how to do magic tricks Archives

24 Magicians Stunts and Magic Trick Skills You Never Learned

Normally, on the MoM blog, we prefer just to discuss ways to improve your magic practice skills and performance. However, in this post we are going to highlight a specific magic DVD. The post is pretty much an advert for the new DVD by Gregory Wilson called The School of Cool. Instead of banging on about how great the DVD is, we want to write about why we think the content may be valuable to you. At the end of the post, we will invite you to try it out for free.

Here goes:

We all have tonnes of magic DVDs teaching us magic tricks, probably more than any of us will ever have the time to learn. However, many magicians are looking for some flashy extra skills to build in to their current magic repertoire.

It’s often the small details that magicians add to their acts, that set them apart from others. A quick flourish with a coin, a spin of a pen as a card is being signed, or a sudden cascade of cards between the hands. These small moments of ‘magic along the way’ can help for several reasons:

They quickly establish you are a competent magician.
‘Dead moments’ between the action of a routine is filled.
The moves act as misdirection.
They create humor and a change of pace to your magic.
Attention and focus is maintained

The Problem

If you perform magic as a hobby or on the streets, your spectators don’t know you are a magician. If you rush up to a group of total strangers and demand to show them magic tricks, it can seem aggressive, attention seeking, and pushy.

Performing a sudden skill or interesting flourish, can often get their attention indirectly, and lead into requests to see ‘what else you can do’. If you struggle to find a way to start performing impromptu, you may benefit from acquiring a few flashy quick magic skills. Many magic stunts make great introductions to your magic as ‘openers’, or as a lead in to your introduction.

As a magician, you should be careful not to come across as a show off. The key is to use them sparingly, to enhance your core material and create a scene of fun and entertainment, whilst showcasing that you are something special and worth the spectators attention.

Gregory Wilson has created a new magic DVD: The School of Cool, which is a head first jump in this direction. Take a look at the trailer:

In the DVD he moves away from teaching magic routines. Gregory covers magic skills and stunts that you can use in just these situations. If you fancy learning moves that you always thought every magician should be able to do, but you never got around to yourself, this may be the answer.

Here’s a free trial of the DVD giving you some of the content to try it out yourself:

The Best Book To Learn Card Magic

by Merchant of Magic 2 Comments

“Hmm, difficult. VERY difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh yes. And a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?” – The Sorting Hat. Hogwarts School.

The book – The Royal Road to Card Magic is regarded by many magicians as the bible of card magic for both beginner and advanced. However, once you have read and learned from this great book, what is the next step?

Why Royal Road to Card Magic is like the sorting hat.

The job of the sorting hat in the Harry Potter stories was to place students in the right school houses for their skills, and potential. The sorting hat didn’t randomly assign students to the houses, it took their hopes, interests and most importantly, their personality into account. When magicians come to the magic shop for tuition, we start them off with The Royal Road to Card Magic as the course sorting hat.

We think this is the best book to learn card magic because it is a gateway. It’s one of the 10 magic books every magician should read

Card magic tuition needs a first stepping stone. Royal Road to Card Magic is the best book to learn card magic because it acts as a first introduction to performing well. However, because it covers so many different areas of card tricks, it can be hard to decide which area suits you most and which area you will find most enjoyable to explore. Do you want to focus on gambling routines? Perhaps you are drawn to self working card magic tricks? Maybe you want to focus on magic tricks that use the new techniques you have learned?

The Royal Road to Card magic was intended to be an introduction to various styles of card magic, and it achieves its aim.

By the nature of the way the authors lead the reader through, you not only learn the essential sleights, but you are shown how they can be used in different styles. This, in turn, allows you to find your like and dislikes.

The Royal Road to Card Magic is the best book to learn card magic and will enable you to find your niche area. So whether, it is mind reading, story telling, gambling, parlor or close up card tricks that tick your boxes, The Royal Road to Card Magic was and still is the best introduction to date.

Two versions of Royal Road to Card Magic:

Royal Road to Card Magic Book– Illustrated with more than 120 clear line drawings that make the explanations easy to follow.

Royal Road to Card Magic DVD – R. Paul Wilson shows you every important sleight and effect from the Royal Road to Card Magic in the precise order it appears in the book.

Is Expert at the Card Table Worth Reading?

by Merchant of Magic 3 Comments

The most famous book on how to do card magic is Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase.

Is the book still useful for magicians?

Should it be recommended to beginners, or viewed only as an historical text?

Why is Expert at the Card Table so popular?

There’s no denying the importance of the book to magicians. Expert at the Card Table has remained in print since 1902. More than any other book on card magic, Expert at the card Table has played a central role in the training of magicians. It has been reprinted many times. both in its traditional format and as annotated versions, including the new release by Mike Caveney – Annotated Erd nase. The book has been translated into Japanese, German, Spanish, French, and Italian.

Magic DVDs have been released by a several professional magicians, attempting to explain the techniques in Expert at the Card Table in more accessible ways and adding their own suggestions to the methods. Allan Ackerman, Wesley James, R. Paul Wilson and Revelations series of Dai Vernon are the most popular modern adaptations of the book.

“… perhaps no other book in all the list of conjuring books has been so avidly read, so affectionately regarded.” – Jean Hugard

Magician Guy Hollingworth performs an excellent show presenting the story of Expert of the Card Table.

Dai Vernon often quoting from it, including page references, when teaching card magic at the Magic Castle.

Problems with Expert at the Card Table:

There are several problems with Expert at the Card Table from the beginners perspective. It’s outdated and it’s older style of writing can make it a very hard read. Textbooks have moved on considerably over the last century, and modern students are used to information being presented in a much clearer and considerate layout.

The book is know to contain ‘misinformation’, ‘errors’ or ‘traps’ depending on who you ask. Regardless of Erdnase’s intentions, the text does need an interpretation in parts.

The methods taught in the book have become classic techniques for magicians. Many of the best have been perfected and developed further over the years. New methods replace old and it could be argued that the best parts of the book are now available in improved texts that are easier for beginners to learn.

Is Expert at the Card Table suitable for total beginners?

Impressive recommendations, but should The Merchant of Magic recommend it to beginner magicians that ask us which magic books they should read? Our first recommendation to complete beginners has always been Royal Road to Card Magic, but what is the next step?

Adam Symons writes: ‘Worth reading? It depends what the reader is expecting from it – don’t forget its essentially a manuscript on card table sleights with a few tricks bolted on at the end. While some of the techniques have been superseded, the advice of deportment, and attitude etc is still as valid as it was over a hundred years ago (as, IMHO, is the advice on the Shift), and there’s still plenty of useful card work in there. I also think there’s a degree of snobbishness surrounding it.’

‘Personally I think the balance lies somewhere in between – I’ve taken a lot of useful things from it, but I don’t regard it as the ‘be all and end all’ of cards. I’d definitely recommend it to a novice, though not as a first text, if only for the undoubted historical contribution to their art.’

What do you think? Has Expert at the Card Table become nothing more than an icon or badge for card magicians? Is it a case of the ‘Emperors new cloths’?

Has it’s content been refined, improved, or reformatted giving new choices that are easier and more effective magicians training sources?

Should it be essential reading for beginners?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below: