Luis : "Focus on your magic." Sounds like Yigal Mesika on his Tarantula dvd. Struck me as funny. I perform for my friends a lot. But I haven't really done much performing for people that aren't strangers. I remember when I was like 12 or 13 I did magic for a stranger and had no thought about fear in asking or performing. It was a real easy card stab with a ball point pen with her signed card and the women freaked out. I don't know what happened from the time I was 13 till now was I'm 18. It was like I was so excited to show people magic and didn't care about fear. I still feel excited but fear has planted a spot by the excitement and is whispering to "excitement" about how people will see thru the effect and that they'll think that the performance sucked.
Quitting?
- Thread starter JD
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There's a difference between doing a trick for someone, and performing for someone.
The latter takes time, dedication, thought, carefully selected material, presentation, and patter. As you grow as a magician you begin to learn that magic isn't just about the latest card trick. You start to develop yourself, and stretch your boundaries. It's then you begin to realize just how much work goes into it.
It's a natural fear to have, being that after all that blood, sweat, time, effort, and money you've invested in your art to be afraid of sucking and blowing it all away.
Instead of asking yourself: "What if I'm not that good?" try asking: "What if I am?"
The latter takes time, dedication, thought, carefully selected material, presentation, and patter. As you grow as a magician you begin to learn that magic isn't just about the latest card trick. You start to develop yourself, and stretch your boundaries. It's then you begin to realize just how much work goes into it.
It's a natural fear to have, being that after all that blood, sweat, time, effort, and money you've invested in your art to be afraid of sucking and blowing it all away.
Instead of asking yourself: "What if I'm not that good?" try asking: "What if I am?"
I know there's a difference. I think about that all the time. It's not like I just started magic Draven. This is just a roadblock I guess. If I can't bring myself to perform I could just create. I think I have a knack for that.
Now that you mentioned it...I think that`s why that phrase was in my head...anyway "focus on your magic"
I really can`t stress you enough to perform..in fact..you have inspired me to create a thread to overcome the fear of performing...check it out later..
Take a six-month hiatus, after six months, watch good magic performances on Youtube, TV, or even better, live. After say, a week or two of watching good magic, start practicing again, but stay away from magic-related chat rooms and forums (theory11, magiccafe, ellusionist, exomagic etc.) After you're sure you've perfected 4-5 effects, begin performing them, and work on getting rid of nerves, after that, just decide if you want to continue magic, or if it's just not for you.
I will be taking a hiatus from magic as well soon.
I will be taking a hiatus from magic as well soon.
Ya I quit for a couple of months. Sometimes you need a break. Take one, you'll come back refreshed in the end. Now I feel better than ever and my magic career has doors and opportunities FLYING open now.
i have felt like this a lot sometimes... probably because i am pretty bad at "performing" too. But its alright
And you have to do your best to get through the fear of sucking sooner than later, because if you don't now, you never will. I know another magician that had that issue...2 years later..he still has it. because he never went out to take that chance. dont let that happen to you. Theres going to be many more of these barriers in magic to break through and you can't just give up with something you love that easily. It may not be fun now because of that fear..but dont give up. Once you hear someone tell you how great you are, you wont have to worry for the next time, as long as u remember that moment.
That was rehearsal and practice is for. If you do it properly enough times to where you are sick of hearing yourself say the lines, do the moves and all that. You'll eventually get to a point where performing will be natural. Right now you are probably just nervous because you spent a little time here and a little time there learning a new effect. So your nerves are asking you if you are ready. If you had it down pat, then you would say "Yeah, I am ready."
Also you need to think "What is the worst that could happen?" So you screw up a minor card effect. Maybe find the wrong card, or get caught doing this or that move. So what, people will most likely forget it about if you act like it's nothing. You screw up, you move on, and that's pretty much it.
It's not like you are trying to escape from a straight jacket hanging over a tank full of electric eels and sharks, and if you screw it up. You end up accidentally killing yourself.
Also you need to think "What is the worst that could happen?" So you screw up a minor card effect. Maybe find the wrong card, or get caught doing this or that move. So what, people will most likely forget it about if you act like it's nothing. You screw up, you move on, and that's pretty much it.
It's not like you are trying to escape from a straight jacket hanging over a tank full of electric eels and sharks, and if you screw it up. You end up accidentally killing yourself.
I think that you need to search the heart of the One who made you, pretty sure He can guide you in what is right better than any of us could. I really don't want to go into extreme detail here, cause somebody will start an argument to detract from your original question.
if you want to know about a Love that can give you confidence that every step you take is the right one. PM me.
personally i have taken a break from magic in the past, every time i come back with a passion that i knew when i started.
if you want to know about a Love that can give you confidence that every step you take is the right one. PM me.
personally i have taken a break from magic in the past, every time i come back with a passion that i knew when i started.
Umm thing is I don't spend a little time here or there. I practice what I like over and over and over again. It's different in front of a mirror than in person, of course. Thing is, I might have screwed up one time out of all the times I've performed for my friends. You guys seem to have seen that I wrote that I perform very little and that's not true. I perform at school all the time. I just haven't ever tried to get hired for a gig until recently when my hair stylist told me to come perform for their salon. I've had people tell me that I'm really good but the nerves and fear of just being a "tricky guy" instead of someone who instills wonder makes me feel pretty sucky.
You're the only one who has so far. Let's stop this now.
J.Slade,
Absolutely, fear is a massive roadblock. You know, the feeling was strange for me - I have over a decade's experience performing in theatre as an actor. Over this time, I still get nerves, I can still feel the nervousness... But I rarely get any severe physical side effects - I no longer feel sick. I rarely shake. I rarely feel my heart beating like it's going to pop out. I still get nervous, of course. I feel my brain lighting up and being active. I feel everything charging with energy. Nervousness is good - it gives you energy, and makes you alert.
And then I started performing magic. And it was like I was back to square one. I started shaking. I could barely get a word out - and I'm a good public speaker - and it was frustrating! It really is...
This time last year, there was a period where I got so annoyed at myself, I essentially forced myself to perform every time I was with friends. I forced myself to do it, and once those words are out there - you can't take them back. It's like being thrust out on stage again.
See, the beautiful thing about being on stage is that you get nervous beforehand, but once you actually get thrust out there - you have no time for that. You have no time to think about nervousness. All you do is take a deep breath, and you just have to do it - and you do. You don't feel nervous, there's an amazing energy, and all you have time to do is to think about what's happening, and you just do it.
Based on my experience, there are three courses of action I would suggest taking.
First, practice. Practice until you could do it even if your hands were shaking from an earthquake. Ingrain it so solidly in your mind. That's the point of acting - you rehearse and rehearse it so well that you can jump on stage, and while the lights are on you, everyone's watching, in that one beautiful split second, despite being nervous as all hell, you can forget about it, and just perform. There's not time, as I mentioned, for nerves, on stage - no time to think about it. It's a flurry of energy, of action - you just do it. No time to do anything else.
Second, gather knowledge. There are many professionals who will give you advice about performing. How to approach strangers. How to work professionally. This sort of thing. With knowledge, you gain confidence. Another short anecdote, if I may: a few months ago, I performed in a play in which I had a 5 minute, six page monologue. The thing was ginormous. It was the biggest chunk of monologue I've ever had in my life. My God, I loved that thing. But holy crap, was it challenging! I had a moment where, a month out from a show, (we were working on a very tight schedule) I thought, there's no way I can do all this. I have this gigantic monologue - and then the last twenty minutes of the play is me with another actress, speaking - we just have a duologue for the last 20 minutes of the play, we have all the lines, and I have no idea what I'm going to do because I don't know those lines at all yet! But eventually, I got it down. I realised that I could do it. I did do it. And that knowledge is inspiring. Knowing that I had that in my head was exciting, and confidence boosting. Knowledge helps to prepare you, and it changes your attitude.
Third, and most importantly, jump. There's a line in my favourite play, which says "I'm your stranger... JUMP." Well, at a stretch, performance is your stranger. No amount of advice will help you if you don't jump. Put yourself out there (magically) - "Hey, can I show you something?" You can't back down from there. Say those words before you can stop yourself. Jump. Let the performance take over - you can't fight gravity after you've jumped, so you'll go with it.
Everyone else has said it pretty well. I also think you just need to perform more. If performing for strangers psyches you up, then it'll be what you need. If it doesn't, then maybe yeah, focus on creating.
I will say this, though. You can't judge your first few experiences with performing for strangers. It's like making pancakes, the first few are going to get a little messed up as you figure out exactly how the pan is behaving and the mixture of ingredients in the batter, etc. Your first performance of magic for strangers, probably just ignore that. You might do great, you might bomb. Doesn't matter, it's not a pattern yet.
After a few, you see patterns emerge. Then you correct as necessary and continue. It's a continual process of refinement, starting at pure crap and ending at pure gold.
So go at it!
Or don't. It's really your decision ultimately.
I will say this, though. You can't judge your first few experiences with performing for strangers. It's like making pancakes, the first few are going to get a little messed up as you figure out exactly how the pan is behaving and the mixture of ingredients in the batter, etc. Your first performance of magic for strangers, probably just ignore that. You might do great, you might bomb. Doesn't matter, it's not a pattern yet.
After a few, you see patterns emerge. Then you correct as necessary and continue. It's a continual process of refinement, starting at pure crap and ending at pure gold.
So go at it!
Or don't. It's really your decision ultimately.