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Today my friends and yours truly were out to a nearby garden, and as usual I was asked to perform some magic.

I had a terrific time ! I performed really well, according to my standards I mostly performed magic, with a bit of mentalism (1 item i think) !

As TonyB had suggested, I performed these as if I were getting paid for it, with utmost attention to detail in presentation. I'd rehearsed for this show quite a lot, as I was sure of getting asked to perform something. So, I would hardly call it impromptu in terms of presentational preparation, but no 'props' were used..

1) Siamese Twins - An amazing card warp routine with a single playing card. As a kicker I did it after getting the card thoroughly examined ! This was the perfect opener and it got me the promised gasps ! I think this is Bill Goodwin's if I remember correctly !

2) Triumph - A classic effect and always sure to get a knockout reaction !!

3) Card Trick that has No explanation - A great impromptu routine by Steven Youell. Some of my friends who call themselves skeptics were brought to their knees with the sheer brilliance of this effect ! They begged me to do this one again ! But alas

4) Kato Count - As Gary Ouellet says, 'I guarantee that if you do not know the secret, I can fool you with this, no matter who you are !' This is a great effect to follow after the previous one. It builds upon the impossibility further !

5) Cutting the 10s - I use Eugene Burger's version as it suits me well. I forget what he calls it ! This one really got the crowd going beserk ! I must admit I brought in some Malonism into this (being plump helps )

6) East Meets West - A great impromptu pen through banknote effect (David Harkey if I remember correctly), and so visual ! I performed this by getting people to bet on the diameter of the hole in the banknote ! Luckily nobody bet zero so everybody got their money back !

7) Hoy Book Test - A guaranteed killer effect ! Always delivers !

8.) Cap Through Bottle - The version which I perform is inspired by Charlie Justice's Prohibition. One of the cleanest looking CTBs !

9) Fading Coin - Eugene's version of Tomoyuki Takahashi's amazing effect with a twisted presentation ! I really just 'test drove' this effect, and I'm ashamed to have underestimated it's power.

10) One for The Money - I always love to close with this. Increases the impact of the effect beyond imagination. I modified Bill Goldman's methodology to make the spectator get a 'free' choice, and this feat seems really impossible ! As Bill says, if you only know one card trick this should be it!

The 10 items lasted a total of almost 2.5 hours, and the impact of each item was great ! I didn't routinize much, because I hardly had any time to prepare ( the journey to the park was 15 minutes.. That's as much preparation time that I got ! ). But I'm glad with my presentation, it's getting more and more personal with each attempt and I'm really getting inspired by Eugene Burger's ideology about personalizing magic !

Any comments/criticism will be greatly appreciated !

Thanks in anticipation!

Damn, you keep giving away free shows mate, you're never going to get booked!

I could hardly charge my friends. It's their encouragement and constructive criticism that's got me till here !

That aside.. any thoughts about anything about the performance ?

hardik988 wrote:I could hardly charge my friends. It's their encouragement and constructive criticism that's got me till here !

That aside.. any thoughts about anything about the performance ?

If your friends are providing encouragement and giving you feedback and constructive criticism that you feel is helpful, I don't have anything to add. In my opinion you couldn't ask for much more in the way of building your performing skills in between or building up to paid gigs.

I still do this for friends. It's great for working in new routines/techniques, and you usually don't have to throw them out or wrestle anyone to the ground.

Sounds like it went well.

Two suggestions: Do you really think including the Hoy Book Test was right, bearing in mind that everything else you did was very much a magic trick? Even though you got good reactions, would you have got better ones if you'd saved that effect in a programme of mentalism?

I do not say that you can never mix magic and mentalism, but looking at that list, the Hoy Test really stood out to me.

My other comment is that, while it's great to perform, a real showman leaves people really wanting more. I'm sure your friends loved what you did, and would have enjoyed another hour of material, but have a think about whether being a man of mystery could be more powerful than 'that guy who does lots and lots and lots of great tricks'.

Please don't take either remark as suggesting that you have done anything wrong. Just that perhaps you could do it more right.

Yeah I think it was a bit odd that you put the Hoy Book test in there with a bunch of card and coin effects. It would fit better in a full Mentalist routine. Also you didn't really NEED to do all that stuff. a few simple effects would have been fine. There is an old saying in Entertainment "Always leave them wanting more."

Thanks to everyone who commented !

Yes, I realize the 'leave them wanting more' argument, but I was just test driving a lot of my effects ! I can give myself the feedback about the efficacy of the effect on the audience.

Next time I shouldn't do more than 2-3 effects I think !

And as far as the Hoy book test goes, I popped it in because someone asked me to do a mind reading effect ! Just by popular demand that's it ! It was too tempting not to comply.

I was also tempted to perform Contact Reading, but I've set that apart as a different 'class' altogether. It really wouldn't have gone down well in this setting. I'm sure the people would've enjoyed finding out the latest secret crush of someone , but I felt I wouldn't be doing the effect justice.. Dunno why, it was like an inner voice screaming not to perform Contact Reading !

Anyone else ? Any criticism will definitely help !

You're certainly an inspiration Hardik! It's great to keep reading about your exploits. Just remember us when you're rich and famous

Thanks Wishmaster !
Hmmm I'm not sure about rich and famous Maybe for other (notorious) reasons
Unfortunately I'm off to college as a senior now. Too many things to do at once. But will keep checking on TM and updating if I perform anything !

Thanks TM for all your support !

There is absolutely no problem doing the Hoy Booktest in a programme of magic. In the name of God you are supposed to be a magician. Magicians do impossible things. Mindreading is an impossible thing. There may be some argument about putting in magic into a mentalism programme although I don't necessarily agree with the argument. However there should be no argument whatsoever about putting in some mentalism into a magic show. None.

It is two different things and that should be obvious.

I also used to do magic for hours on end for no money and I think it is a very good thing. That is how you hone your work and become good.

I will say one thing however. If you really only do 10 tricks in two and a half hours there is something wrong somewhere. That is 150 minutes. So you are taking 15 minutes per trick. Even accounting for the fact that you may be chattering to your friends in between tricks about other matters it is still far too long.

Methinks you need to learn more material in your repertoire.

mark lewis wrote:There is absolutely no problem doing the Hoy Booktest in a programme of magic. In the name of God you are supposed to be a magician. Magicians do impossible things. Mindreading is an impossible thing. There may be some argument about putting in magic into a mentalism programme although I don't necessarily agree with the argument. However there should be no argument whatsoever about putting in some mentalism into a magic show. None.

It is two different things and that should be obvious.

I also used to do magic for hours on end for no money and I think it is a very good thing. That is how you hone your work and become good.

I will say one thing however. If you really only do 10 tricks in two and a half hours there is something wrong somewhere. That is 150 minutes. So you are taking 15 minutes per trick. Even accounting for the fact that you may be chattering to your friends in between tricks about other matters it is still far too long.

Methinks you need to learn more material in your repertoire.

Once again I find myself agreeing with the despicable Mark Lewis.

Well, I just tried out a different presentational approach to my magic. As I said earlier, this whole event was pretty much a test drive. And yes, there were distractions galore.

The presentational approach I assumed was a combination of humor, story telling, and the your-friendly-magician-type. It worked out well, and really none of us had an idea about how time passed ( the audience told me this )..

Thanks for your inputs

I must disagree with Mark Lewis on this - fifteen minutes a trick sounds right to me. The trick is more than the final effect. The build-up, the interaction with the audience, the gags - they all add to the effect. Paul Daniels got great milage out of simple effects.
That doesn't mean we should strive to just lengthen our tricks. But we should get the most out of them (in terms of entertainment rather than time). Sometimes it is appropriate to do a trick quickly, but more often we should take our time.
Mark is one of the great Svengali Deck men, and to do a good job selling those you must be a quick talker. But performing for your friends in a relaxed social setting calls for a more leisurely approach.
You are doing the right thing experimenting with different performing styles and different tricks. Like some here I wonder about the wisdom of doing a book test in the middle of a magic presentation, but it can work. Rules are made to be broken. Keep up the good work. Tony.

Tony. I happen to be one of the greatest impromptu close up magicians in the world and therefore my word is gospel in these matters. Even the dastardly Quentin Reynolds agrees that I am incomparable in this field. Actually I am the greatest rather than one of the greatest but I would not want to say so in case I am deemed immodest.

When doing close up magic if you take 15 minutes for a single trick let alone all ten of them then you are in great danger of boring the audience to death. By the time the end of the trick comes people will have forgotten the beginning. Paul Daniels of whom you speak only takes a few minutes to do a trick when performing close up.

On stage is different. In the hands of an exceptional showman you can sometimes keep the attention of an audience with a long trick providing you don't do it too often. However very few of us (except me of course) are exceptional showmen.

When performing for friends in a social setting you should certainly get on with the job otherwise you risk boring the c*** (not the best) out of people. I don't think I do a single trick close up for laymen that lasts any more than three minutes. And the reaction I garner is fantastic.

Even on stage in most cases you need to get on with the job. Mentalists are the worst offenders where this is concerned. Nowadays they seem to take an average of 10 minutes a trick. They bore the c*** (not the best) out of me and I can't watch it. I find most mentalists unbearable to watch and this is mainly because they have such long drawn out presentations.

No. You MUST get on with the job.