Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Struggling with an effect? Any tips (without giving too much away!) you'd like to share?

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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby Stephen Ward » Sep 5th, '12, 17:08



You will come across this a lot and very often there is little to worry about. What seems obvious to us may not be to an audience and besides if you are giving an engaging performance none of that matters. There are many card effects used professionally that are so simple you think the audience must know, but they don't always.

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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby johnnyryanUK » Sep 5th, '12, 23:48

nice and reassuring!

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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby Lady of Mystery » Sep 6th, '12, 09:05

Stephen's dead right. Quite often you'll find that the super impressive effect that you've worked for months on goes down like a wet fish where as that obvious little trick is the one that people talk about. The only way you can really tell what works with an audience and what doesn't is to just get out there are perform it. I've performed most of Mark Wilson's book as some point or another and there honestly is very little in there that doesn't get a good reaction. My first paid closeup set was put together almost entirely from that book.

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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby ChrisConway23 » Dec 30th, '12, 23:59

Hi guys, completely new to this forum and it is comforting to see a cool little community about something I enjoy and am starting to get into.

Thanks for this dummies guide for newbies, was struggling for a while on where to start with this forum so cheers. I have read a few books about magic and am enjoying learning the history of magic, but you can never be too informed.

So to wrap up cheers guys and have a good new year.

P.S. "You do not have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body" Is one.of the greatest lines I have heard in a while.

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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby Mandrake » Feb 7th, '16, 23:17

Bumpety Bump!!!

If you subscribe to Jay Sankey's emails you'll have seen this already but, if not, here are Jay's words of advice

Jay Sankey wrote:"How do you prepare for a show?"

That's a question I get asked A LOT by students and fans. Before a show, I always warm-up my hands by running through a series of sleights and flourishes.
And if I want to try some new tricks, I'll rehearse them, and write down key lines of script. (I find writing them, always helps me memorize them.)
But what I find especially helpful, is focusing on some of the guiding ideas behind my personal performance philosophy...

1.Keep your show as REAL as you can.
2.Dare to share yourself (not just your tricks.)
3.Encourage other people to share themselves too.
4.Be 'playful' (in whatever way feels right for you.)
5.Make the show 'about' them. Or 'about' you AND them. (But absolutely not just about yourself.)
6.Experiment. Try new tricks, presentations, even tones and styles.
7.Be brave. Don't let a few nerves restrict your amazing potential.
8.Keep in mind, if you're not making mistakes, you're not growing.
9.Don't just perform. RESPOND!

As important as it is to keep practising your magic, it's also essential to keep THINKING ABOUT IT.

And remember, the tricks are just instruments. Tools. It's what you DO with them that really matters.

I wish you the best of luck. Keep exploring!


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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby Mandrake » Jul 20th, '16, 20:19

Bump again!

If you subscribe to Kennedy's (Ken Dyne) newsletters you'll see that he's offering free info on how to make sure your Facebook page is doing the right job and how to maximise the impact.

Ken's email reads:


    There are MILLIONS of people browsing Facebook every day.

    Some of those people have events, right?

    However it's a total pain in the *rse trying to figure out how to turn your Facebook Page in to a significant point of enquiry.

    I've spent the past 5-6 years making tiny little tweaks to my Facebook Pages to see if I can actually start taking gig enquiries through them and I figured something out...

    I've figured it out...

    There are 19 tiny elements to getting it right. And screwing with any one of them throws your gig enquiries down the toilet.

    I have a 19-point check list, a 'Blueprint' if you will, that I insist my designers follow to the letter when working on my Facebook Pages to ensure their effectiveness...

    And I'm Giving It Away...

    And if you'd like it, it's yours at no cost.

    I took the liberty of typing it up neatly and having my designer lay it out all pretty too... just go download it here:

    http://mentalunderground.com/facebook

    I hope you enjoy my Entertainer's Facebook Page Blueprint :-)

    Ken Dyne
    Founder, Entrepreneur Performer's Inner Circle

    w. http://www.mentalunderground.com/epic
    e. support@kennedysoffice.com


Ken sends fairly regular emails out and they are all worthy of reading even if you don't take up the various offers he makes. He's also a rather good performer!

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Re: Getting Started in Magic - a disorganised guide!

Postby AJ1 » Jan 16th, '22, 08:58

Personally, I found Lorayne's The Magic Book and Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic to be a way better starting point for coin magic than Bobo. The Magic Book starts you off with just the finger palm, Han Ping Chien and goes on to teach you some fantastic magic. Coins Across, Coins Through the Table, Coin Assembly and many more. Also teaches 3 retention vanishes. Mark Wilson is also better for the basics. After that I would suggest David Roth's Expert Coin Magic Made Easy DVDs, then only would I go with Bobo's.

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