Practice and Rehearsal

[William Draven]

I just had a few thoughts this morning and I figured I'd jot them down to share them. They are about two very important subjects to us as magicians. Practice, and Rehearsal. It should be something we go through on a daily bases.

While I was thinking about it, something became apparent to me. Ever hear of a phrase "Practice makes perfect"? Well the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's wrong. Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.

Sure practice builds the skills, knowledge and fundamentals to performing our effects or tricks but just because you know -how- to execute a snap change doesn't mean that you can perform it. That's what you need rehearsal for.

Rehearsal takes the practice and establishes a strong routine to where you can perform the skills, without thinking about it. Rehearsal takes our skills into a unconscious competence level; Meaning you don't think about what you're doing instead you just do it.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious. It's been known to happen on occasions, but I wanted to share anyways.

 

[RealityOne]

I think there may be three phases. The first is learning. That is the phase where you get the slight, effect or routine perfect. The second is practice. That is where you make the slight, effect or routine permanent. The third is rehearsal where you turn the effect or routine into a performance.

I think that rehearsal is the most neglected of the three. Yeah, I feel really silly going through a routine and presenting my patter to an invisible audience, but that is necessary to be able to perform well. The timing of the patter, the slights, the misdirection, the jokes, etc. is something you can only perfect through rehearsal.

As a beginning magician, I would have problems in performances because I practiced the slights but didn't rehearse the rest of the performance. Think about it. The slights are only one part of the routine. If you don't rehearse the rest of the routine (patter, presentation, pocket management, transitions, etc.) you are trying to do the slights under conditions that you are not prepared for.

Also, rehearsing helps with nerves. If you are used to looking at and talking to an imaginary audience while doing the pass, you will be significantly less concerned about doing the same thing in front of a real audience.

Finally, rehearsing improves your presentation. Let's say you are doing a rising card effect and want to talk about the weight of cards as part of your patter. If you get the rising card effect down and just go out and perform, your patter (most likely) will sound like... "cards are really light, they can almost float, look at this..." With rehearsing, you patter may sound more in depth because you took the time to think through it, script it and rehearse it. Maybe something like this:

Playing cards are made of three layers with glue between the layers. Here pick one. How heavy do you think it is? Actually, even though there are three layers, each card weighs less than 2 grams. That's pretty light right? Put it back in the deck. Now hold the deck and see if you can lift the card out of the deck? Even though a card is light, it is difficult to move it with your mind. However, I've learned that the mind is like any other muscle and it can become stronger if you practice using it. I've been practicing and let me see if I can do this... (I just came up with this as an example of more involved patter, I haven't given it great though or actually presented it)​

To rehearse the longer patter you need to script it and practice it. If you script the patter and practice it while performing the slights, your presentation of the effect will be much better.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I've never really defined the two separately like that.

'Practice makes permanent.' I've heard that before. I've also heard, 'Perfect practice makes perfect.'

I think it comes down to how you practice and rehearse. Coming from a non-magic background, my practice is largely devoted to working on the elements of tricks independantly, with some time devoted to working the whole routine towards the end of the session. I might spend an hour working on individual sleights and then half an hour running through all my tricks/routines a couple times. Which is how I did it when I was doing circus stuff. We'd spend half the time honing, say, juggling skills separately, then work on our entire act together.

So I guess I'm basically agreeing with you. Practice is where I hone individual skills and rehearsal is where I hone the entire act. But I do think that you really only learn how to perform/entertain by going out and performing.

EDIT: Not sure how much this applies here, but I just stumbled across this: http://www.rehearsaltheapp.com/ on my Twitter feed and thought of this thread.

 

[Steerpike]

Most young magicians don't rehearse. Ever. They're either move monkeys or they mistakenly believe that they can successfully improv.

I'm just going to say it right plainly: If you think you don't need to rehearse, you're a bad magician.

 

[James Smith]

I just had a few thoughts this morning and I figured I'd jot them down to share them. They are about two very important subjects to us as magicians. Practice, and Rehearsal. It should be something we go through on a daily bases.

While I was thinking about it, something became apparent to me. Ever hear of a phrase "Practice makes perfect"? Well the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's wrong. Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.

Sure practice builds the skills, knowledge and fundamentals to performing our effects or tricks but just because you know -how- to execute a snap change doesn't mean that you can perform it. That's what you need rehearsal for.

Rehearsal takes the practice and establishes a strong routine to where you can perform the skills, without thinking about it. Rehearsal takes our skills into a unconscious competence level; Meaning you don't think about what you're doing instead you just do it.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious. It's been known to happen on occasions, but I wanted to share anyways.

Another way I've heard that said is, "Perfect practice makes perfect." in this case, rehearsal is perfect practice.

"In school they told me that 'practice makes perfect' they also told me that 'nobody's perfect', so I stopped practicing."

-Steven Wright

Sorry, I had to get another Steven Wright quote in...

 

[RDChopper]

Has anyone tried "Hit and run" tactics?

I was going to post a thread, but this thread feels like the place to talk about it.

Hit and run is where you actually do what you say. I mean:

You meet new people. You perform a trick. You go

The idea here is not to present your whole routine, I have heard in the past that one should practice new patter ideas or routines on gigs and work, and I'm highly against that. Because those venues are not the ones to be practicing your magic.

So, how do you know what is the right patter? No matter how much you practice your patter, you will never know how will the spectators react to it.

That's why a good idea would be to "hit and run" on the street.

Take for example "2CM", I had tons of ideas for patter ( I had the mechanics down) but I didn't knew how to present it. So I scripted 3 of my favourite patter ideas for the trick, I reharsed them and then I hitted the streets (along with a buddy that filmed me) so that I could watch the videos and tweak the patter so that I could get the maximum punch from it.

So yeah, I definetly agree, but I think that reharsal is exactly like practice, if you practice the wrong way, you will not get the results needed, and you can reharse all the time you want, but if you reharse with the wrong patter, the end will be the same.

Just my 2 pesos.

 

[Justin.Morris]

Has anyone tried "Hit and run" tactics?

I was going to post a thread, but this thread feels like the place to talk about it.

Hit and run is where you actually do what you say. I mean:

You meet new people. You perform a trick. You go

The idea here is not to present your whole routine, I have heard in the past that one should practice new patter ideas or routines on gigs and work, and I'm highly against that. Because those venues are not the ones to be practicing your magic.

So, how do you know what is the right patter? No matter how much you practice your patter, you will never know how will the spectators react to it.

That's why a good idea would be to "hit and run" on the street.

Take for example "2CM", I had tons of ideas for patter ( I had the mechanics down) but I didn't knew how to present it. So I scripted 3 of my favourite patter ideas for the trick, I reharsed them and then I hitted the streets (along with a buddy that filmed me) so that I could watch the videos and tweak the patter so that I could get the maximum punch from it.

So yeah, I definetly agree, but I think that reharsal is exactly like practice, if you practice the wrong way, you will not get the results needed, and you can reharse all the time you want, but if you reharse with the wrong patter, the end will be the same.

Just my 2 pesos.

I have to disagree to a degree.

While "hit and run" makes sense for some, I don't think that is the most effective way to rehearse/practice either.
When you are doing your show/routine, there is a lot of rapport that you build over the entire set that you don't get if you just pop in, do one trick and get out. You miss out on the entire build of your effects, and you won't truly gauge appropriately. Now if you are just practicing a move like your pass or your watch steal, than this could work I suppose. But overall, it us far more helpful, after you have practiced, and rehearsed (great distinction Will), that you put it onto your show and let the audience be your guide. You can't be afraid to try new things in your show once they have been practiced and rehearsed. Restaurant work is a great place to be able to try new things and refine your routines.

 

[Steerpike]

When you are doing your show/routine, there is a lot of rapport that you build over the entire set that you don't get if you just pop in, do one trick and get out.

If you can't build rapport and get them on your side in 10 seconds, you're not as good as you think you are.

 

[Justin.Morris]

If you can't build rapport and get them on your side in 10 seconds, you're not as good as you think you are.

If all you do is build a ten second rapport, you are not as good as you think you are.

I think you missed my point.

 

[RDChopper]

I have to disagree to a degree.

While "hit and run" makes sense for some, I don't think that is the most effective way to rehearse/practice either.
When you are doing your show/routine, there is a lot of rapport that you build over the entire set that you don't get if you just pop in, do one trick and get out. You miss out on the entire build of your effects, and you won't truly gauge appropriately. Now if you are just practicing a move like your pass or your watch steal, than this could work I suppose. But overall, it us far more helpful, after you have practiced, and rehearsed (great distinction Will), that you put it onto your show and let the audience be your guide. You can't be afraid to try new things in your show once they have been practiced and rehearsed. Restaurant work is a great place to be able to try new things and refine your routines.

I aproached my post a little bit too quickily.

I should mention that I don't approach people with my cards out ( I used to), I try to establish rapport before even doing the first trick.

Besides, in my opinion there are a lot of factors playing in here, like the age, the venue, the time of the day.... I mean, I might try it in the street with people around my age, because for the gigs I have and the kind of venues I work in, those are the kind of audience I have.

You can't be afraid to try new things in your show once they have been practiced and rehearsed.

Good point.

Anyway, what is rapport? We throw the word like candy this days (specially me). To me once you have rapport, you have it, the empathy is there, the trust is there, and the relation to the people is there. I understand trying to making the "rapport" grow during the performance for certain effects that involve a more indepth connection with the spec, but as I said, so far for the tricks and routines I have worked on it works for me.

BTW, I agree with steerpike about gaining rapport quickly, being in a Restaurant is one thing, People already know what you are doing and you already know what they are doing.

People in the street are busy, you never know where they are headed, if they don't have time.... Among other things, tha's why I totally agree that being able to stablishing rapport really quickly is something that we all must practice and get to know how it is done.

I believe that "hit and run" also helps one to improve this kind of things.

 

[AndrewJ]

I'll admit openly again: I'm the creepy uncle who only performs in the confines of the monthly magic club meeting, or to keep my kids entertained, or occasionally at a birthday party.

Still, I find the use of a video camera in my practice to be invaluable. If my hands are doing everything they need to do buy my eyes are glazed over and my jaw goes slack then I can see with no small amount of confidence that the performance needs a lot of work.

Even when everything goes well, it gives me a chance to review different ideas. Patter that looks good in theory can have no rhythm in performance. Then when I do get up in front of people, I can at least try to balance out the pacing and the secret moves.

Practice videos are only so that I can watch myself, or run something past my magician brother. They get archived into really small Xvid files and shoved into a dark corner of my hard drive. Once I have torn the performance apart, they never see the light of day again.

They are also shot from a distance, where I'm seen from at least the waist up. Granted, I'm doing ropes or silks or linking rings these days, so I can have that distance from the camera.

Rhythm in all things is important to me, personally. Rehearsing with an eye toward the performance and its rhythm are a necessary part of my practice routine.

 

[KeenanO]

smart magic

Dude, all I can say is that I think smart magic is better magic, which means the more you're are focusing on a trick while you're performing, the better it will turn out. If you're being mindless, magic becomes almost less magical. I think magic should be in the performers mind just as much as it is in the spectators. Also, I've found that the only times that I have screwed a trick up is when i think i can do it without thinking. I hate to disagree with your statements, but it's just my opinion.

 

[Justin.Morris]

Anyway, what is rapport? We throw the word like candy this days (specially me). To me once you have rapport, you have it, the empathy is there, the trust is there, and the relation to the people is there. I understand trying to making the "rapport" grow during the performance for certain effects that involve a more indepth connection with the spec, but as I said, so far for the tricks and routines I have worked on it works for me.

BTW, I agree with steerpike about gaining rapport quickly, being in a Restaurant is one thing, People already know what you are doing and you already know what they are doing.

People in the street are busy, you never know where they are headed, if they don't have time.... Among other things, tha's why I totally agree that being able to stablishing rapport really quickly is something that we all must practice and get to know how it is done.

I believe that "hit and run" also helps one to improve this kind of things.

Of course your first impression is very important, but your rapport with people does not end after the first ten seconds. You continue to build that relationship as the show goes on -right up until the words you leave with.
So if you want to practice your closer, you have a very different relationship with an audience after six routines than after ten seconds. Each effect builds into the next, and the audience-performer relationship continues to build. It is this relationship that makes your magic more effective in terms of it being entertaining and effective. (Imagine the difference of walking up to someone, chatting for a few seconds, then doing Control, vs, chatting for a few seconds, then doing some routines that demonstrate mastery over your body and the universe around you, and then doing Control. I guarantee the response and presentation will be WAY different. Yes you can still execute the effect, with a 'hit and run', but you won't be rehearsing your routine properly, and like you said, it's like practicing the wrong way and may not produce the desired results.
(I do agree that walk around/street magic/restaurant magic is a great way to work on establishing rapport)

Now where I would see the 'exception' is if you were referring to your walk around routines. Sure the street would be a fine place to practice the routine (in it's entirety), because the setting is similar to a paid setting.