Based on the advice of many of you, I purchased Giobbi's Card College Volume 1 and the Royal Road to Card Magic. Both books are very helpful for telling an aspiring a magician what to learn and how it works. There is almost nothing in either of these books on how to practice. RRTCM has a practice regimen for the overhand shuffle that I practice daily. But when it comes to practicing other moves, I haven't seen much.

What are some ways to practice moves?

There are helpful threads on other parts of the forum on what sleights, flourishes, etc. to learn. What I'm trying to figure out is not how to learn them, but how to practice?

So much to learn, so many places to find things.

Just discovered The Burnaby Kid's annotations to RRCTM by going through old posts of "New to Magic?" (I've been checking out every single topic).

https://theburnabykid.com/nwmb/2018/01/1......shuffle/

If I may, I'd like to suggest you to purchase Card College volume 2 as soon as you can. The reason is that Roberto Giobbi actually sees the two volumes as the beginner's part of his card magic course. It was split into two volumes for printing reasons (and perhaps for marketing reason as well ).

At the end of volume 2 you'll find an invaluable section of a hundred pages touching many theory subjects.
There is advice on how to learn and practise a new sleight as well. I'm sure you won't regret the purchase.


Mark

Speaking for myself, I found it very helpful to learn sleights/moves in the context of a routine.
2 routines that helped me tremendously were Paul Harris' Tap Dancing Aces and J.C. Wagner's Dyslexic Queens. Many moves are used but you learn timing and execution in the process. It's more fun and more importantly the leaning process is transitional from move to move. You can evaluate your progress by working through the whole routine until it flows flawlessly.

The dvd's that contain these routines are easily attainable. Everyone is different regarding learning style, but the above is what helped me.

Some tips from another beginner:
1. Get the DVDs as well (R. Paul Wilson for RRTCM and Giobbi for CC)
2. There are different sources with guides. One by BurnabyKid (see above-mentioned link), Opie Houston's Guide to RRTCM, ( https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......forum=41 ) Madhouse Manor's Guide to the first two chapters of RRTCM. ( https://madhousemanor.com/2017/05/22/roy......ion/amp/ )
3. Study exactly and slowly the whole sleight. Be sure to look at any detail (which finger is where, which part of the finger does touch the cards, and so on).
4. Work with a metronome or an App that works as a metronome, and start really slow. Boring slow.
5. Turn up the metronome to get more speed and stay at a certain speed until you mastered that speed.
6. Do the sleight in an appropriate speed with eyes closed.
7. Do the sleight in an appropriate speed while watching TV
8. Do the sleight in an appropriate speed while talking to someone.
Now you should be ready to move on.

As a newbie myself, one general rule that I am still trying to master is patience...patience...patience. This stuff is very very difficult to do in a way that looks fluid and natural. I am not sure I will ever get there but I still plug away.

Lack of patience made me practice when I did not want to and when things were not working and coming together well. This was a waste of time and energy. Now, as I have read others say, when you sense you are struggling, put the cards down and come back in a day or two. You will be surprised how your muscle memory makes progress even while you are mentally coming to a simmer and wondering whether you should stick with it. It took me about a year to get through the Royal Road and its DVDs, and similarly with Card College (I am in volume 3 right now).

How do I know I am progressing? Well, I kept a log of the tricks/effects I liked from all of these sources, and storyboarded them to help learn them faster. After the first few chapters of Card College 3, which teaches killer techniques, I am going back to these tricks/effects and modifying them by incorporating the later-learned material from CC3. Being able to do this smoothly was a boost to my confidence. But to repeat, expect to accomplish a little at a time and don't be impatient.

Thanks for the great advice! It's all very helpful.

Please remember that there are many things to practice other than sleights and moves. Some can be done anytime, anywhere.

Voice control: pitch, variety of tone/volume, diction, pausing. You should be able to captivate and sustain attention by voice alone.
Orson Wells was a magician as well as actor. He could entertain an audience by reading pages out of a phone book. So should you.

Gestures: hand, face, foot and entire body coordination. Live communication is mostly non-verbal. Seek congruency of words and action. Then learn to foreshadow as directed focus.

Posture ...

Empathic listening ...

anyone can do tricks, Magic effects takes a bit more. Creating the condition in which magic is anticipated/expected takes a lifetime of practice.

My only magic appropriate skill at this point is in performance. I don't mean do say I'm a skilled performer, but 26 years of keeping high school students attention has helped a lot. I've also been a minor public official and spoken in front of large, sometimes hostile crowds.

Wit that said, those skills are not refined. I did a vase and ball trick for a couple of my wife's piano students. I realized I had no idea how to do it. I winged it, and the kids were amazed, but I had no routine and could have easily backed myself into a corner. So I get what you mean about practicing these skills.

I watched an old Harry Anderson Showtime special yesterday. Our humor is very similar, but I've got a long, long way to go to match a practiced performer.

I find it helpful to record myself on video often. I use a mirror as well, but end up sometimes having trouble when not looking in a mirror! The advice about trying it with your eyes shut may be useful for me too.

I find practicing moves works best for me in frequent shorter sessions than infrequent longer ones. 5-10 minutes a day works better for me than an hour on Sunday afternoon.

Aside from practicing physical moves, all aspects of presentation (such as eye contact) must be aligned with the script and the moves. I'm amazed how much goes on in the simplest of tricks.

Yeah there's here a great lot of helpful stuff. I'll have a look at it from time to time. Especially the one about shorter sessions I'll try for the next few days too.

There is practice, then there is rehearsal, the two are very different. Simply set aside a time allotment that you know you can keep at the same time everyday. That time is for practice and rehearsal. Don't do both in the same time slot. Make it at least an hour, or two. If you do this, you will succeed. Before you know it you will have an act to present for others.

Unlike some on here who seem to have iron wills, I cannot practice the same move for hours and hours a day. I simply don't have the attention span and if I practice any move too long in a session my mind wanders and I can't see if I am flashing or otherwise botching the move in a way that would compromise the effect. But I am also not in a race with my magic. I am near 50 years old and still a beginner/hobbyist. I have the rest of my life to get things accomplished.

All that said, I have found the following two resources helpful in structuring my practice time.

The first is a free .pdf from Dominic Reyes called "Approaching Magic Practice". You have to sign up for their email list, but you can always drop off.

http://blog.magicshop.co.uk/approaching-......ree-book

The second is a book by Gerald Edmundson called The Ostrich Factor which is about good practices for practicing and rehearsing magic. It's $39 shipped from the author.

http://www.geraldedmundson.com/tof1/bookorder.htm

I'm practicing several moves at the moment such as :

- Vernon multiple shift
- Hofzinser Top Change
- Side steal

I tend to perform them for twenty minutes to half an hour (each) every day. In between I'm used to do differents double lifts and false table cuts.
I always keep some time to perform the tricks in my repertoire (mechanics only). Then on some specifics days, I perform the whole routines, with the whole presentations.
I also try to keep a ratio 85% books / 15% videos because I often find myself doing 500 Vernon cold deck cut while looking at another magician yet not practicing anything new

I hope this helps.

Lucas.

EvilClown,
Thank you for mentioning my book. I'm happy that you found it useful.

Best,
Gerald

The Ostrich Factor and the link to my other books has changed:

http://www.geraldedmundson.com/BooksbyGerald.htm

Thanks,
Gerald

You mentioned a great resource in the beginning of your post. In Royal Road, the overhand shuffle practice regimen...

Simply add whatever slight you are currently working on into that routine, wherever it fits best, and go from there.

We're in the same boat, you and I, apparently. I've done magic for decades, but I've mostly concentrated on parlor style magic and mentalism until now.

I've only recently taken up card magic, and I found the overhand shuffle practice regiment to be a wonderful starting point to practice other sleights as well.

GOOD LUCK!

Edit: just realized this was a resurrected thread from 2019. I wonder how OP did? If he kept up, he's probably a pretty decent card magician at this point...