practice Archives

Becoming an Expert Magician – Specialize Your Study of Magic Tricks?

‘I want to become a master magician. I’ve been doing magic tricks for a few years now and like doing card magic best. Is it OK to just do card tricks? I would like to become a master magician at magic tricks, but feel that I won’t be able to make a mark in magic, unless I focus on one part.‘ – Mark

What’s your specialty in magic? Are you a ‘coin man’, a card worker, or perhaps a mentalist? When you first start out learning magic tricks, it’s important to get experience across a wide range of magic tricks. You need to find out which types of magic suit you as an individual, which excite you and get your creative energy flowing. As you move along this path, you may find yourself drawn to particular types of magic tricks. When this happens, is it a sign that you should specialize?

We asked Simon Lovell to give you some advice:

That’s really good advice! Simon Lovell recommends that you spend the first few years trying out as many new types of magic as possible. Then, once you find a style of magic that you are passionate about, you should specialize and learn EVERYTHING you can about that subject. Through this, you become a master magician.

It’s vital that you develop a broad knowledge BEFORE you commit to a specific field, as you need to discover what’s right for you, and become grounded before you focus in one direction.

Dominic Reyes: By specializing, you develop a full understanding of a smaller subject. You learn it’s history, and it’s current direction and trends. You also discover it’s boundaries and limitations. Through doing this, you are able to touch the edge of current knowledge on that subject, and hopefully, push that edge a little further.

Let’s look at this process of becoming a master magician in more detail

Imagine this circle contains all human knowledge on the subject of magic

As a kid you pick up a few simple proposition bets and basic magic tricks. You know a little:

Learning a few magic tricks as a beginner

You then start learning easy self working magic tricks. You know a little more:

Starting to learn professional magic tricks

You now start learning sleight of hand and performing skills. You develop a specialty:

You gain experience performing and deepen your knowledge of your chosen specialty:

Gaining experience and developing your knowledge in one direction

Lectures, specialized books, DVD’s and discussion with other magicians takes you to the edge of human knowledge on your branch of magic. You are now a master magician.

Once your at the boundary of your field you focus on your creativity:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is your contribution.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

How the world of magic looks when you specialize

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

It’s important to understand that the goal is not the specialization itself. The specialization is a tool cut through the huge amount of information on magic, so you can understand just one part fully. Your goal is to become the best performer you can become, in the time you have.

Specialization allows you to become an expert magician. It’s important if you want to become one of the core creators of magic in the field. However, specialization doesn’t need to be on the mechanics of magic tricks. Becoming a master magician in performance, misdirection, comedy in magic, dexterity… All these abilities could also become your specialty.

The core message is to gain a broad knowledge first, then COMMIT to mastering something. Choose a specialty and push yourself to know the subject fully, then push a little further and make a contribution.

Useful Posts:

Eric Jones: Master magicians don’t mind being caught out

Master magicians and creators of magic tricks – Talk to them

My hands are too small to do sleight of hand magic tricks

Special thanks to Matt Might for The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

Recommended book: Simon Lovell – Second to None

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Practice Magic Tricks Without Getting Magicians Block

by Merchant of Magic 7 Comments

Matt writes:

‘I’ve developed magicians block. How do I stay motivated to practice magic?’

That’s a great question Matt, and something that every magician faces sooner or later.

There are two schools of thought: take a break for a while, or push even harder than before. But most importantly don’t be hard on yourself. Don’t be too self critical, as there is no place for that attitude when you practice magic.

For many of us, the hardest part of all is getting started. Sitting down in front of a computer screen or a blank sheet of paper, rolling up our sleeves, and–and nothing.

“The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.” William Goldman

To break magicians block, first it needs to be understood. What is the block? This could be a number of things. Lack of inspiration, fear of failure, outside influences, day to day stresses. Whatever the cause of the block the impact it has on you is lack of direction to practice magic. Here are some very simple ideas that, when applied, will help cure your magicians block.

Beginning to practice magic.

How to do you get started? The thing that you simply MUST do first is simplify. By simplify, we mean break down all the complex overwhelming tasks, thoughts, idea and desires down to one individual task. And that task should be simply this. Sit yourself down, away from any of your magic tricks and props, stick on some music, make a cuppa, and ask yourself:

“What single magic trick will I practice today?”

This may sound a silly idea, but try it. Forget about the anxious feelings of losing your drive. This loss is due to lack of direction. Just focus on one magic trick.

Practice magic with a drill.

All through my career I’ve written 1,000 words a day–even if I’ve got a hangover. You’ve got to discipline yourself if you’re professional. There’s no other way.” (J.G. Ballard)

Dominic Reyes talks about creating a practice Drill

When you practice magic, pick just one magic trick or sleight of hand technique to be your focus. Create a drill you can do in short sessions every day. Repeat the moves and tricks SLOWLY 20 times in the morning and 20 times in the evening. Do this for 21 days. Don’t try to increase your speed, let that happen naturally. If you make an error, ignore it and start the move or routine again.

If you practice magic this way, it will fast track you as it builds in motor memory for the trick or move. Setting a practice drill works because it removed the CHOICE from your practice. Choice is your enemy, when it comes to getting things done. You need a fixed path, with no option other than the practice, over a set period of time. Using a drill will help keep you on target and consistently working towards a single goal.

Capture Ideas

When you sit down at home intending to learn and practice magic, you most likely get magicians block because you feel you have forced yourself to do this. Forcing yourself to practice magic can remove the pleasure you should feel. Because you have experienced magicians block several times, the block has become a part of the pattern, so the pattern needs to be changed.

We suggest you change the pattern. Don`t tell yourself that you have to, or ought to, practice magic right now. Don’t unnecessarily beat yourself up. Try this simple tip:

Forget about the need to practice magic for the moment.

Carry a notebook around with you, or use Evernote for magicians on your smartphone. Throughout the day, make notes of things you see that interest you. They don’t have to be directly related to magic. Just so long as they are things that make you smile, think, or laugh, make a note of it.

The reason we suggest this is that ideas have to come from something. Every idea comes from a previous one, unless you are a genius, and then perhaps you should be applying yourself to advanced mathematics rather than magic, for the sake of mankind.

The following day, do the same and revisit the previous days notes. This will help get the creative juices flowing. Ideas are like healthy viruses, but first they need to be fed. Use your note system to record ideas and your experiences after every performance. What went well, good lines and questions you encountered. What you need to work on. Capture EVERYTHING.These ideas and experiences will be of great value later when you sit down to practice magic again.

“In writing, there is first a creating stage–a time you look for ideas, you explore, you cast around for what you want to say. Like the first phase of building, this creating stage is full of possibilities.” – (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Failure when you practice magic.

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” – Margaret Atwood

“Lower your standards and keep writing.” – William Stafford

“People have writer’s block not because they can’t write, but because they despair of writing eloquently.” – Anna Quindlen

Perfection can be your worst enemy. If you watch magic DVD’s and Dynamo magician impossible, and feel that you have to make sure every magic trick you work on is perfected as soon as possible. We all want the move to look great right from the start. If you set your expectations too high right from the start, your progress can feel very disappointing. Slow down don’t expect a move or trick to look great right from the start. Perfection when you practice magic is a gradual process. Just like a writer, your first draft of practice is not supposed to look great. It’s nothing more than a ROUGH DRAFT of the moves and techniques, an outline sketch of the routine. Relax about perfection and the process of polishing your technique will happen naturally. Don’t let it stop you.

Practice magic outside.

You may find being out in nature will get your creative juices flowing. You can also listen to certain types of music to help me bring on certain types of emotions. If you couple this music with a sort of play in my head, almost as if you are an actor, it helps tremendously.

What tips and tricks do you use to help you stay focused when you practice magic? How do you motivate yourself to overcome magicians block?

Share your ideas in the comments section below:

The Most Durable Playing Cards – Which Playing Cards Last Longest?

by Merchant of Magic 9 Comments

By Dominic Reyes

Liam writes:

‘Which decks of playing cards are the most durable? I want these for practice, as my Bicycle Playing Cards get ruined after about an hour of practice. I practice at least three hours a day. Any help?‘

Awesome question Liam, and it’s great to see you are really putting in the commitment to practice!

Make sure you have plenty of breaks in your practice sessions, and stop if you ever get aches or pains in your hands. Wearing out your deck of cards is a real drag, but it’s an unavoidable part of regular intensive practice.

I’m surprised that the cards are only lasting you an hour. A deck should last much longer than that, even with intense use. Many magicians tend to change their decks of cards for each gig, but even then, the cards are going through several hours of use. At the end of the day, good quality playing cards are made from paper stock, so their life span is limited. Your hands pass on oils, moisture and dirty that plays havoc with a deck.

TWO OPTIONS

You really have two options for durability: Regular ‘paper stock’ playing cards or plastic cards.

Plastic Durable Playing Cards:

Although there are some decent durable plastic playing cards on the market, they don’t have quite the same feel, or handle as well as the paper stock versions. You will also be limited in the gaffs or gimmicks you may want to introduce into the decks as they will generally not be produced in plastic.

Regular ‘paper stock’ playing cards:

We would recommend that you stick to regular ‘paper stock’ playing cards for your practice. There is a huge range of styles and designs of bicycle playing cards.

A common misconception about quality.

Many people think that the handling of a deck of bicycle playing cards is much more customisable than it really is.

Finish

Most producers of playing cards tend to use the same finish for their cards. Some brands then market them to appear different from their competition.

Finishes are simply the coating on the surface of the playing cards. The finish does not ensure the existence or prevention of “dimpling” on the cards.

There are only two kinds of finishes primarily used today: The Air-Cushion finish and the Magic finish from USPCC.

Some decks are labeled as ‘smooth finish’ but really they are using the standard Magic finish from USPCC.

Cambric finish, for example: on bee decks, is just Air Cushion. This means that every deck of playing cards you buy that has Air Cushion finish is just like all the others.

There is no such thing as a Linen or Linoid finish. These finishes were discontinued some time ago.

Stock

What really defines how a deck of playing cards handles and lasts is the stock. There are many kinds of stock, but the main ones are Aristocrat, Bicycle and Casino.

Aristocrat is a very thin stock. Bicycle stock is slightly thicker than Aristocrat, and Casino stock is heavy. Bee playing cards, for example, use Casino stock.

Which durable playing cards to use.

Liam, we understand that it can be annoying and expensive to keep replacing your decks of cards so often, but to be honest, that’s the ‘price of learning card magic’. It’s better to practice with the same type of deck you intent to perform with, so you become accustomed to the feel and responsiveness of the deck over time. You could switch to a heavy card stock, such as the Bee brand, but the difference in durability, although present, is very small. Regular Bicycle Playing Cards are the most popular decks for magicians and are the most versatile. There isn’t really any significant advantage between the different types of Bicycle cards.

It may be worth buying cards in bulk for a discount if you are getting through a lot of decks. Most magic shops will be happy to offer some kind of price break for a large batch order.

You may also want to double check your technique. Are you holding the deck with too much tension? That can often happen during practice as you are concentrating on technique. Are your hands getting too hot and creating too much moisture while you practice?

NEXT: How to break in a deck of playing cards

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