How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

How to Join a Magic Club or Society

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‘No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.’ – John Donne

 

How to Join a Magic ClubIt’s time to join a magic club! The process of discovering magic, tends to follow the same pattern: You learn a magic trick, find out it’s great fun and begin learning another one. Pretty soon you’re completely obsessed. This usually takes you online to discover the new magic and socialize with other people just as mad about magic as you are. If you stop there, you are missing out on a really valuable and fun part of being a magician.Right now there are thousands of people learning and then performing their magic tricks to each other on YouTube, that’s all they ever do with their magic. That’s fun for them, but they are missing out on a huge opportunity that’s right on their doorsteps.  Are you trying to learn magic on your own too?

Joining a local magic club will get you in touch with a whole community of people from all walks of life, that love magic just as much as you do. A good magic club will really help you develop as a magician, as you share ideas, learn new magic, and practice your skills in club competitions and workshops.

How often do magic clubs meet?

Most magic clubs meet a few times each month to discuss magic, watch lectures from guest magicians, swap ideas and run magic competitions etc.  They often meet in local community centers or clubs during the evening. Most clubs have programs of activities that they run throughout the year. These include competition nights, themed evenings where members perform magic tricks around a chosen theme, magic lectures and workshop events.

How do I get in touch with a magic club?

The first step to joining a club is finding one within travelling distance to you, check out the directory of magic clubs and societies for a list of the best clubs in the UK. Once you find one, visit their website to see information on the club, its upcoming events and their joining criteria. Contact the magic club directly and the membership officer will give you all the details and will invite you to one of the meetings as a guest.

Will I feel welcome?

You will be surprised how friendly and welcoming magic clubs are. After all, they are a group of people as crazy about magic as you are. New members are the life blood of any club, and having new people join is very important to them. Most of the members become very good friends over the years and have all seen each others magic tricks many many times. Many of the members will be itching to show you their magic tricks and also talk about magic with you. The great thing about joining, is that you instantly have something in common with everyone there. If you feel nervous about going to a club for the first time, try to relax. You will be made to feel welcome and nobody will be testing you or assessing your magic skills. You already have something to talk about with everyone there, and will leave at the end of the evening, wondering why you were so nervous.

Does it matter that I’m only a beginner?

Not at all. Magic clubs are about learning magic much more than showing off how good you are. There are plenty of competitions you can enter to display your skills, but the focus is on learning new magic, talking about magic and helping each other to develop each others skills. As soon as you attend you will see that there is a huge range of ability throughout the club membership. Some members are passionate about magic, but not that hot at performing. Others are great at magic, but go to pieces when asked to show a trick. You will quickly find that you will fit in somewhere in the middle, so don’t think you are going to be the only beginner asked to perform magic in front of a crowd of professionals.

A magic club will expect you to have some knowledge of magic and a real interest in it, as they don’t want people attending just out of curiosity about how magic tricks are done. However, beginners are always very welcome.

The only exception to this, will be a few magic clubs for more experienced magicians, such as The Magic Circle. Those clubs will have a far stricter level of entry, so chat to the membership officer when you contact the club and they will be happy to give you details of the joining criteria. You can find out about the process to join The Magic Circle here.

Will I have to do an audition?

Many clubs will allow you to attend for a few meetings before formally joining. Some ask you to audition to become a member. This usually involves performing some magic in front of a few club members to show that you do know some magic and have a basic knowledge of presentation and performing skills. By the time you are asked to do an audition, you will have probably attended a few times, got to know the people there and will not feel so nervous about it.

DO THIS: Check out the Directory of good magic clubs in the UK (If you live outside the UK, just Google magic clubs in your country and a list relevant to you should be somewhere on the first page of search results. )

Don’t listen to any self doubts or nervousness you may have. Just call a local club and chat to the membership officer. They will give you all the details and set up a day for you to visit the club and check it out.

Directory of UK Magic Clubs and Societies

Are You Trying To Learn Magic Too Fast?

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Learning Magic Too Fast

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift…

Thrown away.

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before your song is over.

– David Weatherford  Source

 

By Paul Knight

It’s not a race.

Personally, I often find myself frustrated that I still do the same magic tricks I have been using for years, despite having loads of new tricks stacking up indoors. Yet I’m still always looking out for the next big new card magic trick that will be that ‘reputation maker’. Why does this happen? Here’s the reason……..

I’m trying to run before I can walk. 

Essentially, I’m ‘grazing’ on tricks. Buying new magic tricks with full intent on putting it into my act, learning it quickly, thinking ‘yeah, that’s good, I know that now’, then off it goes to the stack of tricks I’ll add to my act. I’m running too fast. Let’s just stop a moment and think back to when we all first dipped our toes in the world of magic. We happily spent hours studying a trick, sleight, move or script, and enjoyed the learning experience. The thrill and enjoyment were the learning. Then, alas, we experienced the joy of performing and the buzz of the reactions, which in comparison, was much more satisfying. So we instinctively chose to chase the buzz of the reactions rather than the content pleasure of practicing and learning magic. We are moving too fast. Stop. What really is the rush?

But I owe it to myself to have the best act I can.

Of course, you do. And it’s commendable that you want to progress and reach that point. However, my belief is there is no such point of arrival. You never get there as there is always another hill to climb.  If you have the hunger to better your act and tricks right now, you will always have that hunger, so no need to rush.

A good meal is made, not by half cooked intentions, and such a meal wouldn’t satisfy any hunger.  A good meal is made from well balanced and well cooked ingredients, and to use these ingredients you need to have a complete understanding of their possibilities and workings. 

To be great magicians we need to understand our tools fully if we want to get the full benefit from them and in turn satisfaction. The problem is we live in a world now where everything is instant. Instant food, instant movies, instant shopping, instant music and now instant magic downloads too. The list goes on, and we easily forget that quality takes time, and more importantly focus.

Magicians are made one trick at a time.

Going slightly off subject, but my father used to be a very successful builder, carpenter and architect. I grew up in a world where I’d see a blank piece of paper become a detailed house design. Then I’d see that building grow brick by brick over time. Inevitably, the result would be a beautiful individual home, one of a kind. The main point I learnt from this is that my father insisted on only working on one house at a time from start to finish, despite what work was offered.  If we truly wish to gain satisfaction from our magic, we need to apply this approach. One effect at a time, and slow down our urges to learn the new. Truth be known you already know enough, as my father did. It was how he applied his knowledge that moved him forwards.

Learn one trick at a time, nobody is chasing you but yourself.

Not seeing the wood from the trees.

If you find yourself sat staring at all your magic tricks wondering where on earth to begin. All that temptation is staring you in the face.  It’s hard to choose where to begin. Can’t see the wood for the trees? There is only one answer.  Pick up just one single trick, and put everything else out of sight.

DO THIS: Turn off this device right now, pop some music on and enjoy that learning process all over again, just like you did when you began learning magic. Learn to love learning again. It’s the best part of the journey, scenery, and destination you want to find.

How Many Magic Tricks Should I Do in My Act?

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How many Magic tricks Should I dDo?Andreas writes:

I perform mentalism/mental magic, and I’d like to know how many tricks should an act contain? What is the right duration for a parlor performance among friends?

If you are preparing a parlour/stand up performance, there is no problem with preparing multiple acts of varying length. It is highly recomended that the core magic tricks can stay the same, but you can lengthen a performance with a more in depth script or simply add more tricks in-between your core routines.

I  suggest taking the approach of leaving them wanting more rather than saturating them with a great lengthy performance. Most magicians that provide a stand up or parlor act will be able to perform for 20mins, 30mins or 45mins. They have an act planned for each of the timings, so they know exactly what they will perform for each time setting. For example, a 20 minute performance of mentalism may consist of  3 or 4 well rehearsed and scripted tricks. The set should build, have a start, a middle, and an end and really be your powerhouse routines, there is no time for filler in a performance like this. You need to control the audiences attention immediately and turn up the intensity throughout the performance ending with a strong revelation of some sort. The middle routine should be some sort of performance piece that can be lengthened with script if necessary, this should reflect your character and be engaged for the audience, think of it as a journey that you are taking them on.

Here, is an example of some routines you could use:

Opening Effect.
– Bank Night routine – Bank night routines are great to start with as they involve the audience directly and they also have the bonus of using winning money as a hook

– Guess Which Hand – Some sort of guess which hand trick where you challenge a spectator to hide a small object in their hand, and you guess correctly 3 or 4 times in a row which hand they are holding the object. This is also great as it is involving the audience (you can ask everyone which hand they think the object is in) and can also be presented as a bet where if you lose the spectator wins some money, making it instantly appeal to the whole audience.

Middle Effect.
– PK touches – This is a great performance piece routine. You can really hit home with the idea of people being connected if you choose a couple it makes this stronger still. Psychokinetic touches is a great example of this type of trick.

– Book Test – To divine a word selected from thousands of words in a book is both baffling and entertaining. This type of routine allows you to  play on the factor that there are hundreds of pages each with hundreds of words meaning there are literally thousands of choices the spectator could have had. This scripting within a book routine can really amp up your performance building the intensity for your finale.

End Effect.
– Drawing Duplications – Something as simple as a drawing duplications have a great impact on an audience. The routine is simple to understand and follow the audience knows what is coming yet when you reveal your drawings to be the same the audience all gasp at once. You can really frame this type of routine with theatrical factors like maybe having two chairs back to back, make sure the pad you use is large so when you reveal the images it is instantly clear.

– Triple Prediction – It is a simple routine again method wise and very simple again to understand, but it really hammers home your talent and allows you to have a multi phase routine that gives you a punch of three hits one after the other, a great way to end your show.

This is an example of how you can routine a mentalism performance that will last about 20 minutes. Remember to make it fun, engaging and also build it throughout the performance to your finale.

The 30 minute Act.
If you wish to make it a 30 minute show, you should think about filling these routines out with some quotes or interesting facts surrounding the phenomena.,  For example, if you are performing an ESP routine you could mention the background to the ESP symbols and research Karl Zener.,

Maybe think about scripting an audience participation game where you can whittle down the spectators to the one spectator or 5 spectators that you will use in your first routine. If you watch any live Derren Brown performance he has great fun audience interaction at the beginning of each of his shows, this gets everyone involved, is entertaining but also opens up the audiences eyes to something. The audience begins to realize that mostly everyone does actually follow a pattern and individuality does not necessarily mean you will each behave individually when presented with a certain situation, you can really play on this throughout your performance.

It is not too hard to lengthen a 20 minute performance into a 30 minute performance by using these techniques, without having to add another full routine.

The 45 minute Act.
Some clients will want to book a 45 minute act for after dinner performances or other situations like this. 45 minutes are about as long as I would want to perform for in these situations, it can be tempting to offer an hour, and it wouldn’t be too hard to make it last an hour, but unless an audience member has bought a ticket to  be entertained by magic all night an hour can be a lot to sit through. The last thing you want is your audience getting antsy and fidgety towards the end of the performance when they should be the most captivated. Remember, we all love magic and similar forms of entertainment, not everyone who you may meet at an event like this does.

For a 45 minute act, I would again use the core routines that you have in the 20 minute performance and the structure of the 30 minute performance for these effects. However, you should think about adding a few effects in-between these routines. It is important to vary your performances. For example, if you are performing a mentalism act it wouldn’t be great to perform a Bank Night routine (a one in 5 chance effect) with another routine such as ESP card divination routines (another one in 5 chance effect).

Some great routines that can be used to fill in between the bigger routines could be as simple as a well scripted routine using the Invisible Deck. You could also perform divination routines such as Emotional Intelligence by Luke Jermay (a great routine worth checking out) or something like Free Will where you predict the out come of a selection of choices that the spectator makes freely. All of these routines can hammer home the fact that you really are a student of influence or reading people’s body language and expressions.

If you present yourself as someone who can cold read people or read expressions it would be a very interesting premise to perform something that is real and true.,  For example, you could ask for someone to provide you with a piece of handwriting you could analyze or there is a great book called Draw me a Tree where you analyze a spectator by studying a drawing of a tree they have made. With this type of performance thrown into your act you genuinely are demonstrating a skill and talent that can really help validate your character as genuine.

So these are some tips to creating a parlor or stand up routine that hopefully should help you out should you be planning to take your close up performances up a level. It is always great to have a performance like this ready should you need it, after all these situations do arise  I was once booked for an hour of magic, it wasn’t until I reached the venue I was told that there was only 25 people, and they wanted an hour of stand up magic if you ask any working magician it’s likely that he or she will have a similar experience they can share with you. Be prepared, after all that is a very important part of being a performer especially of the magical variety!