If you could start all over again..
- Thread starter Wallmott
- Start date
When i first started i learned all my sleights second hand, i learned EVERYTHING from Youtube, and that was a real bad problem because i wasnt learning things from the original sources therefore i was learning things wrong by some 9 year old kid sitting in his bedroom. But after about 2 or so months i realised that i needed to learn from something worthwhile and not youtube, Then i seriously started practicing but now from books and DVD's, i bought lots of the classics of magic and studied them well and then i was set on the right track, that was about four or five years ago, Nowadays i learn everything from books, DVD's or magicians with many years experience in the field of magic. their advice is just priceless.
Another problem i came across a lot was i didnt know about presentation, all i did was perform an effect with the most basic patter (I didnt even know it was called patter, i just said things whilst performing that probably sounded stupid) and i was wondering why i wasnt getting Fantastic reactions, then i started to realise that i wasnt making my performances interesting and engaging. It was this point i started creating good presentation and learning presentational skills from the amazing books by Eugene Burger.
I wish i could have went back in time to when i started and learned from actual BOOKS and not youtube videos and also i wish i learned about presentation skills and good, developed patter early on. But that was five years ago, ive came a long way now
.
Another problem i came across a lot was i didnt know about presentation, all i did was perform an effect with the most basic patter (I didnt even know it was called patter, i just said things whilst performing that probably sounded stupid) and i was wondering why i wasnt getting Fantastic reactions, then i started to realise that i wasnt making my performances interesting and engaging. It was this point i started creating good presentation and learning presentational skills from the amazing books by Eugene Burger.
I wish i could have went back in time to when i started and learned from actual BOOKS and not youtube videos and also i wish i learned about presentation skills and good, developed patter early on. But that was five years ago, ive came a long way now
.
I started magic 3 months ago, and i have around 20 decks already
, but i do not regret buying them because i have an obsession with collecting things.As for what i would do differently if i started over, nothing, because i believe i took the best path in magic possible for me, and after 3 months im doing really well.
Focus more on presentation and less on sleights. When I first got into magic I went sleight crazy and began learning every move I could without sparing much thought for how useful it may be. The snap change was one of the first sleights I learned and I find it very impractical and almost never use it.
I wish I had read "Absolute Magic" by Derren Brown much earlier on, but I don't know if I would have realised it to be as useful as it really is, because it doesn't have any sleights or full tricks in it. I would not have appreciated it.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Get it by whatever means you have at your disposal...
I wish I had read "Absolute Magic" by Derren Brown much earlier on, but I don't know if I would have realised it to be as useful as it really is, because it doesn't have any sleights or full tricks in it. I would not have appreciated it.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Get it by whatever means you have at your disposal...
One thing I would have stopped myself from doing was wanting and buying "EVERYTHING" that I thought looked cool and fooled me. A lot of wasted money and items in my drawer / containers now that just sit there. I didn't have anyone to show me or give me a thought process on how to hand pick items that will actually fit my style or persona.
I also would have found a mentor a lot earlier on.
I would have joined my local IBM ring a lot earlier on but didn't even know it existed due to poor advertising. Our ring still doesn't advertise very well to grow our membership. It is almost like the don't want it to grow big.
I also would have found a mentor a lot earlier on.
I would have joined my local IBM ring a lot earlier on but didn't even know it existed due to poor advertising. Our ring still doesn't advertise very well to grow our membership. It is almost like the don't want it to grow big.
I pretty much have started again relatively recently. I am scrapping almost every trick I perform and creating my repertoire from scratch, doing tricks that nobody else does with presentation nobody else does, and make each one pure magic. That's the plan at least. Also this time round, I'm not limiting myself to what's actually possible and what isn't. In fact, I'm trying to limit myself as little as possible.
umm. i wouldnt have showed so much of my magic to friends and family. because now they hate watching me do magic haha so now i have to get super good new material that they cant figure out to use on them for them to enjoy haha.
thats one of the biggest things.
thats one of the biggest things.
I started magic 3 months ago, and i have around 20 decks already
Haha yea there're quite a few "collections" here too. Oh well, they're nice for show! When people see the decks they actually go "woah", just like when you just did a trick on them!
Im going to have to agree with that. Only a couple months ago did I realize that ellusionist decks weren't really as amazing a s i thought they were.
I would probably do things a little different. I'd definitely focus on books much sooner, I'd avoid getting the custom decks so I wouldn't have triggered that obsessive behavior to hoard. Mostly I'd push to get out and perform more.
lots of little things i would have done differently. no big issues. i would have bought bobo's coin magic before in the beginning there were coins.
simple stuff like that.
oh and i wouldnt have bought ringtone
simple stuff like that.
oh and i wouldnt have bought ringtone
I would have stop myself to buy the m5 at only 5 months of magic..
I now use it very well, but in the beggining it was a waste of money!! I could have use it to buy other things...like books!!!
I now use it very well, but in the beggining it was a waste of money!! I could have use it to buy other things...like books!!!
it is, though, good to have made all these mistakes in order to learn from them and become better. not that i think any of us ever WANT to go back in time and learn EVERYTHING again, but, even if you have a lot of experience, its always good to refresh by going over some basics. i remember after having taken a long brake from magic, i picked it back up by learning stuff from youtube. that is something i would have liked to change but it also helps me as a magician now to understand the difference between crappy and professional teaching.
The thing i would have done different would be :
Focusing less on sleights and focus more on learning good tricks. In todays magic community its easy to get caught up in wanting to learn all the hard, impressive, magician fooling tricks and sleights that is loved by so many magicians.
So i would say to myself :
What other magicians thinks of you does not matter, no one in the real world cares if you can do 100 passes a minute and palm 15 coins. All they want is a good entertaining trick, so learn what you need to create the effects you want.
Focusing less on sleights and focus more on learning good tricks. In todays magic community its easy to get caught up in wanting to learn all the hard, impressive, magician fooling tricks and sleights that is loved by so many magicians.
So i would say to myself :
What other magicians thinks of you does not matter, no one in the real world cares if you can do 100 passes a minute and palm 15 coins. All they want is a good entertaining trick, so learn what you need to create the effects you want.
I would have sat down with myself and a notebook. I would have listed the areas I would like to see myself involved with in regards to magic. I would have evaluated my motives for involving myself in magic. And I would have seriously contemplated the direction I wanted to take in this craft.
This would have eliminated a lot of earlier mistakes I have made.
But then again, it might just be that these mistakes have now indeed influenced my reformed outlook on magic. It is a lot easier to make decisions retrospectively than proactively. The most important thing is to see your mistakes in the mirror and make sure you don't look at them the next time round.
Ty
This would have eliminated a lot of earlier mistakes I have made.
But then again, it might just be that these mistakes have now indeed influenced my reformed outlook on magic. It is a lot easier to make decisions retrospectively than proactively. The most important thing is to see your mistakes in the mirror and make sure you don't look at them the next time round.
Ty