Kinda a usual story...loved magic as an adolescent, drifted away, now late in life, re-kindling my interest (as a hobbyist/collector).

My question: I would say just about every performance or trick that I see online/TV/etc amazes me. Everyone seems so gifted in SOH, cardistry, and stage performances. I am actually wondering when I will become more discerning (if at all). Right now it's just admiration for everyone's skill, and the belief that I likely will never develop the skills that I see in professionals, but I'm wondering if there's a point when you actually can tell the great from the good? I do recognize smoother patter and set-ups, but in terms of dexterity, I just put everyone into the great category.

Thanks!

May you never lose this perspective!

Your audience of tomorrow will not know of your 'skill level." So, be the best in the world at what you chose to present.
You are communicating your love/appreciation of magic to others. Make it so.

The story they can tell of the "real experience of magic" is not a matter of comparison with any other performer - unless you make it an issue.

Yes, hold those other 'greats' in awe and respect, but the 'effect' you do is between you and your audience, no one else.

Most of the time, it's not about the "skill" you possess with cards or coins or even stage movement. It's about how well you connect with the audience. They don't love your performance because it's magical -they love you because you made that performance magical to them.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you need advanced sleights to perform great magic. There are other skills that are more important, that can be developed with less effort (in my opinion). But ironically are neglected by most wannabe magicians. These include presentation skills, misdirection and carefully structuring each effect.

Choose a handful of tricks, and polish them with practice. You will find that you can blow people's minds with tricks that (to you) are very simple. Remember the magic happens in the mind of the spectator.

Here is an example of Juan Tamariz performing Neither Blind Nor Stupid. It's riveting! (It is also pretty much self-working!!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHuVYa_fVc

And yes - you will become more discriminating over time.

Wow! Thanks for the advice/wisdom everyone. Even when I see multiple folks do the same trick, I marvel at each of their presentations. I do appreciate the other skill sets required, and will keep that in mind. Nikodemus: Juan Tamariz is indeed wonderful; loved it. Feel free to share others...

So honored to benefit from all of your experience. Thanks!

I feel the same way Quinoa. That feeling gets more intense for me when I go to Youtube and see kids in their teens or early twenties demonstrating difficult sleights so smoothly. It makes me feel like "why am I even trying."

I have to disagree with you TeddyBoy. Some of those YouTubers do sleights really well, BUT most of them give lacklustre performances. You need to look at the big picture.

Another view - a good sleight is of the "never happened" flavor with the audience not even remembering what your hands were doing at the time.

So, if you can tell that a sleight is used they are not doing it right. The real "skill" would be in having you so entranced by the flow of magic that you can't recall the specifics,
and don't care to replay or "figure it out."

It seems that learning from Youtube only prepares you to perform on Youtube, so you might find some other standard for comparison.

There is certainly value in watching a video of an actual live performance, but learning a sleight you aren't supposed to notice isn't one of them.

Understood, but some of them have helped me with moves that I was struggling with. One needs to choose carefully, agreed.

Me too!
Sorry I was unclear. What I really meant was don't be intimidated by seeing people do sleights really well. Good magic is not primarily about sleights. It's about presentation and misdirection. So you can become a good magician by focusing on these qualities instead.

I agree with everyone that great sleight of hand is not needed for great magic, however I would be lying if I said that I did not absolutely love me some move monkey sleights. The way I see it is, learn some solid foundational sleights, what you'll actually use for performances, and then practice the hard stuff for fun and showing off to other magicians. A spectator will be just as impressed by a trick performed with an "easy" sleight as a hard one, its all about how you sell it.

Bear in mind that if it's on camera, it is always going to look polished. If Take #1 doesn't work out just right, they'll start over and reshoot.

When you see video on TV or online, it's usually carefully selected, and typically when a performance is at its best. If someone flubs their sleights or moves, they'll delete it rather than post it online, and you certainly won't be seeing it on TV.

What you're seeing online/TV is certainly not representative of the average performance.

Well, not necessarily so ...

https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......&forum=2

:-)
Mark