How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

How to Prevent Magic Burnout

by Dominic Reyes 3 Comments

Magicians Magic Burnout

We’ve all seen it happen…

You introduce a friend to the fascinating world of magic tricks, and they get HOOKED. Suddenly, they’re pulling out a deck of cards everywhere you go. They’re practicing their double lifts on the bus, perfecting their coin vanishes at work, and busting out their favourite tricks on everyone they meet.

‘There’s no rush,’ you tell them. ‘You’ll burn out!’

But they don’t seem to notice. They carry on practicing magic fanatically… Until a few months down the line, they quit.

This is a common—and worrying—occurrence that happens ALL the time.

Magic BurnoutPeople are introduced to the hobby and fall in love at first sight. They stock up on all the equipment they need, and get going. But it all becomes too much for them, and life gets in the way.

In fact, statistics from our research at the Merchant of Magic have shown that almost 70% of total beginners drift away from learning magic within 6 months of ordering their first proper magic trick, book or DVD. The remaining magicians tend to stay studying magic long term (5 years+).

So the question becomes: how do we keep ourselves interested in magic for the first 6 months and beyond without getting ‘burnt out’?

Here are four of the most common mistakes that lead to this problem, and the steps you can take to prevent them from happening to you (or someone you know).

Mistake No.1: Getting too caught up in the big picture

magic burn out grand canyonSomething that can be overwhelming for new magicians (and cause them to quit) is becoming too obsessed with perfecting their sleight of hand. They might watch a performance by a great card mechanic like Richard Turner, and allow themselves to think ‘I’ll never be that good’.

Some magicians are SO good at what they do that it can be intimidating for new magicians; they’re struggling to make ONE card vanish while other magicians are making TWENTY cards vanish.

I know that this is something I personally found difficult; I would look at all the complex sleights and moves and get frustrated that I was still stuck on more basic ones. Your brain tempts you into thinking you’ll never be good enough—so you should just give up.

The key to avoiding this magic burnout is taking it one step at a time.

If you want to be able to vanish ten cards at once, don’t make that your initial goal. Make your initial goal vanishing ONE card—something much more achievable. Once you’ve got one card down, bump your goal up to TWO cards. Then, make your next goal THREE cards, and so on until you hit your goal of ten.

Breaking your goals down into manageable steps is a great practice for not only magic, but life as a whole. It will help you avoid becoming overwhelmed by the ‘bigger picture’ and focus on making incremental progress.

Mistake No.2: Learning too many magic tricks without perfecting the ones you know

Junping from trick to trickThis is another HUGE mistake, and the solution will not only prevent you getting burnt out, but save you a whole bunch of money on magic too.

You see, when somebody first gets into magic, they might learn a simple card trick. Once they’ve finished learning it, they try another one. And another one.

Before you know it, they start buying tricks. They see something that looks cool, so they buy it. Before it’s even arrived in the mail, they buy another one.

They learn tricks after trick, but they don’t ever stop to PERFECT theme. So eventually they end up with a whole pile of magic tricks they don’t really know how to do. They have so much magic that they forget how each trick works. Guess how this makes them feel?

Overwhelmed.

Yep, that key word again. It leads to magic burnout every time..

It can be really tempting to buy trick after trick, but the best thing to do would be to focus on ONE trick at a time and master each one. Once (and only once) you’ve truly mastered each trick can you move onto the next. This will stop you getting swamped with tricks you don’t actually need.

Another way to combat this mistake is make sure that you incorporate these tricks into routines that you perform consistently. The more you perform a group of tricks, the more natural they will feel, and you’ll master them much faster. Plus, you’ll be WAY less likely to forget them.

Mistake No.3: Practice ‘binges’

Here’s another common mistake we see beginner magicians make a lot. When they discover a new technique or trick, they think they need to master it straight away. So they might spend a few hours at a time JUST practicing one single sleight.

This is basically asking for magic burnout to hit you!

If you practice in ‘binges’ you’ll eventually get tired of doing so, and you’ll gradually drift away from magic as a result.

The simple solution is to break your practice sessions up into ‘little and often’ — maybe 30 minutes a day as a starting point.

Mistake No.4: Performing to the same audience… Day in, day out

There’s no quicker way to get bored of performing magic than performing to the same crowd EVERY time you do magic. It’s going to take the excitement out of magic for both you and the audience.

This is unavoidable when you start out learning magic and you only have close friends and family to try your material out on, but as you progress—you really need to start mixing up your audiences.

Performing for new audiences is going to help keep you feeling excited and motivated about your magic as you never know what’s in store or the reactions you might get. Each night is a new night to impress and amaze—you get to experience that ‘WOW’ moment a spectator has when they see great magic for the first time. And that’s a great feeling.

So, in conclusion:

  • –  Don’t stress about perfecting your magic right away. Break your goals down into manageable steps and tackle them one by one.
  • –  Focus on choosing ONE trick and mastering it before you move onto the next one.
  • –  Practice ‘little and often’ rather than in huge chunks.
  • –  Vary your audiences to keep things exciting. I hope you learnt something in this blog post! Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

NEXT:

The 4 Core Magic Tricks You Should Master

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks Tagged With: life, magic, Motivation, practice

The Best Magic Tricks of 2018

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2016

The Best Magic Tricks of 2018

Every year it seems that the standard of magic being released is getting better and better. More innovation and time is being spent to bring top quality, useable magic to market. 2018 has been no exception. We have had so many brilliant and creative new tricks pass through our hands that picking the top ones has been a real challenge.

How the award winning magic tricks are selected.

MoM is a magic shop and market place for magicians. So, right from the start, we should point out that we stock most of the items that have won a best magic tricks award. However, Merchant of Magic is a ‘whole of market’ magic shop, with over 27,000 different magic tricks on sale. Merchant of Magic accepts no payment from manufacturers for listing in this award list. We have not included many items that are produced by The Merchant of Magic, so as to be as impartial as possible.

The winners of a best magic trick 2018 award are chosen from these sources of opinion:

  • Customer feedback.
  • Quantity of sales.
  • Level of returns.
  • The views of magic shop demonstrators.
  • Reviews and feedback from magic forums.
  • Real world testing by professional magicians.

The list is in no particular order.

Static Marker

Static Marker has consistently sold out within days of being restocked. This has been one of the hottest sellers of 2018 without a shadow of a doubt. A versatile prop built into a working Sharpie. Perform Haunted decks, Moving objects, PK ring or even give a spectator a simulated electric shock on their finger tip. There is a reason this has hit our top trick list…   Find out more

 Rubik’s Cube in Bottle

Take a Rubik’s cube, show all sides and give it a twist, bring out a glass bottle which the cube could clearly never fit into. Somehow fit that cube into the bottle right in front of your spectator. You read that correctly. That is exactly what this can do. No switching, no ditching. The cube you have just displayed is inside the solid glass jar… And yes, the cube can be signed! Rubik’s Cube magic has exploded over 2018 and this really is as good as it gets!   Find out more

Winner’s Dice

Winner’s Dice has been another repeat sell out effect. Winner’s Dice is one of those tricks that is so cunning and well engineered that you can’t help but grin the first time you use it. We played with this for a while before launch and loved every second of it. Imagine asking a spectator to name any number from 1 to 6 and then throwing a dice for it to land on that exact number. Then to do it again, straight away with a different number, or to have the dice rolled 4 times and have it to predict your spectators pin number… Find out more

Balance

Joshua Jay has done it again. He has constructed a work of art, twisted in magic, narrated by a heartfelt story. 6 ordinary items are inspected by any member of the audience, they are then piece by piece built into an impossible object. Defying gravity, physics and plausibility these objects balance in an ever increasingly impossible way… Find out more.

Rainbow Deck

Rainbow deck is a collectible, it is a magic trick, it is elegant, simple and self working. Constructed from 52 collectible decks of cards, it could be framed and hung on a wall. Or it can be performed as a mind blowing feat of wizardry. Either way our customers have gone mad for the Rainbow Deck, and it’s not hard to see why… Find out more

Deformer

Deformer is a cunning utility device for the metal benders out there. It allows for cutlery or keys to have very complex bends put in them in a very simple way. Deformer allows you to stay cool whilst pulling off some normally very strenuous bends. Knives, forks, spoons and keys all bend like butter in your hands with Deformer! Find out more.

Principia

Principia was by far the hottest selling book of 2018. We could not hold this on our shelves at all. Each new batch that came in was sold before we knew what was happening. Principia is our very favourite kind of magic book: the kind of book that you pour over every page, trying out each and every piece of magic inside. EVERY single effect in the book is practical, fun and radically new… Find out more.

Which of the 2018 best magic tricks have we missed?

We’ve missed out a load of great magic tricks released in 2018! Everyone is so different, and we have probably missed the trick that you discovered and have loved performing.

DO THIS: Let us know which trick you think should be added and make sure you tell us why. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below:

Related Posts:

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2017

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2016

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2015

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2014

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2013

Best Magic Tricks Awards 2012

Which magic tricks missed out?

This list should be longer! There’s a few magic tricks missing from the list. They are the ones that YOU like best!

DO THIS: Let us know which trick you think should be added and make sure you tell us why. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below:

– See more at: https://blog.magicshop.co.uk/?s=awards#sthash.tyryUAI5.dpuf

Which magic tricks missed out?

This list should be longer! There’s a few magic tricks missing from the list. They are the ones that YOU like best!

DO THIS: Let us know which trick you think should be added and make sure you tell us why. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below:

– See more at: https://blog.magicshop.co.uk/?s=awards#sthash.tyryUAI5.dpuf

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks Tagged With: Awards, best magic tricks, life, magic, Magicians, magictricks

How Magicians Create A Winning Atmosphere For Magic

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

atmosphere for magic

 

Arthur writes: So my question is: How do I set the atmosphere to “magic is an art, enjoy” and not to “I bet you can’t catch me”?

 

This is a GREAT question. In fact, I’ve been waiting for an excuse to write about it for absolutely ages. When you are performing magic, the last thing you want is for the audience to believe they’re in some kind of conflict with you. Magic shouldn’t be an ‘I win by fooling you, you lose by being fooled’ situation. Instead, it should be a ‘win-win!’ situation for both the spectators and magician. But how do we get to this good atmosphere for magic?

I’m going to try to explain the answer to this question in three easy to understand steps. To help with this, I’m going to use a definition from Darwin Ortiz’ thoughts on this very question (which you can find in his book, Strong Magic).

Ortiz would define the ‘I bet you can’t catch me’ atmosphere as the CHALLENGE atmosphere, in which the magician is challenging the audience to a battle of wits. This is what we want to avoid.

So, here are the steps…

1. Don’t Use ‘Challenge’ Vocabulary In Your Acts

2. Don’t Undermine Your Audience!

3. Avoid The Challenge Attitude, Not Challenging Tricks

4. Stop Reminding Your Audience That It’s A Trick!

 

1. Don’t Use ‘Challenge’ Phrases In Your Acts

This is a pretty simple one but we need to get it out of the way.

If you’re trying to present an effect and you want to avoid creating this challenge scenario, then don’t use ‘challenge’ phrases.

For example, within a routine we might be tempted to say…

‘Watch the card!’

We vanish it, and say…

‘Did you see it? No? Then I guess you weren’t watching close enough!’

Can you see how a phrase like this immediately creates a ‘challenge’ in the mind of the spectator. Now they’re really going to be watching you close, and just waiting for you to mess up. This isn’t good for you or them!

Now I know that was an obvious example, and not many of us will realistically be guilty of it. But the same thing can happen without our noticing; only on a much smaller scale.

For example, what if we vanished a card and then said…

‘Did you see it go? No? You didn’t? Really?’

This isn’t a blatant challenge like the phrase above, but it could easily be read as one by your audience. Now they’re determined that next time, they ARE going to see it.

You need to be really careful that you avoid all use of confrontational language like this within your routines! This shouldn’t be a big problem for most of you, but it can sometimes slip through the net.

 

Spectators as equals2. Don’t Undermine Your Audience!

There’s a reason the challenge attitude doesn’t end well for both the magician and the spectators. When the audience feel like the magician is fooling them to prove how much ‘better’ he is than them, they aren’t going to be happy.

You want your audience to feel comfortable around you, and that they are EQUALS within the trick. If they feel like you respect them and are treating them as equals, they won’t care about ‘challenging’ you. There’s no need!

But if your audience feels like you don’t respect them, they suddenly have a point to prove to you. How do they prove that they’re your equal to you?

Why, by figuring out your trick! Which immediately sets them into the ‘challenge’ mindset; the very thing we wanted to avoid.

 

3. Avoid The Challenge Attitude, Not Challenging Tricks

There’s nothing wrong with using tricks that seem to have a ‘challenge’ element to them. It’s ALL about the attitude that you present them with.

For example, the three card monte.

Plenty of magicians can use this trick without their audience falling into the ‘challenge’ mindset. It’s one of the classic magicians subtitles never explained in magic tricks instructions..

 

Why?

Because of the way they present it, and the attitude they present it with!

This goes back to the previous point we made; if the audience feels like you’re on their side, they won’t want to challenge you. There are plenty of magicians who present the three card monte as a challenge; but they do it in a friendly way and with an attitude that communicates the fact that they would rather just have a good time with their audience than necessarily ‘fool’ them.

Bill Malone is a great example of a magician who presents challenging tricks but does it with such a friendly manner that his audience loves it! I would definitely advise watching his material to get a feel for how you can create a similar atmosphere for magic.

 

4. Stop Reminding Your Audience That It’s A Trick!

When the audience is reminded that they are watching a TRICK, they are reminded that there is a SOLUTION to that trick. And so they set about looking for the solution; creating the ‘challenge’ mindset.

How do you avoid reminding the audience that they’re watching a trick?

Tell a Story With a Magic Trick

 

I think one of the best ways of doing this is by telling a great story.

 

Everybody loves stories; it’s a great way of gripping your audience and taking them out of the ‘trick’ and into an ‘effect’. Even silly stories or nonsensical stories have a similar effect on your audience.

When we listen to stories, it has a way of taking us ‘out’ of the moment and into a dreamlike state where everything we hear is true. It’s the same in magic; when the magician tells a story, the audience is transcended ‘out’ of the moment and into a plane in which everything the magician says is true. They don’t ‘challenge’ the magician because he is the storyteller; and as the storyteller, everything he says is true.

Do these tips make sense? Feel free to get in touch if you still have any questions!

 

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