theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Need help with the Classic Pass

T

theJunster

Sep 20, 2010
22
0
Malaysia
Hi guys,

I've been trying to do the classic pass as taught by Jason England for a couple of weeks now, from my point of view, the pass looks fine. However when I practice with a mirror, I realize I cant stop flashing the pass at the bottom part of the deck.

I would either flash at the side of my right hand if viewed from the left, or I would flash under the whole deck if viewed from the front. The covering actions aren't quite working because of the visible transposition happening.

Can someone help please? Thanks!
 
theJunster said:
Hi guys,

I've been trying to do the classic pass as taught by Jason England for a couple of weeks now, from my point of view, the pass looks fine. However when I practice with a mirror, I realize I cant stop flashing the pass at the bottom part of the deck.

I would either flash at the side of my right hand if viewed from the left, or I would flash under the whole deck if viewed from the front. The covering actions aren't quite working because of the visible transposition happening.

Can someone help please? Thanks!
Click to expand...
I've gotten mine to where I can't see it when I'm practicing in the mirror. And as this IS the classic pass I'll say that I do need A LOT more practice! But what I'm doing is the technique for the invisible pass which means you're rocking the deck up slightly, (sleightly?), in line with the spectator's eyes. It's at this point, as you start rocking down, that you start the pass by doing the pulling action as you rock the deck down so that now the back of the cards are in line with their eyes. As you get more comfortable with this the rocking motion won't be very large but a subtle thing. So simulate this in the mirror by rocking the deck up so that you're looking and the edge of the pack when rocking up and at the back of the pack when rocking down. When I do this I don't err. . .flash myself. I hope this helps.

And finally, my feeling is that the pass should be executed when you're misdirecting your spectator(s). You're looking down at the cards after cutting their card into the center and then you look up, relax your body and make a comment. They will look up when you do and then you execute the pass. Or someone laughs, (you or someone else made a funny comment — everyone will look to that person), and then you execute the pass. I know that there are some who want to be jet pilot pass boys who want people to burn their hands while they fool them and that's all well and good. But most of us, (including me), aren't that good. I just want a way to control a card in the context of a larger routine and/or trick where I'm creating a little miracle that will have them smiling and scratching their heads. For the most part if you misdirect your audience well they'll never see it. No reason to stop trying to perfect your pass technique but you can be far from perfect and still be effective if you misdirect well.
/rant :)
 
Thanks a lot! I think I understand the misdirection part. But I do hope that I can make my pass more subtle than how it is now, as the flashing is a bit too obvious and I want to understand is it because of the positioning of my fingers or is it due to the speed of the execution. Because as they look up and I execute the pass, I don't want them seeing a suspicious movement in my hands. Not to mention I'll never be able to do it as a color change if that's the case.

I'll try the invisible pass the way you described.

I will keep practicing though! Thanks! :)
 
Hey there,

Something to remember when practicing in mirrors is that mirrors reveal more than your spectators will ever be able to see. In other words, mirrors increase angle sensitivity by a whole lot. It is great to practice in a mirror, and its ideal to get your pass invisible infront of a mirror, but you shouldn't get discouraged if you flash in a mirror. Picture yourself as a spectator standing opposite you, and the magician is holding a deck of cards at a bit higher than waist level: will you see whats going on underneath his hands? Im not trying to say you don't need any more practice, everyone does, but try it out. I think you'll be surprised at how little spectators see when it comes to passes. One suggestion I have for performance though is that you want to make sure your not always rocking the deck to cover the motion. Your pass should be different for every trick. For example: for my ambitious routine I barely pull the deck towards myself and then extend my hands to show them the top of the deck as im doing the pass. This gives me an excuse: "let me show you the top of the deck, because thats where your card is" You don't want any unessisary movements or your spectators will wonder what you did. Say your about to do a sandwich load with 2 jokers, and youve got your pinky break on their selection in the middle of the deck. Doing a rocking motion and then picking up the jokers is kind of akward. What I like to do is have the jokers positioned on the right on a table and my hands on the left. As I move my hands over to grab the 2 jokers, I do the pass. This motion is less akward, and you have every reason to move your hands over to where the jokers are, because they're about to help you find a card that is in the middle of the deck. One more thing and then I'm done :) One last thing you can do to cover the pass is tilt your hands to the right (assuming you have a left handed mechanics grip) This hides when the two portions speparate, and once the packs are separated an inch you can already tilt your hands back and pull the other packet in place.
Anyways, Sorry for the length,
I hope this is helpful :)
Jonas
 
If you can, I would suggest practicing in front of a video camera rather than a mirror. This can give a better idea of what the spectator will actually see and may highlight if any adjustments need to be made in finger/hand positioning, the angles from watching yourself in a mirror don't give a true reflection (pun intended) of this.
A good cover for the pass if you have more than one spectator is to speak to the spectator furthest to the left or right of you and then turn to address the spectator furthest to the other side and execute the pass as you twist your body round. The combination of speaking and your body movement should be plenty of cover.
Most importantly, practice until you are 100% comfortable with the move, spectators pick up on tension / nerves and they'll know you're about to do something if you're nervy, which means they'll be more suspicious, so they burn your hands, so you get more nervous and more tense ( O Grrrr - A vicious circle ).
 
Hey Junster,

Jonas makes several good points also. While the mirror can be a good tool, try to have a magic buddy watch you and give you feedback if you're feeling shaky about flashing. OR a video camera if you have one. I have my flip video and a tripod and use it a lot for this very thing.

He makes another point about motivated actions which are certainly important. Just to flesh out a little more the way I do the pass is that after I break the pack and have them put the card back in I'll messily dribble the upper half of the cards on top of theirs and just leave it like that for a minute while I talk. Just have your pinky slightly raised above the bottom packet and dribble the first card on in. This make getting the break when you bring you hands back together very easy. Then when my hands come back together to straighten out the deck, (motivation), it's easier to hide the rocking motion, (at this point I've gotten it very small), while I straighten out the deck. I do the pass as I'm finishing straightening the deck and when I do it I'm not even looking at my hands. My experience has been that if I'm looking at my hands and I'm talking to my audience they're, (mostly), looking at me. And even if they are looking at my hands I'm just squaring up the pack. With some practice you'll get real good at this.

I learned the dribble technique from Jay Sankey who has a good mini pass lecture, (approx. 6 minutes or so), on his 2 DVD Revolutionary Card Magic set. He also has a similar one, (although I haven't seen it), on his Extremely Ambitions DVD.

Cheers,
Peter
 
Hey guys,

Thanks so much for the tips regarding the pass. I've tried the tilting up and down action as suggested by Peter and it really tremendously helped in covering the pass. My mum and my brother had no idea. I also found that the movement from left to right (thanks davec737) worked very well. And thanks for the tips on the versatility of cover moves Jonas, I'll keep that in mind :D The tilting action also helped when it comes to a color change.

I'll try to implement these tips to my practice for the next few days, and see how it goes from there. Thanks again guys :)
 
Just started really learning and practicing the Classic Pass myself and all the info you guys have given on this is great! Thanks! I've heard a few great card magicians say that the Classic Pass is something you'll be trying to perfect until the day you die...Good luck to you all on that journey :)
 
try making your hand down and do it at near space to the spectator u perform for small break first then when u do it make huge break do it while talking to the spectator by saying to them ah well where is your card now they will look to u and say in the middle of the deck like noobs :D
 
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