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jxpx777 New user Fort Worth, TX 10 Posts |
I'm nearing 31 years old and I've been trying to get better at close-up sleight-of-hand magic for a few months now. I used to be into it as a teenager, but the confluence of a number of factors distracted me and I basically didn't touch magic for at least 15 years, probably closer to 20. And when I was a kid, it was mostly self-working stuff and a few coin sleights. Nothing major.
As I'm working on getting better at this now, I can't decide if my perspective on my work is skewed or not. (I record myself frequently and try to be objective when I watch it back.) Basically, I always perceive that my work isn't subtle enough. In the interest of keeping this concise, I'll limit this to cards, but it extends to other props as well. The card made too much noise when I palmed it or replaced it. That sleight wasn't executed fast enough. No, not too fast or it looks hurried and unnatural. That jogged card is totally obvious. You get the idea. The only reliable metric I've found thus far is whether or not the trick fools an audience. If I execute a sleight and no one detected it, then that's a success. But that also doesn't mean that it can't be improved or that a more savvy audience would also have missed it. So… How do you find the line between, "No, that was a pretty good job. You're being too hard on yourself," and "Yah, that really needs work." I don't know many magicians personally, so perhaps I'm evaluating this too much in a vacuum and some perspective would help. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you can offer. |
davidpaul$ Inner circle Georgetown, South Carolina 3086 Posts |
I hear ya jxpx777,
I heard someone say, I think it was Vito Lupo, if you can fool yourself when practicing in front of a mirror then you are on your way. I personally gauge my skills by my audience. I perform in three restaurants weekly and the spectators let me know just by their reactions or lack there of. I perform certain effects over and over and admittedly I get sloppy. Just last evening a spectator called me on something and it was all because my hand was tilted a little too far forward. I know better , but I just wasn't paying attention. The more you perform in front of a live audience the more you will will improve and the more they will let you know. (that is if you pay attention and want to further yourself in the art, which it sounds like you want to do.) Yes of course practice your palm, sleights and jogs. I have a deck of cards in every room in my home. Whenever I walk into a room, I pick up a deck and perform one classic pass or a side-steal or whatever I'm trying to improve on. While watching TV I practice a move over and over. Eventually over time you will progress. The only real way to improve is to perform as often as possible and pay attention to your audience. Have fun and ENJOY the journey!!
Guilt will betray you before technique betrays you!
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Father Photius Grammar Host El Paso, TX (Formerly Amarillo) 17161 Posts |
Never stop practicing, regardless of how long you have performed a trick or a move. As davidpaul$ above noted, he got a bit sloppy and tilted his hand a bit much. All of us are prone to do such things, why regular practice is essential, to keep those little bad habits from creeping in. The mirror is an old tried and true method, but I discovered that I often "blinked" at the moment of the "move" when watching in a mirror, and as such really didn't see if I could see the move or a flash. In my earlier days video cameras were incredibly expensive, but now you have built in cameras or inexpensive cams you can hook to your computer, or get inexpensive even high definition cameras. The camera won't blink, plus you can place it at several angles when practicing and catch things you would not see just looking at the move dead on in the mirror.
Critical, well we all are always pretty critical of our own moves, but being comfortable in doing the move where you do not have to look it it or your hands when doing it, and audience acceptance are the best judges. Don't be too surprised if you see your move on a video, after all, you know exactly what to look for and when. But it it appears pretty smooth, and you can look at the video to see where your eyes are at during the move, you can get a pretty good idea of whether it will fly or not. A lot of magicians in looking at videos, and they would swear that their eyes are not looking at their hands or the moves when the move occurs are shocked to see on video that they are indeed looking. Self delusion is much easier tham most expect it to be.
"Now here's the man with the 25 cent hands, that two bit magician..."
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Mr. Woolery Inner circle Fairbanks, AK 2149 Posts |
I'm going to suggest that you pick one sleight and work it to death. A while back, I wanted to learn a particular card trick which uses a DL. I started carrying a deck of cards everywhere. I'd put a joker on the top of the deck and do a DL, put the top card on the bottom of the deck and repeat. The joker would turn up again when I had done the move 52 times (53 cards, yes, but you don't see him the first time, so when you finally see him you've done it 52 times). I would then shuffle the cards a couple of times, find the joker, put him back on top, start over.
Prior to that, I kept a thimble in my pocket. Whenever I had a few minutes I would just work the thimble in and out of the thimble palm. Now I carry three rubber balls to practice the three ball trick. In particular, to practice the special move. I'm not there yet, so I keep them in my pocket to practice and I try to do it when I think of it. So, to improve, don't just say "I'm going to work on all my sleights" and try to go through all of them. Do, by all means, practice them all when you are rehearsing tricks, but pick one particular move that you really need to get right and work it over and over. Look for smoothness, clean appearance, whatever you feel needs to be fixed about it. And do that one move until you get it right 52 times in a row. Keep it in your working rehearsal so you don't lose it, then pick a different move to improve upon. -Patrick |
davidpaul$ Inner circle Georgetown, South Carolina 3086 Posts |
Quote:
On 2011-10-21 13:57, Mr. Woolery wrote: GREAT ADVICE !!!!!!!!
Guilt will betray you before technique betrays you!
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briancharles1002 New user SC 51 Posts |
Practice until you are sick of it. Then practice some more. I am more into coins and I will practice different things while watching tv, taking a walk, working. I have a coin in my hand as much as possible so it becomes an extension of my body and feels totally natural. Like others have said video yourself even if it is from the video on your phone, watch it carefully and honestly. This will help make sure that you are practicing correctly because while we may never practice enough to be perfect, we should get close. And getting close will only happen if you are practicing the right way otherwise your practice just makes you really good at doing it the wrong way.
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The Burnaby Kid Inner circle St. John's, Canada 3158 Posts |
You've got a broad goal in terms of effectiveness of execution which is to make sure that you fool your audience. This is good. If you're doing that, good. The one major pitfall that you need to avoid is making sure that you really ARE fooling them, and not fooling yourself into thinking they are fooled simply because they're not saying "I know how you did that!" explicitly.
Otherwise, it's a case of refining each sleight individually. If you've got videos on Youtube, you can get some critique from people here.
JACK, the Jolly Almanac of Card Knavery, a free card magic resource for beginners.
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harris Inner circle Harris Deutsch 8812 Posts |
Along with the sleights/licks, I also suggest developing some schtick.
The combination...priceless. Harris "more schtick than lick"
Harris Deutsch aka dr laugh
drlaugh4u@gmail.com music, magic and marvelous toys http://magician.org/member/drlaugh4u |
djurmann Inner circle thinks time to practice and stop writing 1481 Posts |
Dude you worry to much. Let the audience be your guide.
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Mephisticator New user Canada 61 Posts |
I heard a story once about Teller, from Penn and Teller. For the life of me, I don't remember where I saw, or heard it.
According to the story, Teller practiced the cup and balls so much that he could do it essentially without thinking about it. One day, in a diner, he was doing the cups and balls, not thinking about it and he fooled himself! He was distracted by his own movements and surprised himself when the ball showed up under the cup. I always think of this story when I think I am getting somewhere on a trick or sleight and I immediately realize I need to practice more. |
whiteoakcanyon Special user 899 Posts |
This strand of posts is filled with great advice. The only thought I have to reinforce is take every opportunity you can create and perform in front of a live group of spectators. There is no better way to improve than through performance. As previously stated, if you are willing to listen for their feedback you will learn more quickly. Good luck and have fun!
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