Hello. Jonathan again. I'm so happy with the advice I've been given and I'm working on what I was suggested. Today I want to ask about small hands. My Girlfriend asked me to teach her magic. She is a small girl and has small hands. What kinds of things would be good for her to learn even though she has smaller hands to work with?

Sponge balls and coins both come in varied sizes.

Anything. Small hands is not a death sentence.

Look at Dynamo, his hands are so slim. Despite that he is able to do crazy sleight of hand with coins/cards. I have small hands too, and my only problem is palming classic bicycle cards. It is more difficult to cover the whole card and keep my hand in natural position. It still works with proper misdirection/offbeat.

I would say that small hands are more sensitive, more flexible, they can be an asset.

I was always afraid of palming because of my hand size. There were too many good tricks I was passing up on so I just kept practicing. All it really took was practice and finding ways that worked for me.

How small is small? For a bloke I have pretty small hands, which can make holding out a palmed card a bit tricky, but that hasn't really been much of a bother with most other card moves, sponge balls, ropes, rings, paddles, mental magic, juggling, coins, etc etc.

People can do magic eve with no hands, so it isn't really going to be much of a factor. It might (might!) make some moves a little harder, but no big shakes as far as I can see.

And you can always use bridge sized cards

Can she hold card? If so, her hands are fine. You can do magic with no hands, even card magic. And yes, even palming.

P!

To get her started get her big blind medias ultimate Self working Card tricks volume 1.

Here is something I wrote in another thread about small hands:


I also have very small hands and when I started out with cardistry/flourishing I wasn´t able to do a thumb cut...so many things did seem impossible with my small hands.
And I thought I should give up on cardistry because my hands are too small.

But...it all comes down to pracitce...improve dexterity....work your way around difficulties.

There are very skilled childs out there, Lee Asher has very small hands and then there´s Mahdi Gilbert,
he doesn´t even have hands, performs card magic and fooled Penn and Teller!


And...i advice against using bridge sized cards. I also thought I would have to use them....but gladly I sticked to poker sized cards.

Here is a video by Aaron Fisher about small hands and why not to use bridge sized cards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re2G6XWzBTA

MAX MALINI had hands the were PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE of covering the cards he used!!! Dariel Fitzkee reported that almost every time he saw him perform, the p*a*med card was VISIBLY POKING OUT FROM UNDER HIS HAND!!! Using PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTACK, he was able to pull it off!

Now, your girlfriend may not be able to become a Max Malini in this aspect, SO, refer to the post above this. Small hands are rarely a real issue.

I'm guessing that she's not interested in magic in any serious way and only taking a passing interest in it because you are, in this case just about any beginner trick will be good enough to teach your girlfriend. I would probably recommend a self working magic trick. Create an appealing presentation and she will be ega to learn it asap.

Yep! Teaching sleight of hand may just quash the limited interest she has for it. While something she can do right away would at least nurture it for the time it lasts.

HOWEVER; Do not expect your girlfriend to become a MAGICIAN, or a MAGICAL ENTERTAINER, by "teaching" her mere tricks! "Those who believe that MAGIC consists of doing TRICKS, are strangers to magic. TRICKS ARE BUT THE CRUDE RESIDUE OF WHICH THE LIFEBLOOD OF MAGIC HAS BEEN DRAINED." A guy named SHARPE once said that, I think.

Yup! An English friend of mine, tells me that Mr. Sharpe was not a GREAT performer, but, he understood the psychology!

Performing a magic trick requires, sleight of hand skills, and/or, esoteric principles of science, and/or the use of perceptual illusIons, PLUS LOTS OF PSYCHOLOGY!

You might look into learning a two-person mentalism act together. You could do it as a team without props.

Hi Johnathon

The issue here is not small hands. Small hands are never an issue, but probably can't be explained easily on a forum. It would be best to speak to someone in person, who can demonstrate why.

But unlike others, I don't think this is about psychology, practice or theory either.

Your girlfriend has asked you to teach her magic. I suspect she just wants to learn a trick or two. So teach her a couple of tricks that she can show her friends. Self workers, that don't require weeks of practicing sleight of hand. Tricks, nothing more, nothing less.

Now if I've got it wrong and she has had an in depth discussion with you about wanting to become a performer, then that's different. Your approach will be different. But I suspect that's not the case.

I travel extensively and perform daily, including walk around, street and parlour. I've spent decades studying the psychology of magic and performance. I've been mentored on stagecraft by working pros. I've paid bills by performing in all sorts of environments and had to know presentation, audience management and misdirection to make it work. I developed my technique such that I can do the moves I need and have the technical skills required.

But when I started, many many years ago, I just wanted tricks. I suspect your girlfriend is the same.

YUP!