Study Guide for Bobos Modern Coin Magic

STUDY GUIDE TO BOBOS MODERN COIN MAGIC

by Opie Houston

OBJECTIVE:
Participants will learn selected sleights and tricks from Bobo’s classic. The selected readings, of course, are subjective and represent what I consider to be the essentials. The more serious student of magic may want to seek supplemental sources of material related to his or her own interests.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:
Dig out or order a copy of Bobo’s Modern Coin Magic.
Gather the following materials to start: A few American half-dollar size coins; a few American dollar-size coins; two half-dollar size copper coins; other assorted coins; and a handkerchief.

WEEK ONE – Basics
1. Read the Preface, Braun’s Introduction, Acknowledgements, and the Prologue.

2. Skim Chapters 1 and 2. Read every word, and do not stop reading to try some of the sleights. It is very important that you understand Bobo’s theories and philosophy before you tackle the hard stuff.

3. Review Chapter 1, Coin Concealments, and practice all the sleights, with emphasis on the following:
a. Classic Palm; b. Edge Palm; c. Downs Palm; d. Finger Palm.

NOTE: Give the various Clips and Front/BackPalm a look, but concentrate on the sleights listed above. Carry a coin at all times for practice.)

4. Review Chapter II, Basic Technique, and learn the following techniques:
a. Bobo Switch; b. Utility Switch; c. Click Pass; d. Bottom Steal; e. “Fumble” suggestions.

TEST YOURSELF ON CHAPTERS 1 & 2

WEEKS II & III – More Basics
1. Read Chapter III, Coin Vanishes. Read every word before beginning a re-read and emphasis on the following effects:
a. Standard Vanish; b. Thumb Palm Vanish; c. Illusive Coin Pass; d. A Coin Vanish; e. Gone; f. Flyaway Coin; g. Vanish for Several Coins.

NOTE: Play around with all the material in the Chapter, but concentrate most of your efforts on the items listed above and the basics from the previous chapters.)

2. Read Chapter IV only after your have at least a working knowledge of the material in the first three chapters.

NOTE: If at the end of three weeks you have not gained a working knowledge of Chapters 1 through 3, it would probably be best to continue practice and review of those chapters. But, do not become frustrated, because all of us have or have had problems with some of the material. JUST PLAY WITH IT. It is not life-essential material, but it does form the important basic foundation for more advanced coin work.

TEST YOURSELF ON CHAPTERS I – III

WEEKS IV & V – Putting it Together
1. Read Chapters IV, V, and XVI. Wow! There is a lot there, isn’t there? And we haven’t even scratched the surface yet. So, it is time to start putting it together, so to speak, and begin tailoring our own performances, complete with compatible routining and personalized patter. But, before we do that, let us do a little self appraisal.

2. Rate yourself on the following more-or-less desired skills, using three grading levels: Excellent, Good, Needs Work. Make a list of the “Needs Work” items and practice them before proceeding to the next week’s level.
a. Chap I, Coin Concealments: Classic Palm, Edge Palm, Thumb Palm, Finger Palm.
b. Chap II, Basic Technique: Bobo Switch, Utility Switch, One Hand Switch, Click Pass, Bottom Steal, “Fumbles”
c. Chap III, Coin Vanishes: Standard Vanish, Simple Vanish, Thumb Palm Vanish, Illusive Coin Pass, A Coin Vanish, Pinch Vanish, Gone, Flyaway Coin, French Drop, Handkerchief Coin Vanish, Vanish for Several Coins.

3. Using all the knowledge you know and information from Chapters I through V and Chapter XVI, put together a Single-Coin Routine, using the first three suggested routines in Chapter XVI. If you do not know the effects suggested in those routines, look them up or substitute an effect you already know.

(NOTE: When you have organized and perfected a good Walkaround/Standup routine, per 3 above, you will be ready to proceed to the Conquering Bobo Check-list which will take you the remainder of the way through the text. You will find it on page 6.

CONQUERING BOBO
1. If you have completed the “Weeks IV & V” check-list on page 5, you are ready to plan your own personalized advanced study through the remainder of the Bobo text. This check-list will assist you by suggesting some short cuts, and, most importantly, it will point toward the classic coin tricks you should know.
NOTE: Spend about a week on each of the following items with emphasis on learning at least one new trick per week or the number suggested for the item.

2. Week VI –
a. Read Chapters VI and VII.
b. Play around with the material in those chapters.

3. Weeks VII and VIII –
a. Read Chapter VIII.
b. Spend two weeks on this Chapter, and, as a minimum, learn four effects. (Some may require you to visit a magic shop.)

4. Week IX and X –
a. Read Chapter IX.
b. Spend at least two weeks on this chapter and learn at least three of these classics.

5. Week XI –
a. Read the remaining chapters that you have not read. JUST READ!
b. Now, go back and make a list of effects you wish to learn from those new chapters.

6. Week XII – and forever thereafter…
a. Begin on page 1 and Re-Read the whole book. Stop and play whenever you like.
b. While you are playing, however, make a list of the tricks you really like and play around with different patter/presentations of each one…….
……..that is the secret to learning magic–constant evaluation and improvement…..

I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED MY LITTLE COURSE PLAN…

Opie

Learning Sleight of Hand is Like Comic Collecting

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

By Dominic Reyes

Mark is new to magic and is learning sleight of hand. He is working on controls and sleights rather than tricks and effects..

Mark asks: 'I am new to card magic or any magic for that matter. I have been strictly working on my card handling with barely any work on tricks, just the occasional tricks to show to my kids. I really like working on controls, trying to get the card from middle to top and bottom but am struggling with most of them. What would be your recommendation of a control I should use or practice that is the most practical?'

Hi Mark,

It's great to hear that you are putting in so much work into your card skills. The results you get are directly proportional to the quality of magic practice you are prepared to do.

Sleight of hand and comic collecting

Did you read comics when you were a kid? I did, in fact, I still read the odd issue of The Walking Dead from time to time. I even collected a few titles when I was back in college. Some of my friends got really into it. They would buy every issue (sometimes two copies) and store them carefully inside a Mayar protective sleeve, with an acid free backing board to keep them in A1 condition. Those comics became 'investments' in their eyes, and they loved every moment of collecting.

There's a little problem with this that used to worry them. The paper in 20th century comics was CHEAP. It contained acid, which over time eats away at the paper. Even though they had done everything they could to keep their 'archive' away from conditions that would damage the paper, it was the ink and paper itself that would slowly fall apart and turn to dust over 20,40,50 years..

Learning sleight of hand as a collection of moves is a bit like comic collecting. When you build an archive of sleights they build up and get mastered over time. But as soon as you stop drilling them, they start to corrode.

Honestly ask yourself: How many of these moves will you remember in 10 years time?

The only techniques you will be able to remember and perform well, will be the ones you constantly perform.

Time destroys muscle memory. Without regular repetition, your controls and moves will degrade until you are disappointed with each one. You need constant performance to keep things fresh and remember all the mechanics. If you collect moves outside of performance pieces (tricks) to use them, you may end up like the old comic collector that goes up to his attic to find his stacked up boxes of comics are just filled with bags of paper dust.

Sleight of hand and painting

Studying just moves, controls and sleights endlessly is like a painter, spending years learning how to perfectly mix the oil paints to every shade of colour… They end up with a huge palette of paints, but no paintings….

Choose tricks and effects first, then MASTER the controls, moves and sleights you need to perform that effect. Now you have improved your skills with a goal at the end.

Which move should you learn next? Start researching effects that you can build into sets of tricks to form an act. Be REALLY selective. Pick tricks that amaze you, but that will also entertain an audience. They need to be perfect for the type of venue you will perform within, and the type of people that will also be there.

Once you have selected your tricks, start on just one, and work on the controls, moves, and sleight of hand that is required to fully master it. That's what I recommend you work on next.

But that doesn't answer my question!

OK.. lecture over.. If you really want a suggestion of a move or control to work on, you should make sure you master at least one variation of these:

The Double Lift

The Top Change

The Over Hand Shuffle Control

The Mercury Fold

One Handed Card Palm

A Series of Good False Shuffles and Cuts

The rest; the controls, shifts, placements and changes are just icing on the cake…

Magicians Marketing Problems

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

By Dominic Reyes

Dear Dominic,
I am struggling with my marketing. I fail to put into action what I know are good strategies with regard to marketing myself as a magician. Apart from not being the most organised person in the world, I guess that deep down I don't really like marketing & admin. One thing I cannot or will not do is outsource or hire someone to do it for me – I think this would be uneconomic for me.
Regards,
John

Hi John,

Why not just practice and perform magic for fun just as a hobby? Do you really have the desire to perform as a working magician? It’s a lot of hard work, and will take up time you could spend having fun learning new tricks…

Most people just stick to that, and are very happy with their choice. However, if you definitely want to perform commercially, you HAVE to get involved in the business side of things and that involves magicians marketing.

You are going into business as a magician.

I’ve no quick and easy fix for you. You just have to DO IT or get someone to do it for you. If you are not happy to pass on control of your marketing to someone else, then you simply have no choice but to make a PLAN and put that into action.

It sounds like you already know plenty of actionable steps you can take to move your career as a magician forward. So what’s really stopping you?

Is it fear of failure?

Doing nothing guarantees failure. ANYTHING you do, other than sitting and wishing for something, takes you a step closer to your goals.

Is it because it’s no fun?

Playing with magic is fun. Paperwork and magicians marketing can’t compete. But it’s vital groundwork for creating opportunities to:

Perform and get paid for it!

There really isn’t a better way to make your living, than by doing something you would happily do for free anyway. Creating a business out of your magic is worth all the time it will take to build up your reputation, contacts, and client base.

Fear of Decisions

Designing a website, producing marketing material, creating a showreel, finding venues and clients all require decisions. Choice is hard work and scary. It’s always easier to find something else to do, that allows you to avoid committing to a decision. Learning new magic tricks, feels like progress, but if you spend all your time practicing, without doing the work required to market your services, you are practicing for something that isn’t going to happen. That’s a waste of time..

Worried about the cost of magicians marketing?

You don't need to pay an expensive agency to market for you, or shell out for an online service. Do you know someone locally who will help you market for a share of the fee's the work they bring in generates? If not, contact your local university and reach out to the business, marketing, and media departments. Put up a sign on the department notice boards. Would someone like to take you on as a really interesting project? It's good for their CV and you can offer them a percentage of the fee's the extra work brings in.

What to do:

Dreaming, hoping, and praying for something is useful, but it's main benifit is 'hope'. In the face of something that looks impossible, we need to dream or hope that it may be achievable or happen one day. The problem is that hoping doesn't make things happen all by itself. You need to define goals that you can work towards in small manageable steps to make big things happen.

Break up the tasks involved in your marketing into small actionable parts.
The goal can be seen as a ‘project', and the small steps involved in reaching that goal can be seen as ‘actions'.

Here’s an example:

Project:

Creating a magicians website.

Actions:

Look at other magicians websites and make a note of the best points of each.
Create a list of features you want on your website.
Look at design companies to create a website for you.
Create an email that describes the sort of website you would like, with images of design ideas.
Get quotes
Commission a designer to build your website.

The big scary project of designing a website is enough to put anyone off, but if it’s broken up into individual tasks, each one isn’t that scary.. You can do one action each day, working to complete the product over a set period of time.

Now just take the first action and DO IT. Then on to the next and so on until the project is completed.

Here’s another example:

Project:

Get a local residency as a magician.

Actions:

Make a list of local restaurants and venues using google
Call each venue to ask who is responsible for event planning
Create a short letter of introduction
Send out introduction letters to each of the venues
Call each venue to ask if they have received your introduction letter, and ask if you can meet the event planner.

The big ‘project’ is broken up into small, quick, and defined short actions that don’t require too much choice or thinking. You then take the first single action needed to move the project forward and that is you NEXT ACTION, do it and then move onto the next.

If all this sounds like too much hard work, then you need to find someone that will do it for you. It's an essential part of being a professional magician.

What advice would you give John? Leave a comment below: