When you are a music student, you first learn to play music by learning the scales. That gives you a working foundation to which upon you will build the rest of your music theory. After you've mastered the scales you begin to learn chords, and which chords sounds good when put together. Then you begin to use those notes, and chords to play basic tunes. As your foundation in music expands and your knowledge increases you slowly expand your repertoire to include more complex music. Soon enough you're able to read sheet music and play Mozart at your recital. Finally, as your mastery over your instrument is complete you begin to branch out and let your creativity take over, and you find yourself composing your own songs.
Where am I going with this you ask? Well in a way I've answered your question George. You see, like in music, in magic we must first learn to replicate the movements, and patter to our effects. We don't become our own unique voice in magic off the go. That kind of character development can take months, or even years. While we are still fledgling neophytes we learn by imitating others. Through the repetition of doing our lessons become more clear. We learn what works, what doesn't, how to control an audience, misdirection, and other important skills. Once our basic skill set is cemented into a strong foundation only then are we prepared to make that next leap into our magic evolution, but not everyone will make that jump. The gap between arm chair amateur and seasoned veteran is a scary one.
It's here at this cross roads where one must evaluate their progress and decide for themselves if the pursuit of magic is worth the time and dedication to make that leap, and it's one that will require a lot of both. For those choosing to remain in the shady cloister mewed, a barren sister to magic all their life, the development of character and unique performance style isn't as critical. They're know that they'll only perform for friends or family. Maybe they'll take a birthday party gig once or twice, but they're happiness comes from buying the next best thing, and staying involved in the local magic club, or online magic community. But happy are also the few who chose to carry the child of inspiration for the full term and give birth to a new life in magic. Like the Phoenix, the old magician self dies, only to give birth to the new ego. For these people, the hobbyist life of the magic collector isn't good enough. They possess a drive that will only accept working full time as an entertainer as their main source of income. The new ego created is the child of inspiration and imagination, the parents of creativity. This new self will not settle for merely presenting effects as seen on TV or as they come fresh out of the box. This new self will seek to find its own voice, and then yell it from the mountain tops as loud as it can so the entire world will hear. It is here where one sees to become unique to their own performance style, develop further ones character, and truly become a single individual in the sea of chaos that makes up our magic community as a whole.
My dear George, you see Theory11 forums is like the High School of magicians. Here we have people who are on all levels of the art. The casual students who attend classes only because they must. The dedicated pupil who is studying hard for a life after graduation into the art, blissfully unaware of the dangers still awaiting them in the real world of show business, the professors (such as Wayne Houchin, Danial Garcia, and other Theory11 artists) who are here to teach those who will listen, and the alumni, the veteran performers who have learned their lessons, but don't mind returning for a few pick up classes. On this playground you're going to find performers on all levels, so it's not surprising that you see a lot of people mirroring the styles and effects of those precious few whose stars are burning brightly lighting the way for everyone else. However, I wouldn't pay too close attention to them. They are still learning. Some will make that leap, others will remain happy with where they are. The only question that should be asked, and is important enough to answer is: When that time comes for you to make that choice, to chose to leap boldly into becoming your own self, or to remain safely tucked away within the comforts of amateurism what will you chose to do? What path is best for you to walk? There really isn't a right or wrong answer to this question, but the answer you give, will affect the way you present your magic.
Curious monkey, did you find what you were looking for on your adventure?