How to do Magic Tricks

Advice and Support for Magicians

10,000 Hours of Practice to Master a Magic Trick? No Thank You

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The fastest way to practice magic tricksWould you like to be able to practice and learn magic tricks faster than you thought possible?
There is a rule becoming a master any anything. It’s called the 10,000 hour rule. Proposed by Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, the 10,000 hour rule claims you need 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill. That’s around 10 years of consistent magic practice!
Have you got time for that?  
Would you like a quicker way?
Let’s look at some ways that you can cut that time down, and still get the same results. The 10,000 hour rule refers to practice through simple repetition. Is it possible to looking at your practice technique, and introduce some smart behaviour into your routine that could cut the time needed to master a magic trick?
Practice your magic tricks just before you sleep.
Sleep is a lovely thing, and it’s very good for you, but it’s also a time when your brain processes the information that it has taken in through your day and sorts it for long term storage. Information is consolidated during sleep as memories are created and associated with previously stored information.
If you study your magic shortly before you go to bed, you should find that you retain much more of the information than if you studies earlier in the day. Bookending your day with your magic practice sessions can greatly boost the effectiveness of your practice.
Commit to formal magic practice.
What did watching all those kung-fu films teach you? The Zen masters know a thing or two about mastering skills!Instead of just going through the motions as you perform your moves, focus on every detail. Slow your practice down so you can pay attention to the process just as much as the result. Practice in the present, thinking about what you are ACTUALLY doing, not about the past or what you hope for the future. Continually ask yourself how you could adapt or change the process to improve the final result). This is a move away from mindless ‘reps’ as you examine each step of the movement and timing the technique requires.
Know your strengths.
You can get anywhere you want, with enough hard work and commitment.  But some people have an easier journey than others. We can develop skill over time, but you will have a natural talent for some aspects of magic. Perhaps you are a natural actor, maybe your mind is hardwired for creativity. If you have a talent, find it and use it to your advantage.
Channel your time and effort towards magic tricks you already have a natural ability for, build a  compatible set of skills to complement it. You will be practicing magic that you already have an advantage to use.
Stand of the shoulders of giants.
Pretty much everything in magic has been done before. New magic is often a variation of previous techniques with a new spin added.
The core principles are classic principles – adapted and refined from magicians that worked on designing magic tricks long ago.
Read as much as you can, and study the classics from famous magicians. Learn from other magician successes and their mistakes – You can learn faster by avoiding errors that have already occurred.
As you build up your core knowledge. Seek out new magic tricks that take the principles that you already know. The core sleights from your already mastered material, and build up a working set of material around those moves. It’s possible to do a wide range of different coin magic tricks that secretly all use the same 2 or 3 moves. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel every time you add a new magic trick.
The 10,000 hour rule isn’t set in stone. You can create shortcuts in your practice by spending time, designing a strong practice program. Take just 1% of the time you spend browsing the internet for new magic tricks, and spend it organising your practice regime. By practicing smart, you can get to the mastery of any magic technique or trick, much faster than you ever thought possible.

Why a Card Magic Trick Only Works 1 in 20 Times? – Magicians Problems

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How to learn a card magic trick for consistancyJames is having trouble learning a card magic flourish.  He writes:

‘I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the chance to receive these update emails. I have been doing a card magic trick for 1-2 weeks now and I can do a few basic flourishes and card tricks.

Currently I am focusing on flourishes and I am attempting a trick that is above my skill level but it’s a flourish I really want to learn. I can flip the deck successfully 1 in about every 20 flips. I practice about 1-2 hours a day along with various card tricks in an extra hour totaling about 3 hours a day. Any advice would be really appreciated.‘

Dominic Reyes:
Sounds like you may be practicing too much. I know that sounds crazy, but you’re learning motor skills, so small amounts of practice often, is better than 1-2 hour chunks. Set up a practice drill, so you run through the card magic trick 15 times in the morning and 15 times in the evening, every day for 21 days. Slow it down to the slowest you can do it, yet it still ‘work’.

It’s a good sign that you are getting the card magic trick 1 in 20 right. It means that you have the ability. You just need to build consistency in technique.

The danger is that the 19 failed attempts are reinforcing the wrong actions. That’s why you need to slow down the action, so you can check everything (finger placement, Deck placement, pressure applied, thumb placement etc). Speed can build up later, on it’s own. You just want to focus on how the times that the card magic trick worked are different to the times it didn’t. It’s all really just physics, so the times that work WILL have something different happening from the times that don’t.
Focus on learning just one card magic trick or routine at a time. Splitting your practice time on several magic tricks slows you down. Choose ONE routine or card magic trick to master and make the commitment to work on just that project until you are happy with it. Jumping from trick to trick makes you a ‘jack of all trades, but a master of none’. It’s not a race, so make sure you are not trying to learn magic too fast
Adam Symons:
To learn a completely new sleight, first work out what the slight is trying to accomplish – with fans and flourishes, etc this is self evident, but with things like false deals, shuffles etc, it pays to have a clear idea of what the outcome of the move results in.

Oftentimes, an author has solved a card problem for themselves and the method they put out is one that works for their hand size, so by getting a sense of what the mechanics are trying to achieve you can begin to translate the action into something that works for you. If you’re having trouble mastering something, THINK! Break the move down into it’s component parts… Are you gripping the deck too tightly? Is the deck int the wrong position in your hands? Would you get a better result with your fingers in a different position?

Pay attention to the quality of the deck, newer, more slippery cards behave differently to an older, broken-in deck. Practice with your head as well as your hands – a lot of card manipulation boils down to an exercise in controlling friction (you’ve either got too much, or too little giving you the problem).

For beginners, work on the basics first (Charlier cuts, pressure fans) before going for that hotshot cut, to improve hand strength and co-ordination. And don’t give up! If it was easy, there’d be no value in the skill!

Daniel Chard:  
It’s key to remember that all sleights are a means to an end, they are much better in the context of a structured routine as appose to just learning them for sleights sake!

I agree with mastering one effect at a time! Then once the routine/move/ flourish gets to a habitual stage (where you can perform it where you can perform it in your sleep, you are ready to move on!). Make sure their used in context, I use flourishes extensively in my work, but they have their place!

Take sleights and work them backwards, change the grip, handle them differently, change the timing.An interesting philosophy for moves:

If you can’t hide it, exaggerate it! 

Exploit the part of move you can’t do, and try to come with a novel way of getting around it!

Learn at your own pace, but once you are ready take it out in the real world to test your effect, move in front of an audience! You will learn more in those few minutes of performance then any magician can teach you. Speak with trusted magic friends, ask for constructive feedback.

I hope that this has proved helpful and good luck with your journey.  

Do you have any practice advice that will help James with mastering a ‘knacky’ card magic trick? What was the hardest flourish you mastered, and how did you work on it? Please share your ideas in the comments section below:

20 Notebooks for Your Magicians Diary – Evernote for Magic Tricks

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20 Notebooks for Evernote Magicians

One of the best things a magician can do is to keep a magic notebook. We are going to look at how Evernote can be set up and used by magicians as the ultimate diary and journal for everything they need to record as they study, practice their magic tricks and most important of all: perform.

Evernote is a free service (with the option of premium features) that allows you to capture anything. You can save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see.

Your notes can be accessed anywhere – Evernote works with pretty much every computer, phone and mobile device out there.

Best of all, you can find things fast – Search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images.

You can clip copies of webpages, store PDF’s and files, make an audio recording, store photos and images. The list of things you can put in Evernote goes on and on. Basically, you can dump in everything you want to keep and remember, and then find it again whenever and wherever you need it.

You can store all your notes in a general inbox, or create notebooks, full of notes on different topics.

Evernote Ideas For Magicians.

Here are some ideas for notebooks to make in Evernote that magicians will find invaluable:

1) Magic Ebooks and PDF’s.
Do you have a load of magic Ebooks and pdf’s stored on your computer? Drop them into Evernote, and you have your digital magic tricks library with you, wherever you go. The PDF reader in Evernote is one of the best we have ever seen and its fully searchable.

2) Instructions for your magic tricks.
Scan or take a photo of any magic tricks instruction sheet that come with your props. This is very handy if you need to contact the manufacturer in the future for refills or parts. It’s great to be able to refer to them using the search if needed.

3) Lists of sets and magic tricks in acts.
As you learn more magic tricks. Start building them together into acts and sets that go together. Creating a notebook to list these, is a great way to stay organised and develop your magic into commercial professional routines. It’s also a vital step to add continuity and flow to your magic performances.

4) One-liners.
How many jokes have you heard over the years, and wished you remembered? Each time you hear a great line, a joke or even just a professional answer to common questions spectators ask, create a note or record a quick audio clip. It’s amazing how much you forget over the years. This journal will come in very handy when you are working on presenting your magic tricks and their scripting.

5) Contracts.
Scan or photo each of your contracts and booking forms when you take a magic booking. Having a notebook with all your paperwork handy and searchable by date or client name, means you have all the details you need when you are traveling to a gig. It’s all backed up in the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about losing paperwork or your work diary ever again.

6) Previous client lists.
Clip company logo’s and details for each of your clients.  You now have an invaluable record of your magicians clients database.

7) Testimonials.
Some magicians ask for a quick audio testimonial from clients after a booking. Ask them to talk aount your magic tricks. You can instantly do this within Evernote. Send any emails from clients into this notebook and scan thank you letters. Build up a portfolio you can show future clients or use for your marketing.

8) Performing pics.
Take some pics at every gig you do. They get stored, and Geo tagged at the same time. Evernote is a great way to build up a library of performing pics in one place. Very handy for future marketing and website building.

9) Magic tricks want list.
Create a want list as you browse magic shop websites. Clip product pages, reviews and information about the magic tricks you are thinking of learning.

10) Best magic websites.
Clip the front page of your favourite magic shop websites, so you have a magic bookmark list always at hand. If you visit a great bricks and mortar magic shop. Take a pic and store it’s Geo-location at the same time.

11) Receipts.
Save copes of your order receipts for magic tricks you buy. If you are a working pro, clip all your receipts to the folder. This makes the end of year accounts much easier.

12) Routine Ideas.
Every time a routine idea pops into your head make a quick note or audio note in Evernote. Collect every idea as you never know what will be valuable later on. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!

13) Practice drills for your magic tricks.
Create to-do list notes and practice drills to organise your magic practice. Adding structure to your practice can make all the difference.

14) Magic tricks inventory.
Make a photo or note inventory of all the magic books, DVDs and Props you own. If you ever need to claim on your insurance, this is a great list to have at hand. If you review it in the future, you may rediscover an item you had forgotten about.

15) Business cards.
Snap photos of business cards you receive. The images can be text searched and will be with you whenever you need then. Cards from promoters, clients, other magicians and venues can all be sorted in this notebook as your own personal magic business database. If a photographer  attends an event, take a pic of their card so you can contact them later to get copies of their photographs.

16) Maps travel and locations.
Visiting a new venue to perform? Clip their website to this notebook and you have all the details you need, when you are on the road. Train times, flights, and maps can all be stored here.

17) Conventions and events.
Clip news about conventions and events you want to attend. store copies of tickets and reservations, so you have a backup when needed.

18) Performing diary.
This is the most useful notebook of all. After every gig, record an audio note talking about how it went. What went well? What could have been better? What have you discovered from that days gig?

Keeping a journal like this, will be interesting in the years ahead to look back on, but also invaluable as a learning tool and a way of keeping you focused on improving and developing your magic.

19) Store you promotional material.
Flyers, posters, template contracts and booking forms can all be stored in Evernote. Throw in the raw files for your business card design, a backup of your performing website.

20) The idea we haven’t though about.
What do you recommend magicians record and save? Let us know in the comments selection below.