Have a magic mentor. Good? Bad? Necessary?

[pbernardo]

Hello magic brothers.

I am a beginner and would love to know your opinion about a topic wich has been in my mind for weeks.

Do you think every magician should find a mentor? I love learning from books and yes, also videos, but from time to time I think ... how to know if you are progressing correctly or are on the good way?

What do you think, people? Do magicians need a mentor.

I have seen places online where people get a kind of support community such as Jay Sankeys' "Inside deception", but as Jay seems to be such a polemic figure in magic... I have my doubts.

 

[DominusDolorum]

I began with a mentor but we parted ways due to unrelated reasons. He also had a different perception of magic than I did.

I personally would love to have a mentor again. To be able to sit down with a seasoned professional to discuss magic and presentation is something I am severely lacking. My dream mentor is Eugene Burger. And Max Maven. And Jeff McBride. And Michael Ammar. And Michael Vincent. Okay, I'll stop...David Copperfield.

But to answer your answer your question more directly I don't think it's absolutely necessary for a magician to have a mentor. I believe some of the old Masters were "self-taught" from books like Dai Vernons' attraction to Erdnase at a young age.

I am reminded of Ricky Jays' philosophy on this subject. That the best way to learn something is to have someone sit down and show it to you. Like the sensai-student relationship in the martial arts. There's a level of transmission that goes beyond just reading something in a book, or watching it on a DVD. I, of course, am paraphrasing that.

Point is, it's up to you. You may feel that you prefer learning things by yourself, or you may want to seek guidance from a mentor. I have done both and I have to say, I miss sitting down with someone to learn directly.

 

[pbernardo]

I began with a mentor but we parted ways due to unrelated reasons. He also had a different perception of magic than I did.

I personally would love to have a mentor again. To be able to sit down with a seasoned professional to discuss magic and presentation is something I am severely lacking. My dream mentor is Eugene Burger. And Max Maven. And Jeff McBride. And Michael Ammar. And Michael Vincent. Okay, I'll stop...David Copperfield.

But to answer your answer your question more directly I don't think it's absolutely necessary for a magician to have a mentor. I believe some of the old Masters were "self-taught" from books like Dai Vernons' attraction to Erdnase at a young age.

I am reminded of Ricky Jays' philosophy on this subject. That the best way to learn something is to have someone sit down and show it to you. Like the sensai-student relationship in the martial arts. There's a level of transmission that goes beyond just reading something in a book, or watching it on a DVD. I, of course, am paraphrasing that.

Point is, it's up to you. You may feel that you prefer learning things by yourself, or you may want to seek guidance from a mentor. I have done both and I have to say, I miss sitting down with someone to learn directly.

Thanks for sharing. I think there are goos things in both aproaches, but as I have no experience in magic ... is just my opinion.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[DominusDolorum]

Thanks for sharing. I think there are goos things in both aproaches, but as I have no experience in magic ... is just my opinion.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Anytime brother. Good luck in your quest for mastery!

 

[Justin.Morris]

I had an unofficial mentor when I started. Our areas of interest were somewhat different, but he was so valuable to me. As for Sankey, I had a few things of his, and he was very valuable to my early learning (before his Youtube channel) because he really opened my eyes to be able to use everyday objects for magic in simple ways rather than big elaborate presentations. He always has great ideas. People are iffy about him because he puts out so many ideas, but you know what they say, it takes a thousand bad ideas to find one good one. So I think people can learn a lot from his material. I'm a cheapskate, so I don't do subscription services, but for some it might be great for a bit.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Personally I think mentors can be extremely valuable to certain types of people. I myself have never had a mentor, but I've had folks that I liked to talk about magic with and jam on ideas.

There's also folks I find very inspiring and while they've never taught me anything, just being around them is motivating and inspiring. Two who spring to mind are Kyle Elder in Fresno, who was the first real 'magic' friend I made, and Alain Nu out on this coast.

I am very much a learn by myself kind of person, though. I read and study and develop ideas on my own, and then present them to friends and get their feedback. Then I take that information and go back into my little cave (ie: office) and work on it more. Rinse, repeat.

My wife, on the other hand, is really the type of person that wants to learn from someone else. Whenever she wants to pick up a new skill she finds a teacher and takes lessons. When she works out new routines, she generally does it actively with someone else who does something similar, so she can bounce ideas back and forth.

So it really comes down to someone's individual style of learning, when determining the necessity of a mentor.

 

[ProAma]

Unnecessary. Experience and performing are your mentors. The ones who are successful think for themselves. Unless this is politics lol.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

A good mentor teaches you to think for yourself.

 

[JPS]

Everything these guys are saying is good

A good mentor teaches you to think for yourself.

*Especially this guy*

I had a mentor for a short time in late highschool and he was incredibly good for his age. I think there's lots to learn from mentors that you dont get from books or DVDs. Magicians are also far and few between so its sort of cool to have someone to talk to about it and share secrets.

The one thing my mentor taught me that you really need to grasp and not just be told: Get creative.
Not everything amazing you learn will be found in books, if you just mess around with cards and really think about what you can do to fool someone, you start to think outside of the box. I think thats what makes a really great magician