A rant.

Sep 1, 2007
662
2
Yes, I'm ranting. The subject? Two words:

The Pass

I am ranting about the pass. I'd like to know when the whole obsession got started with this little move. Seriously, what's the big deal here? We all know what it does, and that aint too much!

It seems like the pass is the solution to everything. Want to control a card? Do a pass! Ambitious card? Do a pass! Need the bathroom? Do a pass!

I recently posted on another forum; someone was concerned about spectator's asking to "check if that's still my card". Aside from the obvious advice that your presentational skills should stop that kind of situation before it starts, someone actually advocated using a pass to switch the cards, show their card really in the middle, then just pass it right back again! If you can't see what's wrong with that approach, then get out of my rant, that's all I have to say. Two passes, under fire, when a simple double lift will accomplish the same thing. Someone is locked into a certain way of thinking methinks.

I hear the phrase "just put the card back in the middle and BAM! It's done" an awful lot when people talk about the pass. How about a side steal? How about a spread cull? How about Marlo's Moveable Card Pass (note: not a "pass")? How about any number of controls with no movement of the deck at all? Heck, why not shuffle the deck and be done with it? After all, what is the virtue of not mixing the cards? Yes there are tricks where the spectator needs to believe their card is in the centre and that you haven't re-arranged matters. But are all your tricks like that? I use shuffles in my tricks more often than not because I have to create a certain arrangement of the cards once the selection(s) have been returned. No one has ever stopped me (at least since I got good) and said "hey, you're controlling my card! And the aces! Stop it, you bad magician man you!"

How did the "cult of pass" get started? I have a theory, but I feel that it is a tad obvious.

All artists, all craftsmen, use tools appropriate to the job. You don't bang a nail into a plank of wood using the end of a screwdriver and you don't try and create an oil painting using watercolours. You may be very good with a screwdriver; you may recognise what a wonderfully clever tool it is and spent years mastering it's use. That doesn't mean you have to use it for everything!

A screwdriver has it's uses, and so does the pass. Unless it is absolutely necessary though, why bother? If the reply to this is "because I can" followed by something along the lines of "and BAM! It's done", then congratulations on mastering a tough technique...and now why don't you try mastering something else? A little variety perhaps? What is it that made you think the pass was such a great "go to" move in the first place? Is that really such a great reason?

As well as being a professional magician, I am also a choreographer and founder of a dance company. As a choreographer, it is my job to put together basic movements into a sequence that matches several criteria: One, that it is visually appealing; two, that it works with the music to form a cohesive whole; three, that the dance is within the range of my dancers. Simplicity and efficiency are key factors in successful choreography. When creating or re-modelling a trick, I think like a choreographer.

Is the trick worth doing?
How do the sleights fit with the patter/presentation (and vice-versa)?
Is it performable - by me - under fire?
Is the method efficient/elegant - am I using the right tools for the job?

Going through a very careful process of modifying presentation and method when creating my own tricks or tailoring the handling of someone else's to my own style has taken me away from using the pass unnecessarily time after time. And of course, towards it in situations where it is absolutely necessary.

Rant over.
 
Sep 1, 2007
312
0
Well, if most of your spectators know what a double lift is, then I think a pass is in order. I'm sorry, but the pass is actually quite a useful utility. I could go on a rant about how the double lift is actually un-needed if you know palming, but I wouldn't achieve anything. People would still use the double lift.
 

Ray

Sep 1, 2007
64
0
42
Germany
Yes, I'm ranting. The subject? Two words:

The Pass

[...] yadda yadda [...]

I got an awesome idea! You stick to what you like and... people who like to use the pass a lot (like me) will stick to the stuff they do.
Sounds fair to me.
 
Sep 1, 2007
662
2
That's ok. I was perfectly prepared to be on my own in this pass-crazed world we live in.
 

Zac

Oct 21, 2007
17
0
Appalachia
www.myspace.com
I understand why some people think the pass is overrated. It's incredibly difficult and it doesn't make any sense. Why would you move 51 cards to control one? Because as you said it "BAM, it's done." You can't use the pass over and over and over again, just like you can't do 20 double undercuts in a row.

I've heard from lots of magicians in my area, in fact most magicians in my area that the pass is unnecessary. But these are magicians that don't deal primarily in cards. For the few cards tricks that they have in their working routines, double undercuts and turnover passes work just fine. But when card tricks are your bread and butter, the pass is an incredibly useful tool.

Like I said the pass is difficult, but it's worth the time to learn.
 
I understand your points, but the pass is such a useful tool for different magicians. I personally prefer the pass over any other move because I am more comfortable using a pass. I believe that is what it comes down to, what YOU are more comfortable with. If you aren't comfortable using a side steal, then don't. An ambitious card routine is so much more than just a pass, it is a plethora of moves to have the selected card rise to the top. If you simply use a pass in an ACR, it becomes redundant.

I understand ranting about using the pass on it's own, but ranting about people's use of the move doesn't really make sense to me. If the magician is more comfortable using a pass, then they should use it.

Mitchell
 
Sep 1, 2007
479
0
Philadelphia, PA
There are tons of ways to control a card, the pass is just another way to control that card. I am not crazy about it and really have very little interest in that control with so many other controls available. Some people have a knack for performing it well, others 'think' they perform it well, and others just skip it all together. I guess the people who are purists or flat out masochistic feel the pass is the only way to go but there are plenty of easier ways to control a card. If you like doing it great and if you don't like doing it then you have more than enough options to get the job done the same way the pass does.

--Jim
 
Sep 1, 2007
662
2
I feel just a little bit less alone now :)

The pass as a card control I don't like. There are times when a secret *** of the cards is flat out necessary, and so I use the pass in those situations. However, they don't crop up very often.

Card tricks are my bread and butter, and I have encountered very few circumstances where a pass is the best tool for the job.
 

The Dark Angel

forum moderator / t11
Sep 1, 2007
2,003
18
32
Denver, Colorado
I think I'm the only one that agrees with Shodan, I feel the Pass is overrated, and unnecessary.
There are much better ways, in my opinion, to control a card.
 
Sep 1, 2007
662
2
Looks like we're coming out of the woodwork now...

Perhaps we can organise some kind of resistance!
 
Sep 1, 2007
662
2
Clearly, some people don't get what a "rant" is...

Reason and logic are not my friends on this one boys; in fact, reason and logic have been sadly missing from most discussions I've had regarding this little sleight. We are all entitled to get on the soapbox every now and then. Here's a weird thought: Perhaps I actually have a point!
 
I agree with SHodan also

Hello everyone. I agree with Shodan in principle. The pass is a great move in itself, but I don't ever plan to use it as a control. I would only use it if it makes a routine better or more magical. I know of two great uses of the pass. One is found in Paul Wilson's Royal Road to Card Magic DVD set in a trick called 'pass at red" originated by Roy Walton. Another is in Oz Pearlman's Blindsided. In neither case was it used to control a card.
 
Sep 1, 2007
662
2
"I would only use it if it makes a routine better or more magical."

Wesley got it in a nutshell right there. Every sleight that you use should be selected using this criteria. Better means more streamlined, more magical, more practical.
 

Ray

Sep 1, 2007
64
0
42
Germany
still sounds like a pointless witchhunt to me.
I feel comfy with my pass. So I use it when I feel its right to do so.
Basicly its my first slight in an ACR. And I got my reason for that.

If feel more secure and natural with doing my pass, then doing a double undercut. Which simply looks terrible when I do it.

I give you right though. People who building a cult around the pass are terrible. But so are the people who build a cult around the "none use of the pass".
 
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