how to perform magic Archives

How to do Street Magic Tricks – Tips and Advice for Magicians

“I want to learn street magic tricks. I am having trouble learning more magic tricks that can be used for street magic. Some tips would be great, and also suggestions for some street magic tricks I can learn.” – Jr

Street magic has become a worldwide phenomenon since David Blaine released Street Magic, his first TV Special.

Street Magic used to mean a performer that would gather a crowd for a show and then pass a hat around at the end to earn a living, the term Street Magic now it is used to refer to magicians that perform unprompted. Street magicians approach people in the street, often for free, simply for the love of performing.

There are lots of magic tricks that are great for street magic, and some that are not so great. I will go through a few key points that I believe make a great street magic trick.

Make your street magic quick and to the point.

Build up short routines that do not drag on. When you perform street magic for the public, they have not paid for a show and are not expecting one, you are essentially taking up their time. It may be to show them something amazing that will enrich their lives, but it is still their time you are spending. After you show them something, they may well want to invest more time in you then that will be their choice, and you are then free to show them some more street magic.

Learn street magic that’s as visual as possible.

You will find the reactions are much better if it is visual. Street magic has got a reputation for being visually amazing and so when you perform magic tricks for people in public this is what they expect. The public can be pretty honest in their opinions and harsh as critics, so it is best not to let them down!

Try to use ordinary or borrowed objects.

It is best to use items that are ordinary and not magic props. The idea is that you can perform magic tricks with anything and everything, so it is best to create that illusion. Steer away from obvious magic props like boxes and things you would ONLY find in a magic set or magic shop. If you can borrow someone’s phone or personal item and perform an amazing magic trick with that, you will see your reactions go through the roof.

You can find out about a large selection of magic tricks for street magic conditions here.

The Magic Shop Logo and Name – Why is it called The Merchant of Magic?

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Why does the Merchant of Magic Logo look like it does, and what does it mean?

The Merchant of Magic started in the 1990’s as an off shoot of a coin magic blog called The Coin Purse. The blog was quite successful and was publishing articles on the performance of coin magic tricks from magicians around the world. The blog didn’t expose any magic tricks secrets. The blog discussed ways to persuade more magicians to add a little coin magic into their practice routines. In an attempt to cover the hosting costs for the blog, Magician Dominic Reyes set up a small section on the site selling some of the more popular coin magic tricks and utilities.

As the shop section grew and news spread, Dominic became concerned that the commercial side of the site was dominating the magic blog and detracting from its goals. Dominic decided to split the magic shop into a sister company and give it an independent website. He created The Merchant of Magic as a holding company for all the different magic sites he was planning. The ides being that each would have their own name and branding, but each was to retain the Merchant of Magic logo.

What the Merchant of Magic logo means.

A performer in an ‘applause cue’ stance – The idea was to suggest that magic isn’t really about the props and magic tricks magicians use. It’s about the magician that uses them. Good magic comes from entertaining people and giving them a few moments of diversion. The magician aims to create a personal relationship with the audience, if only for a short time.

The goal of good magic is to entertain and create wonder, make the audience think, challenge their knowledge and beliefs about the world, and perhaps even make people believe in magic again. How do we judge our success? Through the reactions of our audience. The applause cue represents successful performance of magic.

The cups and balls – Three cups with a little red ball on the top. The cups and balls magic trick is a classic of magic. Magic tricks using the cups and balls are regarded as a fundamental device that teaches everything a performer needs to know to become a magician. Suggesting a set of cups and balls was an attempt to communicate that magicians need to focus on developing full knowledge of technique. We see the cups and balls as a symbol of every spectrum of magic art as apposed to a niche inside a niche.

THE MAGIC SHOP NAME.

Dominic Reyes was drawn to the MERCHANT OF VENICE by Williams Shakespeare. The play is a great insight into the society, culture, mind set, and hopes of the Elizabethan era. Let’s look at some of the core themes in the play:

Money – The core issue in the entire play is money. Antonio, the merchant is worried about his business and the fact that all his finances have been invested in his trade, and some of his investments have not yet borne fruit. As magicians, we need to invest a great deal of time to perfect our skills. Over many years, we work on our act, develop our knowledge and test out our magic tricks. We start as a hobby, and can’t expect to sustain ourselves through our magic right from the start. Some people attempt to buy their way into becoming a magician, but without the effort and commitment, they end up more like collectors of magic tricks that professional performers. To be truly successful, magicians need to put aside thoughts of their financial investment. The core motivation for success needs to be driven by the urge to learn and perfect their skills. Business can develop out of that, and many magicians can earn a substantial income from being an entertainer, but that shouldn’t be your main objective at the beginning.

Bassanio, Antonio’s best friend has spent all his own money and borrows from Antonio to keep his lifestyle. Bassanio intends to marry a rich heiress to escape his debts. As magicians, it’s quite possible to create a commercial show just from other magicians material. We take previously constructed magic tricks and string them together to create a show. In a way, this is like using a rich heiress to escape our own limitations. It’s doomed to fail because nothing extra has been added. Magicians should use the knowledge of others. They should learn what has worked and what hasn’t from the past, and build an act with professional tested magic tricks. However, they must add their own authentic work to the process. A magician that simply clones others will only ever be second best. The key is to stand on the shoulders of other magicians, and then reach into new areas, creating something new and different about everything performed. By adding value, they then become the shoulders for other magicians to climb further.

Religion – During the 17th Century, there was a great deal of religious belief. Shakespeare used the treatment of the Jews as symbolism for the sectarian issues at that time between Protestants and Catholics. In magic, we have our own sectarianism. Self working magic tricks Vs Sleight of hand. There is much discussion amongst magicians about which is better. Just like in religion, both are two sides of the same coin, but the devil is in the detail and it’s very easy to focus on the argument, rather than the goal. Magicians can get side tracked into focusing on the mechanics of their art, at the cost of developing the most important part: The entertainment their magic tricks produce.

Prejudice – Antonio and Shylock meet in a market. Antonio refers to Shylock as a ‘cut throat dog’. Antonio even spits on Shylock. However, Antonio still signs a bond against a loan for him.

Magicians are often the last part of an event to be planned. Magicians get bolted on as a last minute extra. However, as all performing magicians know, they can be the most memorable part of the evenings entertainment for the guests. In our marketing, we need to communicate this to our clients. We need to destroy the old pre-conceptions of magic. Close up magicians perform to many new micro audiences several times per show. Each time they need to establish their worth, and win over the spectators as quickly as possible. Each performance should challenge the old stereotype of magic and create a new definition of what magic can give people. Despite this challenge, people are still drawn to magic because it fills a primal urge to experience the wonder. Our spectators WANT their previous beliefs to be challenged and defeated. Fighting peoples misconceptions of modern magic happens one magic trick at a time.

A pound of flesh – Order all the magic tricks in the shop, every magic book and DVD, we will happily sell it to you. It won’t make you a famous or talented magician. If it did, every magic shop employee would be a star of magic. The props, training guides, courses and magic tricks are not the whole story. You need a pound of flesh, you need a part of yourself. The equipment is not the magician, you are. It’s you reflected to the audience, through magic tricks that create the magic and the entertainment. Magic shops can’t post commitment, hard work and effort to you in the mail.

You are a Merchant of Magic.

Professional magicians perform magic for money. They make a living by showing people magic tricks. Their product is the performance of skilled magic to entertain. As such, every one of the magicians that use The Merchant of Magic is also a merchant. Hobbyist magicians are also merchants of magic. The magician who performs for free is still selling something. They are trading their time, effort and skills for the attention of others. Their product is the same as the professional magicians, but the fee is applause. By selling the performance of magic tricks to the public, we overturn common misconceptions and make our audiences remember a time, often when they were children, when the world was still full of mysteries, and it was OK to believe.

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How Magicians Can Link Their Magic Tricks to Create Continuity

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Let’s explore how magicians can link the magic tricks they perform, by using continuity. One of the skills that separate professional magicians and amateurs is the degree of continuity within their magic tricks. Most magicians perform one of their magic tricks, put it away and then start performing another one. There is no continuity between the magic tricks they perform. Each of the magic tricks is unrelated. The tricks are bookmarked by a moment when the magician puts it away and starts another trick. Let’s look at introducing continuity into the magic tricks you perform.

Performing one magic trick, then putting it away and taking out another is like being a comedian that fires off unrelated gags. The comedian tells a range of jokes, knowing that sooner or later, one of them will hit the spot and make the audience laugh. Your magic can be much better than that. You can build in a theme that runs across all your magic tricks and ties them together to create something greater than the sum of it’s parts.

How Your Magic Starts.

Rather than getting out the props for a new magic trick, could the previous trick introduce the props for the next? Could it make an object appear that you then use for your next trick?

Here are 5 quick easy card magic tricks bound by continuity. Notice that they flow together as they tell a larger story about the most amazing playing card the magician has ever seen.

You take a shuffled deck of playing cards and magically find all four aces. You explain that one of the aces has very special properties.

The aces are then used for a mentalism trick, and the spectator is asked to choose one, and it matches a prediction because it is the ‘special card’

Once the prediction has been made, the chosen card vanishes and appears in your wallet

You then destroy it, only for it to reform, as a torn and restored playing card.

One corner remains unhealed. It vanishes and appears in an impossible location.

How Your Props Vanish.

A previous magic trick, could give an explanation to your spectators, as to why an object vanishes in a magic trick that follows. David Roth uses a Portable Hole, and it’s a great example of this. The idea of a portable hole that makes your props vanish can run through all your magic tricks, appearing to cause trouble for the magician and bring props in and out of play.

Thinking about joining the magic tricks you perform into a set that has continuity and a story line that runs through it, will greatly improve the reactions you get from your magic tricks. It will improve your pocket management, the timing and flow the act and will create an overall ‘message’ that is far more memorable to spectators than a generic magician what performed a series of unrelated magic tricks.