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dr34 New user Ohio 26 Posts |
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IMAGINACIAN Special user In Your Thots 558 Posts |
Yes, a good essay and definitely great advice. Thanks for sharing dr34.
There is no better freedom than choice and no better choice than freedom.
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Jon Strum Regular user 125 Posts |
This is a great reminder of a basic truth that sometimes appears to be elusive - magic is one of the performing arts. Magicians must perform magic. Others may invent, coach, read, write, study its history, collect tricks, etc. But magicians perform magic for audiences.
"Do you like card tricks?" he asked.
I said no. He did five. |
funsway Inner circle old things in new ways - new things in old ways 9987 Posts |
I agree 98% SInce magic occurs in the mind of the observer, so does the label "magician." If an audience applies that label, then the person is a magician. That is how language works.
So, this article is "magicians helping magicians" and is profound and appropriate -- but cannot claim that a person is not a magician because he does not meet this standard. For example, if I write the description of an effect in a manner such that the reader can perform it by the above standards then I am a magician with the reader as my audience and the effect of magic communicated and reformed in the imagination of the reader. I perform an effect written up by Jamy and modified by me. I have never seen him perform and must accept his claim that he does actually perform for audiences and that this effect is one of them. I consider hm a magician even though I have no proof that he meets his own standards. Other writers like Jay Sankey release effects that I suspect have never been field tested to the degree implied or claimed. I still consider him a magician. My grandmother used to perform many small effects for use, but never claimed to be a magician or to be doing a trick. Some it took me decades to figure out how she had done these things. Her performance always had a value lesson and I was rarely a willing audience. By incorporating impossible things into her story she made me pay attention and remember. She was certainly a magician by any common usage, and by the standard of "Ammar's 30 year memory" more than doubled that requirement. I have a book in the works called "Grandma Magic" with many unique magic effects. I can't perform them now with crippled hands, but you can. So, who will be the magician then? She, who never claimed to be magician, me, who can't perform, or you who finds magic therein and works to share it with an audience? "magic" is more than just a performing art, but when an art must have a transfer of emotion. Just following Jamy's teaching formula won't guarantee that either.
"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst
eBooks at https://www.lybrary.com/ken-muller-m-579928.html questions at ken@eversway.com |
chiartguy New user Chicago, IL 56 Posts |
Dr34 -- agreed, great advice. There are several other good articles on Jamy's site in his "Fans and Magicians" section:
http://honestliar.com/fm/ (And if you want even more of Jamy's writing, Genii magazine subscribers can use the online archive to read lots of his articles and reviews from the past 20 years.) |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » New to magic? » » Jamy Ian Swiss Essay: Lessons and Learning (3 Likes) |
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