
The loud music thing sounds like a good idea, I've not tried that except with the tricks that use music. And yeah, I have a bunch of new footage to replace most of the old stuff, but I haven't gotten around to editing it very far or hiring an editor. I'm not just looking for advice here, I'm wanting to hear how you guys do stuff. As far as routine and patter, I try to think of stuff beyond the instructions and make it my own, but I know that until I go out and perform it a few times or a lot of times, I don't yet have a feel for what is going to work, how the audience will react, etc. And sometimes the best ideas pop into my head during the performance or after it - and also I have a better idea of what can go wrong. So for me, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spend too much time on the patter/gags/presentation until I've done it a few times.
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://danieljayfreed.com |
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plink Special user 661 Posts |
Like it or not their is no teacher like experience, especially experience in front of an audience. That is one of the reasons a lot of magicians like restaurant gigs. After you do the same trick 20+ times you can anticipate a lot more than when you did it a few times and it just gets better and better. So it is with other kinds of shows, it just takes longer. Be as prepared as you can possibly be = confidence. Then prepare to get better under fire.
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danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1354 Posts |
I agree about restaurant gigs for practice. I wish I had time to do at least one a week. I used to do them a lot when I was single.
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://danieljayfreed.com |
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wizardpa Inner circle The New Orleans area 1011 Posts |
I'm wondering if you aren't over thinking yourself. It's like the golfer who see's himself hitting his ball in the water, and then doing so, as opposed to the guy seeing himself hit the perfect shot.
Practice, and just have fun, and tweak your routine if need be. |
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Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-06-03 21:30, wizardpa wrote: Ahhh... a little good ol' Psycho-Cybernetics! I am a firm believer!
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
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Mary Mowder Inner circle Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA 3659 Posts |
I often perform a new effect fairly closely to the way it comes (but not always) to get a feel for it.
I practice a lot at home first. ( I must say, I always imagine the audience just loving it). Often after doing it a couple of times in front of an audience I'll get a feel for how to make it suit my act better. Some effects just seem perfect out of the box though, like "Daryl's Amazing Acrobatic Knot" or Gene Anderson's "Picto Transpo". Performing in front of an audience is always informative in some way. If they weren't part of the equation there would be no reason to perform. I do enjoy practice but I prefer a real performance. Mostly I find that my blocking is unnatural and my patter is over written first time out but I do have the occasional disaster. Due to nerves I think because I know I practice a lot. -Mary Mowder |
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
If I am doing a store bought trick I read the instructions briefly to get the idea of what is supposed to happen, but after that everything I do, or say comes directly out of my head or shouted up to me by an audience member during a performance of it. About 75% of what I do is my adaptation of an old standard, and once again I supply everything but the basic idea of the trick. I have to make everything I do my own or I just won't do it. No one will ever accuse me of being a cook book magician.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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Mary Mowder Inner circle Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA 3659 Posts |
Al,
I used to feel the way you do but then I ran into a couple of effects that I love and couldn't improve on (yet?). Now I figure that if I like an effect that well, it is "me". You know what I say AL? To each his stupid own. LOL -Mary Mowder |
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TonyB2009 Inner circle 5006 Posts |
If I like a new effect I just learn the technique, come up with some patter that makes sense to me, and then I do it in front of the audience. After five or six shows the routine is either coming along nicely, or in the bin.
I rarely open or close with something new, so it is not a problem to iron it out live.
Check out Tony's new thriller Dead or Alive http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alive-Varrick-Bo......n+carson
http://www.PartyMagic.ie |
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Ken Northridge Inner circle Atlantic City, NJ 2392 Posts |
Tony makes a good point about where in the set list you should put a new routine. For me its goes in the 3rd quarter, and I always do something very strong right after just in case the new routine bombs. I don't think there's an easy way. Like you all have said, you can rehearse all you want but its not the same as doing it live.
"Love is the real magic." -Doug Henning
www.KenNorthridge.com |
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Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
Mary and Ken do it differently than I do it, but go with what is comfortable for you. I have always found that everything falls into place if I go over the routine in my head, wing it live, and count the laughs.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
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wizardpa Inner circle The New Orleans area 1011 Posts |
I feel exactly as you, Al, about making tricks my own.
You all will probably think I'm crazy, which is OK by me, because I am, but my best ideas come to me at some point while I'm laying in bed. |
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iwillfoolu Special user Upstate NY, USA 746 Posts |
I do a lot of question asking before I buy a new trick. To feel out if the trick fits (or can be made to fit) my style.
Once I get it, I watch the DVD, or hopefully read some books about the routine. I practice the basic move, or sleights and then... I play. I practice the routine, but I throw all kinds of wacky ideas around: What if there was an egg balanced on top? What if there was an adult holding the prop? What would happen if...? I play around with a couple of ideas then I try them on my wife, close friends, the pizza delivery guy and finally after a few months, I work it as an extra trick before the show (as a warm up) and then into the show. Some tricks catch on in a week. Others get scrapped just as quickly. After a dozen performances of working a trick, I start to really add me to the routine or realize that this isn't the right routine for me now. Hope this helps. Joey D |
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