What Defines "Practice?"

[Ben Long]

So, to get better at flourishing, I need to practice. What a novel idea!

My question: What is practice?

Is it simply having a deck of cards in my hands passively flourishing throughout the day?

Is it taking four to ten hours out of my day to sit down and actively go over my moves, breaking each move down into smaller pieces that I'll do over and over again until I can do each segment perfectly and then link these peices together?

Is it something in between? Does it depend on the flourish?

Take musical instruments, for instance. You can't learn to play piano by just sitting at one all day hoping music will suddenly reveal itself. You've got to go through each peice, each note, repeat them, string them together?

Is it the same with flourishing, or different?

For those of you who flourish professionally, how do you practice?

Actively or passively?

 

[JCwebs09]

i think practice is setting time aside to focus on what you are doing
and for closeup magicians i think it is hard to define since we can have a prop in our hands all day

 

[Trioxide]

I've actually been thinking about this quite a bit myself lately...

...I will admit. I don't practice as much as I should. Not nearly as much. I only have like, 5 or 6 flourishes in my arsenal and they aren't super complex either.

I have a bad habit of learning a flourish, then practicing for a day or two, then assuming its good enough and always telling myself to work on it later. (Same for books...I always read half a book and then start another one!) But I think just sitting down and doing the same flourish over and over won't have as positive of an effect as actually breaking it down and learning it move by move. And getting sections of it right, then work on putting them together.

I'd be interested to know anyone else's takes on all this though.

 

[Ben Long]

I mean, somebody should honestly release some kind of practice instruction booklet. That's what I'd like to see in some lecture notes. How the hell I practice!

 

[harapanong]

Just do it. Is it that difficult?

Okay fine... it is.

On a serious note, I don't comprehend your piano analogy. Of course you can't learn the piano by sitting at one all day - you actually have to play it! Similarly, holding a deck of cards all day isn't going to improve your flourishing much (besides practising a Mechanic's Grip) - you actually have to flourish!

Practice: Doing the correct moves with the correct methods repeatedly till mastered to 99.99% perfection. Then work you head off to fill it up to 100%. Method of practice? Your call, depends on how you like to do things.

- harapan. magic!

 

[trashmanf]

Asking what defines "practice" is about as intelligent as asking what defines "eating".

If I sit down and snack on a pocky stick and an apple slice, am I eating? What about if I go to an all you can eat buffet and engorge myself of 5000 calories worth of bacon?

obvious answer: if you are doing a move not for performance, you are practicing.

Now... the difference between practicing and training... THAT would've been a good thread to start.

 

[TheMagicalSock]

I really think that one day you were sitting on the pot thinking about what meaningless thread you can start while still making yourself look wise, like 'How do you define cards?' and 'How would you define a Sybil?'.

But seriously, man. I think practice is pretty easy to define. It's working on something that you can't completely do yet, or want to make better. It's simple. Don't overthink things.

 

[Ben Long]

Asking what defines "practice" is about as intelligent as asking what defines "eating".

If I sit down and snack on a pocky stick and an apple slice, am I eating? What about if I go to an all you can eat buffet and engorge myself of 5000 calories worth of bacon?

obvious answer: if you are doing a move not for performance, you are practicing.

Now... the difference between practicing and training... THAT would've been a good thread to start.

Let me just say, some people don't know how to practice something effectively. Some people also don't know how to eat. I've just classified to sets of people. One set will die. One set will not. Let's play a guessing game! Who will die? The guys who can't practice? Or the insane guys who think that food is a communist conspiracy?

I really think that one day you were sitting on the pot thinking about what meaningless thread you can start while still making yourself look wise, like 'How do you define cards?' and 'How would you define a Sybil?'.

But seriously, man. I think practice is pretty easy to define. It's working on something that you can't completely do yet, or want to make better. It's simple. Don't overthink things.

What? This isn't a thread meant to define practice. I happen to know what the word "practice" means (surpirse, surprise!). I'm inquiring about methods of practice. But that would be obvious if you read the actual post. Reading is power!

 

[Mr.J]

What I tend to do is start by running through all the flourishes I completly have down. I do this to warm the old fingers up and to keep the moves sharp, after that I might fan for a bit and then I do whatever I feel like.

 

[Garry A]

Well, as some people already mentioned, practice is..... practice =P
I usually just grab a deck of cards, turn on the stereo (or headphones if it's 2 am in the morning) and work on the moves and flourishes I need to work on and haven't yet mastered. Sometimes, when I'm bored or have some spare time I just grab a deck and start playing around (I'm practicing right now as I'm typing). Flourishing isn't supposed to be some sort of strict art, it's mean to be a fun hobby that you enjoy doing. As long as you're doing something productive with your cards (by productive, I mean doing cuts, fans, etc.) and having fun, you're practicing

 

[Johan S.]

When i practise flourishing i really practise. I set aside some free time and put on some music and then just really focus on the cards. But I have to say that I do see it as practise aswell if you just fiddle with the cards. I mean i always have a deck of cards in my pocket and every spare time i have i take them out and just play with them. I think it helps the muscle memory aswell. But when i start on a new Flourish i get to know the moves and then put htme together. It may take some time but the end result is worth it.
Hope this helps.