I am a young magician and I LOVE magic just as much as the next aspiring magician, but I feel my magic is just okay. Sure, The Invisble Deck is cool, two card monte is pretty okay, but I crave bigger and better. My family is pretty poor so we can't spare an extra 15-30 dollars for a single trick, but I want to level up so badly. Any advice? Impressive tricks? Websites?
Taking Magic to the next level (on tight budget)
- Thread starter 15th_Chord
- Start date
Many magic websites have free tricks. I know that T11, Ellusionist and Penguin have free tricks and Vanishing has free downloads.
But your best bet is public libraries. Most libraries have magic books you can borrow and read for free. I tend to think that books are the best way to learn magic.
If you do have money to spend, books are the best value. For around $55 you could get a basic magic library consisting of the following books which would, in my opinion, be worth more than $550 worth of downloads:
Mark Wilson's Complete Course ($15) or Joshua Jay's Course in Magic ($15)
Royal Road to Card Magic ($10)
Hugged & Braue's Expert Card Technique ($12)
BoBo's Modern Coin Magic ($8)
Fulves's Self Working Mentalism($8) or Practical Mental Magic ($10)
But your best bet is public libraries. Most libraries have magic books you can borrow and read for free. I tend to think that books are the best way to learn magic.
If you do have money to spend, books are the best value. For around $55 you could get a basic magic library consisting of the following books which would, in my opinion, be worth more than $550 worth of downloads:
Mark Wilson's Complete Course ($15) or Joshua Jay's Course in Magic ($15)
Royal Road to Card Magic ($10)
Hugged & Braue's Expert Card Technique ($12)
BoBo's Modern Coin Magic ($8)
Fulves's Self Working Mentalism($8) or Practical Mental Magic ($10)
Hi, I definitely agree with that books are the way to go, another way to get free magic is askalexander.com, they offer a free membership (doesn't end), and you get access to TONS of old magic magazines, here you will be able to get a good foundation.
I believe that it all comes down to presentation to make your magic seem A - level. Talking from experience as someone who can't afford DVD's and Gimmicks.
Magic tricks are for the audience's amusement, hence in order to get the best results you've got to get funny and enjoy as well. As they say, Enjoy the process. Don't pressurize yourself for the perfect output.
You do not need to be funny to "get the best results". Magic doesn't have to be silly or even comedic. My performances are not funny - they do have humor in them, but overall they are fairly somber affairs.
Personally, if all I do is make my audience laugh then I have probably failed at my goals. I look to create powerful emotional experiences for the audience and really make them think about things.
Making a world class performance can be done for free. The list of books RealityOne provided is excellent but really, if you pick one trick and just work at it and develop a meaningful presentation for it. Or even one prop. I remembering reading about this guy who was doing a walk around gig. A patron came up to him between performances and asked to show him the trick he (The patron) knew - and then proceeded to blow this magician's mind with the best thimble work he had ever seen. The patron had played with this thimble stuff for 40 years. It was the one thing he did - he knew no other magic at all.
Personally I have focused on a few select effects (Note- effect, not method or trick) and have really worked on how to make those powerful. I would like to think I have succeeded.
I think that being poor can be a major advantage in magic - because it forces you to make the most out of every purchase. It's much harder to simply fall into the habit of collecting methods if you can't afford the newest shiniest products. But like Daniel Garcia, who's family could only afford 1 volume of Tarbell a year, when you're poor you have to study that material thoroughly.
Instead of buying a single trick for $15-$30 dollars, get a book. Ton of effects, many of them are better than DVD releases anyway.
I'd reccomend: Royal Road, Expert Card Technique, Encyclopaedia of Card Tricks, Expert at the Card Table, BoBo's Modern Coin Magic, 13 Steps to Mentalism. Not all the material in these is for beginners, but the majority is fairly easy to pull off.
I'd reccomend: Royal Road, Expert Card Technique, Encyclopaedia of Card Tricks, Expert at the Card Table, BoBo's Modern Coin Magic, 13 Steps to Mentalism. Not all the material in these is for beginners, but the majority is fairly easy to pull off.