Practice on Family?

Jun 27, 2008
219
1
Illinois
I have always practiced my magic on my dad and siblings. My first ever trick was a riffle force with a dupe in my back pocket; I'd shuffle and then reveal it in my pocket. This fooled my entire family for weeks until my dad figured it out. Now three years later I am doing much stronger and more complicated effects but they still seem to figure them out. I think I have practiced on them so much that they see effects like magicians now. I say that because not only do they figure things out but they are unimpressed by many effects that would leave the average laymen floored. I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem.
 
Jun 1, 2009
1,066
6
In a way, its kinda good they know how to do it, because then they can give you feedback on how you did and what not. Of course, it's also a bit of a bad thing if your slight of hand is not down good enough. So just practice, practice, practice. And if they still figure it out...oh well, my friends entire family knows how all of his tricks work because he shows them everything, but he just uses their feedback to go out and perform for strangers. Your family is your greatest support system, take full advantage of it. My family only knows a few of my tricks, but my step dad tells me how he figured it out so I just use that as motivation to get the effect down better.
Hope this helps.
 
Jun 30, 2009
32
0
I have always practiced my magic on my dad and siblings. My first ever trick was a riffle force with a dupe in my back pocket; I'd shuffle and then reveal it in my pocket. This fooled my entire family for weeks until my dad figured it out. Now three years later I am doing much stronger and more complicated effects but they still seem to figure them out. I think I have practiced on them so much that they see effects like magicians now. I say that because not only do they figure things out but they are unimpressed by many effects that would leave the average laymen floored. I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem.

yeah my family knows i can force a card 101 different ways haha so they are pretty unimpressed aswell pretty much with any trick i do.. if its somehting new they say thats cool but still arent amazed .. because they know i do magic illusions and have bn showing them for about 5 years now.. lol thats okay tho its good practice! they can give tips on what you need to work on so its alright if they figure it out... thousands of tricks use the same method simple slights such as the double lift , the force , card palms, double under cut, false shuffle and tons more and if they know those moves they pretty much figured out 70% of card tricks out there ... but move on show your friends.. use your family as practice maybe move on to things not with cards.. money? coins rope? flow is a good one that fooled me when i saw it first .. its really cool something other than cars.. most magicians now these days focus on card so much all they show is card tricks not saying cards arent good there great i myself have a ton of very high impact card tricks ... but be different make your self different... good luck to ya!
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
Card and coin magic is fine. But Mentalism is meant to performed on people who don't know you or maybe just break the ice with new friends and start the ball rolling as a Mentalist with them.
 
Jul 16, 2008
362
1
30
somewhere in New York
i never had that problem...what you could do though. practice a bunch then maybe film it for yourself and see if its good...show a magician friend [if you have one] then show your family and see what they think


-Nikki
 
Jun 27, 2008
219
1
Illinois
Its not that I dont hav my tricks down they just think like magicians. like if you watch a performance you dont see an effect, you see double lifts, palms, and other slights strung together. you dont see the magician put a selection into the deck and lose it you see where it really is
 

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
471
46
Louisville, OH
As everyone else has mentioned. Use your family as much as possible to get feedback. My wife, kids, and even my parents know how a lot of things work and they know how to "view" things as a magician as well. They let me know when I flash or how something may look better by changing "this or that". Family members have even helped me come up with some cool patter for effects as well.

Magic does not have to be some big secret from your family. Sure it is fun to "fool" family members at dinner, etc. but I use that as practice for the real deal paid gigs.
Your family sees you reading magic books, magazines, watching DVDs, practicing with cards hour after hour so they know you are passionate about what you are doing.

Just food for thought.
 
well i use my fam, but they dont understand how to watch a trick anymore.
they tell me that i flash when i do and tell me what they think i did when i do it.
not that i dont want them to, but they should wait till the end of the performance. because it really messes up my patter lol. but its not bad cause thats how people are in real life.
my dad can figure out every card trick and rope trick and coin trick i do.
it kinda sucks, but at least i have family there so if i do screw up a trick i screw it up infront of them.
 

byu

Jul 1, 2009
73
0
USA
My family completely understands now, especially my dad. You could not do a riffle force on him and get away with it, since I do it so much. And by the time my pass is concealed pretty good, he'll be the only one who can see right through it.
 
Sep 9, 2007
512
0
lol. My family has no interest in it and thinks it's childish.

to which I can reply - it may be childish, but children are happy and adults are miserable. I'll choose to be happy is it means being a bit childish.
 
Jun 30, 2009
32
0
ha i think the word trick is childish.. magic trick it reminds me of those magic trick kits i got when i was a kid... i never well hardly ever say trick.. i always say effect if im using cards or ilusion if iam doing ne thing else haha and magician soudns kinda funny but i guess that is what we are.. ne body else get the picture of some guy in a flaming purple jacket and a big cheesy top hat kinda creepy kid stalker ish visual come to mind when they hear the words magician ?

haha i think its my previous bad experinces

we had a guy that was a subsitiute teacher way back in 6th grade and was a magican he wore that flaming coat and did some tricks..

turns out the guy was a child rapist - and was later arrested

creepy huh..?
 
Aug 17, 2008
473
13
Ann Arbor, MI
I practice all the time on my dad and step mom.... I love it because there are many times that i can just go up to my dad and show him a new trick that i just learned and sometimes i suprise him and sometimes he sees. It is also great because i caould do an older trick and just get better on those. My parents and family are very supportive in whatever i do. So i fell bad for the people that have parents that think it is childish and wasting your time.. All i have to say to that is just keep practicing and show them up.. But yes i think it is great to show you r parents..... That is if the support you.



Best of luck
~ B
 
Aug 17, 2008
473
13
Ann Arbor, MI
ha i think the word trick is childish.. magic trick it reminds me of those magic trick kits i got when i was a kid... i never well hardly ever say trick.. i always say effect if im using cards or ilusion if iam doing ne thing else haha and magician soudns kinda funny but i guess that is what we are.. ne body else get the picture of some guy in a flaming purple jacket and a big cheesy top hat kinda creepy kid stalker ish visual come to mind when they hear the words magician ?

haha i think its my previous bad experinces

we had a guy that was a subsitiute teacher way back in 6th grade and was a magican he wore that flaming coat and did some tricks..

turns out the guy was a child rapist - and was later arrested

creepy huh..?

Im going to say that is very creepy.... thanks for sharing that..... i think....
 
I have always practiced my magic on my dad and siblings. My first ever trick was a riffle force with a dupe in my back pocket; I'd shuffle and then reveal it in my pocket. This fooled my entire family for weeks until my dad figured it out. Now three years later I am doing much stronger and more complicated effects but they still seem to figure them out. I think I have practiced on them so much that they see effects like magicians now. I say that because not only do they figure things out but they are unimpressed by many effects that would leave the average laymen floored. I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem.

Hey guys, I've got a new effect I want to show you..."

*stampeding cloud of dust, flying chairs, and tipped over furniture. Leaving the living room having looked like Jones Town: The morning after*

" .25 seconds. That's a new record!"

Yeah. It's like that.
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
My parents,fortunately are very harsh critics when i tell them I want to do anthing.
6 or 7 years ago when I was comfortable enough with my sleights to show them tricks they said they same thing " the trick is cool,but where are you? Who are you?Wheres the pizazz(?) to get me interested?"(as in,whats in it for me)
I learned best from them than any magic trick book or DVD cause they gave me straight up the laymens perspective and they werent nice either.They were honest.
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
My parents,fortunately are very harsh critics when i tell them I want to do anthing.
6 or 7 years ago when I was comfortable enough with my sleights to show them tricks they said they same thing " the trick is cool,but where are you? Who are you?Wheres the pizazz(?) to get me interested?"(as in,whats in it for me)
I learned best from them than any magic trick book or DVD cause they gave me straight up the laymens perspective and they werent nice either.They were honest.

I think you misunderstood what they meant by that. There is literally nothing in it for them if all they are looking for is "pizazz". You might as well just do flashy magic all the time and just be all flash no substance.

In fact the next time they ask you "whats in it for me?" you should reply back "Why don't you think about it for awhile and get back to me later." and see what the answer is. Otherwise reply "What am I? Dr. Phil!?"
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
I think you misunderstood what they meant by that. There is literally nothing in it for them if all they are looking for is "pizazz". You might as well just do flashy magic all the time and just be all flash no substance.

In fact the next time they ask you "whats in it for me?" you should reply back "Why don't you think about it for awhile and get back to me later." and see what the answer is. Otherwise reply "What am I? Dr. Phil!?"

No I didnt,I know my parents(ive known for awhile actually).I DID show them the flashy stuff and they didnt care much for it.
For them, that isnt the real pizazz in magic. No matter how flashy the trick was,I didnt do it justice.I gave it no flavor because I had no place,no character in what I was doing.Kind of like how we see some magicians sau "watch this...now do this..and ill do this".
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
No I didnt,I know my parents(ive known for awhile actually).I DID show them the flashy stuff and they didnt care much for it.
For them, that isnt the real pizazz in magic. No matter how flashy the trick was,I didnt do it justice.I gave it no flavor because I had no place,no character in what I was doing.Kind of like how we see some magicians sau "watch this...now do this..and ill do this".

Well it's a little hard to convey a character to Family, being has they know you. This is why Bob Cassidy says that you should NOT practice Mentalism on your family or friends, because it won't be a genuine reaction. It would be in the "Neat trick" type reaction.
 
Feb 27, 2008
2,342
1
33
Grand prairie TX
Well it's a little hard to convey a character to Family, being has they know you. This is why Bob Cassidy says that you should NOT practice Mentalism on your family or friends, because it won't be a genuine reaction. It would be in the "Neat trick" type reaction.

Thats the thing though.Magic is theatre.

They know/knew that. Hell,they expected me to build a character,its a must.
 
Family magic effect testers

Ever since I began to practice with magic and "graduate" to the more advanced magic effects, I have always used either my Dad or my brother to test the effects I have been working on so hard to get just right. And then the great thing about it is, like others who have stated this already, it's better to get constructive criticism from your Family that your friends or strangers. Unless you have a really good, close friend, I never practiced or had shown an effect I had worked on for 2 weeks to other friends. Simply for the fact that some of them will love to call you out during your effect to make THEM sound funny and to make YOU look bad.

There has been countless times when I feel confident with an effect and I will perform it for my Dad (or brother if his in town) and he'll say, "That was really great! But when you did this, you flashed that, blah blah" and basically tells me how much further down to display something, or work on a move that looks to awkward.

So I am very glad that I have a family that supports me 100% of the way and also encourages me when I am having a difficult time with an effect.

There was also this other magician who told me that since he didn't have any living parents or siblings, he would set up is Camcorder and then video tape himself performing, then move in a different direction and perform it from a different angle. Which I also think is a great idea, if you don't have someone in the room to give you live feed back, but of course watching yourself perform and messing up, is just as good as having someone in the room with you.
 
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