Are magicians making a mistake by focusing on the latest magic tricks?

I was in Mexico last month and went to see a magic show that totally shocked me. I learned a valuable lesson that I'd like to share with you:

It's way too easy to forget about classic magic tricks in favour of the latest releases. Turning your nose up at the classics can be a big mistake for magicians wanting to build an entertaining act. A magic trick being brand new, is no mark of quality. The real test of a great trick is how it has performed over time with audiences.

As you browse most magic shop inventories, you are presented with the latest magic tricks first. They are the tricks that magic shops need to sell because they are in their 'promotional release phase'. As a trick gets older, it drops down deeper into the magic shop catagories and can easily be over looked unless a magician is specifically searching for it. It's a strange way of helping magicians. In fact, it's often set up like that to help magic manufacturers, creators, and the cash flow of the magic shops.

We all like to see what's new and check out the latest magic tricks, but it's the job of a good magic shop to highlight the very best tried and tested tricks, rather than those that are hot this week?

There are so many great magic tricks that get pushed to the sidelines by magicians that don't tend to perform much. Sponge balls, rope tricks, jumping playing cards, silk productions.. These tricks don't have the hype and marketing of the lastest releases, but they have already proved their worth. If you use your own presentation and develop a fresh way to present them, each trick can become the highlight of your act because the impact of the 'effect' is so strong.

In order to address this, good magic shops will often have a Highly Recommended Magic Tricks section to showcase magic tricks that have proven their worth over time. These sections don't just list the latest magic tricks, they only feature tricks that working magicians use time and again because the tricks get great results from audiences.

3 Questions to Ask When Choosing Magic tricks

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

I'm going to let you into a little secret. This is a technique professional magicians use when they wade through all the new magic releases, to pick out the gems.

When selecting magic tricks to perform to the public, there are several factors that will guarantee you great reactions. Three of these factors are:

Will the trick produce a strong visual image?

Does the trick cause an emotional reaction?

Can the magic happen in the spectator's hands?

We all collect magic tricks that we like to learn and perform, but that's not the same as the much harder process of picking a small selection of tricks worthy of a position in your 'working set' Asking yourself questions like this when choosing magic tricks can help you identify the 'workers' from the tricks designed to entertain only magicians.

To give you an example of tricks that fit these three essential components. I recommend you watch these performances for Changeling and Wishbone. Seriously, I strongly recommend that you take a moment to watch these performances. take a few moments RIGHT NOW to check out the videos.

Changeling is a perfect example of visual magic happening in the spectators own hands. When the UK bank note transforms to another note all by itself, you get a huge reaction from spectators. That's magnified several times over when it happens in their own hands.

Wishbone is the latest release from Paul Harris Presents and it's a lovely effect that uses everyday objects, happens in the spectators hands, but it also creates an emotional connection between two spectators. I recorded a video a while back about asking spectators to hold hands whenever you can. Wishbone takes this principle and builds it into the trick itself, creating a shared momento that highlights the connection between two spectators and all that could lead on too..

Using Coin Magic Skills to Learn the Cups and Balls

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Tim writes:

I got the David Roth DVD set to learn sleight of hand. My question is that I struggle to see how I can transfer this to chop cup/ cup and balls work.

Is there a different way to see things I'm not seeing at the moment? Would a dvd/book about cup and balls give me the insight I'm missing?

Your thoughts are always welcome.
Still pushing on learning magic though iIhave neglected my studies due to heavy work at the moment (no excuse really is it)'

Hi Tim,

You're right… It's no excuse 🙂

Just do 10 minutes magic practice in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening each day. You don't need long marathon practice sessions to improve. The key is consistant, frequent drilling of the techniques over time, and that can be done in small daily bursts. Consider yourself told off 😉

I totally understand your desire to take your coin magic skills and apply them to a new area. There's no need to limit yourself to coin work, if you can adapt the moves to suit a different prop.

Many of the skills you will learn from coin magic work can cross over to the cups and balls. The biggest crossover is your 'timing' ability. The work you have put in on transfers and passes, all help with many of the moves for an advanced cups and balls routine. However, there is an important point you should remember:

Work with top down, rather than bottom up when you build your cups and balls routine.

Don't look at the moves you already perform and build a routine around them for the cups and balls. That leads to building a routine that is restricted and limited by your current skill set.

Instead, study as many cups and balls routines as you can, and choose one (or a combination of several) that is as entertaining as possible. Forget about the techniques that you will need to learn to perform it. Once you have picked a routine that you want to build, learn whatever techniques are required to perform it.

Imagine you are a cook. Pick a recipe that you want to make, THEN find the ingredients. Don't go through a cookbook trying to fine something to do with the stuff you already have in your larder.

Even though you will be learning many new techniques, you will still be amazed at how much cross over there is. Coin magic uses performance skills that can apply directly to using balls rather than coins, especially in your use of misdirection, framing and presentation. The exact mechanics may be different, but the psychology remains the same.

A great place to start would be the excellent training provided by Micheal Ammar:

Also available to download here