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SimonG-97 Special user 508 Posts |
Hi , ive got a bit of a problem , I have a first gig in a big social charity quiz night ina a big hall.
how do you guys go about routining , because I have two routines I could rotate with and I am good enough to improvise if I have a deck of cards in hand and am at a table. But what do you do if you have a routine planned and you need a table for one of the tricks, not an unreasonable requirement, what would you do if you walked in the hall or up to a group and the table was either to soggy or unsuitable to do the trick , well say triumph as an example , what would you do? I'm a bit not really worried but concerned because I realise the answer may just be from hard experience but if any one could help id be greatful. |
Natanel Special user 739 Posts |
It is hard experience. Period.
Read everything Eugene Burger and Tommy Wonder ever wrote.
People who work for Theory 11: Do you want a young guy without a stupid gelled haircut or eurotrash jeans for your videos? PM me.
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puggo Inner circle 2022 Posts |
If you are strolling, I think it is near impossible (and wrong) to rely on a table. Also, if you perform above waist height, more people can see, and they see you (your face).
As Natanel states, there really is no substitute for just getting out there and doing it. With regard to your question using Triumph as an example, I would suggest finding a version of your routines that can be done in the hands. So for a table based triumph routine, you could substitute Jay Sankey's 'Back in Time' using the slop shuffle. The Tenkai optical revolve is also easily done in the hands... there are many, many triumph variations to choose from. Check out the classics, also stuff from the likes of Sankey, Cameron Francis, Paul Gordon etc etc The best of luck with your gig. Charlie PS other options include: Use a close up mat Use a clip on table Use a small close up table |
SimonG-97 Special user 508 Posts |
Ok, I undertand a lot of it comes from experience. And I'm not really doing strolling magic or table magic its sort of ''go and do magic and get some money in your bucket'' sort of thing. I do have tricks I can do standing up infact most of my material is standing up, but yeah ill have a try at the slip slop triumph , thanks for suggesting that.
Most of my material is classic in fact the newest book I have is darwin ortizs annotated erdnase and even that's just an annotated versionn of a hundred year old book! I always have what I need for francis carlyles homing card ready I do that standing up , I'm sure when the adrenalines pumping and I'm in the heat of the moment itll be fine, I'm getting focus by phil goldstein so theres apparently really good packet tricks in there so I may use some of them but Thank you Natanel for being so honest ive got a lot of time to get experience. |
Mary Mowder Inner circle Sacramento / Elk Grove, CA 3659 Posts |
Simon,
It is very easy to change your "Triumph" into an "in hands" type if you use the slop shuffle. It also brings the action up so that they are seeing your face rather than the top of your head. As a mentalist, you couldn't make a better choice than to have more "face time" with your audience. You are the perfect age to address this problem (as is everyone). For the next two years choose the Magic you pursue very carefully. Only pick up effects that add something different or better to your repertoire. Don't learn anything that requires a table. Choose Magic that gives you a sense of Wonder the first time you see it (not Magic you think will impress other Magicians). I try to add at least one non-card effect for every card effect I pick up and I try to choose different looking card effects (like Warp-II or Card Jugglery to break it up even further). Learn Magic with reasonable angle requirements. Choose Magic that is easy to carry. Believe me, it is hard to find such effects but they can be found. Their rarity gives you more time to concentrate on the few you have already found. After two years of being so choosy you won't ever go back because you will be building an iron clad repertoire. Lots of people want to teach you the latest trick they learned but stand fast. Tell them you're working on another effect and don't want to lose concentration but don't waste any time on impractical Magic for a while (impractical for walk-around). By the way I like many impractical effects that other people do. I just don't want to spend my time putting them in my kit till I have all the practical stuff I can use. Here are a few suggestions to start: Gypsy Thread (pre-wrapped around a business card) Ring and String Crazy Man's Handcuffs Star Gazer Rope and Ring and Rope (Pocket space allowing, use a 3" brass Harness ring to keep it small) Learn to do a chest high Elmsley (facing out) and convert a couple of effects "UP". Good Luck to you and any others who may take this advice. I'm sure others could add to the list of practical considerations they use to choose their effects. -Mary Mowder |
derrick Inner circle I dug holes for 1044 Posts |
Like others here, I'm inclined to only work from my own table. I understand some carry their own close-up mat so there's an option for you. I find that the kind of room a close-up mat takes is rarely if ever available at a banquet table where dinner is to be served. Work from the hands (yours and the spectators) and avoid needing to use their table if possible. Learn a good sponge ball/bunny routine. I know most magicians don't like them but lay people love them and who do you want to make happy? Hope that's worth at least two cents anyway.
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MaxfieldsMagic Inner circle Instead of practicing, I made 3009 Posts |
Some folks don't subscribe to this theory, but I always bring my own table. I don't do a lot of walk around, and all of my performances are free, but when I have done table to table work, such as during a meal at an assisted living facility, I always have a small wood box with a drawer and a close up pad on top; the box is mounted on a set of legs, so whatever I put down doesn't have to go on the meal table. I got mine at Ronjo Magic back in 2008, but don't see it on their site any more. There's probably others like it out there. Scott F. Guinn used to sell a bracket that you could screw onto any flat table top, which would then allow the table to be mounted "on the fly" onto a dining table, similar to the old trays that carhops would attach to your car door at drive-ins (definitely dating myself, here). Anyway, if your repertoire requires a table, rather than relearning a bunch of new effects, why not just bring a portable table?
Now appearing nightly in my basement.
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Opine Traveler Veteran user 342 Posts |
I once worked a large yacht in New York with five other magicians, and one of them brought his own portable table on a tripod stand that he carried around all night. The spectators found it a bit odd, and commented on it several times to the other magicians and me. It wasn't that they disliked it, per se, but they thought it was a little, um, weird.
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MaxfieldsMagic Inner circle Instead of practicing, I made 3009 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-04-26 23:38, Opine Traveler wrote: Why? Sorry, but I just don't get that. The guy's a magician. He has props. The table is his little "stage". Maybe it had something to do with being on a yacht (?), or maybe it was that he was the only one out of five magicians who had a table(?) If he'd been the only only magician, and had the same table, would people have still thought it weird? Or maybe the tricks he was doing really didn't require a table, so it seemed superfluous...?
Now appearing nightly in my basement.
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Opine Traveler Veteran user 342 Posts |
I can't tell you for sure. If I had to try to pin it on something, I think it was the fact that he seemed to need a table to do magic, and while an audience may understand why a magician might "need" his cards, coins and other props, it might be a bit of an eye-opener to have to consider that he "needs" a table, too. We can justify it to ourselves by saying it's our little stage, but I think it just came off as a crutch. I just found it telling that rather than magicians rejecting what he did and theorizing all over it, it was the spectators who had a problem with it.
My sense of things is that when you're working for people and need a surface for some reason, they're very accepting if you just kneel and do it on the floor, even encouraging them to come down with you. It seems very extemporaneous, organic and intimate. |
jakubr Veteran user 326 Posts |
What you could do, to prepare for this is create routine for no-table-situation. Just create routine designed for this conditions and it will save you nerves and stress on the day, when it comes. As others said, with table-hopping, you can't always rely on table surface, so it's good to have back-up plan.
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djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-04-26 15:45, Mary Mowder wrote: Nice list, a few things. 1) Whilst I intend to buy star gazer be aware that I am told similar products are becoming available in stationary shops. This is therefore a trick with a limited life span. But by all accounts it is easy to learn, gets good reactions and leaves the spec with a souvenir. I like all of that. For cards I would consider including torn and restored - the type of card trick I don't really consider a card trick as such (triumph is a card trick) and also sponge balls. I too will be doing a strolling charity gig - my plan is t+r card, sponge balls, ring on rope, crazy man's, with star gazer in my back pocket. |
SimonG-97 Special user 508 Posts |
Yeah thinking about all that ill probably go for
a coins routine , professors nightmare , sponge balls ( a great comedy magician gave me the idea sponge stars , idea being sponge balls roll of the table where as stars just land ) , a packet trick called dots imposible , ambitious card , and maybe some other packet tricks including david blaine strange travellers, but thank you mary for suggesting gypsy thread |
SimonG-97 Special user 508 Posts |
Quote: thank you good advice , I also believe magic should be aimed at making laymen happy not just magicians impressing each other, a great comedy magician/clown ive talked to said hes done professors nightmare for forty years and the trick can never get old if a laymens only seen it once! thank you though great advice.
On 2011-04-26 16:24, derrick wrote: |
SimonG-97 Special user 508 Posts |
Quote: thank you also , good advice
On 2011-04-27 03:58, jakubr wrote: |
djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Phil plus is I am told another great walk around effect. I will be buying that one too :0)
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SimonG-97 Special user 508 Posts |
I'm not to keen on whole false decks, on stage hell yeah , but not close up, hope it works for you though
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djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-04-27 16:00, djurmann wrote: Actually I have since heard that they changed Phil Plus and that the new version is not as good as the old. so scratch buying that then (unless I can get hold of an old version) |
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