Important question for the hobbyist or worker...

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
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Louisville, OH
I don't believe there is a set number. Nothing is set in stone. In the initial stage of becoming a magician, you will go through the phase of "I want, I want, I need this...." and you will waste tons of money trying to acquire as much magic as you can. This is an exciting but frustrating phase because you are getting tons of magic and your adrenaline and excitement is through the roof. Fast forward a few weeks and you have now overwhelmed yourself to the point of not really focusing on one or two effects and putting in the necessary time to make it a real "worker" that you will use in your sets so to speak.

Everyone's schedule is different as far as practicing, rehearsing, & testing out effects. I might learn only 1 or 2 effects in a month and maybe even longer. I will try them out over and over again in upcoming gigs, and then after reflecting, changing the patter, trying different outs, I will make a decision to move on from that effect or keep honing it to a real piece of magic that will stay in my show or set for strolling.
 
Apr 17, 2013
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I hardly add anything new to my sets. It has to be pretty strong to replace something I have been doing for years. When I was younger I would learn one thing at a time and work on it til it was ready.
 
Oct 14, 2013
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Thanks for the advice, Rick! I ask because lately I have been busy with work, and I wanted to push myself to try to practice more with the time that I'm left with. I hate coming up short with only a few effects when someone really wants to see some magic. But your answer makes a lot of sense, and your top paragraph describes me perfectly. Lol. I guess I just need to be a bit more realistic and patient with myself. :)
 
Apr 17, 2013
885
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For things like that I will bust out something from the self working books. With the right presentation that are pretty damn powerful
 
Jan 1, 2009
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Back in Time
Sometimes you need to let things cook and simmer before working on them again. I would say this depends on the performer/hobbyist. But most Hobbyist now days tend to probably buy a new DVD/book/download a month or two. which is perfectly fine for somebody who just performs/practices for their own recreation/meditation/friends and family.

But if you are doing magic for a living, you will find that you'll get the most out of just reusing and rearranging the order of your routines and constantly performing them on different people each week.
 
Oct 14, 2013
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@Randy: Thanks for the tip! I've been worried that reusing the same tricks over and over would get boring for my audience if I should happen to run into the same people unaware, e.g. at a restaurant or local area. But what you said makes a lot of sense. Right now I am just a hobbyist, but in years to come, I'm planning on at least working part time with my magic.
 
Dec 18, 2007
1,610
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Northampton, MA - USA
Don't worry about how many "tricks" you can learn but more, how many techniques you can focus on and master first. Technique is far more important that single effects. But, as Rick has mentioned, it's just a matter of time and getting a taste of the various avenues that magic has; cards, coins, ropes, silks, gambling routines, classic manipulation, etc. Learn all you can but pace yourself so that you do more than learn a secret, actually LEARN all you can about each effect, especially those that really appeal to you. For an example, Coin Matrix; learn all the different variations of doing that effect with and without gimmicks.

Take a niche area and give yourself six months of working with it and really dig deep to learn all you can about that niche and then, at the end of that time shift to another area that appeals to you for another 3-6 months. Do this and within a few short years you will have some awesome skills as well as strong knowledge; knowledge that will empower you to pull off literal improvisational miracles.

Stay away from Mentalism until you have some performance experience, it is an area that requires some solid showmanship skills that only come by working with the foundations of the craft -- stage craft.

Best of luck
 
Jul 13, 2010
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I do it as Giobbi described in "Secret Agenda". There is a description of well-known classic plots any magician (hobbyist or professional) should have in his/her repertoire (well I don`t have the time to really learn everything in that list, I concentrate on a few).
I don`t need 2,3 or 4 tricks of the same plot. Just 1 (No spectator wants to see 2 versions of Coins Across, Card to Pocket, Matrix etc. ). For some it`s necessary to have several version of the same plot for different audiences and situations. I`m aware of that. As an amateur, I don`t need at the moment.
Instead I focus on learning the "best for me"-version of a plot with a presentation that is (at least a bit ) believable for my character.
However I don`t say LEARNING all variations, backgrounds, facts is wrong. In contrary. I agree with Craig that we should and if there`s a trick/plot that fascinates me, I want to learn everything about it.
This is IMO essential to constantly enhance it and not just beeing a "jack of all trades, master of none".
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oct 5, 2012
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While you will ultimately only perform one version of a given "plot", I think Craig is spot on (as usual) in the importance of the "deep dive" into a particular plot or area. In "Designing Miracles" Darwin Ortiz discusses the "perfect composite method", where all of the various techniques are applied at different places to build an illusion of impossibility. If you are doing an Ambitious card, and one method lets you show the card, but the spectator can't put it in the deck, and another method allows you to have the spectator re-insert, but they can't see the face of the card, combining those two methods in your routine will create a hybrid image in the spectator's mind that BOTH phases allowed you to do both strengths. The only way to open this kind of hybrid method is to know everything you can possibly find about the plot. More methods will give you more resources to draw from, as will additional presentations.

The same is true on the level of branches of magic. Learning coins will help your card work, learning mental effects will help your gambling routines. You may not know how from the get go, but the more that you know, the more depth of understanding of the core concepts that are the basis of all magic you will have.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
While I become familiar with many methods throughout any given month (Combination of lots of reading and working for a magic store) I have been working on the same two tricks for the last two or three months. I have a show coming up for which I just took what I already knew and arranged it in the most effective order I could think of.

It's already been covered but I'll add my support. Don't worry about learning more and more tricks. That just turns you into a trick monkey who doesn't actually know much about magic. Focus on theory and how to build a good performance from what you already have.
 
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