Post by Chris Martin on Aug 6, 2005 8:58:55 GMT -5
Beginner Magicians
Oftentimes, beginner magicians ask what they can do to get better. When you are first getting started, there are many, many questions that need answers. Even if you have been in magic for a while, there are still dozens of questions that come up. These are the questions that we’ve all asked at some time or another. And, never forget, the only stupid question is the question that you don’t ask.
As with any other endeavor that you may undertake, you learn as you go. Unforeseen difficulties arise. Situations that you never could have expected crop up from time to time. Your first line of defense is to get out there and perform. Family at first, then friends and, when the time comes, complete strangers. That mirror or video recorder is only going to take you so far. Eventually, you must show your magic to someone, otherwise you simply remain the lonely guy in the mirror. Unfortunately, these difficulties that we are discussing are going to make themselves known at that time!
The first thing that you can do to overcome these difficulties is to know your trick inside and out, from the sleights that you are using, to the steps that you go through to perform the trick, right down to the patter that you use. If you have taken the time to make your trick second nature, you’ll find that problems that arise are much easier to deal with. On the bright side, each time you overcome a difficulty when you are in front of a real audience prepares you for the next time you have a problem and it becomes easier to deal with and overcome. Eventually, you will achieve a comfort level and these little, niggling problems won’t mean much to you.
So, performing your material is an important part of growing and learning. However, what tricks are you performing? Are you doing a trick or are your doing a routine? Routining is the single most important tool that you have in overcoming many, many problems. Unfortunately, most beginning magicians and even many of the intermediate magicians have no idea what a routine is, let alone how powerful the routine can be.
As an example, we shall consider the humble coin vanish. You pick the coin up with your right hand, then masterfully false transfer the coin to your left hand. Holding nothing in your left hand you pretend that you actually have a coin there while it is secreted in your right hand and your spectators fully believe that the coin is in your left hand, you vanish the coin. The spectators are fooled, at least for a moment. If you stop right now, you have a trick and there can be only one outcome; your spectators will guess that the coin is in your right hand and want to see your right hand.
Considering the circumstances in the paragraph above, you decide to show your right hand. As you bring up your hand, you sleeve the coin. The sleeving technique can be perfect and invisible. Unfortunately, you are on the run and you can bet that the next thing the spectators are going to assume is that the coin went up your sleeve. Now, prepare yourself for a universal truth in magic: If the spectator believes that they know how you did a trick, it doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong, they are right. Assuming that you’ve managed to get rid of the coin a different way than sleeving, if the spectator believes that you have sleeved it, then you have. Never forget, perceptions are realities.
What I’m trying to say is that you cannot prove the spectator wrong without giving the trick away. So, it matters little whether they have guessed the right technique or the wrong technique (or even an impossible technique), if they believe then they are correct. This sounds like you are at the mercy of the spectator and cannot do anything about this phenomena, but you can. You can routine.
Back to the example of the coin vanish. This time, rather than just vanishing the coin, we are going to look at this from a routining point of view. In its most basic form, a routine is a series of tricks that are held together by a common bond wherein one trick logically leads to the next and, when done properly, is perceived as one long trick rather than a series of tricks. The perfect example of a routine is the Ambitious Card. Nevertheless, we are going to stick with the coin example.
You’ll need a pen and a breast pocket to keep it in, a jacket and a coin clip (which can be as simple as a bulldog clip). Whatever coin you use for the vanish, you will want a duplicate coin held in the clip, just above the jacket’s seem, on the left hand side (so that it is easily accessible at the bottom of the jacket, but still hidden by the jacket). Your pen is, of course, in your breast pocket.
After doing your false transfer and the coin is apparently in the left hand, reach into your pocket with your right, dirty hand and grab the pen. When you grip the pen, drop the coin into your pocket and bring out the pen. Using the pen like a wand, wave it over the coin and make it vanish. Show the spectator your pen and explain that it is very much like a wand (which you have just demonstrated). While the spectator examines the pen, grab the coin from the coin clip and put it in finger palm position. Take the pen back and pull the lid off the pen. Explain that the coin oftentimes gets lodged in the cap and show the obviously empty cap. Grip the cap in your left hand with the opening facing down, into the left, slightly fisted hand. Tap the cap on top a couple of time and then drop the coin on the last tap by slightly loosening the fingers around the coin. The illusion will be that you knocked the coin out of the cap. Or, if you want to get really fancy, knock the coin out of the cap with a Han Pien Chen maneuver (WHAT???).
There you have it, a small routine. Not only that, but you’ve given the spectator an explanation of how the coin disappeared which they will know is a bogus explanation, but oddly, they will accept it and not try to formulate their own theories. Understand, the routine above is an overly simplified routine and, in fact, there are much easier ways of accomplishing the exact same effect other than as I’ve described. However, I am just trying to explain what a routine is and what it does.
When you take the pen and make the coin vanish in the beginning, you have to go somewhere from there or your spectators will begin to try to figure it out. This isn’t their fault that they are trying to figure it out; it is a natural reaction to a stimulus. By causing the coin to re-appear, you have taken away that initial stimulus and have given them what their brain needs to deal with impossibility - closure. The coin re-appearing is the closure that they need and it stops them from theorizing. Exactly what a routine is designed to do. The coin vanishes and reappears in the same hand which is a valuable tool for stopping further speculation on your spectator’s part.
Often, beginner magicians think it is enough to vanish the coin and, using the dirty, right hand, immediately pull that coin out of someone’s ear. So, here is another harsh reality of magic: Your spectators are NOT stupid. Do not treat them as though they are or this will cause you more problems than you need or want.
Oftentimes, beginner magicians ask what they can do to get better. When you are first getting started, there are many, many questions that need answers. Even if you have been in magic for a while, there are still dozens of questions that come up. These are the questions that we’ve all asked at some time or another. And, never forget, the only stupid question is the question that you don’t ask.
As with any other endeavor that you may undertake, you learn as you go. Unforeseen difficulties arise. Situations that you never could have expected crop up from time to time. Your first line of defense is to get out there and perform. Family at first, then friends and, when the time comes, complete strangers. That mirror or video recorder is only going to take you so far. Eventually, you must show your magic to someone, otherwise you simply remain the lonely guy in the mirror. Unfortunately, these difficulties that we are discussing are going to make themselves known at that time!
The first thing that you can do to overcome these difficulties is to know your trick inside and out, from the sleights that you are using, to the steps that you go through to perform the trick, right down to the patter that you use. If you have taken the time to make your trick second nature, you’ll find that problems that arise are much easier to deal with. On the bright side, each time you overcome a difficulty when you are in front of a real audience prepares you for the next time you have a problem and it becomes easier to deal with and overcome. Eventually, you will achieve a comfort level and these little, niggling problems won’t mean much to you.
So, performing your material is an important part of growing and learning. However, what tricks are you performing? Are you doing a trick or are your doing a routine? Routining is the single most important tool that you have in overcoming many, many problems. Unfortunately, most beginning magicians and even many of the intermediate magicians have no idea what a routine is, let alone how powerful the routine can be.
As an example, we shall consider the humble coin vanish. You pick the coin up with your right hand, then masterfully false transfer the coin to your left hand. Holding nothing in your left hand you pretend that you actually have a coin there while it is secreted in your right hand and your spectators fully believe that the coin is in your left hand, you vanish the coin. The spectators are fooled, at least for a moment. If you stop right now, you have a trick and there can be only one outcome; your spectators will guess that the coin is in your right hand and want to see your right hand.
Considering the circumstances in the paragraph above, you decide to show your right hand. As you bring up your hand, you sleeve the coin. The sleeving technique can be perfect and invisible. Unfortunately, you are on the run and you can bet that the next thing the spectators are going to assume is that the coin went up your sleeve. Now, prepare yourself for a universal truth in magic: If the spectator believes that they know how you did a trick, it doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong, they are right. Assuming that you’ve managed to get rid of the coin a different way than sleeving, if the spectator believes that you have sleeved it, then you have. Never forget, perceptions are realities.
What I’m trying to say is that you cannot prove the spectator wrong without giving the trick away. So, it matters little whether they have guessed the right technique or the wrong technique (or even an impossible technique), if they believe then they are correct. This sounds like you are at the mercy of the spectator and cannot do anything about this phenomena, but you can. You can routine.
Back to the example of the coin vanish. This time, rather than just vanishing the coin, we are going to look at this from a routining point of view. In its most basic form, a routine is a series of tricks that are held together by a common bond wherein one trick logically leads to the next and, when done properly, is perceived as one long trick rather than a series of tricks. The perfect example of a routine is the Ambitious Card. Nevertheless, we are going to stick with the coin example.
You’ll need a pen and a breast pocket to keep it in, a jacket and a coin clip (which can be as simple as a bulldog clip). Whatever coin you use for the vanish, you will want a duplicate coin held in the clip, just above the jacket’s seem, on the left hand side (so that it is easily accessible at the bottom of the jacket, but still hidden by the jacket). Your pen is, of course, in your breast pocket.
After doing your false transfer and the coin is apparently in the left hand, reach into your pocket with your right, dirty hand and grab the pen. When you grip the pen, drop the coin into your pocket and bring out the pen. Using the pen like a wand, wave it over the coin and make it vanish. Show the spectator your pen and explain that it is very much like a wand (which you have just demonstrated). While the spectator examines the pen, grab the coin from the coin clip and put it in finger palm position. Take the pen back and pull the lid off the pen. Explain that the coin oftentimes gets lodged in the cap and show the obviously empty cap. Grip the cap in your left hand with the opening facing down, into the left, slightly fisted hand. Tap the cap on top a couple of time and then drop the coin on the last tap by slightly loosening the fingers around the coin. The illusion will be that you knocked the coin out of the cap. Or, if you want to get really fancy, knock the coin out of the cap with a Han Pien Chen maneuver (WHAT???).
There you have it, a small routine. Not only that, but you’ve given the spectator an explanation of how the coin disappeared which they will know is a bogus explanation, but oddly, they will accept it and not try to formulate their own theories. Understand, the routine above is an overly simplified routine and, in fact, there are much easier ways of accomplishing the exact same effect other than as I’ve described. However, I am just trying to explain what a routine is and what it does.
When you take the pen and make the coin vanish in the beginning, you have to go somewhere from there or your spectators will begin to try to figure it out. This isn’t their fault that they are trying to figure it out; it is a natural reaction to a stimulus. By causing the coin to re-appear, you have taken away that initial stimulus and have given them what their brain needs to deal with impossibility - closure. The coin re-appearing is the closure that they need and it stops them from theorizing. Exactly what a routine is designed to do. The coin vanishes and reappears in the same hand which is a valuable tool for stopping further speculation on your spectator’s part.
Often, beginner magicians think it is enough to vanish the coin and, using the dirty, right hand, immediately pull that coin out of someone’s ear. So, here is another harsh reality of magic: Your spectators are NOT stupid. Do not treat them as though they are or this will cause you more problems than you need or want.