What I have learned on my first 10 months in card magic...

hi guys, just want to share my story and nothing important here.

im new in card magic and i got interest on it when i saw a young girl doing a card florish (fanning card). then after that scene, i grab a deck and i start practicing some basic card handling by the help of instructional videos that i have.

what i have learned on my 10 months in card magic?

cuts: charlier cut, butterfly cut, swing cut

2 basic false cut : i forgot the title of those cut but its the basic false cut for beginner

5 way of forcing a card: forcing card by method of overhand shuffling, hindu shuffle, slip cut, glide version 1&2, and i forgot the name but i think its a basic that even beginner can do it quickly.

tricks: ACR (my own version, no double lift), quick triumph, do as i do, chicago opener, twins.

Florish: fanning, table spread, two hand fanning, i forgot the name of the other one but it use a 4 pack of the deck and ive seen it on XCM vol 1 dvd.


overall conclusion of my testing ground:

tricks was executed nicely and good but angles may need a bit improvement.

what do you think guys? Did i have a future on it?
comments please.
 
Nov 20, 2007
4,410
6
Sydney, Australia
Do you enjoy it? If you do, then I think you certainly have a future in it. It takes a while for someone to "learn the ropes", so to speak, but that's ok - that's normal. It took me about two years to really start getting more comfortable in the magic community.

Angles are just a matter of knowing what the angles are - and managing your spectators accordingly. It's difficult, but it will come in time, as will many other things.

Obviously I don't know you, but it sounds like you're coming along just fine. Keep it up as long as you enjoy it, don't forget to perform, and read everything you can if you're interested. Read not just about tricks - but read about presentation. Read about what magic means, and how to present and create magic - not just tricks and sleights and flourishes - it will help you in the long run.

I'll finish with a quote from Max Maven, that I was just reminded of in another thread. "Tricks are about objects. Magic is about life."
 
thanks, praetoritevong...

according to my spectator, tricks work well but they always say that they caught me on how i manipulate the card.

In addition, im also lack with misdirection technique. when my spectator see what i do or manipulate/execute the trick, i cant stop my self from laughing which it make me obvious with it. what should i do?

any advice on how to handle diverse or misdirect if ever spectator start to investigate and questioned your move?
 
Nov 20, 2007
4,410
6
Sydney, Australia
thanks, praetoritevong...

according to my spectator, tricks work well but they always say that they caught me on how i manipulate the card.

In addition, im also lack with misdirection technique. when my spectator see what i do or manipulate/execute the trick, i cant stop my self from laughing which it make me obvious with it. what should i do?

any advice on how to handle diverse or misdirect if ever spectator start to investigate and questioned your move?

Sure, no worries.



To your first comment, the first thing that comes to mind is that you should probably practice more, if you are always being caught whilst performing sleight of hand. The beauty of magic is in its impossibility, and so if your spectators can point to your performance and say "that was sleight of hand", then it loses the impossibility. So, you really need to make sure, before you go out and perform something, that you can perform it perfectly. Really practice the sleights until you can do them well.

There's not much more advice I can really think of to give you, except to make sure that you keep practicing at home, and make sure that you can perform it well enough so that you don't break the illusion. I mean, don't get me wrong - everyone makes a mistake every once in a while, no matter how good you are. But, if you're always getting caught, then that means you need to practice more. Think about why you got caught. What were you doing? Practice those moves. Film yourself practicing. Practice in front of a mirror to check - but don't practice in front of a mirror only, or you'll get used to having a mirror there. If you perform in front of a mirror, then spend at least as much time performing to a wall.



As far as misdirection goes... I think the first thing to do is what I said above. Misdirection is a difficult thing to get right, that comes in time with performances and experience. Over time, you'll begin to develop in this area. There are many different types and ways to misdirect. For example, many magic tricks have "built in" misdirection - the way the trick is done means that sleights have natural misdirection. This is something that is hard to teach, but that will become more natural to you in time. Make sure you read as much as you can, to see examples of how different people approach this problem. That will be more effective for you than anyone simply listing some ideas.

However, to get you started, I'll give you a simple idea. If you look at someone's face whilst talking to them, they will look back at you. We are trained to do this because of social etiquette. Use the moment that they look up at you to perform the sleight. This is a very basic example, and there are lot more than I could ever put into words. But take this basic idea, and you'll find many ways of doing this yourself.



As far as if you are questioned or caught... Once again, the best cure is prevention. Avoid the situation if you can. But, once in that situation... Well, there's not really one thing you can do. Sometimes, you can improvise. If for example you are caught with a double lift, you can always use the KM Move. If you undeniably mess up, sometimes the only way out is to admit it and move on. Sometimes, you can improvise, and still finish the trick positively. But to be honest, if someone catches you on a sleight, or starts questioning it, you just have to roll with it. It's another question of experience. It's another place too where knowledge will help. The more you know about magic, the more sleights you know, the more you will be able to improvise out of a situation like this. Again - read as much as you can. And if you do get caught, or questioned - it means you need to go home and practice that part some more.
 
Jul 8, 2009
102
2
It defintely sounds like you are getting the mechanics down and should keep working on it. What I have learned over time is presentation is everything (if you get the mechaniscs down). It is the difference between that was "nice" and "how in the world did you do that---6 months later. I tried something on my wife yesterday who is quite jaded by now. It didn't work out so I just improvised with some ideas I have regarding mentally thinking of a card---what I did for her just used a key card. Very very basic. But I built up the presentation (it was a presentation I had been thinking about using for a different effect but had not used yet)---she literally begged me the rest of the day to tell her how I did it. I had to laugh because I have shown her some true miracles (in my mind) and did not get this reaction. I realized it was all due to the presentation.

Bob Cassidy has some very good advice about presentation in his Fundamentals ebook. Most of all--practice it. Don't just get the mechanics down and say "I'll wing the presentation". Good luck!
 
what i have learned after 3 years/almost 4 years of magic is that you need to PRACTICE if you are going to perform. i practice some of my rough material for my parents because i dont need to impress them much and they'll tell me where i flash and help me fix that. but if i go out into a public area and do magic i only do the magic that i have practiced and practiced so i dont mess it up.
so what you need to do next time you learn a trick (and right now for that fact) is to practice! and try to only find a few tricks that you really like and work on those, dont over do yourself with your tricks. just find some you really like and do that.
if i could go back and change anything, is to practice more and perform (in the beggining) less, so when i did perform, i would have everything down close to perfect!

but congrats and i hope you continue growing and improving!
 
thanks, man! Yup, i think i need more practice.

anyway, im just new to magic world so its normal to make a mistake at first. thanks. all your advices give me an inspiration to practice more and improve my sleights of hands and tricks.

thanks!
 
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