10 Things to Say to Improve Your Performance

[RealityOne]

10. See, all of the cards are different.
9. The deck is completely shuffled.
8. That was a completely free selection.
7. Do you want to change your mind?
6. That is fair, isn't it?
5. This card represents you.
4. Let's recap what happened....
3. It is a completely ordinary [insert name of prop].
2. Wouldn't it be amazing if....
1. Watch.

Did I miss any?

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

10 things NOT to say?

 

[Bliff]

you remind me of when I was new and saying these things.what about telling them everything you are doing and bore them to death and my favourite are 'pick a card' and 'for my next trick'.

 

[Lord Magic]

10. See, all of the cards are different.
9. The deck is completely shuffled.
8. That was a completely free selection.
7. Do you want to change your mind?
6. That is fair, isn't it?
5. This card represents you.
4. Let's recap what happened....
3. It is a completely ordinary [insert name of prop].
2. Wouldn't it be amazing if....
1. Watch.

Did I miss any?

Isn't it more of a shuffled list of 'Things that are okay to say' and 'Things that you should not say'?

I don't think saying the stuff at numbers 1,2,4 or 7 cause any harm...

 

[RealityOne]

@ChristopherT, @Bliff and @Lord Magic - I was being sarcastic. I don't think you should actually say any of those things in a performance. Some of these are cliche but most of them are crutches that magicians rely upon without thinking that really don't work.

Isn't it more of a shuffled list of 'Things that are okay to say' and 'Things that you should not say'?

I don't think saying the stuff at numbers 1,2,4 or 7 cause any harm...

Let's take them one at a time...

#7. "Do you want to change your mind?" Every time I have seen a magician use this is causes confusion among the spectator who is assisting them. They either think they picked the wrong card (or whatever) or that the magician is trying to trick them. I think the idea is that this makes the selection seem more fair but it fails. Think of it this way, if you asked someone what movie they wanted to go see (or any other question) and then asked them "do you want to change your mind?" wouldn't that seem odd? As a kicker, I can't stand the hackneyed joke that follows -- "so you will keep the mind you have." Better to set up the fairness of the selection before the selection. The best way is what I learned from Dani DaOrtiz - to give the impression that it doesn't matter what they choose.

#4. "Let's Recap What Happened." If you have to recap what happened your effect lacks clarity and is too complicated. Additionally, most magicians try to use this to create a false sense of what happened - like saying they thought of a card when it was selected from a deck. This also breaks the flow of the effect. If your audience is paying attention (because your performance is engaging) they will know what is happening. If your effect is structured clearly, the audience should realize the what what is supposed to happen a moment before your reveal.

#2. "Wouldn't it be amazing if.." This is a lot like number 4. It is a crutch for structuring and presenting an effect. I think the idea is to ask that question and then do what ever follows it. Your presentation of an effect up to that point should guide the spectators to ON THEIR OWN think of what they would want to happen and to realize the impossibility of that outcome... the moment before you do what they have concluded is impossible.

#1. "Watch." This is useful when you have nothing else to say. But, you shouldn't get in the position of having nothing else to say. If you have to tell the audience to "watch" at the height of your effect, you haven't engaged them enough.

One more for the list - "For the first time out loud, name the card you are thinking of." I actually was watching a magic show last week where the magician said that. I responded, "George." I thought that would be a good name for the card. This is even worse when the card is selected rather than actually thought of.

 

[Bliff]

RealityOne_of course you were being sarcastic and I was being sarcastic too.When I see someone saying this things, I cringe because they remind me of myself saying this things.

 

[Lord Magic]

@ChristopherT, @Bliff and @Lord Magic - I was being sarcastic. I don't think you should actually say any of those things in a performance. Some of these are cliche but most of them are crutches that magicians rely upon without thinking that really don't work.



Let's take them one at a time...

#7. "Do you want to change your mind?" Every time I have seen a magician use this is causes confusion among the spectator who is assisting them. They either think they picked the wrong card (or whatever) or that the magician is trying to trick them. I think the idea is that this makes the selection seem more fair but it fails. Think of it this way, if you asked someone what movie they wanted to go see (or any other question) and then asked them "do you want to change your mind?" wouldn't that seem odd? As a kicker, I can't stand the hackneyed joke that follows -- "so you will keep the mind you have." Better to set up the fairness of the selection before the selection. The best way is what I learned from Dani DaOrtiz - to give the impression that it doesn't matter what they choose.

#4. "Let's Recap What Happened." If you have to recap what happened your effect lacks clarity and is too complicated. Additionally, most magicians try to use this to create a false sense of what happened - like saying they thought of a card when it was selected from a deck. This also breaks the flow of the effect. If your audience is paying attention (because your performance is engaging) they will know what is happening. If your effect is structured clearly, the audience should realize the what what is supposed to happen a moment before your reveal.

#2. "Wouldn't it be amazing if.." This is a lot like number 4. It is a crutch for structuring and presenting an effect. I think the idea is to ask that question and then do what ever follows it. Your presentation of an effect up to that point should guide the spectators to ON THEIR OWN think of what they would want to happen and to realize the impossibility of that outcome... the moment before you do what they have concluded is impossible.

#1. "Watch." This is useful when you have nothing else to say. But, you shouldn't get in the position of having nothing else to say. If you have to tell the audience to "watch" at the height of your effect, you haven't engaged them enough.

One more for the list - "For the first time out loud, name the card you are thinking of." I actually was watching a magic show last week where the magician said that. I responded, "George." I thought that would be a good name for the card. This is even worse when the card is selected rather than actually thought of.

Maybe...but then, we should have an open mind and not regard anything as SET and UNCHANGEABLE ground rules, right?

 

[RealityOne]

Maybe...but then, we should have an open mind and not regard anything as SET and UNCHANGEABLE ground rules, right?

Not necessarily. If you don't understand the "why" behind the rule, you shouldn't change it. If you do understand the "why", you most likely wouldn't want to change it.

What of those "rules" would you change and why?

BTW - Is your rule about not having set and unchangeable rules able to be changed?

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

#7. "Do you want to change your mind?" Every time I have seen a magician use this is causes confusion among the spectator who is assisting them. They either think they picked the wrong card (or whatever) or that the magician is trying to trick them. I think the idea is that this makes the selection seem more fair but it fails. Think of it this way, if you asked someone what movie they wanted to go see (or any other question) and then asked them "do you want to change your mind?" wouldn't that seem odd? As a kicker, I can't stand the hackneyed joke that follows -- "so you will keep the mind you have." Better to set up the fairness of the selection before the selection. The best way is what I learned from Dani DaOrtiz - to give the impression that it doesn't matter what they choose.

What about "are you happy with that one?" because I use this all the time without thinking about it.

 

[Lord Magic]

Not necessarily. If you don't understand the "why" behind the rule, you shouldn't change it. If you do understand the "why", you most likely wouldn't want to change it.

What of those "rules" would you change and why?

BTW - Is your rule about not having set and unchangeable rules able to be changed?

If it were up to me, I'd change the whole concept of ''rules''. But you know how it is...
Anyways...I might change some rules simply because they may suit my style, right?
Like, one shouldn't make fun of their audience, but many super-charming magicians are able to get away with it.

I would change rules because when you choose to believe rules, you choose to percieve stuff in a fixed way. Like, if the Wright Brothers chose to believe, say, that flying on a super-heavy wooden plane is IMPOSSIBLE, and that's a rule because planes are heavier than air and also made of denser stuff and all those facts...then we wouldn't have the aeroplanes today, would we?
If we chose to believe it was a rule to perform HUGE shows in theatres as a magician, we wouldn't have today's popular form of street magic, would we?

I wouldn't want to believe in ANY rules because if I do it means I perceive things in a particular way, which supports the rules I believe.
And then, I have heard a certain knowledgeable person (NO SARCASM HERE) say that
"Any perception of reality is a selection of reality which results in a distortion of reality."

PS:- I'd love to change my rule abt not having a rule. But that would lead me to having more rules. So, I am not in the favour of that actually...

 

[RealityOne]

What about "are you happy with that one?" because I use this all the time without thinking about it.

Is anybody ever really happy about having to pick a card?

The real question is why are you asking that? Does it move your performance forward? In one of the pieces that I perform, I ask the person assisting me to "shuffle the deck to your heart's content." When they hand that to me, I ask, "Is your heart content? That gets an initial reaction of confusion followed by a look of understanding and a "yes" from the person. The audience gets a chuckle seeing that reaction. I then say, "Wonderful, I want you to take one card out of the deck that you shuffled to your heart's content." That reinforces that the spectator shuffled the deck without doing a "recap."

 

[RealityOne]

Anyways...I might change some rules simply because they may suit my style, right?

Maybe. But isn't your style a set of rules? What if your style is bad (not saying yours is, but talking hypothetically)? Then you are ignoring a rule that would help you become better.

I would change rules because when you choose to believe rules, you choose to perceive stuff in a fixed way.

***

I wouldn't want to believe in ANY rules because if I do it means I perceive things in a particular way, which supports the rules I believe.

Without getting too esoteric, I think you may be wrapping up rules, opinions, beliefs and world views all into one. Rules are generally simplified versions of reactions to your experiences or someone else's experience. As I said, understand the reason for the rule and then decide.

"Any perception of reality is a selection of reality which results in a distortion of reality."

I didn't come up with that quote. It was either Gregory Bateson or Paul Watzlawick both who have done extensive work in communication theory (it would take me rereading a couple of books to find the quote again). I think that the quote really focuses on the fact that we can't perceive everything, so we must make a selection of what we perceive which always leads to a distortion of reality. So what we think of as reality, isn't. What you are talking about is more like seeking to limit cognitive dissonance (i.e. ignoring facts that contradict beliefs).

My "rule" is to understand the rule and then choose to follow it until I decide that it wouldn't be a good idea to follow the rule based on my experience following the rule or further understanding of the reason for the rule.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

without thinking about it.

That's the problem.

Everything that is said should be thought about before saying it. If it doesn't add to the presentation, it should be removed, in my opinion.

Basically, everything in the script should have a purpose. Nothing should be said without consideration. If the routine is not hurt by removing a sentence/phrase/word, remove it.

Perfection is not achieve when there's nothing else to add, it's achieve when there's nothing else to take away. I can't recall who said that, now, but it's a main aspect of how I work on scripting.

 

[Lord Magic]

I

Without getting too esoteric, I think you may be wrapping up rules, opinions, beliefs and world views all into one. Rules are generally simplified versions of reactions to your experiences or someone else's experience. As I said, understand the reason for the rule and then decide.

I see what you mean...

I think that the quote really focuses on the fact that we can't perceive everything, so we must make a selection of what we perceive which always leads to a distortion of reality.

I thought that the quote meant that we generally perceive reality in a FIXED way, which results in us seeing only a specific version reality, that is, the version of reality we wish to see, and thus, blocks our mind. This then distorts the actual reality and prevents us from seeing the whole picture.

 

[Antonio Diavolo]

That's the problem.

Everything that is said should be thought about before saying it. If it doesn't add to the presentation, it should be removed, in my opinion.

Basically, everything in the script should have a purpose. Nothing should be said without consideration. If the routine is not hurt by removing a sentence/phrase/word, remove it.

Perfection is not achieve when there's nothing else to add, it's achieve when there's nothing else to take away. I can't recall who said that, now, but it's a main aspect of how I work on scripting.

Most of what I say is planned out. Just sometimes I throw in something like that^.