Hey all... I just thought I'd share this with you guys because there are some important lessons that I've learned from this experience. This is a performance account - not entirely accurate in terms of the tricks we did, I don't remember them all, but interesting nonetheless. Many of these lessons are suited to a - mostly - sympathetic audience. But they can be applied in many places.
This afternoon, Sleight_of_hand and I got together to jam at Central, the main train station in Sydney. An hour and half later, we left the station having performed for about 25 screaming girls.
Nice, you say, nice.
We were sitting at a table, I had my cards, he had sponge balls. I was flourishing. PLONK! A girl sits next to us. "I've been watching you guys! Can you show me something?"
Things to note: From the beginning you can tell what sort of audience she and her friends who were to come later were gonna be. Excitable, outgoing - probably fairly easy to please, forgiving if necessary, very nice, fairly easily amazed. Easy to distract, compliant, easy to talk to.
Through the course of the magic we had conversations, where I found out more about them as my aim, about things apart from magic too.
I asked later where they were from - Lithgow, which is more or less a small town - i.e. confirms the above impression, and suggests there probably aren't many magicians around where they were - turns out, they weren't any at all.
I start performing Harry Lorayne's Fan Prediction #1. The gasps and screams begin. About 3 spectators at that point. SoH performs sponge balls, a simple retention and then a multiplying balls. More gasps, a crowd develops. Also, one guy, a spectator, Justin: I saw that, I Know how he does it, I know how he does it!
It was interesting to see the reactions of the other girls. They were excited by the magic, and I thought they were the type to be vocal towards the heckler. And they were - immediately. Don't tell us, who cares, don't spoil the trick! etc.
I asked the girls what their names were, everyone who participated, and I remembered them, and talked to them. Befriended them.
Of course, he kept going, during my A Simple Sandwich trick from Aaron Fisher. About 10 spectators at that point. More screams and gasps from the girls. I pretty much ignored the heckler. I knew he didn't actually know how it worked. I could've challenge him on that one, and he would've failed. But at that point, early in, he was active, so I left it. More calls to tell him to shut up.
SoH performs, I forget what. Heckler continues. I decided to comment - "Even if you know it man, just let everyone enjoy it - magic's no fun to watch if you know the secret." This is where befriending comes in. They agreed with me, said the same. After that, he basically stopped heckling for the rest of the performance.
"Can you do the trick where..."
"Haha technically yeah, but I'm not much good so it wouldn't be fun. You know what, let's try this..."
That happened a few times. Again, I knew it was a good audience, so I did something different, without much dwelling on the matter, and they thought nothing of it.
"How did that work?"
"I really can't say, it'd spoil the magic anyway."
Spectator chips in again. "Magicians can't reveal secrets."
It happened a few times, but only in amazement - those times we felt it was safe to just leave their comment unanswered. Another time it happened, they asked about a trick no-one had done, a card through window. I proceeded to give an "explanation" that really said nothing at all.
"There are lots of ways of doing things. Cameras are wonderful things. Sometimes you can have certain cards where you want them, stuff like that." What did I actually tell them? I hinted subtly at camera tricks, and I gave a VERY non-descript definition of a stack. The former heckler nodded, but I knew I gave them nothing.
I was more or less surrounded 180 degrees, everyone was watching now, but I decided to perform Bad Influence anyway. Brilliant reactions. Screams. Oh my God's. Turns out, I flashed the first move. But the two girls that saw it, didn't mention anything until after the trick, they mentioned it quietly to me. They didn't want to spoil the trick, they said. These were two of the first two girls I performed for and befriended. And that pays off again.
No heckler movement.
"Is those trick cards?" At my mirrors.
"No of course they're not!" - some spectators. Again, the ones I had befriended. But they said so because there had been enough tricks where they could handle the cards and see for themselves. They never asked me or SoH that again.
"Nah, they're not. They're made for magicians but they're not rigged. Look here, have a look at this card. If you hold it underneath the light, you can see the dimples."
Proceed to explain card finishes and stock briefly.
SoH performed Triumph, and then an Ace Cut. He thought he screwed it up, but let it continue. Good choice, he hadn't screwed it up. Then he repeated sponge balls. Not sure about the repeat, but it was a very good reaction effect, and it was very solid. Heckler came alive again, he was challenged, and had to admit he couldn't do it. More calls to shutup.
Normally, it's dangerous to challenge spectators. In this case I don't think it was a bad choice. He had been pacified about half an hour ago. The entire audience was against him, all girls. We knew he couldn't perform it. Another girl even challenged him to do it, he couldn't and was laughed at. End of heckling. On that rare occasion, especially with such a sympathetic crowd, that worked very well.
Our decisions are here, up for scrutiny. I think more importantly to note however, is the conditions and the reasoning which backed up our choices. They were from an evaluation of the audience, a judgement call and many observations during the performance, watching each other and their reactions. Backing each other up, making the call to speak out, or let things happen. We did make different choices at times.
Either way, the audience was most important. They were the basis of our judgements. I say this and tell this story because the audience should always be the centre of our attention. While we perform, we should observe. We should know the audience, be able to predict to some extent their actions, not through magic or mentalism but simple observation. We perform for others, always. Magic developed from the theatre, and from this comes the standard wherein we must always place their needs and their experience above ours as magicians. Always base your choices and change your performances to suit the audience.
That is how to achieve the highs of performance, the thrills of performing magic - actually performing, but performing for people.
At the end of our performance, several girls wanted to take photos with us. We even got one or two hugs (I win, Sleight_of_Hand only got one, I got two
). Everyone enjoyed themselves, and everyone left happy - even the heckler, who did not seem to feel too shut down - merely respectful and even a little appreciative.
I feel the need to emphasise, just one more time. The audience is most important. The magic cause amazement. The friendship cause the appreciation, and that love, and coming from the performing arts, I do believe that that is a kind of love, and very rewarding.
The gasps, the reactions, the love. The screaming girls.
Nice, you say, nice...
This afternoon, Sleight_of_hand and I got together to jam at Central, the main train station in Sydney. An hour and half later, we left the station having performed for about 25 screaming girls.
Nice, you say, nice.
We were sitting at a table, I had my cards, he had sponge balls. I was flourishing. PLONK! A girl sits next to us. "I've been watching you guys! Can you show me something?"
Things to note: From the beginning you can tell what sort of audience she and her friends who were to come later were gonna be. Excitable, outgoing - probably fairly easy to please, forgiving if necessary, very nice, fairly easily amazed. Easy to distract, compliant, easy to talk to.
Through the course of the magic we had conversations, where I found out more about them as my aim, about things apart from magic too.
I asked later where they were from - Lithgow, which is more or less a small town - i.e. confirms the above impression, and suggests there probably aren't many magicians around where they were - turns out, they weren't any at all.
I start performing Harry Lorayne's Fan Prediction #1. The gasps and screams begin. About 3 spectators at that point. SoH performs sponge balls, a simple retention and then a multiplying balls. More gasps, a crowd develops. Also, one guy, a spectator, Justin: I saw that, I Know how he does it, I know how he does it!
It was interesting to see the reactions of the other girls. They were excited by the magic, and I thought they were the type to be vocal towards the heckler. And they were - immediately. Don't tell us, who cares, don't spoil the trick! etc.
I asked the girls what their names were, everyone who participated, and I remembered them, and talked to them. Befriended them.
Of course, he kept going, during my A Simple Sandwich trick from Aaron Fisher. About 10 spectators at that point. More screams and gasps from the girls. I pretty much ignored the heckler. I knew he didn't actually know how it worked. I could've challenge him on that one, and he would've failed. But at that point, early in, he was active, so I left it. More calls to tell him to shut up.
SoH performs, I forget what. Heckler continues. I decided to comment - "Even if you know it man, just let everyone enjoy it - magic's no fun to watch if you know the secret." This is where befriending comes in. They agreed with me, said the same. After that, he basically stopped heckling for the rest of the performance.
"Can you do the trick where..."
"Haha technically yeah, but I'm not much good so it wouldn't be fun. You know what, let's try this..."
That happened a few times. Again, I knew it was a good audience, so I did something different, without much dwelling on the matter, and they thought nothing of it.
"How did that work?"
"I really can't say, it'd spoil the magic anyway."
Spectator chips in again. "Magicians can't reveal secrets."
It happened a few times, but only in amazement - those times we felt it was safe to just leave their comment unanswered. Another time it happened, they asked about a trick no-one had done, a card through window. I proceeded to give an "explanation" that really said nothing at all.
"There are lots of ways of doing things. Cameras are wonderful things. Sometimes you can have certain cards where you want them, stuff like that." What did I actually tell them? I hinted subtly at camera tricks, and I gave a VERY non-descript definition of a stack. The former heckler nodded, but I knew I gave them nothing.
I was more or less surrounded 180 degrees, everyone was watching now, but I decided to perform Bad Influence anyway. Brilliant reactions. Screams. Oh my God's. Turns out, I flashed the first move. But the two girls that saw it, didn't mention anything until after the trick, they mentioned it quietly to me. They didn't want to spoil the trick, they said. These were two of the first two girls I performed for and befriended. And that pays off again.
No heckler movement.
"Is those trick cards?" At my mirrors.
"No of course they're not!" - some spectators. Again, the ones I had befriended. But they said so because there had been enough tricks where they could handle the cards and see for themselves. They never asked me or SoH that again.
"Nah, they're not. They're made for magicians but they're not rigged. Look here, have a look at this card. If you hold it underneath the light, you can see the dimples."
Proceed to explain card finishes and stock briefly.
SoH performed Triumph, and then an Ace Cut. He thought he screwed it up, but let it continue. Good choice, he hadn't screwed it up. Then he repeated sponge balls. Not sure about the repeat, but it was a very good reaction effect, and it was very solid. Heckler came alive again, he was challenged, and had to admit he couldn't do it. More calls to shutup.
Normally, it's dangerous to challenge spectators. In this case I don't think it was a bad choice. He had been pacified about half an hour ago. The entire audience was against him, all girls. We knew he couldn't perform it. Another girl even challenged him to do it, he couldn't and was laughed at. End of heckling. On that rare occasion, especially with such a sympathetic crowd, that worked very well.
Our decisions are here, up for scrutiny. I think more importantly to note however, is the conditions and the reasoning which backed up our choices. They were from an evaluation of the audience, a judgement call and many observations during the performance, watching each other and their reactions. Backing each other up, making the call to speak out, or let things happen. We did make different choices at times.
Either way, the audience was most important. They were the basis of our judgements. I say this and tell this story because the audience should always be the centre of our attention. While we perform, we should observe. We should know the audience, be able to predict to some extent their actions, not through magic or mentalism but simple observation. We perform for others, always. Magic developed from the theatre, and from this comes the standard wherein we must always place their needs and their experience above ours as magicians. Always base your choices and change your performances to suit the audience.
That is how to achieve the highs of performance, the thrills of performing magic - actually performing, but performing for people.
At the end of our performance, several girls wanted to take photos with us. We even got one or two hugs (I win, Sleight_of_Hand only got one, I got two
). Everyone enjoyed themselves, and everyone left happy - even the heckler, who did not seem to feel too shut down - merely respectful and even a little appreciative.I feel the need to emphasise, just one more time. The audience is most important. The magic cause amazement. The friendship cause the appreciation, and that love, and coming from the performing arts, I do believe that that is a kind of love, and very rewarding.
The gasps, the reactions, the love. The screaming girls.
Nice, you say, nice...
