Repertoire Building

Nov 6, 2010
23
0
India
well i m new to the forums and like what do u mean when u say u have a reptoire

how many feats shud u keep in your reptoire
keeping the same kind of feats eg:- tenkai pennies + 3 coins across + 3 fly keep 1 or keep all
how to order them out
what do u mean by openers and closers
 
Aug 17, 2010
411
4
Repertoire means how many tricks you know. A catalogue of tricks.

Openers are just that - tricks that are good to open with. Closers are good ones to end on. Some tricks play better at certain spots in your set.

If it helps at all, I have 76 tricks listed on the Excel spreadsheet I keep track of these with, but my busking show is five tricks. One coin routine is the opener, Cups and balls is the closer.

Were you asking about routining a show? If so, what kind of performance is it you're interested in?
 
Nov 6, 2010
23
0
India
Repertoire means how many tricks you know. A catalogue of tricks.

Openers are just that - tricks that are good to open with. Closers are good ones to end on. Some tricks play better at certain spots in your set.

If it helps at all, I have 76 tricks listed on the Excel spreadsheet I keep track of these with, but my busking show is five tricks. One coin routine is the opener, Cups and balls is the closer.

Were you asking about routining a show? If so, what kind of performance is it you're interested in?


how do u get to know which is a opener and closer .and as jbutterfeild said 76 feats how many do u actually show what about the others

and yes about routining not your show but u yourself
 
Jun 6, 2010
796
0
Nashville, TN
how do u get to know which is a opener and closer .and as jbutterfeild said 76 feats how many do u actually show what about the others

You only show about 5 tricks, you could have 100 and you would still pick about 5. And to find out what should be the opener and closer, you could just think about the tricks you'll use, which are good enough to start with, which are good enough to keep the show going, and which is strong enough to end with.
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,182
119
31
Houston, TX
Well, as an example, one of my openers is Blindsided, simply because it requires a set up. Most of the time, though, you don't want a long, drawn out trick to be your opener. You want something quick, and visual. I remember Jay Sankey on one of his DVD's showed a trick that he said he liked as an opener...walk up to a table and pick up a quarter off the floor and ask if it belongs to anyone. Then, he changes it into a half dollar, and then into a chinese coin, and then into something else. Very visual and very quick!
 
Aug 17, 2010
411
4
The best openers are quick and visual. You don't want to bore them; you have to establish that you're good, and that you do professional - level magic right away. They don't want to see Uncle Ted fumble his way through the 21 Card Trick at Thanksgiving. You don't want to bore people off the bat with "shuffle the cards. Now cut them into three piles. Now take one pile and count off five cards..." This may work in the middle of the set, but only after they know you're worth watching. You have to show them the magic right away. I start with "watch the coin" and it vanishes that quickly. The first bit of magic they see is within two seconds.

The closer should be the strongest trick you do. The biggest, most incredible thing you do is what you end on.

The stuff in the middle should be good, strong magic, should build toward the finale, and has to keep people interested until you're finished.

Also, different venues have different requirements - for table-hopping, I wouldn't do my busking set.

My busking set is five tricks. My platform set is four. For table-hopping or strolling, maybe nine. So that's 18 tricks. The rest I like to do just to keep my interest in magic high. Who knows, maybe someday they make it into a set.
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,182
119
31
Houston, TX
The best openers are quick and visual. You don't want to bore them; you have to establish that you're good, and that you do professional - level magic right away. They don't want to see Uncle Ted fumble his way through the 21 Card Trick at Thanksgiving. You don't want to bore people off the bat with "shuffle the cards. Now cut them into three piles. Now take one pile and count off five cards..." This may work in the middle of the set, but only after they know you're worth watching. You have to show them the magic right away. I start with "watch the coin" and it vanishes that quickly. The first bit of magic they see is within two seconds.

The closer should be the strongest trick you do. The biggest, most incredible thing you do is what you end on.

The stuff in the middle should be good, strong magic, should build toward the finale, and has to keep people interested until you're finished.

Also, different venues have different requirements - for table-hopping, I wouldn't do my busking set.

My busking set is five tricks. My platform set is four. For table-hopping or strolling, maybe nine. So that's 18 tricks. The rest I like to do just to keep my interest in magic high. Who knows, maybe someday they make it into a set.

This brings up another question. How do you know what tricks are good to put into your set? How do you transition from one effect to another?
 
Jul 13, 2010
526
34
A trick may work well for others, but doesn´t work for you, or vice versa.
It depends on your character, the theme of your act, the structure etc.
Try out what works for the audience. The best feedback you´ll ever get is from the audience. Take notes about why something works/doesn´t work for you. Just because you like a trick doesn´t mean it should be included in your repertoire (something I´ve done wrong several times).
I suggest reading Strong Magic for more information about building your act and repertoire.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Aug 17, 2010
411
4
Good advice. The same trick kills for some people, and dies for others.

As for transitions, it's all about preparation - if you have a set show, then you know when you'll have to switch props. You can plan some dialogue to keep from fumbling for words, and you can plan where props go to avoid searching all your pockets frantically for something.
 
Sep 1, 2007
1,395
8
37
Belgrade, Serbia
Here's a brief guide I wrote to repertoire design. Perhaps that will help.

Happy Magic

Great thread there Mat, real quality read. Now all we need to do is apply it.

Now, I would also like to add something to the routining of your magic. Imagine this scenario: Magician approach the group of people, introduce himself, everything is going nicely, than he reaches into his pocket, take out a deck of cards, and perform some card transposition effect, put the cards back in the box, and than he put's the box back in his pocket. Now it all sounds nice, but not as nice as it can be. Why would you reach into your pocket and physically take a deck of cards, and then do transposition effect? If you can already do transpositions, changes, vanishes, appearances etc. why would you take a deck out of your pocket?
Why don't you produce the deck out of nowhere, and than vanish the deck at the end?
I think that also gives a lot to the magic itself. If you need to reach into your pocket to take the deck out (hmmm penis joke on the horizon?), and than do magic, it will look more like you are doing just tricks. But if you make the deck appear out of nowhere, and than vanish it, than the WHOLE performance looks more magical.

So think about adding appearances and vanishes at the beginning, and the end of every routine. Or make the cards change into four coins at the end of your card trick, and continue with coin effect, and then vanish all coins one by one, and walk off clean.

That is why I will start doing, and putting into my routines, because it just looks magical.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Searching...
{[{ searchResultsCount }]} Results