theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
Who do you think is the best magic teacher today?
- Thread starter DontTread
- Start date
Totally forgot about Wayne Houchin. He is a very good teacher.
Fun fact, the magic shop near my house is the one Wayne went to as a kid. The owner is still great friends with him.
I'm trying to remember which product it was ... I think "Art of Magic" ... it was filmed down the block from my apartment at the time. I used to go to the restaurant they used all the time.
Another one I just thought of (don't think his name has come up here yet):
Calen Morelli
He hasn't taught a huge amount, but when he explains things, he is very thorough and looks at them at many angles. As far as his own material goes, Calen really did explain it amazingly.
You guys should really write a book together
Calen Morelli
He hasn't taught a huge amount, but when he explains things, he is very thorough and looks at them at many angles. As far as his own material goes, Calen really did explain it amazingly.
You guys should really write a book together
You guys should really write a book together
We should. We've bounced that idea back and forth for years.
We even had a working title - "The Mentalist and the Magician."
I second (or rather 3rd) this.
The concept would be that the book provides practical applications of theory in the context of designing a set, show, act, etc. Although you would think that a magician and a mentalist would approach things from different perspectives, ultimately Christopher and I approach both magic and mentalism from the same perspective with differences in how we apply those theories.
I thought about this question for several days and my answer is Richard Kaufman.
Kaufman has written several books under his own name, has published/edited/illustrated a staggering number of books by dozens of other magicians and is currently the editor and owner of Genii magazine. His bibliography can be found here.
His contributions to magic education, as a source for printed source material, are unmatched in my opinion.
Kaufman has written several books under his own name, has published/edited/illustrated a staggering number of books by dozens of other magicians and is currently the editor and owner of Genii magazine. His bibliography can be found here.
His contributions to magic education, as a source for printed source material, are unmatched in my opinion.
@trapeze, Richard has contributed quite a lot and I love his books. Others to consider in that category are Stephen Minch who has written so many beautiful books, Eugene Burger who has done so much on the presentation of magic as well as Jim Steinmeyer, Jack Gaughn and Mike Cavney who have done so much to teach us about the history of magic. How about John Northern Hilliard who compiled all the material for Greater Magic, Jean Hugard who wrote so much of what has become card magic canon. Add to that Tarbell, Giobbi and Harris that have written probably the three most important series in magic.
I agree with all of your suggestions. How can I not? Perhaps add Lewis Ganson?
Being in magic almost 20 years, I have been to many lectures / workshops taught by many magicians as we watched on videos / DVDs/ instant download as technology progress. Many of them still with us, some were gone, and if ask who is the best is definitely a tough question to answer since everyone have their own favorite.
However, I can narrow down to three I personally believe that I benefit most from, in no particular order:
1. Tom Stone - I fortunate enough to attend his special one day workshop last year, he made me realize that everyone can be creative no matter how we think we do not, I owe him a big thank you for that.
2. David Williamson - one of the two magicians on this planet I will take a flight to meet him whenever possible. He might explain the same effect in the lecture however every time you watch and listen you just learn something more every time. Who can argue that even Tony Chang attend his lecture just because for his tips on DPS?
3. Juan Tamariz - For those who believe, no explanation is necessary... Juan is the best close up magician we have in our era after Dai Vernon, period. The first time saw his close up salon a decade ago made my eyes 'opened' and redefine what magic is. Juan's lectures, workshop, publications whatever available I started to read and digest into my brain ever since. I fortunate to attend his workshop twice. Currently Juan has small class each year for an extremely limited quota (7-10 students) each year for people to apply and study at his home for 3-5 days straight, price is not cheap, but I look forward some time in future my schedule is available to meet him again personally.
However, I can narrow down to three I personally believe that I benefit most from, in no particular order:
1. Tom Stone - I fortunate enough to attend his special one day workshop last year, he made me realize that everyone can be creative no matter how we think we do not, I owe him a big thank you for that.
2. David Williamson - one of the two magicians on this planet I will take a flight to meet him whenever possible. He might explain the same effect in the lecture however every time you watch and listen you just learn something more every time. Who can argue that even Tony Chang attend his lecture just because for his tips on DPS?
3. Juan Tamariz - For those who believe, no explanation is necessary... Juan is the best close up magician we have in our era after Dai Vernon, period. The first time saw his close up salon a decade ago made my eyes 'opened' and redefine what magic is. Juan's lectures, workshop, publications whatever available I started to read and digest into my brain ever since. I fortunate to attend his workshop twice. Currently Juan has small class each year for an extremely limited quota (7-10 students) each year for people to apply and study at his home for 3-5 days straight, price is not cheap, but I look forward some time in future my schedule is available to meet him again personally.
When I was coming up, Jay Sankey was the dude to learn from. He is thorough and a really neat guy.
Over the years, I switched performance styles and interests and thus learned quite a bit from a lot of people.
Names I'd throw out there would be:
- Richard Osterlind
- Banachek
- Bob Cassidy
Those guys not only taught, they performed, thus showing you how its supposed to look. They would also do more than teach the mechanics of things. They taught why the mechanics work. By doing that, they created a myriad of students so to speak who learned how to do variations of their work. I actually hate to say that created students. They created artists.
Over the years, I switched performance styles and interests and thus learned quite a bit from a lot of people.
Names I'd throw out there would be:
- Richard Osterlind
- Banachek
- Bob Cassidy
Those guys not only taught, they performed, thus showing you how its supposed to look. They would also do more than teach the mechanics of things. They taught why the mechanics work. By doing that, they created a myriad of students so to speak who learned how to do variations of their work. I actually hate to say that created students. They created artists.
No specific order
- Daryl
- Michael Ammar
- Jay Sankey
- Oz Pearlman, Born to perform Card Magic!
- Wayne Houchin
- Paul Wilson
- Jason England (his Pinky Count, bottom deal and the Classic Pass videos are masterpieces)
And many many more, however none of them is better than a good magic teacher that teaches you magic at your house, magic shop, etc. I moved from one that too expensive but was teaching me really boring tricks that you could find on YouTube, it was too slow and I was extremely enthusiastic to learn more and more....so it didn't fit my needs. The teacher that I have right now is better cause he teaches me what he thinks is better for what I'm looking to, we both make the "program" of the classes...sometimes he doesn't teach me anything we just chat about magic or theory. He's great and he has fooled some of the best magicians in the world, not gonna lie I'm extremely happy
So yeah.... a guy that teaches magic in person will improve you magic, at least for my experience, exponentially. But be careful, I missed my first try.
- Daryl
- Michael Ammar
- Jay Sankey
- Oz Pearlman, Born to perform Card Magic!
- Wayne Houchin
- Paul Wilson
- Jason England (his Pinky Count, bottom deal and the Classic Pass videos are masterpieces)
And many many more, however none of them is better than a good magic teacher that teaches you magic at your house, magic shop, etc. I moved from one that too expensive but was teaching me really boring tricks that you could find on YouTube, it was too slow and I was extremely enthusiastic to learn more and more....so it didn't fit my needs. The teacher that I have right now is better cause he teaches me what he thinks is better for what I'm looking to, we both make the "program" of the classes...sometimes he doesn't teach me anything we just chat about magic or theory. He's great and he has fooled some of the best magicians in the world, not gonna lie I'm extremely happy
So yeah.... a guy that teaches magic in person will improve you magic, at least for my experience, exponentially. But be careful, I missed my first try.