Hi Guys,
First, it should be noted that I love learning about the history of magic, about where certain sleights come from, etc.
So I was having a discussion with 2 of my magic friends today. They sometimes moan about how if I teach them a trick, how I also give credit. For example if it involves a snap change, I may say 'then you do an Ed Marlo snap change'. Pretty simple stuff and it's just habit.
One of my friends is not really a magician. I hope he isn't reading this.. He learns all his tricks of YouTube, doesn't own any magic books, DVDs, etc. He has been doing magic longer than me too. He has been doing it for just over a year and he doesn't know the names of some of the most popular and respected books (eg. Card college, expert card technique, etc.) ! I found this pretty shocking so said 'Why don't you guys really care about the history of magic?'
They both said 'why should we care?'. Now to this I just said 'Because if you really are passionate about the art then you should enjoy and want to learn about the history'. But they just shrugged it off and said it was BS.
So, my question to you, is why should we learn about the history? Or shouldn't we bother?
First, it should be noted that I love learning about the history of magic, about where certain sleights come from, etc.
So I was having a discussion with 2 of my magic friends today. They sometimes moan about how if I teach them a trick, how I also give credit. For example if it involves a snap change, I may say 'then you do an Ed Marlo snap change'. Pretty simple stuff and it's just habit.
One of my friends is not really a magician. I hope he isn't reading this.. He learns all his tricks of YouTube, doesn't own any magic books, DVDs, etc. He has been doing magic longer than me too. He has been doing it for just over a year and he doesn't know the names of some of the most popular and respected books (eg. Card college, expert card technique, etc.) ! I found this pretty shocking so said 'Why don't you guys really care about the history of magic?'
They both said 'why should we care?'. Now to this I just said 'Because if you really are passionate about the art then you should enjoy and want to learn about the history'. But they just shrugged it off and said it was BS.
So, my question to you, is why should we learn about the history? Or shouldn't we bother?