No, my age is not 11 months:-P. I'm actually 51 and started down the magic road 11 months ago. Sometimes I find I wish I could send a message back to myself at the beginning. But since time-travel is not in my gift, I figure the next best thing is to pass these things along to other folks who may be starting out.

I took to coin magic as my favorite area of magic, and so have the most experience there. Today's tip for folks newer to coin magic than I am is about 2 things that SEEM super easy at the beginning, but that can trip you up later on unless you really work hard at making them look natural. These 2 things are the Shuttle Pass and the Utility Switch. The latter can be found in Bobo. The Shuttle Pass is a David Roth move and can best be learned (if you can't get it from him in person;)) from the DVDs - David Roth's Expert Coin Magic...Made Easy! (specifically, Vol. I). Both of these moves become integral to many modern routines (by "modern," I mean pretty much 1990s up to today).

When you first try them, you may (like me) think "Wow, this is super easy. Next!" But then months down the road you may be doing a more complex routine, such as the David Roth version of "Winged Silver," and realize that the "hard" stuff (CP, moving into and out of it, etc.) is working fine. But the routine doesn't work because your Shuttle Pass looks completely fake. Don't let a bad Shuttle Pass or Utility Switch bring down an otherwise great routine because you didn't allot enough practice to what seemed to be the "easy" moves.

How do you avoid this? Practice these two moves in the mirror until it looks to you exactly like you really are moving a coin(s) from hand-to-hand. As with many things in magic, practice actually doing it so you know what that looks like - then try to make the pass/switch look the same. HOWEVER, once you think you've gotten that far, ask your magic coach (aka "spouse" in my case;)) or significant other or magician from your local club (in other words, a real human other than your mirror reflection), to watch you do these moves and see if THEY think it looks like you're really moving the coin(s).

Perfect these two moves, even if they seem "boring" early on, and you'll be in a much better place than I am at month 11:-P.

Cheers!

Ken