I am currently going through a process of change, and when I say change, I mean total change, out with the old and in with the new. Now how do you go through this change? What steps must you take to go from a struggling performer to a superb performer. I am in no way saying that I'm a superb performer, not yet, not even close, but I'm going to share with you some steps that I have taken to help me on my way to becoming the performer that I long to be.
First, you must KNOW that you need a change, ask yourself if your performance and presentation is up to par with what you want it to be. You should know if your performances aren't what they should be. It took me a long time to finally tell myself I need a change, and to be honest, I needed a good kick in the butt to finally realize I needed one. And let me tell you, it's SO MUCH better when you finally admit to yourself that you need a change, denying the fact will just render your magic useless.
Secondly, STOP looking at the latest products, or any other new tricks. Go ahead and pick up a book on presentation and showmanship, because without these skills, performing new tricks would be like driving impaired... REALLY impaired. But remember, not all presentation skills can be learned in a book, most of it is learned through getting out and performing. Getting street smarts for your street magic. Knowledge comes from experience.
Look at all of the magic you have now, it's enough to last you a LONG time. You don't need hundreds upon hundreds of tricks to be a great magician, you need a few, and a few tricks with superb presentation makes all the difference. I haven't bought a single magic trick myself for 4 months, I've been reading books on things that will truly help my magic in the future. I have enough tricks to last me a LONG time. You have to sit down with two or three tricks, and work on those, ONLY those, and don't just work on the execution of sleights, work with presentation.
Now for actually perfecting sleights, for a while, to help with your presentation and performance, practice TWO sleights, the sleights that you will be using the most, I practiced my double lift and my pass the most. This helped me immensly because I had more time to concentrate on performance and presentation. What I also realized was that those two sleights were all I needed, I noticed that all of the other sleights I was practicing were useless because they weren't utilized in ANY of the tricks I performed on a regular basis. Now you will also want to practice ONE force, there's no need to pracitce 3 forces because in reality you only need one. Whether it be the Classic force, the Slip force, the Riffle force, it doesn't matter, it just has to be ONE of them... and ONLY ONE.
One last thing that helped me a lot was me going to where I store my magic with a box, and putting all of the magic that I will NEVER use in that box. Now you can't have any seconds thoughts here. You have to put the tricks/DVD's that you have NEVER used. Because you really want to work on tricks that you have been performing before and that you are already used to. Learning new tricks will only bring you back to where you started. I have a box in my basement FULL of tricks, DVD's and books that I don't use, and not only does it reduce my work load, but my closet is now a LOT tidier. I've written before and I'll stress it again, that organization is KEY for a magician to know what he's doing.
I have already noticed a drastic change in my performing style and showmanship, and I hope that some of you will take these tips seriously to try and improve their magic.
Mitchell
First, you must KNOW that you need a change, ask yourself if your performance and presentation is up to par with what you want it to be. You should know if your performances aren't what they should be. It took me a long time to finally tell myself I need a change, and to be honest, I needed a good kick in the butt to finally realize I needed one. And let me tell you, it's SO MUCH better when you finally admit to yourself that you need a change, denying the fact will just render your magic useless.
Secondly, STOP looking at the latest products, or any other new tricks. Go ahead and pick up a book on presentation and showmanship, because without these skills, performing new tricks would be like driving impaired... REALLY impaired. But remember, not all presentation skills can be learned in a book, most of it is learned through getting out and performing. Getting street smarts for your street magic. Knowledge comes from experience.
Look at all of the magic you have now, it's enough to last you a LONG time. You don't need hundreds upon hundreds of tricks to be a great magician, you need a few, and a few tricks with superb presentation makes all the difference. I haven't bought a single magic trick myself for 4 months, I've been reading books on things that will truly help my magic in the future. I have enough tricks to last me a LONG time. You have to sit down with two or three tricks, and work on those, ONLY those, and don't just work on the execution of sleights, work with presentation.
Now for actually perfecting sleights, for a while, to help with your presentation and performance, practice TWO sleights, the sleights that you will be using the most, I practiced my double lift and my pass the most. This helped me immensly because I had more time to concentrate on performance and presentation. What I also realized was that those two sleights were all I needed, I noticed that all of the other sleights I was practicing were useless because they weren't utilized in ANY of the tricks I performed on a regular basis. Now you will also want to practice ONE force, there's no need to pracitce 3 forces because in reality you only need one. Whether it be the Classic force, the Slip force, the Riffle force, it doesn't matter, it just has to be ONE of them... and ONLY ONE.
One last thing that helped me a lot was me going to where I store my magic with a box, and putting all of the magic that I will NEVER use in that box. Now you can't have any seconds thoughts here. You have to put the tricks/DVD's that you have NEVER used. Because you really want to work on tricks that you have been performing before and that you are already used to. Learning new tricks will only bring you back to where you started. I have a box in my basement FULL of tricks, DVD's and books that I don't use, and not only does it reduce my work load, but my closet is now a LOT tidier. I've written before and I'll stress it again, that organization is KEY for a magician to know what he's doing.
I have already noticed a drastic change in my performing style and showmanship, and I hope that some of you will take these tips seriously to try and improve their magic.
Mitchell
