Hey guys, here's a thread I posted back in December on Decknique.
I was motivated to write this after attempting to respond about someone needing help with Pandora. There are countless threads asking for help with Pandora, kryptonite, pressure fans etc.
Don't get me wrong, I am in no way trying to attack the people that ask these questions. I get it. Learning the concepts taught in the Trilogy are extremely difficult to learn the first time you see them. Jerry Cestkowski is just so ridiculously good at fanning that it can make learning from him frustrating.
For all of you out there looking for help with a new and difficult flourish you're learning, I would like to tell you, there is absolutely no way people here on the forums can help you any better than the DVDs you buy besides giving you a few PRACTICE tips.
The simple fact is, to get a flourish down, you need to practice your ass off. Do it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Re watch the explanations from the DVDs. Eventually, after practicing a move for SO long, your hands will say "OOH that's what I'm supposed to do, I get it."
All the advice in the world from the expert card flourishers here can not match up to cold, hard, down and dirty repetition and practice.
At first, I could not figure out for the life of me how the first phase of Pandora could be accomplished. "Can anyone besides the Bucks actually do this?" One day, after an intense practice session, my fingers started to move with the cards, and I could get it down without dropping anything. Now, 4 long months after that practice session, I can get the whole cut down pretty smoothly.
The same goes for the pressure fan. I got to the point where I thought that there was no way I was ever going to be able to get this fan down. "I'll never be as good as these people I see on youtube." Then eventually, after snapping three decks of cards in half from practicing*, I was able to make the go all the way around. Now about 2 months later, I can give pretty much any deck a nice, decent pressure fan.
TIME is such a key factor here. Advice from a forum member is not going to get you to learn the move any faster. It takes TIME for your fingers to get used to certain movements. You need to spend TIME practicing. If you're serious about learning the move(s), then the only way you're going to get them is to sit on your couch or your bed, and let your hands do the work.
Now let's be honest, I'm not the greatest flourisher out there. Heck I've only been into it for about a year. I got my first copy of XB about a year ago. Sure I can to a Heaven Display and a Cobra cut, but I probably wouldn't make it very far in the XCM tournament. But I understand the process necessary to acheive your goals in Magic and Flourishing.
So I hope some of you less experienced flourishers/magicians out there read this and think more about all those sleights and flourishes that you are having trouble with. Maybe some more experienced ones too.
The same information goes to magicians out there trying to learn the clipshift or some other difficult sleight.
Like I said, I get it. I was there. We all were there. De'vo was there, Dan and Dave were there.
I wish all of you out there just getting started in your magic/cardistry career the best of luck in your travels.
peace
-Kevin
I was motivated to write this after attempting to respond about someone needing help with Pandora. There are countless threads asking for help with Pandora, kryptonite, pressure fans etc.
Don't get me wrong, I am in no way trying to attack the people that ask these questions. I get it. Learning the concepts taught in the Trilogy are extremely difficult to learn the first time you see them. Jerry Cestkowski is just so ridiculously good at fanning that it can make learning from him frustrating.
For all of you out there looking for help with a new and difficult flourish you're learning, I would like to tell you, there is absolutely no way people here on the forums can help you any better than the DVDs you buy besides giving you a few PRACTICE tips.
The simple fact is, to get a flourish down, you need to practice your ass off. Do it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Re watch the explanations from the DVDs. Eventually, after practicing a move for SO long, your hands will say "OOH that's what I'm supposed to do, I get it."
All the advice in the world from the expert card flourishers here can not match up to cold, hard, down and dirty repetition and practice.
At first, I could not figure out for the life of me how the first phase of Pandora could be accomplished. "Can anyone besides the Bucks actually do this?" One day, after an intense practice session, my fingers started to move with the cards, and I could get it down without dropping anything. Now, 4 long months after that practice session, I can get the whole cut down pretty smoothly.
The same goes for the pressure fan. I got to the point where I thought that there was no way I was ever going to be able to get this fan down. "I'll never be as good as these people I see on youtube." Then eventually, after snapping three decks of cards in half from practicing*, I was able to make the go all the way around. Now about 2 months later, I can give pretty much any deck a nice, decent pressure fan.
TIME is such a key factor here. Advice from a forum member is not going to get you to learn the move any faster. It takes TIME for your fingers to get used to certain movements. You need to spend TIME practicing. If you're serious about learning the move(s), then the only way you're going to get them is to sit on your couch or your bed, and let your hands do the work.
Now let's be honest, I'm not the greatest flourisher out there. Heck I've only been into it for about a year. I got my first copy of XB about a year ago. Sure I can to a Heaven Display and a Cobra cut, but I probably wouldn't make it very far in the XCM tournament. But I understand the process necessary to acheive your goals in Magic and Flourishing.
So I hope some of you less experienced flourishers/magicians out there read this and think more about all those sleights and flourishes that you are having trouble with. Maybe some more experienced ones too.
The same information goes to magicians out there trying to learn the clipshift or some other difficult sleight.
Like I said, I get it. I was there. We all were there. De'vo was there, Dan and Dave were there.
I wish all of you out there just getting started in your magic/cardistry career the best of luck in your travels.
peace
-Kevin
