One Of The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Performing Magic

Sep 1, 2007
125
0
austria
well, i just recently realized this and i thougt it would be nice to share this thought, especially for the not so experienced magicians,so here we go:

always value your tricks, and never underestimate them!

when i got started with magic, what i did, probably like some of you too, was i learned alot of quite easy tricks, the stuff you get at E for example. after i saw the possibilities there are performed by outstanding artists like dan and dave or lee ashe just to name two of them, i thought i totally wasted my time. until the other day, when i just performed a short impromptu ambitious card with some DL and as the grand finale a shapeshifter, and i noticed that my audience (ok, there were only 3 people, but let's call it audience anyways) was totally blown away, and they thought i was a master magician or something. that really opened my eyes, so i wanted to pass whyt i've learned on to you. never underestimate the effect, as easy as it may seem to you. always push the pattern, and act like crazy around your easiest routine, you will get great reactions! never forget that most people don't know anything about how magic works, and don't act casual about what you're doing, always build up tension, like you're going to do something great, because to your audience it will most likely seem that way.

i think there are gonna be alot of comments of magicians who do magic for a longer time and therefore know what i'm talking about, and i say bring it on! this is definetely an opportunity to educate less experienced magicians, and i decided to take it, and i hope so will you!
 
I agree completely, I always searched for the complex and fancy tricks and yet I've gotten THE best reaction ever with the Biddle trick, extremely simple but effective.

I can easily say, "I've learned my lesson".

:)
 
Sep 1, 2007
234
0
34
Calgary
Oh I definetly agree with everything you said, I realized this recently as well. ACR's get absolutely amazing reactions, today I was doing an ACR and a girl flipped out and ran away on me. I guess it goes to show that simple really is really the best. Hard tricks also get amazing reactions, but easy tricks also do. So if you're starting out with magic, take it easy don't rush into the hard things, master the easy tricks and get great reactions. Build up your confidence and then move on.
 
Sep 1, 2007
131
0
You couldn't have said it better. Simple really does hit hard. For example, I had a card selected and I revealed it using the Razzle Dazzle Cut and I couldn't believe the reaction I got! I still use it as one of my main effects.
 
Sep 1, 2007
163
1
yea, like, its why i love doctor dialeys last trick so much
its SOOO simple,. yet hits home HARD
 
Sep 1, 2007
125
0
austria
yeah, i like it when everyone agrees with me! i did actually contribute something useful to this forum after all. ;-)
one other thing i didn't mention that clearly is this:
if you are getting bored by a certain trick, either don't do it or at least don't let your audience notice, because as mentioned before, the more you act like you're doing something really special, the more the audience will think you actually are.
what i like to do sometimes is just say, yeah, well, i want to do that, but i'm not sure if it works, and when they start going like, c'mon c'mon, try, we wanna see it you go like, ok, but i can't promise anything... and then you blow them away. pretty cheap, but quite funny sometimes.
 
Sep 2, 2007
8
0
Ya, a friend of mine found the most simple tricks to be even more astonishing then some of my harder tricks. In routines, just add a few simple tricks to spice it up.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sep 2, 2007
10
0
As illusionist we enjoy the more complicated effect sdue to the fact that we know how much hard work it takes to master them. Laymen on the other hand shouldnt be able to tell the diffence, so start off with some simple effects then build up to the more complicated ones, then end with something simple that will blow them away (ie. Stigmata, Connected, or something like that).
 
Does simple really hit hard- or are we just conditioned to believe this?

Simple really does hit hard.

When I hear this I always think to myself, "Why is that?" and right now I am doing just that.

Is it because the effect itself is actually stronger, or is it because we do them better knowing that they require less work? It's a tricky thing to answer, and it could probably be a bit of both. Personally, I find that the things that we take for granted are the things that we learned when we began- we no longer do it because they have either been erased from memory or have the mindset for being "noob routines" – something that we wish not to be known for.

I have many mixed feelings however, I am unsure in thinking that a performance of the Biddle Trick has gotten better reactions then a Card to Pocket performance. Most here would probably agree that the routine requiring more work is "harder" than the other, and in this case is probably the latter half. Yet, I fail to agree that the latter will stir up a less reaction than that of the Biddle Trick.

Note: Whilst these effects are hard to compare since they are very much different, I am sure that the thoughts to follow will apply.

So perhaps this rolls down to a bunch of things;

Maybe due to the fact that the Biddle Trick can be pulled off less suspiciously perhaps than some people’s Card to Pocket performances, would create the initial reason why this belief is supported. Perhaps even down to performance style, how you treat the effects themselves. I imagine that if you run through the “easy stuff” without a thought of them being "workers" to the laymen because you learned them years ago, I doubt that mindset would create the magic needed- and most likely would indeed cause a failure of performance. That, or not give you the reaction it deserved.

So this brings up an interesting point, do we feel these "easy" routines are bad or good depending on how we perform them? Surely so, since if you realize you get better reactions due to performance than other tricks, then you will start to think that these are great things. However when you work harder at the other stuff and get those down to the point where they feel as easy as the "self-workers", then you will find that they give off just as much reaction as before, or even better.

Therefore, maybe our thinking is not the right belief. Perhaps what we believe is a wrong-minded idea. I personally feel that the conclusion is down to a simple thing of confidence. I think a lot of guys will feel less confident performing a Card to Pocket because of its technical side, than a Biddle Trick because of its laid back attitude. Maybe this is why we think this way, if you were to perform a Card to Pocket when you feel much less confident, the audience will see this and you will not get the reaction you deserved. So, maybe if you take the confidence you have with the Biddle Trick, and merge this confidence with that of the more technically demanding routines; you would most likely find that the reaction would be either the same or greater than your mindset gave.

Therefore, does this not prove that our thinking is wrongly-minded? Of course, this is just my opinion but it brings up an interesting idea. Perhaps our confidence and ability to deliver something effectively without concern is the wind that moves the turbine. I think this is why we believe that “simple hits hard”, because we can do them without a problem, thus causing the great laid-back idea. However if you were to merge this mindset with that of a more technically demanding effect, you will find that the reactions are just as great- or greater –than that of before.

Perhaps this is what drives this thought. But the defined answer, we will never be sure.

Jordan
 
Aug 31, 2007
263
0
I agree with Jordan.

By the way, what does "complicated" mean here? Does it refer to technically demanding, or complex, long plots?

Simplicity is sometimes overrated. Just because you can't pull of a more difficult trick confidently and smoothly, doesn't mean it cannot get reactions.

If a trick with a complex plot isn't getting reactions, its either like I said, you didn't do it well, or people didnt get the trick. Which leads to poor trick structure. One-effect tricks like Biddle have a simple structure, thus easy to comprehend. Multi-effect tricks needs proper planning and structure so the thing flows and everyone understands it.

Simplicity in a trick isn't everything. Don't give excuses to yourself by limiting yourself to "simple", technically less demanding tricks by saying "It gets great reactions!" Everything can get great reactions, the variable factor is only you, yourself.

- harapan. magic!
 
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results