Card College Sleights

F

fmos2

Guest
Hi guys,

I bought the first two volumes of Card College last year because I was interesting in learning the fundamentals of card magic. And I must say the book has not disappointed in that regard, particularly with authors detailed but clear breakdown of each sleight that makes learning much easier.

My issue is that encyclopaedic nature of the book causes me to become overwhelmed and go through periods where I lose interest, and my practice becomes inconsistent as a result. The book outlines a multitude of ways to cut, control and force cards, which may be of interest to those that like to have a wide repertoire of sleights, but frankly, I don't have the time or inclination to learn all these various methods of achieving the same result.

I was wondering if people have had a similiar experience to mine and if so, has your focus been to learn only sleights that you will use in your own magic, not just for the sake of learning?
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
In the beginning, it is good to learn a variety of methods to force or control a card. You will find that you like some methods better than others. As you progress through Card College, there will effects that require you to force a card or control the card to the top. If you don't like the suggested method, you will have alternatives. If other books, they may just say force a card or control a card and not give methods. In that case you have a lot of methods at your disposal.

My recommendation is to learn (understand how and why they work) all the methods and perfect a couple. That way, you have some fundamental skills (the ones you perfected) and knowledge you can use later (the ones you learned but didn't perfect). For the ones you use later, you can go back perfect them then.

Work through the early material and look forward to the effects that are taught as you progress.
 

ID4

Aug 20, 2010
482
228
To put it simply, Practice what you will use. Try to find the "best" tool for the job.

Mitchell Leary said:
You really only need to learn 3 things in order to perform 90% of the
card magic in magic literature: a pass, a force, and a double lift.

A FORCE: The forcing of a playing card on a spectator. Learn as many
of these as you can. There are plenty of little booklets out there
that teach basic methods of forcing a card.

THE PASS: Learning to perform the Pass opens up many doors of
opportunity in card magic. If you ever run across someone who says "I
don't do the Pass, I don't need to." you're talking to somebody who's
stupid, lazy, and inept. It's like the man who can't dance saying "The
band is no good."

A DOUBLE LIFT: This should be the first card move you master. Don't
make it any harder on yourself than it has to be. There are plenty of
books out there which over-complicate learning the Double Lift
 
F

fmos2

Guest
In the beginning, it is good to learn a variety of methods to force or control a card. You will find that you like some methods better than others. As you progress through Card College, there will effects that require you to force a card or control the card to the top. If you don't like the suggested method, you will have alternatives. If other books, they may just say force a card or control a card and not give methods. In that case you have a lot of methods at your disposal.

My recommendation is to learn (understand how and why they work) all the methods and perfect a couple. That way, you have some fundamental skills (the ones you perfected) and knowledge you can use later (the ones you learned but didn't perfect). For the ones you use later, you can go back perfect them then.

Work through the early material and look forward to the effects that are taught as you progress.

Thanks for your advice.

Your distinction between perfecting a sleight and learning one is interesting. With learning a sleight, would you still practice it to a point where you could use it in an effect? Or is that where the perfecting stage fits in? My concern is that there are some difficult sleights such as the pass which may take months, even years just to learn, but which you may find afterwards that you either don't end up using it much or that there are much simpler sleights which achieve the same result but can be perfected in the same amount of time.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
When I talk about learning, I mean to that you should understand the mechanics and uses of the sleight. That way, if a situation comes up where you need to do something specific that only that sleight will accomplish, you can go back and master it for use in your performance.

When I say perfecting the sleight I mean mastering the performance of the sleight.

If you do this, you end up mastering sleights you will use in effects - which is the greatest incentive for learning something.

I’m all for using simpler sleights when the context is right. Why use a sledgehammer to kill a fly when you can use a flyswatter.
 
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