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adrianbent Loyal user 210 Posts |
I'd like to try a little experiment with everyone in order to make a point to beginners. Here's the idea: I'm going to make a statement, and you try to prove me wrong. Are you ready? Here's the statement:
1. EVERY SINGLE MAGIC TRICK KNOWN TO MAN has something about it that is awesome and worth considering learning and performing. Now there are gazillions of tricks out there. But lets consider first the tricks that will seduce the beginner; Go to any online magic store right now and see what is "sexy", stylish and heavily marketed right now: Perhaps there is a slick new method for putting a coin inside a bottle of water? Or some way to use your cell phone to take a picture of a ghost? Or a DVD of the most amazing card magic you can imagine doing! For the beginner, these things seem to be MUST HAVE items right now. They certainly tower over something silly like making a rubber band "jump" across your fingers. So I will nominate the "jumping rubber band" as a trick that sucks; there is nothing good about it, so don't waste your time learning it and performing it. Not true. This trick is great to know and useful because: 1. More often than not you may find yourself asked to do a trick for a young audience, and -bam- not only will they like it but it’s a good "teachable" trick. 2. The basic effect, for someone who doesn't first know the method, is a rubber band penetrating your fingers…. That's physically impossible! Cool! 3. After you teach the method, they have a takeaway, a smile on their face, and you come out a winner with a good chance at future opportunities to perform magic. I know some of you are chomping at the bit to think of a trick that definitely sucks. I certainly could nominate a lot of tricks. Allow me to fast forward my premise a little; If there is a redeeming quality about EVERY magic trick, how does a beginner choose what new magic to buy, and how does someone who has been in magic a while have a better appreciation of what magic "works" and what doesn't? I have offered the advice in a different post that a beginner should "buy it all, go nuts"; this is a fun (although expensive) phase in someone's magic development. It serves to educate the novice magician on how a lot of gimmicks and techniques work, and more importantly the "apprentice" will become a "journeyman" so-to-speak when he learns WHY and WHAT shortcomings of certain tricks are. For me right now, its about understanding the WHEREs (venue types) I perform at, and the types of audiences I will perform for that guide me in what effects I select. I don't think this reality is as clear for the beginner when they first purchase magic. Thoughts? |
Ed_Millis Inner circle Yuma, AZ 2292 Posts |
I think most my answers came as I really began to embrace "the magic is in ME", vice "the magic is in the trick". Part of that is inexperience with magic, but a lot of it is the immaturity of the person. Immature people never want to admit that someone simply is better than them at something; therefore it _must_ be the props or the DVD or whatever.
I have Twisted Sister. It's an excellent and amazing trick. But in *my* hands it died several horrible deaths - until I learned to put ME into it. Now it's amazing again (I'm still working on excellent!) Telkinetic Block - it's a 10-inch length of a 2x2!! What the heck can you do with a piece of wood?? I saw Craig Karges convince an entire auditorium he had supernatural powers! Although I will nominate the Penetration Frame as something that is difficult to make "awesome". Ed |
pradell Special user Alaska 560 Posts |
My dad did the jumping rubber band trick to me about 45 years ago on a sand dune by the sea.The first trick I remember seeing and learning. Etched into my mind. The first bite of the magic bug. Last week I performed it on my grandchildren. Awesome!
:magicrabbit: |
55Hudson Special user Minneapolis 984 Posts |
Magic is about entertainment and leaving the audience with a smile (or a look of shock, awe ...). The trick is only a means to an end.
I remember watching Doug Henning (RIP) on TV juggling apples and eating them in mid-air. Not much of a "magic trick", but it was sure entertaining! I'll never forget it. |
gaddy Inner circle Agent of Chaos 3526 Posts |
Magnetic Scotties.
No way these can be interesting...
*due to the editorial policies here, words on this site attributed to me cannot necessarily be held to be my own.*
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DWRackley Inner circle Chattanooga, TN 1909 Posts |
I think I understand your intent, and I'd have to say that every trick imaginable CAN be made interesting, but not necessarily by every magician. (We’ll have to admit here that I may be a little jaded; my chief concern in buying a new trick is whether it’s something I already know that’s simply been repackaged.)
I personally don’t like the Invisible Deck, because (imo) it’s too transparent. (Ouch! No pun intended.) BUT, I recently got to see a friend of mine from the magic club performing it as part of his walk-around bit before a big show, and he had people five of six rows ahead craning around to see him work. In my hands it looks like a card trick; for him it looks like a Mastery of Mentalism. On the other hand, I can get great mileage out of the rubber band trick mentioned above, especially with two bands, different colors, that instantly switch places. A while back I was practicing tossing a coin between hands during a turnover move and my seven year old made a game of guessing which hand it was in. That led to an idea for an entirely different presentation. I think it’s in the spirit of your original post to say that it’s a great Magician that can make the trick look Great. And I nominate: ANY trick involving the addition of opposite sides of a die.
...what if I could read your mind?
Chattanooga's Premier Mentalist Donatelli and Company at ChattanoogaPerformers.com also on FaceBook |
Will-Ace Regular user Newark NJ 170 Posts |
You probably have good intentions, but I disagree with your generalization of beginners. It sounds like you're wraped up and influenced by what you see online, and you take that to be as a true sample of the whole generation of new magicians.It seems many times that seasoned magicians have a missconception of newer magicians especially the younger ones, where they feel that someone who is new to magic wont have the same respect for it as them.
When I started out learning magic I was very fascinated by the secrets of magic, and I saw tricks like the jumping rubber band as something worth learning and doing. With that in mind maybe I should say that the ones that see those tricks as stupid and not worth doing are those that have been in magic for longer time. Of course this statement is also a generalization. Wil |
Bryan Smith New user Korea 99 Posts |
All tricks are impressive to somebody I guess. personally I can't see how tricks that use really obvious gimmicks amaze anyone, but magic shops sell them, so someone must be amazed by them. I mean the kinds of tricks where you take out some box or other thing that was obviously made especially just to do that trick and it can't even be examined before or afterward or people would figure it out in a couple seconds. (It might take a minute otherwise)
Maybe 5 year olds find that kind of stuff entertaining, I don't know.
"I'm half drunk most the time
and I'm all drunk the rest" --Tom Waits |
harris Inner circle Harris Deutsch 8812 Posts |
Ever see Karrol Fox do the imp bottles.
hmm..I wonder if I will have to get a "new set". Ball and vase... google the finger puppets (real fingers with small eyes on it) doing zany things and occasional simple magic trick. click on videos from http://www.lejo.nl/ or the plastic cups and balls... As Goshman said...(back when I knew nothing about magic) The magic is you. Killer sleight of hand..(which I can at times do) can be surpassed by a mosquito whistle and a simple French Drop. In the M.U.M. they had (and may still have) in the beginner's mind... It was great... Now and Zen I reread the columns. Though I do still have a magic buying addiction...I try to practice steps 2 and 3 call my sponsor...and then go to my magic studio to revise something from the past... Currently working on the 2011 Library Show...Theme ..Around the World at the Library. Puppets and magic make creating theme shows a fun challenge. Harris who knows even less after 30 + years in the biz.
Harris Deutsch aka dr laugh
drlaugh4u@gmail.com music, magic and marvelous toys http://magician.org/member/drlaugh4u |
shaneking New user Sydney, Australia 61 Posts |
There are tricks that I have abandoned only to come back to once I thought of a new patter or angle. Therefore, never throw away your magic props. Keep them separate from your usual stuff but always keep them for when your creative mind needs them again!
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