Different people practice in different ways. I'm interested to hear how You practice your magic, mentalism or cardistry and what advice you could give to other performers?
I'll go first...
As I'm primarily a stage performer these days, it's pretty difficult to practice my show without a room full of people watching. So sometimes, that's exactly what I do! I'll get a few friends over and run a bit of my show to see how it plays.
If you're a close up performer, or perform material in your stage show that could potentially be done close up, it's super easy to practice. Just perform for friends or family.
A lot of magicians use the phrase:
"Practice, Practice, Perform."
To me, the second 'practice' is for people - I call this "Real world practice." You never really know how a routine is going to play until you start doing it for people. I've put together routines or effects that I thought were going to be killer… Until I performed them for a few friends and they just didn't play. So, back to the drawing board I go.
To throw a musical analogy into the mix, when less experienced singers sit in a practice room writing lyrics to a part in their head, often they'll pack more syllables into one part than they can physically sing. This is because the voice in your head doesn't have to worry about breathing, crafting words, etc. It just sings them. The same applies for magic or mentalism, without working on something with a person there to perform on, you'll often find yourself fumbling or confusing yourself as you're trying to manage the participant as well as your handling of the effect and your pocket management. Make sure this happens when you practice with a friend, not in a gig environment!
Just think, what effects are you working on that could really benefit from a "real world practice" session?
Some visual manipulation routines are just to be watched, so CAN be practiced in front of a mirror or a camera forever until it's ready. Mentalism however, cannot be practiced without human interaction. Take the time to write a list of the effects you're working on, or that you'd like to perform in the future and start preparing yourself to try these out in full with a friend or family member - what I find helps is putting together five or six new effects in a mini show, this will not only get you used to doing each effect, but will also iron out the creases of your pocket management and the flow of a full set.
What are your thoughts on practice?
I'll go first...
As I'm primarily a stage performer these days, it's pretty difficult to practice my show without a room full of people watching. So sometimes, that's exactly what I do! I'll get a few friends over and run a bit of my show to see how it plays.
If you're a close up performer, or perform material in your stage show that could potentially be done close up, it's super easy to practice. Just perform for friends or family.
A lot of magicians use the phrase:
"Practice, Practice, Perform."
To me, the second 'practice' is for people - I call this "Real world practice." You never really know how a routine is going to play until you start doing it for people. I've put together routines or effects that I thought were going to be killer… Until I performed them for a few friends and they just didn't play. So, back to the drawing board I go.
To throw a musical analogy into the mix, when less experienced singers sit in a practice room writing lyrics to a part in their head, often they'll pack more syllables into one part than they can physically sing. This is because the voice in your head doesn't have to worry about breathing, crafting words, etc. It just sings them. The same applies for magic or mentalism, without working on something with a person there to perform on, you'll often find yourself fumbling or confusing yourself as you're trying to manage the participant as well as your handling of the effect and your pocket management. Make sure this happens when you practice with a friend, not in a gig environment!
Just think, what effects are you working on that could really benefit from a "real world practice" session?
Some visual manipulation routines are just to be watched, so CAN be practiced in front of a mirror or a camera forever until it's ready. Mentalism however, cannot be practiced without human interaction. Take the time to write a list of the effects you're working on, or that you'd like to perform in the future and start preparing yourself to try these out in full with a friend or family member - what I find helps is putting together five or six new effects in a mini show, this will not only get you used to doing each effect, but will also iron out the creases of your pocket management and the flow of a full set.
What are your thoughts on practice?