How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

Magic Tricks as a Puzzle or a Story? – How People View Magicians

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How do people watch your magic tricks?

There are two types of spectators that magicians encounter: those that see magic tricks as a puzzle, and those that see magic as a story.

Magic Tricks as puzzles

Spectators that see your magic tricks as a puzzle or challenge spend their time desperately trying to catch you out. They burn your every move with their eyes. They can’t wait to be able to point a finger at you and shout ‘Aha! I caught you!’

These are the spectators that are most likely to ask to check a magicians playing cards and demand that the magicians ‘do that trick again’. Some enjoy the challenge, and some are driven crazy by it. It’s people like this that most often comment that they don’t like magic, when you first approach them. They can be worried that you will be making a fool of them, or that you will simply annoy them with a puzzle that they can’t solve.

Magic tricks as stories.

Spectators that see your magic tricks as a performance can be the most fun audience for magicians. They look forward to being entertained, find magic a mystery and are most likely to have an emotional reaction to one of your magic tricks. If your magic is good, you can almost see them regressing back to being a kid again. They know that it’s close-up theatre, but with each new magic trick you make them want to believe in the magic they see.

That’s not to say that the spectators are easy to fool. They have the same sharp eyes that the ‘puzzlers’ have. The difference is that they are on the magicians side. Their job is to find you out and at the same time fail. The final monologue from the movie “The prestige” describes it exceptionally well:

“Now you’re looking for the secret. But you won’t find it because of course, you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.”

 

 

Which type of spectator is better?

That really depends on the style of magic you present and your magicians performing persona. You may have a challenge or bunco booth, characterisation, and perform magic tricks that have a betting theme. You could perform magic with a ‘catch me if you can’ attitude. Maybe you perform like Slydini did, and tell your audience ‘I’m a gonna fool yah!’.

Instead of pitting yourself against the spectators, the alternative is to weave magic stories, create an atmosphere of wonder and fantasy. Your goal would be to present magic that doesn’t tease the audience into working out the method. They are entertained by the ‘show’ of the magic trick. A good movie causes the audience to suspend their disbelief. They stop judging the special effects and the sets, they are pulled into the ‘effect’ rather than the method’.

However you decide to present your magic tricks, bear in mind that you communicate how you expect your audience to react to your magic, through your presentation. If everyone seems to be reacting to your magic tricks as puzzles, chances are, you are doing something to signal to them, that is the correct behaviour. You may not be aware that you are doing it.

Notice how you feel most comfortable presenting your magic tricks. Being aware of the two approaches allows you to examine the patter you use, and the style of magic tricks you build into each working set or routine.

Puzzle magic tricks Vs. story magic?

Both approaches can be better or worse than the other. However, the most crucial factor is that you as the magician are aware of the distinction, and have consciously chosen which approach to take. A definite decision between the two will mean that your approach will be consistent across your whole act.

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Magicians Can Give a Good First Impression Without Doing Magic Tricks

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Magician worried about his first impression before his first magic trick.

Within just a few seconds of meeting magician, the average spectator will have formed a first impression of the magician and decided if they are interested in paying attention. You only get one chance at a first impression. The  first impression is very hard to change.

Psychologists at Princeton University showed people video’s of politicians. They found that people were able to predict who would win an election over 70% of the time, just from viewing a microsecond of footage about the politician. Just from one first impression.  In just a fraction of a second, people were able to make highly accurate predictions about another person.

As a magician, you can use magic tricks that are good openers to win the attention of your audience. However, spectators will have drawn assumptions about you before you even get them to ‘pick a card’.

Let’s look at some techniques magicians can use.

 

1. Communicate a magicians purpose.

From the first moment, before you perform any magic tricks, it’s important for your spectators to understand what you magicians can offer through the interaction, and the benefit to them in watching magicians doing magic tricks.

Your opening lines and/or introduction to your magic tricks needs to be perfect, defining you as a magician, competent at the magic tricks you will perform, and a positive event, rather than a threat.

 

2. Think about what clothes magicians should wear.

  • How are you dressed?
  • Do you have tattoo’s?
  • Are you immaculately presented?
  • What make-up, jewelry, watches and shoes are you wearing?
  • Does your suit or ‘outfit’ match the style of event?
  • Does your suit perfectly fit you?
  • Are you well groomed?

We can often be very bad judges of our own appearance. As magicians, we can often spend more time thinking about how are magic tricks look, than how we ourselves come across. It’s a good idea to ask trusted friends what they REALLY think of the clothes you wear when you perform your magic to the public. Men often don’t realise how much their watch can say about them. For women, purses and large earrings or jewellery can also communicate a great deal to your spectators. Make sure that what you are wear when performing your magic tricks, says what you want it to say to your audience.

If you are unsure about this or feel that you need help getting it right, there are personal style consultants that will assess this for a fee. It may be worth investing in this if you intend to market yourself commercially as a professional magician.

3. Think about your body language.

Body language is one of the most important factors magicians can use to create good first impressions. Your posture, how you carry yourself, even the way you position your body when you perform your magic tricks, creates an impression. Careful routine construction and practice can allow you to ‘standardise’ your body language throughout your performance. Just being aware of your body language can be enough to radically improve it. It’s important to at least video yourself performing all your magic tricks, so you can identify and correct any body language that may be unwanted. For the seriously committed, drama class’s or having a few sessions with a theatrical director would be the ideal.

  • Think about the position of your feet as you perform your magic tricks
  • How you hold your shoulders.
  • How you smile
  • The way you shake hands

4. Project being interested and interesting.

One of the worst things that a magician can do, when he or she approaches a new group of spectators, it to appear bored or uninterested. Spectators will pick up on this very easily and will mimic the mood the magician presents.

When you are joining a new group of spectators, approach them with a genuine interest in who they are. Showing that you are happy to meet them and are enjoying their company will reflect back to you.

Expert Mind – Beginner Mind – Thinking About Your Magic Tricks

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Professionl Magicians - Expert mind beginners mind

The more we know about magic, the harder it is for us to view it the same way we did when we first started to learn magic tricks as a beginner.

Over time, we build up our knowledge, and that changes us in the process. Our tastes change, and our opinions about what constitutes good magic shift to reflect this.

The building up of good taste within any subject should be positive. The wine expert builds his pallet and is better for it. However, magicians are different. Magicians are creating something to be performed to spectators who are by nature, complete beginners. Magicians have to become experts catering to beginners. This paradox can cause some serious problems with your development as a professional magician. It’s one of the reasons that many professional magicians end up performing magic only to other magicians. They become experts to such an extent that they become a ‘magicians magician’.

Language

Being an expert in a subject doesn’t mean you will be a good teacher of it. Sometimes, an expert assumes parts of the subject are so basic that they are common knowledge. The professor rushes his lesson. The expert uses jargon, without realizing that the students don’t understand. No matter how hard he tried to simplify the lesson, he fails to make his class understand. He is so deep into his subject that he has forgotten what it is like to know nothing of the subject.

Magicians face the same problem. It’s most often seen by the language some magicians use when giving spectators instructions.

 

“Please cut the playing cards.”

 

“Please sign the face of the playing cards”

 

“For my next effect…”

 

The magician becomes so familiar with the jargon of magic that they assume it is common knowledge. They need to remember what it was like before they became an expert. They need to go back to the mind of a beginner.

Interesting Magic Tricks

Beginners and the general public often have very different ideas of an entertaining magic trick. Magicians can fall into the trap of thinking a classic magic trick is just too simple to be entertaining. They forgot how much those magic tricks fooled them when they started out. Sponge magic tricks, thumb tips, Svengali and stripper decks are some of the best close-up magic tricks ever invented. However, the expert loses touch with the experiences of the beginner, and those magic tricks get written off as ‘too basic’. Instead of being driven to learn more and more complex routines, the expert has to retain the mind of a beginner so that his or her judgment doesn’t become clouded by experience.

To become an expert magician, you need to develop the mind of a beginner and keep that view as the guiding force in your judgments.

DO THIS:

Go through your magic scripts and look for jargon that could be simplified.

When you next perform try to be aware of moments, when you make assumptions about what your audience does, and doesn’t already know.

List the top 5 magic tricks that amazed you, before you started to learn magic. Do you perform variations of them?

Listen to spectators talk about the magic tricks they have seen on TV. What were the themes that are most popular? Think about how you could create your own magic that captures the essence of those themes.

Examine each magic trick you perform and honestly ask yourself if they are really magic tricks designed to fool other magicians. How could you simplify them for a beginner?