How do Magicians Force Playing Cards – Questions and Answers

Paul sent us the following question about how to learn to force playing cards:

'When reading instructions and finding something like 'use a force of your choice' or 'control the card to the bottom of the deck'. In theory, I know what both of those mean, but I'm yet to find a resource – particularly for forcing – for learning techniques that seem genuinely convincing.

Can you suggest something to me from which to learn some convincing forces and also a good tutorial on card controls? Thank you!' – Paul H

Paul, You're not along getting frustrated when you come across the phrase 'use a force of your choice' or 'use your favourite force'. We think that a magic tricks instructions should explain at least a basic force if the magic trick requires it.

The good news is that there are loads of ways to learn how to force playing cards correctly.

Solution 1 : Download this Magic Hands Tuition Download : Essential Forces

Solution 2 : Learn from a DVD. There are many good DVDs that cover the basic forces. A good one that will teach you a large range of controls, as well as the right way to use a hindu and riffle force is Born to Perform.

Solution 3 : Learn from a book : Just like DVD's there are a huge range of magic books that will teach you the basic forces. We tend to go with the most highly regarded source for beginners to learn the core sleights of card magic The Royal Road to Card Magic

You have a huge range of forces to choose from, but we would sugest learning and mastering the riffle force as your first project. Follow that up with the Hindu Force, before moving on to work on mastering a Classic Force over time. Thise three forces should provide you will all the technique you need for almost any force condition.

Adding Focus and Direction to Learning Magic Tricks – Review

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

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

Dominic Reyes

This Magic Blog is Wasting Your Time – Magicians Practice Plateaus

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

In this magic blog post, let's look at why learning plateaus happen to magicians, and what we can do to push past them.

As magicians, we need to commit to a routine of magic practice, both to develop new material, and also to stay sharp and fresh with our working acts. However, sometimes we can be practicing as hard as ever but seem to be treading water and making no progress.

It's in your head.

Sometimes we can create our own problems within a magic trick, or with part of the practice. These 'problems' may be tiny errors, or adjustments that we become completely focused on, and in your minds they become huge road blocks. We may obsess over the timing of a sleight, or the exact placement of an object on our close up mats. These fixations can become all consuming, and much of our practice time becomes devoted to working on them, to the detriment of the rest of the routine.

It's important to examine on your whole practice program, making sure that you don't fixate on aspects that may not be a good use of your time. To help prevent this, we recommend that you drill the WHOLE routine repeatedly, rather than working on single moves one at a time. The aim is to develop the complete routine together as a single performance, rather than as modules that combine to create the magic trick.

Unreal Practice.

When you have a boring or repetitive task to do, everything becomes a distraction. It's easy to spot distractions like TV, music, facebook etc, but those are not the most dangerous because they are so noticable.

The most dangerous distractions and those that feel like real work! You may be devoting many hours each day to your magic, but how are you really spending the time? Watching magic DVD's, reading magic magazines, sorting out and cataloging your magic props is not practicing.

Magic research on the internet is not practicing.
Reading this magic blog is not practicing.

Make sure that you set aside a dedicated practice time, planned out in advance. This practice time should be work on a specific magic trick, with no other distractions. By doing this, you will find that you need to spend far less time on your magic as the work is applied where it really counts.

Getting help from a magic teacher.

Just about every sporting professional makes use of a coach. Coaching isn't a luxury, or just a way to motivate the student to practice. Coaching allows a third party, who is detached from the learning process, to examine the whole practice program from an emotional distance. The coach cuts through all the distractions and imaginary problems that can suck up practice time. By using a third party to oversee your magic practice, you stay on track over time and work towards ONE goal, avoiding distractions.

If you find yourself making no progress in your magic practice, it may help to book a single session of personal magic tuition. This session isn't to learn more magic tricks (You probably already know enough). The goal of the coaching session is to look at your current progress, oversee your practice program and identify problems that you may not notice yourself as you are too close to the process.

Find a magic coach that you can trust to give you professional tuition. Ask them to watch your current material and give you HONEST feedback.

If you can't afford a professional magic coach, you can ask a trusted friend or your partner to help you stay focused on the practice program you set yourself. The important thing is that you have someone independent to keep you on track.