New to magic

[Ralfisme]

Hello my name is Ralf and im new to magic im 21 wich I gues is old to start out .
First I got a book from the library but then i deceided to buy a book myself (The Royal Road To card Magic).

I have been practicing actively for a week now and today i deceided to show a friend of mine a trick one with a prepared deck (using the top card as a key card). However when i handed him the deck and explained him what to do he didn't understand (turns out he doesnt know what dealing a card is) and then he put the top cards on the bottom to start over wich ruined the trick, so i aborded that trick and tried for another but i was so nervous i messed up .

Does anyone have any tips about dealing with situations like this i know for that i wil explain what a person needs to do first before handig him the deck.

 

[AlfieWhattamMagic]

First off good choice of book, you cant go wrong with Royal road...

Make sure you are clear what you want him to do maybe demonstrate to him before he does it...

Also you could buy an 'invisible deck' basically they name any card and the card they named is the only card turned over in the deck. Works ever time and gets you out of the situations.

 

[aprentice]

I too am new to magic and tried a trick on my wife the other day. I don't think that my instructions and patter were clear enough so I needed to stop her and get her to do things in a specific way which really ruins the trick. When I look at other magicians doing tricks their performances seem so smooth with the storyline/patter that it makes it natural.

Maybe you are focusing too much on the technical aspects of pulling off the trick rather than the performance side which is just as important in order to be able to pull off a trick. Make sure you practise that so you know what you are going to say.

Does anyone else have any other advice as I am new too and don't want to be giving the wrong advice.

 

[Axel]

My advice to both of you is to speak slowly and clearly. And if your spectator ruins your trick, always have a back up plan. I suggest knowing the card before hand so if this does happen, you can still reveal the card. Also, perform in front of a mirror and practice your patter. Good luck next time guys.

 

[RediSpades]

Great choice on the book. As far as continuing your education with card magic I would advise reading these books:

Expert Card Technique by Hugard and Braue (pretty much the sequel to Royal Road)
Card College by Giobbi (a set of five books)

Which those will continue to hone your skills, but knowledge is nothing if you do not apply it. Practice, practice, practice. Get out a video recorder and do it front of a camera, at different angles and watch yourself. If you can't stand watching yourself, trust me, no one else will. And then you have to get out and perform a bit. Start slow at first, but you will begin to notice things that you could have done better. I can't tell you how many lessons I learned by performing in front of people. You get faster and faster at how to react to any problems, and you also figure out how to explain things clearly. Mainly, try to adapted things to your own style, because most of the routines you learn from books are corny and probably don't fit your personality. If it does, go with it. If you need anything else, feel free to PM me.

 

[descartes]

Hello my name is Ralf and im new to magic im 21 wich I gues is old to start out .

Welcome to T11 and welcome to magic. Don't worry about your age. I was 25 when I started practicing seriously. It's not such a big deal.

First I got a book from the library but then i deceided to buy a book myself (The Royal Road To card Magic).

I have been practicing actively for a week now and today i deceided to show a friend of mine a trick one with a prepared deck (using the top card as a key card). However when i handed him the deck and explained him what to do he didn't understand (turns out he doesnt know what dealing a card is) and then he put the top cards on the bottom to start over wich ruined the trick, so i aborded that trick and tried for another but i was so nervous i messed up .

If your instructions aren't clear, you will have problems executing the trick. So work on that first. You need to be clear in the way you explain things and you need to be confident.

Also, I'm going to make a suggestion that few guys will make, but avoid self working stuff initially. I'm totally serious about this. Learn some tricks with a few basic sleights in them. Go read up and practice some tricks from the first two chapters of Royal Road. I suggest you practice for longer than a week before you show anyone a trick. Practice for maybe a month or two until you know you have the mechanics down pat. Then, show the trick to someone.

Magic is all about delayed gratification. I feel you should not start with the self workers because you might fool yourself into thinking they need no practice. To make a self working trick interesting, you also need to work on the presentation to make sure the procedure of the trick doesn't give the whole thing away.

Lots of laymen know about key cards, so stay away from them until you get more experience. Once you get the experience, you will be able to make the existing self working tricks more deceptive and more magical.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I was 26 when I learned my very first magic trick, which was Chicago Opener.

RRTCM is a great book, but you need to spend more than a week on something if you're brand new. These skills seem easy, but they are unnatural at first. You need to make them natural to you, which means repeating them a lot. Even the simple overhand shuffle needs to be practiced.

So for the problem the OP mentioned, I would say practice more. Make sure you have the mechanics down until you can't mess them up. Then make sure you know what you're going to say. You don't necessarily need an exact script for everything you're going to say, but know the key points by heart so you can recite them without thinking about it. Then perform it. Performing will tell you what you're lacking and what you need to work on.

Your first few (dozen/hundred) performances will probably suck. Performing does not come naturally to most people, it's a skill we have to learn. Don't be disheartened by that. If anyone could do it easily, then we wouldn't be anything special.

 

[RediSpades]

Lots of laymen know about key cards, so stay away from them until you get more experience. Once you get the experience, you will be able to make the existing self working tricks more deceptive and more magical.

Oh, be he is reading Royal Road, and there is that simple key card trick involving two decks. It is a work of art, and even though they know the principle, people still don't pick up on it. So don't hesitate to use that one =P

 

[Ralfisme]

Thanks allot for the great adivice, I will put it to good use and practice alot more before performing (good thing i got a camcorder).

 

[Haunter]

I find it helps if you pace it slowly and kind of mime the action for them beforehand while you explain it and again as they are doing it. That or actually slowly perform the action for them and simply reverse it before handing the deck to them.