“Learn a few tricks really well rather than learning many, poorly.” I’ve been given this advice in the past, and the problem with it for me is that when you start performing, and people enjoy what they see, they ask for more. So you keep going, but then there’s an end, and you have to somehow convey that, that you’ve reached a point where you’ve performed everything you can. I agree that quality is important, but I don’t think quality and a large quantity are necessarily mutually exclusive, and so it’s important to find a line where you learn enough tricks to entertain beyond the duration of a person’s attention span, but not so many that you can’t give each trick the time that it deserves when practicing. What do you guys think?
Quality vs quantity
- Thread starter ryanshaw957
- Start date
A common mistake of new, inexperienced performers, is to perform whenever they have the slightest opportunity and to perform everything they know
Don't do that.
Learn how to tactfully end a performance before you've exhausted your repertoire. Most likely, if you're performing everything you know, you're exhausting your audience and they don't care about what you're doing after a few routines.
When I decide to perform casually I probably do less than one third my repertoire. It's a taste, a demonstration of what I'm capable of. If they want to see more impressive displays, they can buy a ticket to my next show.
If you're not someone who does shows, still do only a portion of your repertoire - that way there's still something to see next time.
Don't do that.
Learn how to tactfully end a performance before you've exhausted your repertoire. Most likely, if you're performing everything you know, you're exhausting your audience and they don't care about what you're doing after a few routines.
When I decide to perform casually I probably do less than one third my repertoire. It's a taste, a demonstration of what I'm capable of. If they want to see more impressive displays, they can buy a ticket to my next show.
If you're not someone who does shows, still do only a portion of your repertoire - that way there's still something to see next time.
Cool. This makes sense. I’ve been building up the amount of tricks I know well, and I performed about 4 tonight on some people who asked, and after that I knew I had some more in the back of my mind, but I just put the cards away and thanked them. Do you also think you should stay in the same realm during something like that? For example, I could’ve replaced a card trick with a mentalism trick, but I felt silly going from transpositions to deep, heavy stuff. Or is that just me not knowing my favorite field of magic yet?
You're touching on another subject that is tangential to this one - which is to say, there's no such thing as "Mentalism tricks". Mentalism is a separate theatrical art to magic. It is not possible, in my opinion, to just "do a mentalism trick" in a magic set. If you do that, you will be doing mental magic. Mentalism requires a separate, incompatible, theatrical motivation to magic.
That is not to say that magic or mentalism is superior - just that they have distinctly separate theatrical motivations.
To address your original point - If I decide I'm going to perform something casually (ie: not a paid performance) I will most likely only do one routine. My go-to is handing them an imaginary ball which they can feel and making it so heavy it pins their hand to the table/bar/thigh/whatever. But I have a staple of routines based on suggestion that I can call upon any time I want.
If I'm planning to perform, say a party or whatever, I script it. My script includes the introduction, the performance, and the "exit" as it were. After that, I don't do anything else.
Learning when NOT to perform is just as important as learning when to perform. The power of "No" can be used to create mystique and prestige to your performances. A wind-up monkey performs any time someone twists the key - you're a Magician, not a monkey.
That is not to say that magic or mentalism is superior - just that they have distinctly separate theatrical motivations.
To address your original point - If I decide I'm going to perform something casually (ie: not a paid performance) I will most likely only do one routine. My go-to is handing them an imaginary ball which they can feel and making it so heavy it pins their hand to the table/bar/thigh/whatever. But I have a staple of routines based on suggestion that I can call upon any time I want.
If I'm planning to perform, say a party or whatever, I script it. My script includes the introduction, the performance, and the "exit" as it were. After that, I don't do anything else.
Learning when NOT to perform is just as important as learning when to perform. The power of "No" can be used to create mystique and prestige to your performances. A wind-up monkey performs any time someone twists the key - you're a Magician, not a monkey.
These are great points. Thanks! I think part of my problem is that I’ve performed a kids magic show once, I love close-up card magic, and I love mentalism. So when someone asks me to perform, my kids magic uses cumbersome props and my mentalism is more suited for stage, so I do card magic. Since I’m not prepared to book a show for anything but children’s magic, I don’t feel as if I’m performing for a gig, and end up just doing a few tricks to entertain, and that’s it. I think my true passion is mentalism, but I’m not sure what to do about that. Anyways this went a little off topic, but i figured I’d reply. Thanks for your help!
How much of your card magic is pre-routined?
As in, do you have a written set of routines that one trick flows into the next trick and the next and then it's done?
For example, if I happen to want to do card magic, I will probably do Pre-Cannibal Cards, followed by Poker Player's Picnic, followed by ACR which ends the set because the deck vanishes at the end.
As in, do you have a written set of routines that one trick flows into the next trick and the next and then it's done?
For example, if I happen to want to do card magic, I will probably do Pre-Cannibal Cards, followed by Poker Player's Picnic, followed by ACR which ends the set because the deck vanishes at the end.
I usually will open up with “Be honest what is it?!”, and then flow into another Monte-style effect I made up. I introduce a wager and tell them if they can figure out what’s happening, they’ll get the money. I show them two cards, and leave two cards face down. I put the two cards they know down, one on the left and one on the right, and then put the two unknown cards on top of either card. The two known cards, usually red aces, jump to the top. I do it again, leading them to the idea that I have four red aces. Once they guess that I have four red aces, I show them that I do, but explain that it’s important to have a way out whenever someone catches you, and two of the cards change to the black queens. It ties into the idea that the black queens are still connected to the red aces from the first effect. I then transition into Larry Jenning’s The Visitor, which allows me to touch into some deeper subjects that are still along the same lines as the other two tricks, and that may offer a “magical” explanation for what happened before. I talk about the power of the imagination, and what happens when reality and imagination come together. That ones usually my closer, but if the setting is right and they want another, I like to do Larry Jenning’s Impossible, as a kicker ending, different from the rest of what they’ve already seen.
When performing casually for strangers I will only show them 2-3 effects and then hand them two business cards - one for them and one for a friend who may have a need for entertainment. Sure you may only land one gig out of handing out 20 business cards; however that one gig could lead to others and you never know who has connections with other clients. Sometimes things fall right into your lap after connecting with the right people at the right time. So to get back to the point...no. Do not show all of your material. It's enticing I know because you want to keep the laughter and smiles and gasps going, but don't. If they enjoyed a few effects they will call you. I promise.
I don't perform for money and doubt I ever will, I mostly do casual stuff for friends when they are over or maybe at a party. When friends are at my house and someone asks to see something I rarely do more than 2 tricks. I realize that at some point they will see everything I know and then I have no one else to perform for because at the moment going out to perform for strangers or even try to make money off this isn't the goal.
A hobbiest performs a lot of tricks for the same people, a professional performs the same tricks to a lot of people.
I love that quote. Here's another great quote I like:
"Instead of attempting to learn a great number of tricks, concentrate upon a few good tricks and master them so that their technique and their presentation is so excellent that those who see them will want to see them again." - Expert Card Technique by Hugard and Braue
The difficulty is if you're an amateur, you'll soon run out of people to perform to, so you'll inevitably have to learn new tricks. In contrast, a professional can fine-tune a single trick, and perform it hundreds of times. It's just a fact of life, and unavoidable to some extent.