Professional magicians Archives

Which Magic Tricks Should Professional Magicians Use?

Andrew writes:

Hi guys, do you have any articles on which magic tricks professional magicians should use?

Hi Andrew,

I’ve written quite a few articles over the years that talk about which magic tricks I use myself, or that are recommended by other working magicians… But I’ve not made a specific list of material for professionals. After reading your question, I thought about why I hadn’t published anything on the subject.. I think it’s because of one main reason:

Almost ANY magic trick can be great material for a working magician. It depends on the performer, venues, audience, and the style of the act/set. To decide if a trick is suitable, we have to consider lots of factors about the performer and the situation.

Is the magician a children’s entertainer?
Does he or she perform is restaurants or busy bars and clubs?
Is it material for a stag or hen night group?
Will it be stage or parlor?

A magician might perform for any of these audiences and the magic tricks presented will be different in each case. It might be the case that you perform in several different environments and for a range of different clients. If so, then you will need to build together collections of effects into sets for each set of demands.

The close-up magician

Lets assume that the magician does close-up, performing in venues like bars, restaurants, and parties. Now that’s been narrowed down… It’s easier to examine some of the core features of magic tricks that make them good for professional use.

Before I start to point out ways to narrow down your selection of material, I need to point out that any trick can be a winner for professional performance.. IF it’s been worked on so that weak or impractical parts are ironed out and the magician can perform it in an entertaining way. It’s more about the showmanship and entertainment value from the performer, than the trick itself.

Is the trick Interesting to people that don’t care about magic?

I know… It’s very strange, but most people in the world really don’t get excited about the idea of learning magic tricks.. They’re interested in being entertained and might want to find out the secret out of mild curiosity, but that’s about it. The fact that magic ‘reveal’ TV shows tend to get low ratings is proof of this. People want to be entertained by magic, rather than educated about it. Remember this when choosing which tricks to add to your set.

YOU ARE NOT THE SAME AS YOUR AUDIENCE. You might like a trick because of the method as much as the entertainment value of the effect. Its vital to pick tricks for their entertainment value above all else. When looking at new tricks try to put yourself into the mind of a none magician… Show a performance to a few none magicians and watch their reaction. If it’s entertaining and you think you could perform it well… it’s probably a great magic trick for professional use.

However.. Most tricks need some specific design aspects to make them easy and practical for working conditions:

The demands on material in close up conditions

So.. I put forward that ANY trick is a good choice for a professional IF it can be presented well. But there are some tricks that are much easier to perform professionally than others. These tend to be called ‘Workers’. There are a few features to look for when deciding if a new trick can be a worker. Most of these will already be designed into a trick before it comes to market, but a few will require some thought and effort from you to adapt your material to meet these needs. The most useful features include:

Visual with lots going on.
Repeatable so you can move around the venue and perform the effect several times to different groups.
Quick reset times between performances. You need to get it set up again fast as you move between groups.
Good angles for performing in closed up crowded conditions.
Easy to follow plot so it can be understood by people that have been drinking and are in a busy environment.
Easy to adapt/stop/start as your audience are interrupted or distracted.
Easy on the pocket space. You are likely to be carrying a lot of stuff, so pocket management is essential.
As little risk as possible for maximum reward. The technique should be the bare minimum to give you the perfect effect. Every move that is not needed should be removed to reduce the likelihood of failure and the maximum focus on delivery over mechanics.

The most popular ‘workers’ for magicians

That’s why it’s hard to list which magic tricks are best for professional magicians. There are so many, and they depend a great deal on the individual performer and how they present the magic.

I could just list a few items that almost every working magician uses:

You can download a free tutorial for the Anniversary Waltz here

But… do you REALLY want to be a clone of everyone else? Pick a few unusual effects that you enjoy watching being performed. Make them workers with your presentation and some effort to perform them. You only stand out by working away from the crowd…

The first steps to becoming a professional magician

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Your Close Up Magic Case – 8 Essential Items all Magicians Need to Carry

by Merchant of Magic 6 Comments

Your close up magic case contains all the tools of the trade for being a magician. The close up magic case or bag contains your complete act, ready to take with you to each and every magic gig. As well as all the props for your magic tricks, a good close up magic case should have a range of emergency items ready for the unexpected problems that face any magician working in the real world.

The Essentials Vs The Kitchen Sink

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to a close up magic case. Some magicians like to carry all the props for every magic trick they know. They take a massive magic case with them to each gig so they can perform any magic tricks they fancy, whenever the urge hits them. This behavior is most common with less experienced magicians. They fear running out of material, so can’t resist adding every new magic trick they practice into their case. They may be the first to admit that most of the items in their case never get performed. However, the thought of leaving them at home fills them with panic.

The other type of magician takes only a few items to each gig. They pack only their ACT and the items needed to perform those core close up magic tricks. Magicians who pack lightly, tend to use scripting more, and organize their magic tricks into working sets. They add a new magic trick to their case with immense care, often carrying just one or two new tricks for a while, then removing them if they fail to be performed regularly.

The mess.

If you are an essentials magician or a kitchen sink magician, there’s one thing you have in common when it comes to your close up magic case:

It’s a terrible mess!

Unless you only perform casually and have the time to keep it organised, chances are your case is full of items like this:

Odd playing cards
Dry Sharpie Pens
Train tickets
Wrappers from Bicycle Playing Cards
Loose rubber bands
Small change
Other peoples business cards
Bits of magic tricks you no longer perform
Fluff

Now’s the time to give your close up magic case a good sort out. Take out all the rubbish. Strip out all the magic tricks you are carrying around and never performing. Make your close up magic case a lean, mean magic machine.

Really useful items for a magicians close up case.

Instead of all that clutter, use the space to add in some essential emergency items into your close up magic case.

Here’s a list of the most essential items to include in your case:

Spare sharpies
You can never have enough Sharpie pens. The last thing you want is to hand a pen to a spectator and get a dried up hard to read signature on their card. Carry some spares and you can lose the ‘where’s my sharpie’ paranoia.

A safety pin
Popped a trouser button? Caught your jacket and ripped it? Clip broken on your magicians pull? If one of these hasn’t happened to you yet, don’t feel too smug. Sooner or later, something will go wrong in the clothing department, and you will throw your hands in the air and thank the cosmos that you added a safety pin into your case.

Black duct tape
It’s like a puncture repair kit for magicians. A little strip of black duct tape can hold together a rip in your trousers, secure a prop when your wrist band fails, Hold together a shirt if a button is lost. Secure your close up magic case in an emergency and stick a sign to a door. 1001 uses and zero effort to pop a roll into your close up magic case.

Spare tie
The life of professional close up magicians is one of petrol station sandwiches and coffee as close friends. These buddies love to leave their mark of friendship on your tie whenever possible. Roll up a spare tie and pop it in your case. It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

A bank note
Pick a large one, and leave it in your case. That way you have emergency money for taxis, petrol station snacks and parking fee’s. Keep it folded inside a thumb tip. If you don’t spend it, you can always use it for a magic trick.

Shoe polish
Remember that puddle you landed in on the way to the main doors of the gig? The muddy lawn you had to cross to get to the marque? A small travel shoe polish is invaluable. Rightly or wrongly, people DO judge you by the state of your shoes.

Folding travel umbrella
Add one of these to your close up case and sooner or later you will be emailing us to thank us for the suggestion. We recommend one of these to every magician that takes on personal tuition at the shop. It sounds silly, but magicians actually do come back to thank us for suggesting it.

Breath Mints and nail cutters
Coffee at the gig, a plate from the buffet, half a bottle of scotch in the toilets (Joke), all become part of your close up magic presentation, unless you pop in a mint before you start performing. Make sure you have some in your close up magic case.

Include some finger nail cutters in your bag while your thinking about personal grooming. Long or dirty nails can creep up on you. Seeing the nail cutters in your case, will remind you to check that your nails look good.

Those are the essential items we recommend that you add to your close up magic case. Go through your case or bag right now and dump all the stuff you are carrying around to every magic gig, but never using. All that stuff is just weighing you down, physically and psychologically. Use the extra space to include some emergency items.

What do YOU keep in your close up magic case for emergencies? Please share your ideas in the comments section below:

How Long to Learn Magic Tricks as a Professional Magician?

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

Marco asks: ‘How long should you need to learn magic tricks to become a professional magician?‘

That’s a really good question, but it does need some clarification.

To answer it, we need to define what a professional magician means.

It could have two meanings:

1) It could mean a someone who performs magic tricks to the public for money. A professional treats a subject as a business. For professional magicians, the factors that are important to success are just as much about marketing and business as they are about how to learn magic tricks.

2) Professional magician could refer to someone who attempts to master each magic trick that they choose to learn. They treat the subject seriously and develop their technique and performance skills. Unlike a causal performer, you treats magic as a toy or recreational activity, the magician takes on a professional approach to developing their skills.

For Marco’s question we have assumed option 2. A way to rephrase it would be to ask:

How long does it take to learn magic tricks?

In short, the answer is as many as possible!
The first thing you need to do to learn magic tricks proficiently is get a good practice routine set out. Some of the magic tricks you should learn will need you to practice individual sleights and moves separately before rolling them all into one routine, which can then be drilled. Other magic tricks will require you practice the whole routine from start to finish as they only work when performed in a flowing manner.
There is a book called Outliers in which the author Malcolm Gladwell talks frequently of the “10,000-Hour Rule”. This rule states that the key to success in any line of work, to a large extent, is a matter of practicing your specific task for a total of 10,000 hours.

This is a good guide for how long one must practice to learn magic tricks inside out and upside down. This amount of practice will shape you into a technical and very skilled magician. Unfortunately, it won’t make you an amazing entertainer. This is something to keep in mind when performing professionally; entertainment is paramount.

In order to learn magic tricks to a professional level requires far more skills than sleight of hand. More experienced magicians will already have developed their performing style and have knowledge that they can apply to each new trick that they take on. How long it takes to learn a magic trick, really depends on your previous experience, just as much as the amount of time you can commit to learning.

The secret to learn magic tricks faster.

The secret isn’t sitting alone running through a magic trick 10,000 times. It’s about practicing the moves, rehearsing the presentation and then getting out and performing it as much as possible. Professional magicians may perform some of their magic tricks 20-30 times per night. That’s a LOT of repetition. If you are not doing magic commercially, you still need to drill a new trick as much as possible, so you can master it.

Learn magic tricks that are good for beginners.

We shan’t give you actual names of magic tricks to learn as everyone is different, but we can guide you by telling you what to look for in a good magic trick when you begin your journey.

In general, you should learn magic tricks that are short in execution and routine, long winded routines can become boring for spectators. It can take a lot of your attention to remember all the process involved in a long routine; this will definitely show in your performance, which is not good.
Try to learn magic tricks that can be described in one sentence. For example, ‘I selected a card and it appeared on the other side of the window!’. If you find magic tricks to learn that are easily explained then your audiences will talk about your performance to others, this is a good thing.

It is best to learn magic tricks that are not too far out of your comfort zone. It is great to push what you do but as far as practicing magic that you intend to show people it is best to learn magic tricks that are not too advanced. Performing magic tricks above your technical abilities will show when you perform them to people, and they may see through your technique; this will ultimately end up ruining the magic.

Don’t try to learn magic too fast. Slow down, master the basics first. By all means practice magic tricks that are out of your comfort zone as this is the only way to push forward. However you should resist showing people these magic tricks until you have perfected them and can perform them with patter flawlessly.

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