Secret Magician

I've been studying magic fairly seriously for 15 years. I've built a respectable book collection and study them assiduously and get a lot of joy and relaxation from practicing daily (mostly card magic).

Now, here's what may may seem like an odd admission: I've never performed a magic trick for another person.

Anyone else similarly inclined, who gets a great deal out of the study without any real desire to perform? Is magic without an audience a 'tree falls in the woods' situation?

As a professional musician, I know that taking it from the practice studio to the stage is a needed step to go from good to great, but I’ve been fine with magic just being a personal pursuit.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
There are many rooms in the house of magic. Some are performers, some just like practice, some like developed presentation pieces, some just like the moves, some collect secrets, others collect books, some collect gimmicks and others collect cards. If you are finding joy, then good for you.

However, if you do want take the next step and start performing for people, let us know. Start by filming your performance. You can post it in the forums or just send it to me (or others on the forum). We will give you constructive feedback and encouragement.

My sense is that magic should be shared. If you want to go there, we're here to help.
 
Mar 14, 2019
37
17
I feel like it's almost a duty to perform for people. Then again I've only been doing magic seriously for a couple of years now. It's kind of ironic because I used to be serious musician for a lot of the earlier years of my life and now I hesitate performing music for people. Just got burnt out I guess. In that respect magic has kind of become an epiphany for me as to why I don't play music anymore. But I sometimes still play for my own ears or a small group of people here and there. So yeah man...performing magic exclusively for yourself seems totally logical to me. I'm just still newer to magic so I feel that forcing myself to perform for people will make me a better magician.Which it should. The funny thing about it is that I used to feel the same way about music years ago. Wow... maybe I'm getting nowhere now that I think about it. But on a second thought I have so much more of a good time doing magic that it totally makes sense to me. Whatever makes you happy is what counts.
 
Apr 1, 2020
42
31
I guess you could say I'm a secret magician. I rarely perform for people.

But I love practicing moves. A lot of it so complicated, I'll never feel confident performing. I guess you could say I'm a move junkie.

When I do perform (maybe 1 or 2 times a year for friends or family, when they ask), it's usually stuff from the Card College series, or stuff Sankey has taught. Super commercial, fun stuff. Specs don't want to see that overly complicated stuff I love practicing. haha
 
Mar 15, 2018
247
97
boardgamegeek.com
Out of curiosity, are you able to share with us the kinds of sleights and techniques you have mastered, and the kinds of material you are able to perform - even if it is just 'secretly' when you're on your own?
 
Jun 18, 2019
540
293
20
West Bengal, India
Now, here's what may may seem like an odd admission: I've never performed a magic trick for another person.
This is absolutely fine!

Of course, if somebody says (as far as I remember, it was @WitchDocIsIn ) that you're not really a ''magician'' if you don't perform for people, that totally makes sense. I've pondered about it and well, a magician is somebody who does magic. Since you don't REALLY do magic (do you?) but you create the illusion of magic in the minds of a spectator, it makes sense that a spectator HAS to be present in order for you to be a magician.

But hey, that depends on how you define 'magic' then. If the joy you're feeling when you practice magic daily is amazing and magical, you are a magician. Your stage is life. And you're playing the part of a magician. Or whatever Shakespeare and Houdin say...

:D
 
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WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
While I do think magic only exists in the performance of the skill, let me clarify a bit.

There's a lot of rooms in the house of magic. You can be a lot of things - magic fan, magician, magic historian, sleight of hand expert, gambling expert, geek magician, mental magician, and so on and so forth. All of those paths are equally valid, and really the labels are more for purposes internal to the magic world than anything. Laymen don't care what we call ourselves, they'll apply whatever label they feel best describes what they see.

So while I believe that one is only a magician if they perform magic - that's just one path.

Do what brings you joy. Don't worry about the label unless you want to. To this day I still practice sleight of hand with cards even though I never perform with cards in my professional work, because I just enjoy doing it.
 

DavidL11229

Elite Member
Jul 25, 2015
589
314
Seattle
I also spend much time reading an practicing but I very infrequently perform a trick. I spent several years working in a magic shop and performed thousands of tricks for people. I have got that part out of my system. I enjoy seeing what I can get a deck of cards to do and view it in similar way as I do juggling. I'll spend hundreds of hours practicing things that I may (or may not) only show once to a couple of my friends who kinda like magic. I'm okay with that. Though the thought of performing more when ready is always part of the plan, I do not find it strictly necessary. I enjoy the challenge and process of learning what I find to be difficult sleights, but then turning it into an actual trick may not interest me.

Card magic is a strange discipline. To me the accomplishment is that I learned the sleight. Now having mastered it, I'm not supposed to let anyone actually see it! I work in the evenings, but this is what attracts me the most to freeing up one Thursday a month to go to my local Ring. I can actually show someone what I learned to do! This is pretty much missing the point of card magic which is the effect itself, but if I'm okay with that then it's all good. And if you don't actually perform it you get to skip one of the more obnoxious steps- figuring out angles. I like the suggestion to record and post here, but I live in Seattle and there's just not much light. I have close up pads, a camera and LED lighting on small tripods, but I haven't figured out how to get it to look good. Anyone have suggestions on how to learn to light card magic on a close up pad for recording? I've been meaning to get around to testing a wider variety of different colored backgrounds, maybe I'll do that this week and start a new thread.

Yes, I see your perspective. I very much enjoy study and practice for it's own sake. But still, I do think performance should be at least part of the vision. But if for you it's just not, that's okay too.
 
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