How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

First Steps to Become a Professional Magician – The Plan

by Dominic Reyes 3 Comments

Becoming a professional magician

The very first step to become a professional magician is to plan how you will achieve it. You need a plan!

You have been practicing your magic, learning new material and performing magic casually for your family and friends, but deep down you are still not satisfied.. You want to become a professional magician! If that sounds like you.. Then you need to plan your approach.

Ask yourself a series of questions to see if you want to become a professional magician:

Do you want to perform magic with a public audience for a fee?

Would you like to generate a full time income, or just earn some extra money to supplement the lifestyle you want?

What do you hope to achieve by becoming a professional?

Are you happy to work alone, or would you prefer to team up with a partner?

Where would you like to perform? Locally, or will you choose a specific area or location that has a market for entertainment?

How much would you like to earn.. How much do you actually NEED to earn?

How often are you prepared to work? Can you work every weekend or every evening..?

What type of show would you like to present?

 

Do you have a backup plan if you fail to generate the income you need for your current commitments? Can you adjust those commitments to allow you time to build up an income stream?

That’s just a few of the questions you should ask yourself right now.. The sooner you start thinking about the REAL STEPS involved in working as a professional magician, rather than focusing on collecting more magic tricks and techniques, the sooner you can start putting actions into place to achieve your goal.

Create a plan by setting goals.

Take a moment RIGHT NOW to write down where you would like to be on one, two, and five years time. The people that set short term and long term goals are much more likely to achieve them compared to people that bumble along, hoping that their dreams will just ‘happen’ one day. Unless you define exactly what you want (by writing it down as an affirmation/goal) you will find it very hard to achieve anything other than by chance. Your future does NOT need to be left to chance…

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks Tagged With: Goals, Motivation, Professional magician

Practice Magic Tricks Without Getting Magicians Block

by Merchant of Magic 7 Comments

Magicians BlockMatt writes:

‘I’ve developed magicians block. How do I stay motivated to practice magic?’

That’s a great question Matt, and something that every magician faces sooner or later.

There are two schools of thought: take a break for a while, or push even harder than before. But most importantly don’t be hard on yourself. Don’t be too self critical, as there is no place for that attitude when you practice magic.

For many of us, the hardest part of all is getting started. Sitting down in front of a computer screen or a blank sheet of paper, rolling up our sleeves, and–and nothing.

“The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.” William Goldman

To break magicians block, first it needs to be understood. What is the block? This could be a number of things. Lack of inspiration, fear of failure, outside influences, day to day stresses. Whatever the cause of the block the impact it has on you is lack of direction to practice magic. Here are some very simple ideas that, when applied, will help cure your magicians block.

 

Beginning to practice magic.

How to do you get started? The thing that you simply MUST do first is simplify. By simplify, we mean break down all the complex overwhelming tasks, thoughts, idea and desires down to one individual task. And that task should be simply this. Sit yourself down, away from any of your magic tricks and props, stick on some music, make a cuppa, and ask yourself:

“What single magic trick will I practice today?”

This may sound a silly idea, but try it. Forget about the anxious feelings of losing your drive. This loss is  due to lack of direction. Just focus on one magic trick.

Practice magic with a drill.

All through my career I’ve written 1,000 words a day–even if I’ve got a hangover. You’ve got to discipline yourself if you’re professional. There’s no other way.” (J.G. Ballard)

Dominic Reyes talks about creating a practice Drill

When you practice magic, pick just one magic trick or sleight of hand technique to be your focus. Create a drill you can do in short sessions every day. Repeat the moves and tricks SLOWLY 20 times in the morning and 20 times in the evening. Do this for 21 days. Don’t try to increase your speed, let that happen naturally. If you make an error, ignore it and start the move or routine again.

If you practice magic this way, it will fast track you as it builds in motor memory for the trick or move. Setting a practice drill works because it removed the CHOICE from your practice. Choice is your enemy, when it comes to getting things done. You need a fixed path, with no option other than the practice, over a set period of time. Using a drill will help keep you on target and consistently working towards a single goal.

Capture Ideas

When you sit down at home intending to learn and practice magic, you most likely get magicians block because you feel you have forced yourself to do this. Forcing yourself to practice magic can remove the pleasure you should feel. Because you have experienced magicians block several times, the block has become a part of the pattern, so the pattern needs to be changed.

We suggest you change the pattern. Don`t tell yourself that you have to, or ought to, practice magic right now. Don’t unnecessarily beat yourself up. Try this simple tip:

Forget about the need to practice magic for the moment.

Carry a notebook around with you, or use Evernote for magicians on your smartphone. Throughout the day, make notes of things you see that interest you. They don’t have to be directly related to magic. Just so long as they are things that make you smile, think, or laugh, make a note of it.

The reason we suggest this is that ideas have to come from something. Every idea comes from a previous one, unless you are a genius, and then perhaps you should be applying yourself to advanced mathematics rather than magic, for the sake of mankind.

The following day, do the same and revisit the previous days notes. This will help get the creative juices flowing. Ideas are like healthy viruses, but first they need to be fed. Use your note system to record ideas and your experiences after every performance. What went well, good lines and questions you encountered. What you need to work on. Capture EVERYTHING.These ideas and experiences will be of great value later when you sit down to practice magic again.

“In writing, there is first a creating stage–a time you look for ideas, you explore, you cast around for what you want to say. Like the first phase of building, this creating stage is full of possibilities.” – (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

Failure when you practice magic.

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” – Margaret Atwood

 

“Lower your standards and keep writing.” – William Stafford

“People have writer’s block not because they can’t write, but because they despair of writing eloquently.” – Anna Quindlen

Perfection can be your worst enemy. If you watch magic DVD’s and Dynamo magician impossible, and feel that you have to make sure every magic trick you work on is perfected as soon as possible. We all want the move to look great right from the start. If you set your expectations too high right from the start, your progress can feel very disappointing. Slow down don’t expect a move or trick to look great right from the start. Perfection when you practice magic is a gradual process. Just like a writer, your first draft of practice is not supposed to look great. It’s nothing more than a ROUGH DRAFT of the moves and techniques, an outline sketch of the routine. Relax about perfection and the process of polishing your technique will happen naturally. Don’t let it stop you.

Practice magic outside.

You may find being out in nature will get your creative juices flowing. You can also listen to certain types of music to help me bring on certain types of emotions. If you couple this music with a sort of play in my head, almost as if you are an actor, it helps tremendously.

What tips and tricks do you use to help you stay focused when you practice magic? How do you motivate yourself to overcome magicians block?

Share your ideas in the comments section below:

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Filed Under: Card Magic Tricks Tagged With: beginners, filming your magic, Goals, learning magic, practice, Practice magic

Problems Buying Magic Tricks Without an Aim

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

By Dominic Reyes
Problems buying magic tricksThree quick questions for you:

1) How many magic tricks do you know?

2) How many magicians props or gimmicks do you own?

3) Was every one of the tricks and props purchased, chosen to help you reach a specific goal or aim?

 

 

Don’t tell me your answers, let me guess:

1) Loads!
2) More than I will ever use.
3) To be honest, mostly not.

Was I mainly right? I’m guessing I was… As that’s the most common answers I get from magicians who I work with to develop their acts.

Your Magic Budget.

Many magicians fall into the habit of budgeting a set amount of money each month for their magic. Getting the latest magic tricks, becomes a habit, and they find themselves craving a new trick, just because it’s the latest new release.

If you have the budget, and you enjoy the thrill and anticipation of learning the ‘latest and greatest’ magic trick to hit the magic shops front page, then there isn’t a problem. However, if you need to be careful how you invest your hard earned money, and make each and every purchase count, I recommend you do the following:

Your aims.

Ask yourself, “WHY am I buying this? Is it just because it looks awesome? Why do I need to add this magic trick or technique to my existing ‘sets’ or knowledge base.

What are your long term goals in magic?

What short term goals can you set yourself to reach those long term goals?

Is the aim of buying this magic trick, to help you reach one of those short team goals?

If you really think that the trick meets that aim, it should be acquired.

If it doesn’t have that aim, then you may want to search for a different trick, before you settle on that one.

NEXT: A decade of buying magic tricks and getting nowhere

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks Tagged With: Buying Magic Tricks, Goals, Magic Shop, magic shops

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