presentation Archives

Steve Shufton Interview – Naturalness, Practice of your Magic Trick

Steve Shufton is a highly respected inventor and manufacturer of high quality magic tricks and props for professional magicians. Known for his own distinctive creative style, Steve’s inventions are used by magicians worldwide. X-Ray is one of the MoM teams favourite tricks.

Dominic Reyes caught up with him, to ask a simple question. Steve’s experience in magic is formed by years of performance, not just to the public, but also to a much harder crowd to please: Magicians!They provide valuable advice for magicians at any stage in their career:

Dominic Reyes:If you could go back to the start of your career what three things would you do differently?”

Steve Shufton: This is certainly an interesting question, especially since it is difficult for me to define precisely when the start of my magic career was.

Dominic:So it’s hard for you to locate an exact moment that your career started?

Steve: In a way, yes. Was it when I was bitten by the bug? Was it when I gave my first performance as a child? Was it when I started to earn a substantial part of my living from magic?

Dominic: Your saying that a magic career isn’t necessarily defined by professional performance?

Steve:I knew, the very first time I attempted to learn how do a magic trick, that this would remain a curiosity for life – I was bitten, and had it bad. Where did the coin go? How can I learn to do that? So, this certainly must have been the start. After all, some of the very best magicians in the world are “amateurs,” who have also embarked on a magical career, although an unpaid one. Why should they be excluded from the conversation? Yes – although I make the greater part of my income from magic, I do not earn my money from performance – I earn it from inventing and manufacturing. I have to fool professionals – never mind the lay audience. And yes – I make my money this way. But since I do not earn the bulk of my income specifically through performance, I am little different in that regard than an amateur.

Dominic: But, you agree that there is a difference between you as professional or amateur?

Steve: If there is a difference, I would say it would have to be 50 years of practice and performance experience, although in close quarters, thereby qualifying me to offer my opinion on this matter unashamedly.

Dominic: So, looking back, what would you do differently?

Steve: As a child I remember being so eager to “present” each new trick, it frequently happened on the same day I read it or purchased it. The word “present” is in quotes, because this was not a presentation at all! To properly present any effect, certain phases of learning the effect must first occur.

Dominic: Can you explain this process, in more detail to us?
Steve: First, you must study the effect with your mind – with your inner eye. You are to convince an audience that you have done something, using only magic as a possible explanation. Therefore, understanding what an audience will perceive is of highest importance! Is fumbling, stuttering and rocking back and forth as one tries to recall the steps in achieving a goal magical? The answer is self-evident. I wish, as a small child, someone had held me back from demonstrating any effect until I fully understood the effect myself. If I could go back to my first experiences with magic, I would take much more time only contemplating the effect.

Secondly, the working of an effect must be second nature. A pianist (I happen to be one) must practice music until it is deep in the soul. It must proceed from within, without any thought process intervening with the outflow of music.

Dominic: Why is that important?

Steve: Because, otherwise, it remains an intellectual exercise and will never come across as something natural and beautiful. Dai Vernon, when he offered the advice, “Be natural,” was offering the most profound advice for the performance of excellent magic. In order to be natural with your magic, you must practice it until it transcends the intellect – transcends thought. It must flow out of you as if you have been doing it your entire life – just like walking.

Dominic:That makes a lot of sense. We receive a lot of questions from magicians, who resist the practice of rehearsal, through fear that their performance will sound too ‘staged’. We recommend that their practice should continue WAY past that point, until a naturalness develops from the total familiarity with the ‘lines’. What’s the final stage?

Steve: Finally, it would be a good idea to learn as soon as possible that the trick is not the entertainment. You are. The effect is simply a vehicle for entertainment. Many beginners think that by showing a spectator what arrived in a box this morning, they are providing entertainment.

Dominic: And that’s not the case?

Steve: If that were, we wouldn’t need magicians at all – only boxes of stuff. The solution is to have a presentation. This far outweighs needing a trick! The difference between a good trick and a bad trick is often the presentation. If you are just showing them something, you are not doing your job as a magician. You are the show – the tricks will always be secondary to that.

Dominic: So what practical steps can magicians take to prevent that?

Steve: Find some way to make the effect yours. Imitators will never be as great as originals. Develop rapport with your audience. Take the time to develop a worthy presentation. Practice it as much as you practice the effect – until it becomes second nature and your delivery is natural. Lose your ego and let your audience into your world. Learn from your mistakes. Accept criticism. Have fun!

The Merchant of Magic would like to thank Steve Shufton for taking the time to give us this interview.

You can check out the Shufton range of magic here

Also check out the DVD set: wrinkles on the table, it’s a supurb collection of original moves and magical thinking from over 40 years of performing experience.

I Hesitate When Performing Magic – Saying Umm and Err

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

Mark writes: ‘I hesitate when performing magic, and say ‘Ummmmm’ a lot when I perform, how can I prevent this from happening?’

This, Ummm, is a common problem with, err, performances and any public speaking.

There are a few tips and tricks to help overcome this, err, problem!

1) Be aware of this problem!

The first step is to be aware of when you are saying Ummm and err. This usually happens when you are thinking about either what to say or what to do. The only way to overcome this issue really is to know your patter, know your routine structure and to know your sleights. This should be learned in practice, of course you can ‘jazz’ a magic performance, but you must know the core principles of what you are doing inside out first.

2) Plan what you are going to say.

This does not necessarily mean you have to fully script your magic performance, if this does not suit you then that is OK. What it does mean is that you should know roughly what key points you are going to convey to your spectators. Think of bullet points in your mind and clearly understand where you are going with these points.

3) Slow down

If you analyse your performance, you may not realise that you are talking or performing your magic too fast. A true professional knows how to slow their magic down; this makes everything more convincing and enjoyable. Try this… Video tape yourself performing, this is so much easier in this day and age as everyone has a phone with a video function on it. Set the phone up and run through a routine with some friends or family. When you watch it back you should be watching out for things like your timing, you enunciate your words and how quickly you are speaking. At first you will probably find that you are a mash up of hesitations, pauses and speaking quickly. This will most likely tie in with the pauses being when you are thinking of a sleight and the fast speaking moments will be when you are actually performing these sleights. See where you can slow down and where you can speak more fluently. If you can identify these moments in your routines, apply that knowledge in every magic practice session and performance from there on in, you will find your magic performances improving dramatically.

4) Pause and be silent

When performing a second can seem like a lifetime in your mind. The thoughts running through your head can be intense and overbearing, remember this is all in your head, not your spectator’s. Your inner monologue is your own and as loud as it may seem to you your spectator’s cannot hear it, they are not influenced by it or affected by it. A momentary pause can seem like a long time to you; however, it is most likely to be only a second or two. A silent pause for a second or two can seem thoughtful and interesting; a seconds worth of ‘ummm-ing’ or ‘errrr-ing’ will come across and uncertainty and will make you seem unsure of yourself. As a magician, you should always be in control a lot of ‘ummm-ing’ or ‘errrr-ing’ can undermine this image of control. So remember a moments worth of silence

5) Relax!

One of the best ways I have found to counteract when you hesitate when performing magic is to relax myself before performing. Take some deep breaths and centre yourself before performing. Fill your lungs with air and breathe out slowly, do this a few times and feel your heart rate go down. Let the tension in your body slip away as you do this, it is almost a form of self hypnosis. You will find you are in a much better place when you go to perform, and everything will flow better throughout your routine. If you feel nervous, there are techniques you can use to reduce these feelings.

So these are my 5 tips to help counteract the Ummm-ing and errrr-ing that can plague your performance. Try them out, you will be surprised at how effective it really is. The first step is to identify how much these hesitations occur. Simply being aware of this issue will reduce the amount you do it. I really hope these tips help.

Magicians use a metronome to practice

The Best Performing Speed

How To Stop People Spoiling the Ending of a Magic Trick

by Merchant of Magic 4 Comments

‘J’ contacted us about a problem he is having with his magic: Showing magic tricks to friends of his friends.

Sometimes his friends have seen him perform a magic trick and they want him to show their friends as well. The problem J faces, is that they have already discussed it with their friends beforehand, and hyped it up, as well as giving away the ‘surprise’ ending to the trick. The result of this is that J finds his second performance does not have as good an impact as his first.

‘They spread the word to their friends, but somehow their friends will end-up sort of disappointed (what I felt from them) and comment “Your hands are really fast” instead of OMG! Or any other surprising reaction. How can I change my patter in order to get the reaction like I got the first time?’

Ben Williams: This can be a common problem when performing for many people that know each other. One technique I use at weddings and other similar gigs is that I will say, after I have finished, something like this:

‘By all means if you would like to tell people about the miracles you have just witnessed please do not tell them exactly what happened as it is kind of like telling the punchline before I get to deliver the joke. If you want, you can say I did something crazy with your ring or with the cards, but try not to detail what it was and just tell them they must see me!’

This way people understand not to ruin the surprise for people who have not yet had the chance to see my magic. I would also like to point out that when I speak of miracles I do it very tongue in cheek and not in an arrogant way at all.

Also, you must try to perform your magic as slowly as possible, if they are telling you have really quick hands it may be that you are moving too fast, or it may even be just that you are not cancelling that theory out. When I perform Ring Flight I do it as slowly and deliberately as possible and I tell them I have not moved my hands quickly and also I get them to agree, this heightens the impossibility of the routine quite dramatically.

These are a couple of quick tips that I use when I perform. I hope it helps you out in your situation.

QUESTION TO YOU: Do you have any further advice you can give J on this problem? How do you deal with having to repeat a trick when some of the spectators have already seen it? Let us know in the comments section below:

Photo courtesy of: Move The Cloud