So I did my 1st Magic competition. I learned a lot and fun! I realize the importance of practice or lack there of! I cam in 2nd place of 4. My technical skill was the lowest, because I had two major flashes and I went way over time. 1st place went to a 16 year old who did a great job and has had his fair share of dissapointments in previous competitions. I am very proud of his stage presence and the job he did. All and all I did have fun and learned a lot. I am meeting with a club member today to go over some detailed improvements on one of my botched routines. Lots of practice ahead! Just finished my powerpoint for my workshop tonight, now I have to prpeare the other visual aides and rehearse my routines for tonights program on Houdini Magic. Hopw you are all doing well!

Pete

Peter-

Way to go- and congrats! I love your attitude in making this fun and education. Hopefully, now that you have the first one under the belt you will continue. A second place finish should be all the inspiration you need.

Thanks for posting your good news- inspires me to practice!

Jim

Pete, Congratulations on 2nd place in your first competition!

That should certainly encourage you to try again.

Kudos on follow-up for your problem areas. This is the smartest thing you can do.

Mary Mowder

At the risk of violating one of the rules of the Café through ignorance, I post here an edited version of the OP. Let my excuse be that it is again fall, and I am waxing eager to jump into a not-too-strenuous but committed practice schedule. I have thanksgiving and christmas shows booked, and one new year's eve in Puerta Villarta. For some reason, I am in a minimalist phase, wanting all my props to be on my person, upcoming halloween stuff exempted. I feel Gypsy Thread coming on...

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Posted: Oct 4, 2009 5:49pm

OK- I am way better with resolve in the fall and winter. Who knows why...

Many of us simply DO NOT practice enough! And while I thank Steve for the Café, it is up to US to use it for the betterment of ourselves and magic. So, I propose the following:

1, Anyone who wants can add their name and goal to the list below

2. Anyone can change their goals at any time.

3. We meet back here to discuss progress and help each other stay on target.

4. No fibs, do it or admit it, but no fibs.

5. Entry fee for a post on this thread is 20 minutes of REAL practice, No matter if for an audience, a real show, in your basement all alone... it is ALL better than just reading about it...



FORMAT:

Your name or identifier

Your goal (the effect or sleight or routine you want to master - ONLY one).

How much time devoted to it each session

Sessions per week

Projected Date of Competency

NO CRITICS - only encouragement and help here

This is a self-help group, and I think it could be a lot of fun. Care to Join?

YES - GREAT IDEA - I am in!!!

1. Jim Rogers

2. Torn - Daniel Garcia

3.20 minutes

4. 3

5. December 1st

Anybody want to buy a box of card parts???

Jim

THanks for the kudos Jim and Mary. I found out at our board meeting that I was 4 minutes over. I am performing the same act for our Hocus Pocus Party(our Ring Fundraiser)this Saturday, so I have been working on cutting my routine down without compromising the integrity of the act! Anyway, I got major help with T&R Newspaper from a Ring Professional! So generous! Anyway on Sunday I did two 1/2 hour shoes and ended with a verbal version of T&R NP and it killed both times with the newly added assistance! The shows were great! It was outdoors and for our Trunk or Treat for our church. I had 30-40 people in each audience and even succeeded with my first two attempts at a Rubber Chicken load! It was so much fun!

The Workshop I did with my powerpoint on Character Magic was received very well! The Houdini night for program was also fantastic! Check out the photos at the Ring 211 Website: http://www.ring211.org

Okay so for this week!

Running my routine and cutting time for an hour each on Thursday and Friday.
Selecting my tablehopping sets, reviewing and rehearsing also for Saturday night. 1/2 hour each day.

Showtime Saturday night after teaching Girl Scouts all day at the Nature Center!

Peace, Love, & Magic!

Pete

The Big Night arrives! I have a full day of Girl Scouts then the Magic begins at 6:30p.m. Tablehopping and then I open the Cabaret Show at 9pm! I managed to cut my 14 minutes of Actual Performance to 8.5 Rehearsal, so hopefully that rounds out to under 10 tonight! Wish me luck and I thank the Lord for this opportunity!

Pete

The very, very best of luck to you Pete, I know you will be great!!

Regards,

Jim

I once had to cut a couple of my effects down for time and the reduction was much stronger.

Good luck Pete!

I'm going to work on writing show sets for a while.

I'm writing a "one off" for almost every show. While the magic is tailor made for the audience the show doesn't flow smoothly because I'm never familiar enough with the line-up, music or segues not to mention prop management.

So I'll be working on writing two shows, 1st and a follow-up in five categories:

* Birthday Party for all Kids / 30 min (with modular switch outs for age).

* Family Stand-Up / 30min

* Low functioning retirement home Stand-up/ 30 min

* High Functioning, assisted living Stand-Up/ 45min (too long I know but that is what they want, I can always cut it if they see reason). If you haven't worked for this audience you should give it a try. They may have hearing, vision or frailty problems but they are a fun group.

* Adult Standup / 20 min.

I'm getting a lot of repeat shows lately. I need to do the first show with that in mind or I'm doing all more cumbersome, less familiar effects in the 2nd show. That can make for a bear of a carry in and set up.

I'll report as I finish each set of shows.

If I give it an hour a day I should be able to do one set a week for sure (I sometimes run into stumbling blocks that require juggling or other practice to work through).

I've needed to do this for a while Jim, thanks for the nudge.

-Mary Mowder

Mary-

That is great! I can't keep up with you- you are my guiding light. I only hope we are not alone...

Regards,

Jim

You are certainly not alone. I'm working out a seasonal set- here come the polar bears!
Best wishes!

Laurie

What inspiration! You guys rock! The show went great! Well, of course there is always something. But I learned and adjusted along th eway and the overall product was a success. Christian and Katalina headlined and were great! Then they lectured us the following day and that was good too! Loved their horror stories from the road. I get to breathe for a while. I will be cleaning up all the magic that has explded around my house and get ready for our Ring Auction later this month. I hope to have a new practice regime in th enext month. Right now need to focus on work and family. Thanks for all of the encouragement! Good luck with all your ventures. Can't wait to hear more about the Polar Bears!

Pete

Glad it went well Pete.

Were you in the 10 min time frame?

Did you feel your Magic went over better with more experience?

-Mary Mowder

Mary,

I believe so, Since it wasn't a contest and it was an actual show they didn't comment on it. We had problems in the beginning. Say, my music didn't start when they introduced me. I was about to go into verbal mode when they got it working but the song had jumped ten seconds into it and my timing was off. I had to think on my feet and make it work! Once that was done, I kind of relaxed and things went quite well, and yes they did see, to go better aside from the beginning. All in all it was a lot of fun and I go t good reactions and lots of hand shakes from the club!
Thank you,

Pete

Nice job, Pete! Glad to hear it! Makes all that rehearsal worth it.

I've been working hard on perfecting Dean Dill's Explosion, which I will be debuting for a group of TV directors at the Castle tomorrow night. It is NOT easy by any means but I'm feeling good about it!

Quick update - Explosion went quite well! They had no idea where the coins were coming from and it just got better with every appearance. I'm definitely pleased!

Congratulations Andrew! It sounds amazing (and hard).

Are you working the Castle?

-Mary Mowder

Not this week - I was there with a group of clients and they had asked specifically if I would perform so I led everyone to a far off corner and did a set for them. There's simply no better place that I've found to work than the Magic Castle.

Still, very impressive.

I can just imagine (having clients LOL).

Still working on the sets project.

I've separated out My Magic into 2 little kids and 2 big kids shows with no duplication in any of the 4.
Each show is packed with good Magic and enough Magic but because I'm trying to make them all fit the same format I'm having a little problem. I'd hoped to make the shows somewhat modular for easy memorization and switch-outs as needed but different Magic seems to mean a different format is needed.

My biggest problem is that I've grown very fond of a few effects and almost can't imagine doing a show without them. I read the magic list for each show and my head tells me "That is one strong show!" but my heart tells me "wouldn't his show be better with NewsFlash or Juggling and Jokes? etc...

So much for the pro-kvetch report.

-Mary Mowder

So, Mary, these effects you have grown fond of... do tell! I would think it would be difficult to be fond of anything that had a negative reaction... so why any angst???? Women...

I guess I want to do my favorite effects in every show.

If I want 4 different shows, that means 3 shows without each favorite.

I've been a professional Magician for over 30 years so I've collected a lot of favorites.

This makes me want to do an hour show in 30 min.

I think I've divided the shows equitably and I have 4 strong shows.

If only it weren't “a woman's prerogative to change her mind” I'd be done by now. LOL.

How is Torn going Jim?

The dithery Mary Mowder