beginners Archives

If you are serious about studying magic, it means putting in the hours needed to practice, consistently, and over a great deal of time. There’s no shortcut, unless you want to be just an average magician. However, even dabbling in magic can have a serious consequence:

Magic addiction.

The trouble is we love magic. We especially like being fooled and enchanted by tricks. After all, that’s why we first became interested in it. We decided we wanted to be able to do it ourselves, so we started to learn. That’s when reality kicked in as we discovered that knowing the secret of a magic trick, instantly removed its ability to fool us. What’s left is the hard work of study, repetition and constant adjustment of technique, as we work to master each magic trick. That’s a whole load of boring, compared to the feelings a new magic trick gives us. The result is a pile of half mastered tricks and ‘itchy fingers’ for the next new magic trick that’s about to be released.

Habit Vs. Addiction

A habit is a pattern of behavior that becomes entrenched and is repeated on a regular basis. An addiction works quite differently to a habit. A behavior appears to satisfy a craving, but in reality, it is the cause of the precise craving it appears to cure. Addicts engage in an endless quest to satisfy their cravings, and in doing so, they create more.

The endless quest of magic.

This conflict between the love of being fooled, and the dull reality of practice is one of the reasons magicians learn so many tricks. Far more than they would ever be able to master. The thrill comes from searching for new magic tricks, wondering how they are done, and anticipating learning the secret.

Once a magic tricks, secret is theirs, they find little satisfaction from it anymore, and a new search for another trick begins. It never ends. If you don’t believe me, and you think you WILL one day know enough magic, spend an afternoon in a magic dealers hall. You will find loads of older magicians, who have been ‘learning’ for decades, yet are still frantically searching for the ‘next trick’ to master.

I’m not saying that this addiction for new magic is a terrible thing. Perpetually learning is extremely positive. I’m not aware of any health risks associated with continual study. It’s a lifelong passion to learn and be creative.

The Cure

Well, here’s the truth: There is no known cure.

Once you have been bitten by the ‘magic bug’, it’s already too late. You love learning, mastering new skills (or at least intending to do so) and enjoy the feeling of wonder and excitement that a new magic secret promises you. More than that, you want to create those feelings in other people too.

Don’t worry about it though. You can’t overdose, it’s slightly cheaper than most harmful chemical addictions, and it will bring you so much joy throughout your whole life. It will keep your outlook on life open and will entertain so many people through the years.

I’m a magic addict, and I’m dang well proud of it, you should be too!

Make Learning Coin Tricks Easy – 10 Quick Coin Magic Tips

by Merchant of Magic 3 Comments

Colin writes: Coin magic really interests me from an “immediate and no set up” perspective, and I have Bobo’s coin magic book (from you) but those primary conceals, etc, are a nightmare to learn, any ideas?

It’s a sad fact that so many magic beginners are put off from trying to learn coin magic. They find the learning curve at the beginning far too hard to deal with. Most magic coin tricks that don’t rely on gimmicked coins force you to face up to a big scary monster called ‘sleight of hand’. With so many magic tricks available that have special devices (called: gimmicks), It’s never been easier to bury your head in the sand and pretend that sleight of hand doesn’t exist.

What’s wrong with that? Well, it means you have to be a consumer, of other people magic.

Learning to master at least some of those core moves is an incredibly valuable way to use your practice time. Being able to perform a few killer tricks, just with the coins in your pocket means:

Freedom from being dependent on expensive props and gimmicks.
You can perform at a moments notice, wherever you are.
The ability to borrow objects (the coins) from a spectator and create magic with them.
You gain a set of utility moves that allow you to create your own unique routines.
Gaining more balance in your range of tricks.

Here are a 10 quick tips that will help you speed up the learning process:

Choose the right coins.

If you are in the UK, then a good coin to start with, is the UK 2p coin. It is easy to palm, quite small and has a sharp and defined edge that makes it easy to grip. For a larger coin, go for the UK £2 coin as it has a good size and edge. The downside with the £2 coin is its thickness and weight, which can slow down progress. The 2 Euro coin is also a good choice, and for magicians in the US, the half dollar is the most popular choice.

Commit to practice everywhere.

One of the best features of coin magic is that it can be performed just about anywhere. In fact, you can practice moving a coin in and out of a range of palms and concealment, without even having to take your hand out of your pocket.

Start right away with the Classic Palm.

It’s one of the hardest to master, but it’s also the king of all coin moves. The sooner you start work on the Classic palm the better.

Palm – Pass – Vanish.

The ideal first set of sleights to focus on would be one from each of the categories of coin magic. We suggest choosing the classic palm, then a good pass, such as the shuttle pass, and finally a decent vanish like the retention of vision vanish. By choosing just one move from each of these categories of sleights, you work on just three sleights at a time. Because each is from a different category of sleights, you can combine them together to create a number of full routines.
Transfers and Transitions.

It’s also important to work on how you get into and out of each move. Once a coin has been vanished, you will want to move it over to another concealment, and this transfer needs to be undetectable. In the example of the retention of vision vanish, the coin will be in a specific position after the vanish has taken place. Work on how you can go into the classic palm from that position.

Use a cyclical one coin routine for practice.

There are several cyclical one coin routines in print that use the core moves and run through a series of productions and vanishes. David Roth teaches some excellent one coin work in his books and DVD’s. Once you have a few moves, choose a routine that you can drill and practice it every day. The routine repeats endlessly, so there is no sense of a start or end. These routines tend to cause people to practice much more as there is an automatic flow into running through it ‘just one more time’

Slow motion as you go through the moves.

Fast is not deceptive in sleight of hand. It’s confusing and suspicious. It’s the quickest way to make very little progress. Your goal is to teach your fingers the movements and touch needed for each move.

The slower you go, when running through the moves, the more you can check that each movement is perfect. Don’t make any deliberate effort to speed up. Speed will happen over time on its own.

When to use a mirror and when not to.

Mirror work in coin magic IS needed to check that your angles are correct and that a placement is exactly where it should be. However, once you have that move perfected in front of a mirror, you will need to start practicing without one. There is a danger that you will become dependent on the visual feedback the mirror gives you, and will not have confidence that a sleight looked correct unless you are able to see the move happen yourself. Make sure you practice your magic in front of a mirror, then once you have the placement and angles, it’s time to practice it ‘blind’.

Don’t hide the action.

Most coin work requires you to hold a coin at the fingertips and manipulate it. A common mistake that beginners face, it’s that they tend to put too many fingers in the way. The fingers that are not holding the coin may be hiding all the action. This might look fine from their viewpoint (behind the trick), but for the spectators, it’s confusing and suspicious. Any fingers that are not being used need to be out the way of the action. If your hands are palm down, whenever possible, the palms should be visible to show there is nothing hiding in your hands. Your fingers should be just slightly apart. A hand that looks as if it could conceal something is often thought to BE concealing something, even though you may know it’s totally innocent.

Watch your eyes are not giving it away.

It’s so hard to stop the truth from showing in your eyes. Especially if, you are used to only practicing in front of a mirror. Many beginners find that they half close their eyes when performing a sleight. It’s almost as if they don’t want to see that the move has happened. That, if they can’t see it, the spectators won’t be able to see it either. Moving away from mirror practice to rehearsal will help remove this tendency.

Why Magic Shops Don’t Want You to Learn Sleight of Hand

by Merchant of Magic 8 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

When I first decided I would learn how to do magic, I firmly believed that I could ignore sleight of hand altogether. I wanted to have fun with some magic tricks, show them to my friends and fool them. The thought of spending countless hours, alone with a deck of playing cards, left me completely cold. I saw magic as nothing more than party tricks. Maybe because of the way I discovered it, I thought that would be the perfect way to get exactly what I wanted, by the most direct method and in the least amount of time.

How I started out.
Like so many other people, I got the ‘magic bug’ by accident. I spotted a magic trick display in a high street shop. It was a circus equipment and juggling supplies shop, which had become a big craze in the UK through the early 1990’s. I popped in to look at the uni-cycles that were on display in the shop window. They looked awesome (and pretty expensive for a jobless student), so my eye soon wandered to the cabinet next to the bikes. I came face to face with a Thumb tip and silk, together with a video cassette that promised to show me 25 tricks with the thumb tip. I liked the idea very much, and headed home clutching the bag, planning to ‘do the heads in’ of my friends that evening.

How it went:
The Thumb tip and Silk worked like a charm. There wasn’t really any presentation, other than ‘Hey, look at this’, but that didn’t bother me at all. Suddenly, I had magical powers! The next morning I was at the doors to the juggling shop just as the doors opened. Thoughts of uni-cycles had gone from my mind completely. I only wanted to look at the magic cabinet again and see what the next miracle, I would be doing that evening, would be.

Back to the magic shop
Trick number 2 was a Svengali deck. Another instant miracle that promised to make me an instant card expert. That evening, I convinced most of the student bar that they should NEVER play cards with me. On it went, each trip to the shop armed me with another incredible ‘skill’ and my reputation as, ‘The magic man’ spread like wildfire.

The end of the line.
It was 2 weeks later that I hit a problem. I had brought every trick in the shop, except for one dusty item that was at the bottom of the display cabinet. It was a little brass ring box. The guy behind the counter told me that it was pretty hard to do, so I had stayed well clear of it. But now, I had no options left. If I was going to add another trick to my ‘skills’ I would have to go for something a bit more ‘advanced’. The brass ring box brought me slap bang to a halt. The instructions said:

‘Use your favourite method to vanish the ring’

That was it.. Nothing else was said about the first half of the trick. The rest of the instructions went into great detail about how to make the ring appear inside the locked ring box.

Grrrrrrrr!

My favourite vanish? What does that mean? I don’t even have a single method, let alone a favourite one!

There you have it ladies and gentleman, the moment when I hit the wall that most beginners will face sooner or later: Time to learn sleight of hand.

Magic and Music
I think sleight of hand is very much like music. Sure, you can download as many songs as you like. Beautiful creations that are expertly created. But you will always be consuming other peoples work. It doesn’t have to be like that. As you start to learn how to make the individual notes and chords of an instrument, you become free to make your own music, just the way YOU like it. In just the same way, by ignoring sleight of hand, you will tend to be a consumer of other people magic, rather than a creator of your own.

Magic Shops are happy to be like Spotify.
Magic dealers have always known two things to be true:

1) Most people that start learning magic the same way that I did. Beginners go through a process of looking for instant miracles when they give magic a try.

2) Most beginners give up as soon as they hit the ‘sleight of hand wall’.

This is something that drives me nuts: From a commercial point of view, there are dealers that feel that keeping beginners buying ‘gimmicked’ tricks that do all the hard work for them, makes perfect sense. The magicians remain consumers, and a large percentage remain interested in magic for longer.

Statistically, the more experienced a magician becomes,

the less they spend on magic tricks.

They slowly shift from buying gimmicks, to restocking on consumables like bicycle playing cards etc, and many dealers seem to want to slow this transition down.

It’s in a magic dealer’s advantage to focus on items that don’t make magicians self reliant.

Now, as regular customers of The Merchant of Magic know… The magic shop has always tried to fight this. That’s why I insisted that the shop runs personal sleight of hand tuition and workshops even though they are not really commercially viable. If I can push magicians past the ‘consuming’ stage, I believe I can open up a whole range of new magic possibilities for them.

I’m not saying gimmicked tricks are a bad idea. Many of the best close up magic tricks are heavily gimmicked. My point is that you should, as soon as possible, start to learn some basic sleight of hand so you can build and structure your OWN tricks.

When you learn sleight of hand, you get a set of building blocks that you can use to adjust and adapt the tricks you already use. It allows you to invent your own tricks and stops you being limited in the tricks you can add to your act. Don’t train yourself to just be a consumer of other peoples magic tricks. If you acquire the tools and building blocks to build magic tricks, you free yourself from the constraints imposed by other peoples thinking.

It’s vital that, when you choose a magic shop to build a relationship with, as you learn your magic, that you pick one that encouraged you to learn sleight of hand as well as gimmicked tricks.

DO THIS: Choose a core sleight of hand move that you will commit to practicing on a regular basis. Learn sleight of hand with just one move and build in a regular practice time for the move. Here are a few moves that would make a great starting point:

The Double Lift

The Elmsley Count

The Retention of Vision Vanish

The Classic Palm