“Street Magic: Here’s The Deal…”
This chapter is for beginners mainly but I have thrown a few things to help you regular street performers out there…
Got a case of the shakes? Are you nervous when you perform? Maybe you have the shakes and you aren’t nervous, or vice versa. There really aren’t any fix quick solutions out there for this but I got some tips for you. To be honest I get kind of shaky every now and then still and I’ve been doing this for years. The only sure fire way to stop the nervousness and shakes is to keep performing and getting more experience. The real reason is because you just aren’t use to the situation yet. It’s like jumping into a bunch of cold water. You get really shaky at first and then you start to mellow out in a couple of minuets or so. Your body just had to get use to it, right? Right. For a more immediate result, right when you see the people you want to perform for, simply take a big deep breath in and let it out slowly. It slows down your pulse. Therefore by definition you are calmer. I know what you’re thinking, “Zac, you’re an idiot. That doesn’t work ever!” Yes it does. Shut up. The key is the slow exhale. There is one more thing. Going back to having a character, here is a great use for it. I am Zac Eckstein, but my character is Z-MAGIC. Once you have worked on your character for friends and family, it will seem as if you are 2 people. No, this isn’t psychotic. It would be though if you couldn’t control it though. When I go perform I think about my character, Z-MAGIC. Eventually I am Z-MAGIC as opposed to Zac Eckstein. Z-MAGIC isn’t exactly real because I control the character. Therefore I control if he gets nervous or not. Think about it. Turn into somebody else for a while and leave your nervous self alone!
If you have just started to perform street magic or are about to, when you ask people if they want to see some magic, THEY SAY NO! I remember the first few times, I kept getting rejected from person after person, and I thought I wasn’t cut out to do magic. But I kept trying and eventually got everyone saying yes and asking for more!
Trust me, David Blaine and Criss Angel have gotten rejected so many times when they first started out, they even showed clip after clip of them getting rejected time after time in their first show. But then they got a reputation and now they never get rejected. I can, once again, increase you chances for getting a yes out of everyone you ask.
Here is some things you don’t say. “Hey, check this out.” “Hey, you want to see something cool” or “Watch this.”
Here is what you say instead and I’ll tell you why after. “Hello, I am ________, I’m a magician, like David Blaine and Criss Angel. I was wondering if you would like to see a piece of magic?” Okay, here is the breakdown. “Hello”, greeting the somewhat formally is good, as opposed to “Hey”. “I am _______, I’m a magician” Now you just stated your name and what you are. You need to do that so they don’t think you’re homeless or trying to sell them something. “like David Blaine and Criss Angel” There is a pretty safe bet that they know at least one of those two names and they are now associating you with what they do, and they seem like nice guys. They also like what they see on T.V. so that idea sets you up for the next line. “I was wondering if you would like to see a piece of magic?” Here, we give them a choice to say yes or no. People love choices. Don’t say trick because it sends a negative vibe to them like you are a con artist. So just say piece of magic, and they know you are going to show them magic like they saw on T.V. the other day. Now you have a 99% chance of them saying yes every time.
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