performing magic Archives

How Magicians Keep Control During a Magic Trick

I remember I was booked to perform at a large award party many years ago. I was quite nervous about it. I knew my act was fine as I was going to use my set magic routines that were tried and tested at gigs over the years. However, it was the first time I had been booked for a central London awards event and was ‘out of my comfort zone’. Whenever I start working tables, I like to take a few moments to walk around and assess which ones look the most fun. I try to spot which groups seem deep in business conversations and look out for those that could do with some energy being added to them.

On this occasion, however, I was asked by the client to stay outside the room until each award was announced, then pop in and do a table, before exiting for each of the award announcements. Because of this, I didn’t scan the tables first and went straight up to the nearest table and started my set. It became instantly apparent that my choice was not a smart one. Half the table was talking on their phones and the other half were in deep discussion about the previous award. Most of the table stopped what they were doing and started to watch me, but several of the guests continued to talk on their phones and asked questions of the other guests through my routines. In the end they loved the magic, but I simply did not have control and finished that table deeply dissatisfied.

Let’s look at something I could have done to improve that situation and how magicians keep control:

Maintaining Control

When you perform magic tricks for a group, every moment is important if you want to keep control. The goal is to stop your audience’s minds from wandering.

To do this effectively you need to ‘play the audience’ and not allow them to ‘play you’. If your audience unconsciously feels (they do ‘feel’ as a group) that you are not in control of the situation, someone within that group will automatically adopt the ‘Alpha’ dominant position and take control of the group. That’s fine if it’s a person who loves magic tricks and is interested in keeping that as the focus of the group. However, if the dominant person wants the group’s attention for themselves or on another topic, your act can go downhill very fast.

Luckily, there are a few easy techniques can use to help maintain control of a group. Try out a few the next time you perform:

1) Magicians keep control by Looking at the group and seeing who’s boss
Try to spot the dominant ‘Alpha’ group member. He or she is probably already the focus of attention. Engage that person first of all. As you approach the table, make eye contact with that person as you introduce yourself. Privately, you are discreetly asking permission to take some of the attention away from the ‘boss of the table’ and by connecting with that person right from the start, you help let them know you recognize their position, respect it, and are happy to keep them in their position. This all goes unsaid, in a moment of eye contact, but the communication is there and you will be amazed at the difference this can make.

2) Magicians keep control by changing pace
If attention starts to wander, increase or decrease the energy of the routine you are performing. Decreasing the pace can work best if you feel a connection to the group reducing. I discovered this, while reading bedtime stories to my children, and then trying out the technique at the tables.

Slow right down, reduce the volume and pitch of your voice. This signals very loudly that something important is happening and spectators will snap to attention to see what’s going on. You can also switch suddenly to a more conversational style as you add in an anecdote, right in the middle of the routine. Keep it quick, it’s a sudden change of pace and will increase interest.

Remember that the goal is to change the pace. Just going too slowly through the whole routine is a sure fire way to switch your audience off. Aim to make your presentation style like a series of mountains and valleys. Building up, then dropping down, building up again and so on.

3) Be the captain of the ship
The moment you join a group, you want to appear totally in control. You may be starting out and secretly thinking you are out of your depth, but they don’t know that. To them you are a professional entertainer, and a magician. Assume that role totally. Act like the person you would like to be, and you become that person. Have a confident approach, make eye contact, give a big smile to one of the guests in the group and introduce yourself without hesitation.

Here are some behaviors that can signal insecurity to the group and should be avoided:

Pacing Around – Yes, I know it’s fashionable for comedians to do it on stage, but close up situations have different dynamics. Stand still. Move your arms but don’t shift around as it looks like you are unsure or nervous.

Sway or shift your weight from leg to leg. – It just makes you look submissive, unsure and uncomfortable. These are all associations you don’t want the group to have.

Keeping your hands in your pockets – It feels reassuring and casual for you, but not for your spectators.

4) Don’t respond to ‘calls for attention’
This is tricky for close-up magicians, after all, you have just entered the group and it’s their conversation you are joining. However, when you are half way through your routine and just about to get to the climax of the magic trick, when one of the spectators say’s “Excuse me” and asks a question. DON’T stop. Just ignore it and respond when YOU are ready to pay attention to the question. Obviously, if the question is “You are standing on my foot” that needs to be addressed right away, but you should be in control of the magic trick. It’s very easy for a conversation to start which destroys the pace and timing of your trick.

You have playing cards selected and suddenly the spectator starts tell you about a magician they met a while ago and how great his magic tricks were. Don’t be rude, but focus on the trick at hand, and continue with it. A quick “that’s cool” acknowledgment is fine, but there is plenty of time for you to chat about it after your act is over.

Learning how magicians keep control while performing is one of the most important skills to learn, once you have your working material mastered. It’s hard to develop just reading about it. Next time you show a group a magic trick, remember these points and try a few out. Most people don’t see live entertainment close up like this and don’t understand the social rules involved. You are officially there to entertain them. If you are aware of control within a group, you can make the experience of magic so much more enjoyable for them.

Do you have a question about showmanship? The team at the Merchant of Magic can give you advice on this subject and suggest further reading – You can call or email the team here

Whay other tips and techniques can help magicians keep control of a group? Please let us know your thoughts about this topic in the comments section below:

Make Belief From Make Believe – Increase Belief in Your Magic

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

By Dee Christopher

It’s truly an amazing feeling when you witness the wonder in someone’s eyes after you’ve blown them away by bending something or pulling a thought right out of their head. The key is to create a truly compelling demonstration is belief.

Mentalists, use their knowledge of deceptive techniques to make something real that is really just make believe. Looking at the basic meaning of belief, as provided by my good friend Google, we can break down what makes up this feeling so we can create prosthetic elements to induce this emotion.

Be•lief

1. An acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.

2. Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction.

To create a feeling of belief, we must create acceptance of what we are doing is real or at least possible before we even begin. We then need to work within the guidelines of what we have proposed to achieve what we’ve set out to do in the supposed way we’ve claimed we can do it.

Try saying that ten times fast.

To give an example, a lot of mind readers these days take a psychological approach. If you want your audience to believe that what you’re doing is based purely on your understanding of the human mind, you shouldn’t hold your fingertips to a participants third eyes to pull the thoughts out of their mind, it’s not in line with what you have proposed so therefore will shatter any belief your audience could have potentially gotten from your demonstration.

For a psychological mind reader, it would be in line to have someone write some initials down so that it’s committed to memory and then to say the alphabet and look at their eye movement to indicate what letters they have in mind. A knowledge of basic eye accessing cues would help here.

“You’re eyes flickered down and to the left there, which suggests to me that the first letter is an ‘A’ correct?”

I often see mentalists and magicians who, whilst say they’re going to do one thing, make it blatantly obvious that they’re just doing a trick.

For some people this isn’t a problem, they might say that their audiences have no clue about sleight of hand or special gimmicks, or how one person might psychologically analyse another, much as tarot readings may actually done.

If you’re one of these people, when you’re designing your next effect, try genuinely doing the research on the subject you’re claiming to know all about, and build your script and choreography within those guidelines. You’ll see what a massive impact it makes on your reactions and you’ll never look back!

Another massive element to creating belief, once you’re happy with the content of your routine and what you’re claiming to do, is what you silently suggest to your audience.

Kenton Knepper writes about the things he does when he’s about to bend metal. He takes off his rings, suggesting that he might bend any metal object that he comes in contact with during the expulsion of his bending energies.

This technique could also be applied to an array of different demonstrations. A card technician might remove his gloves and do hand stretches before his knuckle busting finale. It could be something as simple as a psychological mind reader asking a question to a participant about their life, to gain a better understanding of the person before supposedly delving into their minds and analyzing their behavioral patterns.

I wrote a series of essays on creating a more powerful performance through building a strong character, about using everything about you to create a very specific composite perception of your character. I think it’s very important to always bear these things in mind and it’s very applicable to mention here.

Does wearing your hair in a particular way affect people’s perception of you? How about the attire you wear, your jewelry, whether you write with a Bic biro in a tattered notebook or with a Mont Black on a leather bound portfolio.

Of course, all these things matter – In taking 30 minutes out of a single day, you can create a very solid profile of how you want people to see you and how to go about creating this character so that you don’t even need to say anything to get the idea across.

Phill Smith has some very interesting ideas on character and the premise in his books Mitox and Yokai, the entire series is definitely worth a read – I thoroughly enjoyed his ideas and effects. Some of his premise ideas are really outside the box. They show how, by following the guidelines of your character and of your proposed skill, you can create incredibly believable and compelling demonstrations.

Dee Christopher is a leading live venue mentalist. His books and DVD’s are studied worldwide, focusing on psychological Mentalism and techniques for magicians based on the fraudulent methods of psychics and mediums.

The Merchant of Magic store features his most popular magic tricks. For more information on the subject of this post, we recommend you read his book on the subject: BELIEF

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below:

10 Quick Tips to Improve Your Sleight of Hand

by Merchant of Magic 15 Comments

1) Choose just one trick at a time.
Most magic shops would love you to constantly buy each new trick they market. But unless you are already at an intermediate or advanced skill level, this may not be the wisest move. Choose just one trick, and work on nothing else until it’s mastered. Only then, should you move onto your next trick to master.

2) Practice.
Every day, in small, quick sessions. Many experts recommend the practice drill principle: Running through the moves 15 times in the morning and 15 times at night for 20 days. If you can’t do that, just try to do 10 minutes practice every day. Short, regular sessions are best.

3) Don’t practice sleight of hand in silence.
Make sure you talk as you practice. Do you find you tend to ‘freeze’ when you perform a move in front of people? Saying the words provides cues for the moves and really helps prevent this.

4) Rehearse.
Don’t just run through the moves quickly. Perform the whole magic trick from start to finish, imagining its a real performance. Do this just as much as you practice the mechanics of the trick.

5) Slow it all down.
Slow is far better than fast. Sudden quick moves raise suspicion. Chances are, the speed you feel naturally comfortable at is still too fast.

6) Check your sleight of hand looks real.
When considering learning a new sleight, make sure it looks natural. Do the action for real, then adjust the sleight to match your real gesture or movement as much as possible. For example: Really turn a playing card over, then make sure it looks the same when you just pretend to do so. Avoid obscure moves that look pretty but nothing like real life actions.

7) Check your sleight of hand looks effortless.
Work on looking relaxed and happy when you execute a move. Make sure you don’t hesitate, close your eyes or look guilty as you perform it. Videoing your performance is a great way to spot this.

8) Make sure your sleight of hand is clear and visible.
Look at your hand positions. Are you covering up the action with your fingers or the backs of your hands? Work on a light touch, showing as much as possible to all around you.

9) Reduce all unneeded movements.
Go over your routine, removing pauses that don’t add to the trick.
Cut out and gestures or movements that may be totally innocent, but actually make the spectator think something suspicious may have happened.

10) Actually perform your sleight of hand live.
Seriously, you will develop your technique way beyond anything you can learn in private, once you start showing people your magic live. Don’t fall into the trap of performing only on YouTube. That will stop you getting real feedback from your audience’s reactions. Instead, show your family and friends, your work, once it’s ready and you will improve it way beyond what you thought was possible.

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