I have recently been reading this book by Chaim Potok called "My Name is Asher Lev". It is a very good book about a Jewish kid who loves to paint, but it goes against him parents and his religion in certain ways, and so he has to figure out how to balance his life while being an artist.

One of the things that is really expressed in the book is how the kid, Asher Lev, draws his drawings with passion and emotion. When he is angry at someone, it shows up in his paintings of that person. If he is happy, he draws peaceful things that are beautiful. Sometimes, he doesn' draw at all when he is just confused.

Anyways, I was wondering if magicians do this when they are performing magic. Do you let emotions control your act? Maybe if you are mad, are your sleights and gestures more aggressive and is your patter more blunt and to-the-point? Maybe if you are sad, is your patter more abot stury-telling and ballads? If you are happy, are you quicker and more fluid?

I do know that MY emotions get a hold of me in a lot of things, just not magic so much. I know that my emotions take over my writing, my acting, my singing, my sports-playing, my actions, everything...except magic so much. I just have the routines patted down to a science, that I do not really alter it because of how I am feeling. I only alter when I have to think of something on the spot, something witty to say or another move to keep the routine flowing.

I love magic. It is my passion, just the same as my writing. I am very good at it, very good at entrtaining people. I love it; I will never quit. It is my life, and possibly my future career.

So, do you guys let emotions control your magic? If so, how do you tap into it?

The key is to create an effect that will move your audience on an emotional level. Through music, acting, staging, lighting, humor, emotion and other tools you create a sense of wonder in your audience. A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician. A good actor controls his or her emotions to use all the resources in his/her power to create a framework for the audience to follow him/her through the process and share the wonder with the audience. A good actor can convey an emotional experience to an audience. Convincing yourself that what you are doing is really a magical experience is the first step in this journey. The audience experiences the magic in part through your own reactions to what you are doing. If it is real for you, it can be real for the audience too. On the other side of the spectrum are those who are completely obsessed with their own magic skills, unaware of the importance of sharing a sense of wonder with their audience, who convey their emotional obsessions by showing off their skills merely for the sake of self satisfaction. Or those who are bored from their acts or who would prefer to be doing something else rather than this particular show for this particular audience. The audience becomes only a spectator watching the performer's show, and the ultimate experience is very different as a result. Few performers can really break the ice, the invisible wall between stage and audience. Those who get through move you in a way that you'll never forget for the rest of your life. Be in the moment. Look the spectators in the eye and convey that you care about them. Savor the relationship that you have right now with your audience. Treat it as a sacred trust. The audience will pick up on this emotional energy, return it back to you with their responses, and both audience and entertainer will mutually share a very powerful emotional experience.

:magicrabbit:

Mmmhmm....I was thinking almost all the way through that post, "Yeah, yeah, I've heard that all a gazillion times. Nothing I haven't already heard."

But then I read that last part and it knd of intriguied me a bit. Looking the spectator in the eye to give off emotion? Well, I've never thought about that, it has always come as a natural habit to me. I always look people in the eye, especially when I am performing magic. I've been raised that way, just never thought that it gaives off emotion for the audience to feed off of; good point!

But it wasn't really the point of my question. Do emotions affect your performing style on a day to day basis? Do you perform differently because of how you feel at the moment, and then in turn does the audience react to your emotions similarly?

It only takes one small idea from a book, DVD, CD, magazine or convention to change your life.

Jeff McBride once said at a convention something that was more important to me than anything else I'd heard there at the time. He shared that he will look at one spectator at a time during his performance, for a few seconds, and then move on to another spectator, gazing directly into their eyes as he is performing. You know, sometimes you feel a special connection with a performer, like the two of you are alone in a room and you are privy to a private performance, just for you. That the performer somehow cares for you as an individual. I've always felt that from Jeff. Now I know why. Everyone in that audience felt, "He's looking right at me! He's performing just for me!" And that's one way Jeff breaks through that imaginary wall.

An experienced performer will jam with his/her audience. I've called myself a jazz mugician because I jam both in music and in magic. By using the audience's reactions to the performance as part of the live show itself, a performer's feelings at any given moment directly affect the performance itself, and emotions enter into the equation. Some performers such as Dai Vernon and Lennert Green have multiple "outs." That is, the trick can change many ways depending upon the reactions and choices of the audience. Jamming is all about that. Being so comfortable in your own skin and with the technique that the mind can focus on the here and now and the show literally can change at any moment depending upon the relationship as it develops between performer and audience.

:magicrabbit:

Well, I've also always felt that Jeff McBride had a great connection with his audiences, although unfortunately I have never seen him live.

Anyways, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

If I’m reading your original question correctly, then my answer is yes and no

As a professional your emotions must not be allowed to control you. As a human it is unavoidable. The trick is to learn how to control what comes across to your audience, to gauge it carefully and make it one of your tools.

We’re all familiar with the folk singer who wants to give her “testimony” at the beginning of the song. “This song was inspired by so-and-so at a time he was dying of such-and-such”, and then the tears start flowing so much that the “speech” becomes difficult to even understand; she’s lost the audience before the first note was even played.

I’m not so cold that I can’t appreciate the feeling that goes into the music, but I want to feel that passion IN THE MUSIC, not through some blubbering monologue. It’s unprofessional.

I’ve done a ton of writing. Some of my best material comes when I’m worn out, at the point of breaking down, and I’m literally sobbing as I write. But I cannot perform it that way. The most mushy-sweet bleeding heart in the world won’t tolerate more than a few minutes of me indulging my own grief.

Part of my rehearsal time is for the purpose of “immunizing” myself against such outbreaks. When people are paying to see me perform, they’re depending on my PERFORMANCE skills, not my crying skills. (or my OCD or bipolar or whatever choose-your-own frailty)

I want THEM to feel. It won’t happen if I’M the one doing all the “feeling”. When my voice breaks, it is because that’s the point where a crack in the voice is effective in delivering an emotion TO MY AUDIENCE. (And yes, planning such “breaks” is part of the rehearsal!)

Remember the performance is about the audience, not you. Your cathartic is in the rehearsal. By the time you take it live, emotion (as well as everything else) should be under your control.

You’ve been asking some very good questions, and I think you’re going to become one the better performers. Most folks are too uptight to even admit that they wonder about such things. I’ll enjoy watching you grow!

Addendum:
In all of this, I’m not saying you shouldn’t use your own real energy to generate a contagious excitement, only that it should be under your control. Don’t let YOU get swept away.

Best of luck to you!

Haha, thansk for the compliment

Very interesting points; they got my mind swirling! Performing is a VERY complicated thing. It takes an experienced master to figure out how to play to any crowd no matter what the circumstances. Hopefully I will get there one day.

I have always been my best critic in everything that I do. In fact, every time I perform magic for an audience, I reflect on it afterwards and kick myself a hundred times over. I think, "Oh, man. I should have cracked such and such joke after one of the audience members said this and that....I missed an great opportunity!"

But then, I think about all of the stuff that I DID do that I had not planned for, like, "Wow, that extra move that I threw in there really fooled the audience," or, "That joke that I put in there got the crowd going, I'll have to remember to put that in my practiced patter."

And then I also remember the reactions. If they seem bored, that means I need to speed up my routine or add in anohter kicker for the next time. If they are too confused, that means I should slow it down and smooth out my patter more for next time.

It's all sooooo complicated. That's why I loooove it. I love interacting with people, total strangers. I love trying to figure out how they are feeling. It gives me better insight to how others feel as well as how I feel. It teaches me how to hide or show emotins. You learn all of the tricks of the human mind when you are a magician. That's what makes it so fun. It makes you feel poweful, like you can control anyone.

But then when the audience laughs or smiles or is stunned or screams in amazement, that feeling of power all goes away and you fell so happy because you made someone else happy. That is the best emotion in the world. And that is what compels me to perform magic and entertain people.

Magic and jam session: great analogy. Magic should flow with the audience. You should be willing to step this way or that, depending on the reactions.

Also, I loved the part about looking people in the eye. I do that naturally, because of a public speaking class I took (long ago) in high school, where my teacher taught me to look around the room as I speak, trying to make eye contact with as many people as possible. I've gotten good enough in my day job that I'm constantly being asked to do training presentation, and I do the same. That just naturally happens now, when I perform magic.

Going back to the music analogy, I once had a drummer for a popular musical act tell me, "I always play like someone is always watching me. I know many people are paying attention to the lead singer, but if anyone ever looks at me, I'm playing to them." He also said he tries to look around at the audience and make eye contact. And this was a person who played in large arenas.

Valuable advice.

How does emotion emerge in conversations with folks in everyday life?

It's the same thing. If 'you' don't talk or act with emotion then it's going to be difficult for you to 'put it into' your magic. If on the other hand you are used to talking and interacting emotionally you simply need to transfer that to your performance.

Watch yourself in daily life. What do you see?

Best,

Research on emotional contagion theory implies that you are likely to experience and express the right emotions whenever you feel quite connected to your audience. In this state, you often experience the surprise, anticipation, shock, and fascination of the audience--usually immediately before they do. This connection is more likely whenever you feel quite relaxed and whenever you like your audience. Some interactions towards the beginning of your act can also instill this sense of connection.