Just cards, or cards, coins and other magic?

[tan567]

Hey everyone

I've been working on card magic/cardistry for about a year now, and I just wanted some advice from magicians who have had much more performing experience than me.

I love cards, and at the moment I'm really looking to build a strong foundation with cards by reading books (and not buying lots and lots of tricks!) and also I'm getting more and more into cardistry too.

But it struck me, do laymen like variety in magic, say cards, coins, spongeballs etc. all in one routine? There's a lot of variety in just card magic, of course (sandwiches, haunted decks, transpos, ACR, collectors...you name it!) but is having more than just card magic better?

My aim is to be a really good cardman as such, but of course, I also want to be able to deliver the best magic experience for my audiences!

Hopefully this will help other magicians too.

 

[Austin Fields]

Hey tan, Welcome to the forums!

The interesting thing about performing for audiences is that they don't know a whole ton about magic outside of cards and stage illusions. So you'll be absolutely fine doing card magic because even though they attribute the cards to tricks and sleights, they've never really given any thought as to what solid card magic actually looks like. They'll never have seen a whole ton of magic outside of a couple laymen tricks everyone knows about (most of the time).

However, I get great reactions when I do something other than cards simply because people didn't know that magic outside of that really exists. So it's up to you, but personally I'd learn more than cards because I would want people to feel like they're really seeing something different that what they expected.

See you around!

 

[JButterfield]

No harm is learning other stuff - variety is the spice of life, and a change of pace is never a bad thing.

 

[greenstickman]

No harm is learning other stuff - variety is the spice of life, and a change of pace is never a bad thing.

Your signature made my day.

Tan, it really depends on what your character is. For me I mainly focus on cards because my character is supposed to be sort of a cardshark, but I also have a mentalist side that I use whenever I'm trying to create something unusual or out of the ordinary. People don't expect the mentalist portion of me so when it goes off it hits them hard. When you know more than one kind of magic it's like being able to pull out something amazing out of nowhere. I also know some other areas of magic besides cards, though I don't know them as well as cards when I use them it still blows people away because they don't expect that type of thing from me. So I would suggest learning other areas as well. However, if your character calls for strong card handling capabilities then I would focus most of my time on that. So I guess you need to figure out what suits you best and work on that the most, but don't be afraid to delve into other areas. Just remember that quality is better than quantity.

 

[RickEverhart]

I myself prefer to open up my range of abilities and do a lot of different types of magic. My experiences thus far have lead me to believe that most lay audiences do NOT want to see a half hour straight of card effects. I make it a point to NEVER open a show or gig with a care effect. I normally open with a mismade bill routine or rubber bands and then go into just one or two card effects. This is just my two cents and what I have found to be successful for me. Some card workers will disagree with me.

 

[RikAllen]

Learn whatever is of interest to you. You can always build a compelling character that people love to watch for hours on end, even if all you're doing is card tricks and demonstrations.

It's a good idea to get, at the very least, a foundation in general sleight of hand. If you enjoy it, go with it...if you don't - then stick to cards. Many magicians have made their careers with nothing but charm and a deck of cards. I'm sure the years of hard work and dedication didn't hurt their chances either...but that's with anything you choose to do in life.

 

[Cyril]

It's never a bad idea to specialize is something.
It doesn't mean that you'll be lacking in the other areas.
Take David Stone for example.
Known for his coin work, but he has excellent card material out and is quite the entertainer.
The others above me have solid advice.

 

[tan567]

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

Seeing as you guys think it's better to have variety even if you do focus on one of cards/coins/spongeballs etc., how do you find the time to practise all of them and keep all of them at performance level?

Say you want to become a cardman, but you also want to do some coin magic. Well, to become a cardman you'll need to read lots and lots of books, watch DVDs, learn a LOT of sleights etc. There's a lot of material just dealing with cards alone.

How would you manage to fit in some time for your coinwork?

 

[SimplyMagic14]

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

Seeing as you guys think it's better to have variety even if you do focus on one of cards/coins/spongeballs etc., how do you find the time to practise all of them and keep all of them at performance level?

Say you want to become a cardman, but you also want to do some coin magic. Well, to become a cardman you'll need to read lots and lots of books, watch DVDs, learn a LOT of sleights etc. There's a lot of material just dealing with cards alone.

How would you manage to fit in some time for your coinwork?

I too find this to be a problem. The one and only thing I can say on this is you have to make time. Believe me it's hard some times but if you make time for your cards then you can make time for something else. Hope this helps and good luck to you.

 

[greenstickman]

Thanks for the great replies everyone!

Seeing as you guys think it's better to have variety even if you do focus on one of cards/coins/spongeballs etc., how do you find the time to practise all of them and keep all of them at performance level?

Say you want to become a cardman, but you also want to do some coin magic. Well, to become a cardman you'll need to read lots and lots of books, watch DVDs, learn a LOT of sleights etc. There's a lot of material just dealing with cards alone.

How would you manage to fit in some time for your coinwork?

What I do is I learn more card tricks than anything else and only pick a few magic tricks of other varieties, but learn them as best I can. Also with cards I literally take a deck everywhere I go. Practice every spare minute you have because every second counts. Right now I'm going to college so even during my classes I practice under the table. Practicing during my classes may sound like a horrible thing, but it really helps muscle memory because I'm not really paying so much attention to the cards since I'm paying more attention to my professors so the tricks become more of a habit and more natural feeling to me. What really helps is this, first pick a couple card tricks to learn over the next couple weeks, but pick one coin trick or whatever other magic you want to learn in that time. Then just practice these few tricks in whatever spare time you have. Also you might want to set aside a couple days to figure out routines you can use them in, then once you have routines practice them in your routines. So to put it simply my schedule for practicing is this:
1. Pick two tricks of your main magic style
2. Pick one trick of another magic style
3. Spend one week practicing these constantly as just the tricks alone
4. At the end of the first week come up with a routine you can use each trick in
5. The second week, practice your tricks constantly in your routines
6. If you're ready to start performing then spend a week performing these tricks, but if you're not spend another week recapping what you learned and then the week after start performing, but only if you're ready.

I hope this helps. It might not be the best advice since I've only recently started doing magic more seriously again about a year ago. The reason I stopped for awhile was because I was really into the cardistry stuff, but before I started doing that I did magic tricks for about a little over a year. So anyways what I'm saying is I'm still pretty much a beginner myself. I'm just applying what I've learnt about how to practice things from other areas such as sports or school or whatever to magic. The most important thing though is that quality is better than quantity so don't try to overload your brain with too many things at once.

 

[SimplyMagic14]

The most important thing though is that quality is better than quantity so don't try to overload your brain with too many things at once.


Very well said...

 

[AndrewJ]

Do what you love.

I'm trying to build a full act. It's a very different process that I'm failing in one end (scripting a full act) and succeeding on another end (setting up and performing where people can see). I may shoehorn a card trick in just to have one. Thinking Doc Eason's "Triumph" routine.

I'll say I enjoy Parlor.