Hey, guys my name is Tony. I dropped out of the magic scene a while back, after years of performing. Now i'm getting back on the horse. I've been out for a few street magic performances that went pretty well, performing Crazy Man's Handcuffs, ACR, Sponge Balls, Invisible Deck, etc. Basically the simplest effects I used to perform daily. Well today I ran into a speed bump. There's a festival in town, which I thought was the PERFECT opportunity for some magic. But when I stepped out onto the street, the sheer masses of people stopped me in my tracks. Intimidation at its best. I feel like i'm not the same performer I used to be. Years ago, large crowds would have excited me. Now, they intimidate me. Any advice on how to boost confidence, and stamp out nerves? If there are already threads on this subject, i'd love the links. Thanks, everyone!
Halp
- Thread starter TonyBass
- Start date
There's two main ways of battling nerves in my books.
1) Practice and rehearse your material. I don't mean do it until you more or less got it. Do it until you've got it so ingrained in your brain that you sometimes don't even notice you did the necessary moves. Understand that rehearsal is not the same as practice. Rehearse doing your material as if you were genuinely performing. Act it out, say your script out loud, get used to doing all of that together.
2) Go out and perform it. The more you perform the easier it gets. You may always battle nerves - that's OK. Many of the greats did and still do. But get out and perform and you'll at least be used to being nervous and learn to work with that.
1) Practice and rehearse your material. I don't mean do it until you more or less got it. Do it until you've got it so ingrained in your brain that you sometimes don't even notice you did the necessary moves. Understand that rehearsal is not the same as practice. Rehearse doing your material as if you were genuinely performing. Act it out, say your script out loud, get used to doing all of that together.
2) Go out and perform it. The more you perform the easier it gets. You may always battle nerves - that's OK. Many of the greats did and still do. But get out and perform and you'll at least be used to being nervous and learn to work with that.
Hey Tony! First off don't feel bad man, it happens to the best of us. and second, i want you to remember this, you can do things that blow peoples minds. and you bring things to the table that mos't people don't. i think that you should go out and find a small group of people and perform magic for them. And over time move up to bigger groups of people. And in no time you will be back to the magician you used to be. Hope this helps and Have a great day!