Performance today went pretty bad...

[VagueTheory]

So I went to the mall today, a Sharpie ready, my Witness gimmick ready...and decided to do some walk around stuff.

I went up to this dude and attempted the 2 Card Monte, however he turned over the card before he was "supposed to" even though I said "Now before you turn it over....." Then I retaliated with Witness and just got a mear, "Hm. You're good."

Then I tried these 2 kids and an adult. The adult said, "There's no such thing as magic." So I chuckled. One kid watched my hands so closely, that the 2 Card Monte was ruined again....so I decided to also retaliate with Witness. "You HAD two cards in the bag." said one of them, but I still got the other kid and the adult.

Then I knew I had to whip out my all time favorite...Hand To Mouth (by Dan and Dave). The adult went berserk and kept on asking how did I do that. I decided that "this" audience was a tough crowd, so I wished them a Merry Christmas and walked off.

I pretty much blew it for myself today. I feel horrible...

When I perform at school, I know the people. Even if I never met them, I can still perform pretty well because it's well, school. MY social area.

But when I do walk around, it's so hard for me to do it. My heart begins to beat faster, and I begin to studder, but I KNOW I can perform the material because I did it for my friends without a sweat. I want to keep performing, but I hate for someone to know "how I did it" every single time I go out there. It's almost as if my hands know what they are doing, but my brain goes haywire.

Has anyone been through this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading. ;D

 

[drorange]

it didn't seems that bad to me. Just don't worry about it we all have are bad days when you pick the wrong people but who cares

 

[FatalAce]

Aw. Srry man. That sux. Tough Crowd. All I can suggest is when you perform, just calm down and try to force yourself to beleive that you are just practicing at home. That allways works for me. I calm down and do the sleights a lot better.

 

[VagueTheory]

Aw. Srry man. That sux. Tough Crowd. All I can suggest is when you perform, just calm down and try to force yourself to beleive that you are just practicing at home. That allways works for me. I calm down and do the sleights a lot better.

That's the thing, I can't ever calm down, hahaha. I mean, I play the trumpet at school, and whenever I play by myself, I get so nervous and shaky. Maybe it's just me?

 

[vipermagic]

Yeah just chill out and try to find the right people especially around the holidays because people are trying to get their shopping done. Trust me it is not your fault because the first time that I performed Witness it killed.(literaly there was bodies everywhere!!)

 

[lachomagician]

Then I tried these 2 kids and an adult. The adult said, "There's no such thing as magic." So I chuckled. One kid watched my hands so closely, that the 2 Card Monte was ruined again....so I decided to also retaliate with Witness. "You HAD two cards in the bag." said one of them, but I still got the other kid and the adult.

Then I knew I had to whip out my all time favorite...Hand To Mouth (by Dan and Dave). The adult went berserk and kept on asking how did I do that. I decided that "this" audience was a tough crowd, so I wished them a Merry Christmas and walked off.

Bro listen, doing walk around is tough business. I know you want to perform for people but the second the adult said "there is no such thing as magic" you should have walked away and said "oh OK, thank you for your time anyway." Do not force it on people, if they already said they are not willing to even play along then hey, their loss. Do not waste your talent on people who will not see how much value it has man. I learned this the hard way too. There are people out there waiting to be amazed, wanting to be entertained. Find them, and they will love your stuff. Keep it up man, you find tough crowds anywhere, so keep working at it, eventually even the tough cookies will love you.

 

[VagueTheory]

Bro listen, doing walk around is tough business. I know you want to perform for people but the second the adult said "there is no such thing as magic" you should have walked away and said "oh OK, thank you for your time anyway." Do not force it on people, if they already said they are not willing to even play along then hey, their loss. Do not waste your talent on people who will not see how much value it has man. I learned this the hard way too. There are people out there waiting to be amazed, wanting to be entertained. Find them, and they will love your stuff. Keep it up man, you find tough crowds anywhere, so keep working at it, eventually even the tough cookies will love you.

Even though he said that, I still wanted to prove him wrong. I didn't say anything. You should have seen the look on his face when I did Hand To Mouth.

 

[James]

man, thats how you get your chops tight as hell.
Surrounded, under the pressure of new people, you gotta have HUGE amounts of self confidense, because thats really what it comes down to.

Don't take anything too seriously, and concentrate on framing all the different situations that occur. keep it positive, and fun!

I'd say it's nearly impossible to have a performance go bad, if your having fun!
If you mess up, its just a joke!
People will see that you are having a fun time, and they (in most cases) will want to be a part of that!
You want to be positive and attractive, and by attractive I mean, you want others to be attracted to you, and your performance.

You should start with 2 or 3 people, end with 12.
It's all about a good time sir.

Goodluck on your next performance

sT.jaMeZ

 

[Bizzaro]

Can't fool everyone.

Some people just pay attention. Sometimes if I am trying something new I tell them it's new and then ask if they saw anything they shouldn't. I have no problem asking for honest feedback.

If someone does something they shouldn't it tells me part of the routine needs fixing or yer case might be a case of learning to audience manage a bit better.

And I quote, "Expect your first 100 shows to suck"

 

[Dizzi]

for me, I always try my effects on webcam first, then family, then school and performing at school can get pretty hard.....

 

[UBERboomer]

I remember my first ever performance to strangers, I stood around a park in town looking for potential people I could approach then when i tried to approach them i bottled. After just standing there with my cards looking like a moron i just decided i was wasting my time and forced myself to walk up to these two lads.
I went up to these two lads probably the kind that think they knew it all. I asked them if they would like to see some magic, they looked at each other and smiled as if they wanted to prove me wrong or something, however i continued anyway.
Long story short I got caught on dl's a few times but the final pop up move on my ACR blew them away and I really enjoyed myself and kinda got a rush off it.
I then proceded to approach almost anyone still enjoying myself with this rush and suddenly found myself almost full of confidence even though i was still getting caught on my dl's.
When I got home I went over my performance infront of a mirror and with a camera and seen that my dl's could be caught in a funny angle and reveal. So I refined myself and when I got out the more i preform the less i get caught on any effect.
What i'm trying to say is perhaps look over your performance and see if there is any gap to it, refine it and just keep on going out there.

 

[VagueTheory]

Thanks guys for all the help.

Here's how I prepare for before performing.

Everything new I learn, I don't EVER perform besides in front of a mirror. Not even my magic buddies (if I had any) or my parents. I keep working on it over and over. But even when I do have it down, I still get so nervous and keep saying to myself, "What if I didn't practice enough? What if they catch me do this? Do that?"

I mean, I spend at least a week or two on my material before I perform it. I hate flashing. It makes me look unprofessional.

 

[Ampersan5340]

Thanks guys for all the help.

Here's how I prepare for before performing.

Everything new I learn, I don't EVER perform besides in front of a mirror. Not even my magic buddies (if I had any) or my parents. I keep working on it over and over. But even when I do have it down, I still get so nervous and keep saying to myself, "What if I didn't practice enough? What if they catch me do this? Do that?"

I mean, I spend at least a week or two on my material before I perform it. I hate flashing. It makes me look unprofessional.

Hey man, it's all about presentation. basically what you need to do is get really good at a trick then perform for about 5 people. They will say what you did wrong and maybe catch you.

The first trick I learned was krisper's colour monte, also known as "this 'n that" I tried it for a few people after 6 hours of practice and they cauight me on my double's. Then I performed for my science class they gathered round and I did the trick along with extreme stuttering and arugable sleights.

However it tricked them all. Then I kept performing for kids at school. I blew them away.

But it's with presentation. I'm scared to death of doing the 2 card monte but the reactions are ok.

But do learn the krisper's colour monte and perfect, I use it as my opener whenever I perform for anyone I've ever met.

This blow's people away that the fact that three cards are 3 jacks, then three queens, then a jack queen and ace.

That's how I do it. and the double's are almost undetecable because they see you have three cards which is much easier to do a DL with it

Your probaably not going to read this but if you do thanks for reading

 

[Shodan]

I never open with the word "magic" anymore. I find people relax a lot more when I say something along the lines of "would you guys like a little entertainment..."; it takes any sense of challenge out of proceedings.

Constructive critisism; "at least a week or two" is kinda funny. Your performance material should be honed over a period of months then years. Coupla years practise before you perform outside of your network of "test spectators" then you get out there in the real world and that repertoire should evolve with experience into a well-oiled, finely honed set.

Once you're done with that, you should add mew material only if it

a. lives up to the standard of everything else that you do and
b. has been practised until it's actually AT that standard

part b isn't necessarily a period of years once you're operating at this level, but should go through the same process as everything else, which should take at least a month. Think about it; you need at least a couple of weeks to get the basic mechanics down and think about presentation; another week or so to test it out in front of test spectators and then probably another week to go back and make the necessary adjustments. THEN you introduce it into your repertoire and THEN it will start to undergo the same evolution that everything else has.

I spent about a year tinkering with an assembly effect before daring to show it to audiences, and in that time it underwent dramatic changes which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't given it that time. I'm very glad I did, because now whenever I break it out, I get serious astonishment from it.

It comes down to a balance; the more you perform the better a performer you will become, but you've got to have the necessary practise time first; and adding something to your working repertoire after a week or two just isn't a sensible idea.

 

[VagueTheory]

Hey man, it's all about presentation. basically what you need to do is get really good at a trick then perform for about 5 people. They will say what you did wrong and maybe catch you.

The first trick I learned was krisper's colour monte, also known as "this 'n that" I tried it for a few people after 6 hours of practice and they cauight me on my double's. Then I performed for my science class they gathered round and I did the trick along with extreme stuttering and arugable sleights.

However it tricked them all. Then I kept performing for kids at school. I blew them away.

But it's with presentation. I'm scared to death of doing the 2 card monte but the reactions are ok.

But do learn the krisper's colour monte and perfect, I use it as my opener whenever I perform for anyone I've ever met.

This blow's people away that the fact that three cards are 3 jacks, then three queens, then a jack queen and ace.

That's how I do it. and the double's are almost undetecable because they see you have three cards which is much easier to do a DL with it

Your probaably not going to read this but if you do thanks for reading

I did read it, and thanks for the heads up.

Shodan, your words sparked my mind. Thank you so much. It helped me think alot.

 

[UBERboomer]

IF you really have trouble approaching strangers, just take a moment to think.
Chances are these people are NEVER going to see you again so if you mess up its not that big of a deal.
Also remember that its a bit of fun, its not the end of the worl if you fail, you'll learn from it and get better the more you go along.

 

[VagueTheory]

IF you really have trouble approaching strangers, just take a moment to think.
Chances are these people are NEVER going to see you again so if you mess up its not that big of a deal.
Also remember that its a bit of fun, its not the end of the worl if you fail, you'll learn from it and get better the more you go along.

Well, I guess you are right!

I feel much better now. Thanks!

 

[ThisOneGoesTo11]

Everyone has given a lot of good advise. I would add one thing, which may seem very subtle, but for me at least it helps a lot with people who can sometimes be viewed as "tough crowds", difficult spectators, or even hecklers.

This one thing is a small paradigm shift in your thinking that could make your magic more enjoyable (for both yourself and your spectator) and less confrontational.

When I first started out I never understood why people became jerks when I would perform for them. I mean, I spent all of this time and effort to perfect what should appear to be magic and I'm also "going out on a limb" to be entertaining (all for their benefit and amusement) and even the nicest of people start going out of their way to try to mess up the effect. Why is that?

Then I realized, "Oh... I'm coming across as a show-off, know it all, who is trying to fool people." Nobody likes to be made a fool of, so they will try to sabotage your efforts, just to prove that they can be as smart as you, or that they are not fooled. Often these people blurt out their own answer to the little bit of impossibilia that they just witnessed, which sometimes is the method I was using, and sometimes not.

While these people are not ideal to perform for, I completely agree with James' post about finding a way to continue to have a good time with these people if possible.

A long time ago, I use to train in the Japanese martial art called, "Aikido". Roughly translated it mean, "the way of spirit harmony". A lot of Aikido involves "going with the momentum of your attacker and actually adding to their attacking force, so you can unbalance them and ultimately prevail".

Taking this idea and applying it to magic, I would say, "when being attacked, don't attack back... Instead join with your attacker and use their attacking energy to fool them anyway."

One way is to remove both you and your spectator from the effect. A good example of this is Michael Ammar's handling of "The Virgina City Shuffle" (Easy to Master Card Miracles vol. 5). In Michael's handling he tells a story about how he was fooled by a street hustler. In describing how you were fooled you fool your spectator in the process. With two card monte, you may be able to do something similar just by changing your patter.

Another way which is useful when you hear, "there is no such thing as magic" is to not fight it, but instead go with it... "Your right! If I could do this for real, I wouldn't be here now... But if I could really do this, it might look something like this..." (...and continue on with whatever effect you were doing...)

If you can tell that your spectator is the type to blurt out their explanation, so they can be the big shot who isn't fooled, don't fight it. Often saying something like, "Hey I bet you would be good at performing magic! You have a keen eye, so this probably won't fool you, but the other day I showed this to so and so and they thought it was real magic... Hear let me show you what I did." (...perform the effect...) "Now I know I didn't fool you but so and so completely freaked out."

Often is can be useful to mix in some "sucker" tricks. Two that come to mind, since I previously mentioned Ammar is "That's it" and "Play it Straight Triumph". Both of them have the strong element of the Magician messing up (which is exactly what the heckler wants) however with both you end up coming out on top in the end. Again, the important thing is to not "retaliate" against your spectator for their natural reaction of not wanting to look foolish, or to be fooled.

If all of that fails and they are still being difficult, just thank them for their time and explain that you had a good time and greatly appreciate the opportunity to get in some extra practice.

I hope this helps a bit,

-ThisOneGoesTo11

 

[Wesker]

We all have our bad days, don't let it get you down. Part of the practice for an effect is good audience testing, at least that is how I was able to fine tune my patter to keep people entertained and more welcoming of the magic.

I very rarely get someone who wants to mess up a trick im doing, and part of that is really just the way you present yourself. I perform the 2 card monte a lot and it's good to have nice patter as well as a good follow up trick to accompany it (I got lucky when I bought Hover Card- It's a Queen of Spades :X).

Keep at it and eventually it will just click.

 

[Steerpike]

Even though he said that, I still wanted to prove him wrong.

There's your problem right there. Well, one of them. Your first mistake was trying to do walk-around during the Christmas rush. People have enough on their minds already without us interrupting them.

Anyway, why do you think you have something to prove?