About tricks and routines

Jul 26, 2017
48
49
Hi again.
So as I said in one of my previous threads I've been doing magic (mostly card magic) for about 4 years now, but I'm not professional. I'm not doing gigs or shows for money, would love to in future but I'm not really ready yet. So basically I just do magic for my friends, when we are going out for example. I have a good collection of tricks but the problem is, most of the time one of two things happends:
1. I just end up doing like 5-6 tricks that begin with "pick a card" or "peek at a card" or something like that and it becomes repetitive.
2. I do 1-2 tricks and then I can't remember what tricks I know (something like when someone asks you to tell a joke and you know a whole lot, but you just can't remember)

So my question is: In your situation, when you are just casually with friends or just someone asks you to show a trick, do you have 2-3 routines ready or you just do first trick that comes to your mind? I think (I could be wrong) that people don't usually do routines they use for paid gigs or shows because the environment and situation are different. Any thoughts?

Thank you :)
 
Jan 26, 2017
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The routine should be made to allow you to flow into a few tricks. They aren't made on the spot, so when people go through routines, everything is practiced. Moves, patter, etc.
 
Jul 26, 2016
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Suggestion: Learn some card tricks that have a story, for example Magician versus Gambler, The Story of the Twins, Sam the Bellhop, etc. Generally, people find these more entertaining, and it eliminates the challenge and defensiveness on the part of the spectator, built into pick a card tricks. I find that I get the greatest reactions from Story tricks - they can just kick back and enjoy and forget you are trying to "fool" them.
 
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RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
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New Jersey
So my question is: In your situation, when you are just casually with friends or just someone asks you to show a trick, do you have 2-3 routines ready or you just do first trick that comes to your mind? I think (I could be wrong) that people don't usually do routines they use for paid gigs or shows because the environment and situation are different. Any thoughts?

For friends, I decide what I'm going to perform ahead of time, run through it a couple of times before going out and then perform those effects. They could be old ones I haven't done in a while, something new I'm working on or a standard that I love. My shows are stand-up shows which involve a completely different type of effects.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Personally I have several routines that are fairly simple and fall into the category of suggestion and influence, which need no preparation. On the occasions where someone asks me to do something, and I am in the mood to do so, those are generally what I do. Energetic touches, suggestibility tests, personality readings - this is what people expect from me and I am able to deliver that easily.

I don't have a lot of suggestions regarding how to manage the material you perform, because I don't generally perform regularly for the same audiences. There's an adage - an amateur performs a lot of different tricks for the same audiences, and a professional performs the same tricks for a lot of different audiences. I've geared myself towards the latter.

One thing I can give a suggestion for, though, is the forgetting your tricks thing. The problem here is state based learning in my opinion. Same thing happens with jugglers and poi spinners - get up there and suddenly you can't remember any of those cool tricks you spent hours learning in your room or yard.

So what you do is rehearse more, but more importantly, rehearse doing them one after the other, in varying combinations. That way, the end of one trick triggers the memory of the beginning of another in your mind. You can then choose to perform the next one or wrap up the performance if you want. This is an easy way to create a consistent routine, but if you work on it enough you can kind of create this branching flow chart in your mind that gives you flexible paths to follow in any situation. I may almost always start with the same routine but where it goes from there will change dramatically from one group to the next.
 
Jan 26, 2017
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If it helps, you can also add mnemonics into the mix, to help keep you organized.

Also, go ahead and find a general name for a trick you came up with by yourself. That way, instead of saying "I need to do this and tis and this and this," Your brain will say "I need to perform ____", with the blank being whatever you named it.
 
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