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DoctorAmazo Special user Florida 643 Posts |
Mark...
While you are best known for your mentalism work, I know you also do "regular" magic in walk-around and kid's shows (daycare). Do you ever mix the two in the same setting? (ok, probably not much mentalism in the daycare shows, I know...) How do you make it work? Do you find the traditional effects make it harder to sell the mental concept? |
Mark Strivings V.I.P. 290 Posts |
Quote:
On 2002-04-04 06:54, DoctorAmazo wrote: Actually I do use mentalism with kids! That's another subject and perhaps we can tackle that separately if you all want to. With regards to mixing mentalism and regular magic, that's a time-honored topic which is full of very strong opinions from every angle. As a brief side note, there are several topics like this that I'm sure will come up here over the next few days. There are some very strong opinions (other than mine) that we'll hear from, too. There WON'T be any resolution to the debate, however. These topics have been debated for literally decades and will continue to be debated without any one point of view being universally taken as 'gospel'. The reason is simple. Each angle on the debate is basically correct, from that particular world view. It's a case of 'what works for one may or may not work for another'. The only added caveat that I would throw in to the stew here is to pay the MOST attention to those who work professionally. The reason is simple. They/we/I have to make this stuff work in the real world every day. Most everyone will have an opinion on many of these topics, but unless they have had to make it work for a living, it's primarily conjecture. I'm not putting anyone down (PLEASE understand that!). I respect everyone's opinion, but I have learned to listen MOST to those who are on the front lines every day. Now, back to the topic at hand! Mixing magic and mentalism is a very complex topic. Most hard core mentalists will tell you that it's a sin to mix the two. Most magicians will tell you it doesn't matter. Both of those arguments (and everything in between) are correct. What is really important is how you wish to be perceived as a performer. If you are a mentalist and you want your audiences to seriously question whether what they are witnessing is real or not, I would tend to advise against mixing magic and mentalism. What's really interesting in this is how certain effects are perceived by an audience, depending on the persona of the performer. Suppose there is a particularly strong mental effect that is being done by two different performers. One is a magician who does this one piece as the mentalism in his show. The other performer is a mentalist who exhibits extreme mental powers. This mentalism effect WILL be viewed as a 'trick' when done by the magician, at least by the vast majority of the audience. Virtually no one will question whether what they have seen is 'real' or not. HOWEVER, this same effect performed by the mentalist will allow the possibility of being viewed as 'real' by members of the audience! Many, if not MOST in the audience will think that what they have witnessed is real. Huge difference! Now I would ask all of you, which of these reactions is stronger? This is the reason why those of us who do mentalism, DO! I can already tell you what many of the responses will be. But please keep the following thought in mind as you formulate an answer for yourself. Unless you have performed a COMPLETE program of mentalism, not just an effect in your magic show, but a complete evening of nothing but strong mentalism, and done it repeatedly, you simply cannot know the power of the scenario described above. You can speculate, you can hypothesize, but you cannot know. There is a world of difference in the response between solid mentalism performed in the context of an all-mentalism program as opposed to a strong (or, heaven forbid, a weak...) mentalism piece performed in a magic program. Any thoughts from out there in the hinterland? Plus there's a TON of territory we haven't even touched yet. I already know what's coming (I'm a mentalist, after all, but I'm also telling the truth, I DO know what's coming...), but I would like to hear from some of you. This one topic alone should stir up some spirited discussion. Mark
Mark Strivings is the owner of the largest all-mentalism mail order supply business in the world, "Mental Connections", carrying materials not available anywhere else. For complete info, drop Mark a line at MarkyApril@aol.com
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Mandrake New user Germany 66 Posts |
Hello, Mark,
1st: Welcome to the Cafe! Great to have a chance discussing with you. 2nd: great points... it all makes sense to me. It is two different intentions behind the two scenarios ( although, they might not even be purposely intended...): As a magician, you entertain people with illusions, small or big, no matter, mainly the audience KNOWS that you will work with tricks, and that what they are about to see is miraculous, but done with secret techniques and dexterity of the performers hands. At least that is - according to my personal experience (and that is the one of an amateur) the main conclusion an audience will ALWAYS throw in, no matter whether you used sleight of hand or not. I have done card effects - employing a force - where they did all the work, the shuffling and so on.. they still patted my shoulder and said: "Slick Fingers, man!" ... Whereas, whenever I skipped the cards and got into performing a sole mental piece not using any "obvious" props (cards, silks....) I got a whole different reaction. Possible proof: a lot of people that experience this kind of performance, afterwards asked me stuff like: "Hey, Mike, would it be possible to not only read thoughts, but see the future?" or "Do you do Card Readings and such stuff, also?" To me these people leave the impression of being far more puzzled, puzzled without knowing why... The specs in a magic-show will mainly respond entertained as well, and they will state they are puzzled, but they do know they are puzzled by a clever trick. In conclusion, I would like to sum up, that it is a matter of the individual approach: If a piano player paints pictures, people will say "ah ... that piano player that also does paintings (worse: that tries to paint)" depending on what they knew first. Others might know his paintings and hear him play piano, so they say "Oh, a painter, that also plays music..." If you do magic and put some mental piece into your show, people will regard you as a magician, a trickster, an entertainer. When you do Mentalism, they probably won't think of magic (just because you didn't call it magic), therefore, they will not priorily label the same picture on you. Different perception of the same Effect. As a mentalist, you will be puzzling first hand, then it also might be of an entertaining quality. Magicians entertain, do tricks and then deal with supernatural powers (or act as they would.. This is often clear to the spectators). We all try to create a powerful effect: magicians will probably have to take the "bigger" effort, just to make the people astounded, BECAUSE or ALTHOUGH people know it is a trick. With Mentalism, it is different: I am a magician, and I am used to colorful silks, ropes and so on: highly non-everyday like objects (who handles silks and flowers and balls in an everyday situation?) they just imply a playful situation, either the guy on stage will start juggling them or he is up to some magic tricks. I have had the luck to witness Larry Becker's last show before he went into the sun to relax his aching bones. The setting was a lecture-day and a magic gala-evening. Although being framed by magicians performing before and after him, he left an undoubtable impression of psycho-intellectual powers, that are beyond imagination to me to this very day. I know some of his routines, by today, anyhow, if I recall the performance and it's intensity, I still have goose-bumps. More than most Rock stars and magicians caused in my case.... Hats off! Well it's another opinion, hope it helps some to make up their mind, for I too feel, it might work for one and be impractical to others... Cheers, Mandrake
the truth "lies" in the eye of the beholder
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John Pezzullo Veteran user Sydney AUSTRALIA 354 Posts |
My current act is a 'mix' of cold reading and coloured parakeet productions.
:fruity:
"One arrow. One life."
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