Hey people out there! New post with questions from a naive beginner who needs some answers! Hehe....... i'm just kidding.... about the naive part....

When you just started out, it's all about practicing magic at home behind close doors. Fair enough. But when do u actually go out and show what are u made off? How do you know you're ready? Generally just asking how long does it take for you to get there? Maybe, give or take, 1-2 years? What do u think?

Oh yea, and how do u practice? I just read from the book first, start doing it to myself before doing it in front of a mirror. Am i missing something? Please comment!

Oh, and how do u guys work on presentation? You know, patter and all that jazz? My presentation pretty much sucks and i have no idea how else to improve, unless i keep making weak performances just so i can learn! But that's not very practical, neither is it very healthy for the mind now is it? You know what i mean....

So please guys, just asking a favor coz it's been bugging me for a while now.... Thanks y'all!

Hi,

Hi there, huhu, thought u busy, so reply here, i can still remember when i first gettin started into magic, i practise alone in my own room, readin the book over and over again jus to get things right...

The first year i actually din perform to other people, i keep on practise till i can memorize all the step without thinkin, then straight away perfomed for my bro. At that particular time, it was awesome, and it look cool for my lil bro. But for my dad, it jus a simple tricks, luckily my dad was kind enough to guide me, where is my mistake, what should i say etc...

Then, things change when i get kard klub, i learn a lot from that dvd, i highly recommemnt it to all starter, it is not about 2CM, the dvd for me, is the best dvd E ever released....try to search for your own style, and try not to be somebody else, like Blaine, always monotomous, Angel, freaky and bizzare, Sankey, lots of humour and pure genius, etc...

Try to search for your own style, this things wont happpen in a day or two, it take lots of practise, and try to performed for real people, look at thier reaction, experimentin, what works, what din works and all those stuff....

Hope i m not talkin too much,


Nicce day ^_^

If you can find yourself likeminded magicians to work on presentation and patter, thats the best way. Come for the 21st Oct meetup, we'll chat then.

I try as much as possible to script my patter, but when it's time to perform, I have this tendency to wing it...so it comes out terrible. :P :(
I'm really struggling here..

My patter sucks too...stumble here and there... pause.... "er... oh... ah...." haha... that's why I'd go more for visual magic without needing much patter and of course flourishes lol... it speaks for itself.

Many of us do need work on our patter I believe...

Im sure we can all improve. :)

Hi,

Haha, luckiy i got joined drama club durin secondary school,i really learnt somethin from there... i think we need to act a lot durin our performance. haha, dont we? When we execute a DL, we told them, " this is your card, now, i put it into the middle, watch, "snap" it comes to the top "...haha....

Nice day ^_^

heya jennifer,

I started out practicing sleights and routines in front of the mirror....it was great exercise, but the reflection you're looking at is not going to be the angle your spectator is looking from...bbut, the mirror is the best way to start hehe Once i get the moves down id find a little patter and practice on my mum (Yes, im a mummy's boy) haha its the best way, because your mum wont reveal your secrets hahaha

I dont really like scripted patter because anything can happen when your performing in the real world. Pick up (editted) , cards drop, lost the selected card, etc. So if you practice with a script, you wont be practising on how to improvise. You have to learn that everyone is different and they would react differently to different patter and presentations. So just just have a basic idea of how your presentation is layed out and wing it most of the way hahaha and plus the more performing you do, the more experience you get. You'll learn how to adapt, what would work best and etc. Dont expect to be Houdini on your first performance, let the performer inside of you grow hehe :P

just my 2 cents.

-Nadzri

P.S. Make sure you get your sleights down before performing hahaha

all the more you should script. What is a spectator came back with a response out of the ordinary...you'd be caught off guard, and then there'd be a " err...arr...."

Stand up comedians script their lines. Public speakers script. Politicians script.
Musicians memorise the music and cues. Singers memorise their lyrics.
Actors memorise their script. Magic is an performance, not that different from the above.

Scripting also prevents you from becoming a clone of your idol.

I used to have my now-ex to spot me if I flashed or whatever... YES YES EVERYBODY I KNOW NO EXPOSURE HAR HAR but ever since I have no one to practice with, I just practice hard on sleights that I KNOW I'd use and how to make things logical. I started out with books too, then DVDs, then pictures, then live teaching, then die. No, not die.

Basically, magic can be categorized into two: a self showcase and interactive performance. A self showcase is basically the kind thing that requirese only you and your props, no audience interaction. On the other hand, an interactive performance requires some help from the audience for the effect to work (such as picking a card, holding the staff, go on all fours, ya know the drill). Now, patters, misdirection, and tecnical skills are ALL GIVEN, meaning you HAVE to get them MEMORIZED and TIMED (I'm not perfect either, that's why I've been telling myself those too :) ). I see them more of like ingredients to well structured show/performance. And, as I've mentioned, the difference between the first category and the second is audience participation; and this is why the second category could be slightly harder than the first (but could also be the one that is more juicy and fruitful!).

Card manipulations, dove productions, and all those are typically placed under the first category. They're a display of magic. Once you got your skills right, it's all about memorization and timing (hours of self video taping and mirror reflecting). But when it comes to an effect that requires an interaction with the performer, there's a handful of extra miles you might wanna take to ease up on the performance. While it's not complete, here are few:

1. Language. This is one of theee most important factor. Unless you're doing mime or silent act, you're bound to talk and respond to audience's comments. And you've gotta have a quick answer because you don't want the effect to stand still for too long (this has happened before to the point where my audience forgot what their card was!). Sometime it can be VERY entertaining when the magician talks and jokes a lot. Some other time the magician talks while he performs the effect. Both are not wrong, but a common trait here is that the magician has to have a good command of whatever language he's using.

2. Know your physical boundary. Know when to touch, to hold hands, to point and make gesture. Unless you're doing a show for your girlfriend/boyfriend, you might not wanna touch them too much (unless they've signed a contract of "no slapping allowed!" :P jk!)=

3. Do it slow, but not slower. Okay this is a lame play on Einstein's "make it simple, but not any simpler", but it's true. Perform your stuff logically, in a choronological order, and make sure the audience understands what in the world is going on. But you've gotta be sure to not put them to sleep too. Have you seen Michael Ammar's Easy to Master series? Check out the way he performs, he does em gracefully. Now I know there are some flashy and fast magicians out there (David Acer is pretty fast, so are Syd Segal and The Bucks), but if you refer to point number one, they are already the master of their language: meaning even if they do it fast, they already make sure you understand what happens. The point is to keep a steady pace that takes the audience as a consideration (I don't think David Acer's quick talk would work on, say, non-native English speaker audience).

4. Be Nice. That's it, be nice. Don't be a jerk, don't be all highly and think you're above everyone else in the building. Be humble, polite, and know your timing :)

I guess that's all. By no means I'm the authority of producing this kinda writing :blink: I thought I could share a thing or two hehehehe. If you guys can come up with more points, feel free to add!

Whoa..... thanks for all the tips guys! Hmmm... I think i'll be sticking to practicing to myself for a while, till i can get hold of someone who wouldn't mind me tagging along to learn how to talk to a crowd or 2..... Yes i confess! I can't talk to a crowd, i freak out terribly to a point of, 'er...... hold on a sec' *thinks for a moment* 'you were saying what again?' :wacko:

Just my tip on scripting a routine , you can script & memorize all you want but without practicing it out to a crowd or a live audience , you'll never get better . Imagine getting a show of a 1000 people and memorizing your lines till you know it better than your ABC's ......but if you had never performed for an audience of more than 5 before in your life ......I wish you all the best . Practice hard and always remember your aim-To entertain while mystifying the audience .

Yes, we must script our patter and always say the same thing at the same point in each trick. Do this until it becomes your second nature so when you perform you don’t even have to think about it and you can focus on your presentation and other minor things.