An Obsession with Finishing Magic Tricks Clean

Many of the commercial effects on the market today shout about how they have been designed to ‘finish clean’ or be fully examinable both before and after the performance of the trick. But is insisting on finishing magic tricks clean really that important? Is it just some of the ‘sales spin’ designed to sounds good, whilst not really doing anything to improve your performance?

Here’s some important advice from one of the world’s most respected magicians… Wayne Dobson.

There’s something that really annoys me about magicians – amateurs, it’s never pros. For many years this has really been a bugbear of mine.

So many magicians seem more interested in whether the props can be examined at the end! They seem obsessed with ‘finishing clean’. I think you’ll find that all the best things in human interaction don’t end clean!!!

With just average stage management your spectators should never even consider examining your props. They should be investing in you as the performer and the performance in front of them – not the props for goodness’ sake. Someone famous (it may have been Vernon: it usually is) said words to the effect that when a violinist performs a wonderful sonata, the audience doesn’t rush forward and insist on examining the violin.

You are what they will remember. Look at the stars of today like Derren and Dynamo, do you think the spectator is more interested in their magnetic coins than them?

Do you really think at the end of your cups & balls routine, after you have produced 3 lemons and everybody is sitting there with their mouth wide, it makes any sense to then burst the evocative bubble by inviting them to examine your cups?!

If they reach for the props, you have done something wrong. We need to get away from this sense of some kind of battle between performer and spectator where the latter is hell-bent on finding out how the performer ‘did it’. If your performance, and relationship with your audience, ends in that state, you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.

I can honestly say that in my 40 years of performing I have never been questioned on the props that I used. Just remember Ken Brooke’s and Danny Buckler saying: “The smaller the prop the bigger the performer.” – Wayne Dobson

Study Guide for Bobos Modern Coin Magic

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

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.