We just received this feedback from magician Bill Richards about adding focus to learning magic tricks:
I must say that I am incredibly pleased with my decision to follow the sleight of hand for beginners training course, and even now after just four days of practice I can unequivocally say that although there is a far more left to learn and master than I could even begin to imagine, I do feel that I have improved, which I think is mostly down to the focus of my practice sessions; without guidance of course it is far too easy to pick up a trick, have a go at it, not be able to do it as well as would be preferred, put it down and reach for the next trick which sounds like it might be a little easier, or more interesting etc. This I think is the main benefit provided by such a course, focus, and being instructed by a professional as to what to do in those focussed sessions, how to go about practicing, how much time to spend, what to practice, etc.
I really like Liam’s presentation, his explanations are clear and concise, and his demonstrations are clean and precise. This first DVD set is, I think, something which I would not have selected to view and study had it not been presented to me.
Bill! You hit the nail on the head my friend. The course is all about focus. The truth is that nothing contained in the course is particularly unique. It's all material that is available individually on DVD's. In fact, you can order the individual DVD's that make up the course as stand along products. The value we add comes from attempting to slow down the learning and focus the student on working through the material in a systematic way. It's the follow up emails, coaching, and performance reviews that are offered over the 3 months that are the real secret to the results the course is achieving for magicians that take the time to work through it.
Every day the team at the Merchant of Magic supply magic DVD's and new tricks to hundreds of magicians all across the world. It's a constant stream of new material being snapped up by magicians hungry for the 'next new thing' in magic. Even though we are in our second decade of supplying magic tricks, it still amazes us, how quickly magicians move on to the next magic DVD to be released. They simply can't be learning all this new material, and it often feels like collecting more than magic training.
This first course, on sleight of hand, was an attemto to see if magicians would be prepared to work on a focused program, to learn the classic, core techniques in card magic. We hoped, with the right encoragment, we could get magicians to make a commitment to just one technique at a time, and really put in the work to master it, before moving on to something else. We know from the personal tuition that we offer to magicians on a one 2 one basis at the magic shop, that so much more progress can be made by slowing down the learning process. Once a core move has been REALLY MASTERED, thats the time to add applications for the move. In doing this 'directed learning program' a whoe range of new magic tricks open up to the student, once they have the technical movements mastered.
Keep up the great work Richard!
Best wishes as always
