Making a Magic Club at School?

[scissor83]

I had always wanted to start a club... and now it got me thinking it ouwld be cool to have a magic club. But first of all i would not know how to start.

I mean like i would only have ten people in the club so that not many people are part of it. I would ask them to sign a paper saying they will never reveal the secrets they learn and ask them if they have any experience in magic...

But like after that how do i start the club?
Should we like make money for the club then buy a dvd and project it so everyone can learn from it?

should i start showing them what i know and show them how to do it and later ill teach them the sleights step by step?

A club is suppose to run for a entire school year... so i dont know do you guys think it would be possible?


My main focus would be on card magic because that's mostly what i do.

Anyone have any experience with starting a magic club or something similar.. please help i want to make this possible.

 

[Bao Hoang]

Well you know, if you guys are good looking magicians and you guys have a good reputation, then it would be good. But if not, then your club will be considered like a geek's chess club. But the problem is that some laymen/women might want to go in that club just for fun and learn stuff, then quit after knowing how magicians makes pass(<-example), etc.

You can still jam with your magic buddies if you won't do the club.

 

[scissor83]

makes sense what you are saying thanks... honestly right now like no one knows about magic and i feel as if for example i start teaching a friend of mine we could get a really good reputation at school and keep on growing and people would want to join the club.

My school is very into like community service and stuff like that. And i thought that by maybe making up a magic club we could go to different places and do magic and we could do community service like that...

I don't know i have to think about it i guess it would be good to hear other people' opinions...

 

[bcp on pcp]

If your school has some sort of talent show (we have a little thing we call "the coffee house concert for some reason), do some stage magic there. That'll get a rep a lot faster than a card trick in the hallway every week.

 

[Insert.Username.Here]

I am trying to make a magic club at my school, they said it would take a year so i have lots of time to prepare. My ideas where to see whoever showed up and break them into different groups:

Moderate skilled Magicians
-These magicians would come once a week and show everyone, what they practice. And everyone can critique them and give them ideas. Also teach Amateur Magicians some stuff.

Amateur Magician
-These magicians would also perform what they have worked on, and would teach the beginners tricks

Beginner (like know a couple of easy tricks)
-such as something from the born to perform dvd or easy tricks that have very little sleight of hand
-also can perform

Know the 21 card trick and that's it
-anyone can teach them tricks that are mostly self working at first but eventually some basic sleight of hand.

"what's magic" group (had to join a club so decided on this one because it seemed easy/fun)
-hang around watch some tricks and if they want learn some easy self working tricks

"I want to know how its done" group
-not really sure on what to do with this one.
___________
Anyway, we would have to have a goal like to either perform for a group a people after school, (pass out flyers) or have a stage magic show (talent show).

Those were my ideas.
Any idea for the I want to know how its done group or any extra input about these ideas.

Thanks for reading
-Mike

 

[tomohamano]

dude, i bet some of those people are just there to learn how u do magic tricks. They probably wont go on doing magic in the future. But i might be completely wrong, who knows. You should make them sign a document stating that they MUST perform magic for the entire school year, or else u wont know if they r really motivated.

Oh, u know what would be perfect, if you all pitch in to buy totally out of control and learn like..2 tricks a day or something. And practice those tricks every day. And each person should have sort of a "test" where you guys watch him/her perform a trick (after practicing enough) to a random student in school and all the other club members should watch and after the trick is done, they should comment on what needs more work and what was good. But before that, you should make them get over their nervousness, because I know they would be nervous the first time. Everyone gets nervous in the beginning.

I think if u want to start a magic club, u should have a supply list, like "u will need 4 bicycle decks, blah blah blah" and have a course contract or something. IDK these are just ideas i have.

People have told me to start a club, but personally, I don't want to teach them because I've used my own money to learn magic and to get this far and to teach it to a bunch of people....idk..i just don't wanna do it. Unless of course, i could get them to pay me I would much rather was an apprentice or something..just one person.

 

[Insert.Username.Here]

not really sure about that (entire year contract thing), but maybe a test is a good idea.

I would probably tell them to do a magic trick, to see what level of skill they are.
And if they are in the wanna learn how its done category then they will have to learn one trick and perform it, and if they don't (can't), then they cannot learn another (just an idea).

Yeah we should bring in a dvd, like TOOC or maybe Royal Road to card Magic where we all have to learn the trick and practice it together.

Me personally, i wouldn't mind if i contributing like 12 decks of cards to practice with and leave them there.

Thanks for the fast reply,
Mike

 

[Dylan P.]

Well, I think a magic club might be a fun idea if you are sure they won't reveal their secrets. For example, my school has a rule about no cards. We had to sign a paper about the rules. I brought cards anyway. Some people, me included, believe some rules are meant to be broken.

However, This would be a neat idea. I would hope that a few kids who have NEVER tried magic would join your club. That would be fun. Here is what I would do in the case that Nobody knows ANY magic...

Start with the history of card magic for a few weeks and make sure they understand important people and events in this timeline. After that maybe teach them the Double lift and a quick trick with it. (Nothing hard.) Maybe, the "top" card is the ace of spades. It goes in the center. the " New Top" card is a six. SNAP! The ace is back... Then slowly work your way up in difficulty over the year.

However, if the majority of kids in the club do know something about magic do this...

Start again with the history of card magic. Then ask to see where everyone is at in the group by having them demonstrate an effect. From these results you could then find out what they need to be taught. If they don't need teaching then for one week at a time 1 person could teach the club. an effect.

That's how I would handle it,
Dylan P.

 

[Deleted member 2755]

Personally, I'm against the whole idea of a magic club in school.... I have to go to sleep in a few minutes so if I'm feeling up to typing a nice short essay in a few minutes, I'll do so. Otherwise, I'll have a nice little lecture on why you shouldn't do this tomorrow.

-Doug

 

[scissor83]

thanks everyone for commenting really... Yeah i also have an entire year to make up the club... i know that if i make the club i need someone like an apprentice who is at the same level as me or better. Then us two me could show everybody else some card magic and obviously make like fundraisers and stuff like that so we can buy the dvd's and everyone watches it together...

I would ask them to bring a bicycle deck of cards and from there we start.
First they have to sign something saying that they will not share the tricks
Second, i will make up a performance showing them all the tricks I know.
Third I will tell them that this will take alot of practice.
Fourth I start with showing them simple tricks that require no sleight of hand.
Fifth I'll get them to start practicing sleight of hand
Sixth I'll show them some tricks with sleight of hand
Seventh Buy dvd's and show them (with the money the club makes)

I'll keep with the list later got to go see ya

 

[Close-Up Expert]

I'm with Sinful on this one...without trying to crush anyone's ideas, I don't think it would draw much of a crowd either.

In school, doing the "cool" thing is often a big part of making decisions in school. Let's face it, most of what we do in school, i.e. joining clubs, elective classes, how we behave, etc, is directly influenced by what people will think about us. Our friends often play a large role in that decision, as we often question what they will think. Some don't admit it though, some try to say they don't care. The truth is, most every one cares what others think of them.

Magi isn't necessarily seen as "cool" except from magicians. It's more or less, a nerdy thing to do. People hear magic, and think balloons and kids birthdays. Sometimes Criss Angel. You could try to set up a magic club, and I'd definitely applaud you for your efforts and trying, but I think the turn out would be minimal at best. And of course, if you come back in a year and say it's a great success, then I'll eat the biggest piece of humble pie ever and just STFU.

Then again, if we let other people's opinions stop us from trying something new, who knows where we'd be???? Best of luck to you my friend...

-Steve

 

[jimmah01]

don't do it man.. they can sign as much paper as they want, but if they end up revealing, what are you gonna do about it? take them to court?


i don't think magic should become fashionable; you'll gain rep and notoriety and people will want to join but they'll want to join for all the wrong reasons - much like people at my school; they're doing it because of the popularity. besides, people will want to join because of that, they'll get knocked back because you've already got enough people and you'll create enemies/hecklers real quick. also your school may not take too kindly to exclusion.


imo, teach a good friend of yours and just go from there with the two of you - don't make any official clubs; that's where the hassles start.



hope that helps.

 

[Medifro]

On an intresting note, Guy Hollingworth actually started magic because he joined a magic club at school ...