Performing At School

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Cardz9863

Jul 29, 2008
155
0
Hi there!
I'm 13 and this is my last year at elementary school. I really enjoy performing at school in the hallways in between classes for my peers and teachers. And I know that all of you have performed in school at some point in osme time and I was wondering. What are some things you would like to do or some types of patter that you would have especially at school. Also feel free in this thread to discuss about how you owuld perform or anything magic-school realted. If you have any performances you might like to bring up. And I'm a lil nervous about going to high school next year and performing seeing as high-school this big place for me since in a way I'm still just a student so I'm a bit worried.

All feed-back and replies are great!
 
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SKSleighofHand

Jul 14, 2008
936
0
High school is a great experience for performing magic. I usually perform about 10 minutes of a trick to the peers and they all get good reactions. Two tips for you and people will be entertained. One, I know that there will be hecklers at your high school at some point and two, your teachers could take away your cards away due to gambling (gambling is illegal in high school) or some sort of distraction. But most of all, have fun
 
Twozwozer

Twozwozer

Aug 31, 2007
588
0
Auckland, New Zealand
twozwozer.blogspot.com
I used to perform lots at my school, then after about a week I saw the error of my ways and I now regret it.

Yes, I became known as the ONLY magician in the school, but it came at a price.

People nagging you every day for a magic trick. I used to give into this and show them something, but then I reached at point where there was nothing new to show them, and I couldn't show them anything.

I now rarely perform at school. Mainly because all the people I get nagging me. Ive only started to slightly perform at school because of a Drama assesment Im doing ("Evolution of Magic") Yeah.

Yes, performing at school is great practise, but you do get alot of hecklers, and remember you'll be seeing these people everyday for (probably) the next 4 to 5 years of your life.

Cheers, Tom
 
FadedTemp

FadedTemp

Jun 24, 2008
493
0
Harrisonburg, VA
I performed a lot in high school and you just need to regain control of a situation. I simply say no to people that nag me, they don't need an excuse it's my decision whether or not I want to perform for them. After a bit they started to realize that if I wanted to perform I would, there is no use asking me.

Find a teacher that you get along with very well and perform for the class and the teacher. The teacher I did this with let me perform routines for the class during break periods and such.

I performed mostly in the morning and during lunch, I never got my cards taken away from me as you just need to learn there is a good and bad time to have them out.

Like someone stated before... at first being the only magician within the school can be annoying, but just tell them no.
 
FOO:L

FOO:L

May 3, 2008
864
3
33
Singapore
www.youtube.com
a.) know when the appropriate time to do magic is. (ive had horrid experiences with teachers)
b.) dont introduce yourself as THE magician on the first day. Kills the rest of your personality. Instead, let them ask you why you have cards and do a slow build up from there.
c.) crowd control. If youre doing things in the hallways, always be careful of hecklers and angles.
d.) don't try to pick up girls with magic in your first year. or ever.
e.) sure, youre awesome with your "paranormal powers" but theres always people who hate that they cant do what you can. Dont give away secrets so easily and dont let your ego swell.
 
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EyeOfDeception

Nov 4, 2007
32
0
Surrey, BC, Canada
Careful with what you perform in school and to who you do your tricks to. I've performed in school quite a bit so I speak from experience.

The more often you do tricks to people the more they'll want to see. Like Twozwozer said you'll get hecklers around you a lot asking to show them tricks when you don't feel like it. Another thing is to watch what tricks you're performing to people. If you start off small and work your way up to bigger effects' that's great and probably the best way to go. But if you show some people too big of an effect and they ask you to show them another trick, a lot of people will start to say "that trick wasn't as good as the other one you showed me." You will most likely eventually hit that point but be careful you don't hit it too soon. A lot of my friends say that now, so I'm a lot more aware now of what I'm performing to people in school.

I'm not trying to discourage you from performing in school, I highly recommend it. You can gain a lot of valuable experience from it, but I'm just giving you some tips so you don't make the same mistake I did.

- EyeOfDeception
 
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stevethemagicguy

May 30, 2008
30
0
st.thomas ontario
yes high school can be a great place to do magic i just finished my first year and and now almost everything i do is for people in higher grades i was in grade 9 going into ten and i did alot for 11 and 12 it was awesome got good reactions they paied me good money and got a few life experiences that are for me to know and no one else lol but do magic at high school it is awesome
 
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samgold89

Nov 11, 2007
88
0
Memphis, Tennessee
Perform sparsely.

I rarely performed in high school. I performed Hovercard once in Physics class (blabbing about magnetism etc.) and once in a classroom with some friends. I NEVER performed it in school again, yet people were ALWAYS asking me to make a card levitate from their hands etc. The effect got blown way out of proportion, which was nice.

Of course there was the occasional ACR, or Deja Vu for a few friends, but the Senior year talent show...wow, they all came out for that. Maybe I started hyping it up end of first semester, but I won Most Entertaining, and the audience hadn't seen the material before.

Don't perform too much, or at all, in High School. Treat your magic as something that they can't handle on a daily, or even weekly, basis. Save it so they can savor it.

SG
 
MaGiK Man

MaGiK Man

Jun 24, 2008
163
0
United States
I love performing in school. Last year i was in 9th, im going into tenth, and the first 2-3 weeks of school no one knew i did magic. one day i was just sitting in the lobby messing with the cards and some junior asked if i do magic or something. I probably did 5 minutes of magic and had a crowd of 10-15 ppl. I got my nickname very quickly as Magic Man, and ppl i didnt even know knew who i was and what i did, so take these peoples adice, and spread out your magic, dont do your strongest effects first, and dont get a big ego haha and have fun w/ it!

~Nate
 
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fabiooris

Jan 2, 2008
18
0
Southern Texas
High school is Amazing. Im 16 and i've been doing magic in school for a long time now and it really is the best place learn how to manage crowds, master misdirection and above all work on your chops. Their even might a couple of guys in your school who do what you do and think They are better and they'll challenge you. Don't give in. HEll, if some guy can flourish and has no presenatation or personality, you already know who's better. But we all have our stron points. Don't be cocky, be humble. people like a guy who's easy to get along with and nice. It opens alot of doors. I'm the host for three annual show's and I have my own stage act for the Theater festival every year. Like what other people say, don't over do it. Ever! Belive it or not people get tired. You don't wanna be known as the guy with cards, you want them to know your name. You meet people and have fun, wich is the most important thing. Oh and as for you guy's who wanna pick up girls with your magic. Don't try it right away. Be playful and flirtatious but don't be to direct. I'm really into psychological ploys and strong misdirection so i know what i'm saying. if you wanna meet a girl be yourself, let them get to know you and then, maybe you can do something just for them. I've been in a realtionship for quite awhile now and i hd only done magic to her twice befoore she was my girl. Now i wrote enough and i don't wanna bore you guys. but it's amazing.
 
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fabiooris

Jan 2, 2008
18
0
Southern Texas
well it seems that the gecko requires ajacket and the use of the sleeves, wich im pretty sure it does. If you plan to use it in school enviroment you'll have to be careful. around the same use of the topit, it'll take aknack to master some of the handlings, wich could be quite risky in a school enviroment. But hey, if you can't use it in the hall, there's always the stage. hope i helped.
 
Nikki

Nikki

Jul 16, 2008
362
1
30
somewhere in New York
im in high school, and my freshmen year i preformed a lot for people and you do need to be very careful around teachers...dont let them see you with cards...make sure you choose your spectators VERY carefully. your gonna get people that hate you for it and love you for it. your repuataion will change for the better or worse...and it does get annoying having people beg you to do a trick every single day. i wouldnt give into it, i would like do a trick maybe 2 times every week...if you give into them when they ask you every day to do a trick it wont stop obv. so dont do stuff every day. don't let what kids at your school say about it change the way your view on magic. but other then that, its a great experience..have fun with it, and good luck =]



P.S.- i didn't start showing people anything untill half the year was over, i would not do it on the first day...do it after people get to know the real you first, then bring it out.
 
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fabiooris

Jan 2, 2008
18
0
Southern Texas
True, true. But as always it really differs on how the disipline code is at every school it difffers. And you should let people get to know you first, or at least have a idea of who you are, not a magician, but a actual person.
 
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Cardz9863

Jul 29, 2008
155
0
Wow thanks alot guys!
I'm suprised I've gotten so many replies and I set this up like last night at 4 AM (Couldn't sleep) so yeah.
All the advice that you guys have given were awesome and I'll try to listen to your advice as well as I can.
So what would be some of the things you guys remebered or still perform at school that worked out really well or some tricks you did for certain classes such as one person mentioned earlier about hover-card and physics class.
Lastly, I've heard alot about these tallent shows before and I was wondering what it was like. Like what kind of things you would need and experiences and things YOU guys have done for them.
 
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fabiooris

Jan 2, 2008
18
0
Southern Texas
Haha, well that's what these forums are for man. You'll find that in Highschool, that you are met witha lot of oppurtunities to work out new ideas and you won't believe how many things will influence your creative touch. Weather it 's patter or tricks, because everything goes in and out of your brain. It' filters through. As for the show's, you really just have to pay attention to different cultural event's or things that the dramma troupe puts on. For ex. one of the show's i host is the annual spring prancer show, and i have a 10 min. act while they change for the finale and i do small tidbits of magic throught out the whole show while i'm presenting the individual dancers or groups. A great thing to do is really analyze how each teacher is and what interest's him, that way you can change the patter of one of your effects to suit him.
 
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