Hey Guys,
I want to talk about something that I think is extremely important. First a quote from Michael Ammar that sums up what I want to discuss,
"Find one thing and try to do it better than anyone."
I remember one time I was talking to a illusionist friend. I was talking to him about coming up with a smoother version of an old effect and he said "It really doesn't matter it is all the same to the spectator." I thought long and hard about this and decided that I don't agree. I think that a illusionist needs to set a standard for his audience.
I have heard some performers use the excuse that their magic didn't need to be perfect as long as their audience was entertained. I disagree. The spectators were probably thinking. " Wow that was pretty cool I figured out some of it but I guess this is the best magic has to offer." When you do a less then up to par performance you set a standard by which your spectator will judge magic.
Our audience may be entertained but if they don't walk away with a sense of wonder we have not done our job. The following quote sums it up pretty good
"After your peformance if your audience doesn't say your the best magician they have ever seen you have not done your job"
That is a very true quote. If your audeince walks away saying, "He was pretty good but I saw how he did some of it." You have not done your job. There is no excuse for not striving to do our illusions the very best that we can. Don't fall pray to the thinking that it is okay to practice an effect utnil it is "passable". Practice it unil it is the very best it can be. It has been well stated,
"Don't practice an effect until you get it right, practice it until you can't get it wrong"
Why have performers like Michael Ammar and Dia Vernon stood out a head above the rest? Because they were not satisfied until they had pushed there effects as far as possible. Both these men continued to strive to be better where most of us would have stopped advancing considering ourselves to be good performers. They continued to work to make there magic the very best it could be.
So what is the number one thing hurting us from making our illusions the best they can be? I think it is Pride. Lets face it we can tend to become cocky when we practice an effect until we think it is great. If someone tells us we need to improve we get angry because we think of ourselves more highly then we ought.
If you want to be a good magician you have to learn to take criticism and learn from it. I know it is hard sometimes when you work hard on something only to have a fellow magician tell you what you did wrong and tell how you can improve. This is what it come down to, if somone says that your performance needs improvement don't get cocky and shrug it off. Take it to heart learn from it and become a better performer.
I know personally I still have alot to learn and improve. I have learned so much from my fellow illusionists and I hope to continue to learn. We need to never stop improving. We need to never reach a stage where feel we have nothing more to learn because no such stage exists.
The second thing that I think causes our magic to not be the best it can be is because we perform effects that don't fit into our characters. This has already been discussed here before so I won't go into detail. Just remember find effects that fit with your character and practice them until you can't get them wrong.
To some it all up I will say this. Lets work hard to make our illusions the best they can be. Lets be humble and be prepared to learn from our fellow illusionists. Lets find effects that fit our character. Lets practice them until we can't get them wrong. Then let us go out and perform.
I know I still have alot to learn and I would love to hear your comments, so post away.
Thanks,
Christian
I want to talk about something that I think is extremely important. First a quote from Michael Ammar that sums up what I want to discuss,
"Find one thing and try to do it better than anyone."
I remember one time I was talking to a illusionist friend. I was talking to him about coming up with a smoother version of an old effect and he said "It really doesn't matter it is all the same to the spectator." I thought long and hard about this and decided that I don't agree. I think that a illusionist needs to set a standard for his audience.
I have heard some performers use the excuse that their magic didn't need to be perfect as long as their audience was entertained. I disagree. The spectators were probably thinking. " Wow that was pretty cool I figured out some of it but I guess this is the best magic has to offer." When you do a less then up to par performance you set a standard by which your spectator will judge magic.
Our audience may be entertained but if they don't walk away with a sense of wonder we have not done our job. The following quote sums it up pretty good
"After your peformance if your audience doesn't say your the best magician they have ever seen you have not done your job"
That is a very true quote. If your audeince walks away saying, "He was pretty good but I saw how he did some of it." You have not done your job. There is no excuse for not striving to do our illusions the very best that we can. Don't fall pray to the thinking that it is okay to practice an effect utnil it is "passable". Practice it unil it is the very best it can be. It has been well stated,
"Don't practice an effect until you get it right, practice it until you can't get it wrong"
Why have performers like Michael Ammar and Dia Vernon stood out a head above the rest? Because they were not satisfied until they had pushed there effects as far as possible. Both these men continued to strive to be better where most of us would have stopped advancing considering ourselves to be good performers. They continued to work to make there magic the very best it could be.
So what is the number one thing hurting us from making our illusions the best they can be? I think it is Pride. Lets face it we can tend to become cocky when we practice an effect until we think it is great. If someone tells us we need to improve we get angry because we think of ourselves more highly then we ought.
If you want to be a good magician you have to learn to take criticism and learn from it. I know it is hard sometimes when you work hard on something only to have a fellow magician tell you what you did wrong and tell how you can improve. This is what it come down to, if somone says that your performance needs improvement don't get cocky and shrug it off. Take it to heart learn from it and become a better performer.
I know personally I still have alot to learn and improve. I have learned so much from my fellow illusionists and I hope to continue to learn. We need to never stop improving. We need to never reach a stage where feel we have nothing more to learn because no such stage exists.
The second thing that I think causes our magic to not be the best it can be is because we perform effects that don't fit into our characters. This has already been discussed here before so I won't go into detail. Just remember find effects that fit with your character and practice them until you can't get them wrong.
To some it all up I will say this. Lets work hard to make our illusions the best they can be. Lets be humble and be prepared to learn from our fellow illusionists. Lets find effects that fit our character. Lets practice them until we can't get them wrong. Then let us go out and perform.
I know I still have alot to learn and I would love to hear your comments, so post away.
Thanks,
Christian
