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I am struggling to practice step 2 of 13 steps to mentalismdue to the fact that it's very annoying that you cannot practice the techniques of muscle reading, pencil reading, sound reading etc etc etc without the help of someone. I am constantly nagging my family to help me out but they really don't want to and aren't interested the slightest (jokes on them)!! Has anyone experienced similar issues and if so how did you overcome it?

The only way that you can really practice those sorts of things is to just get out there an do it. I'd sometimes just throw a muscle reading effect into the middle of a set, just present it as a little experiment, if it goes wrong then just shrug it off and go onto something else. The problem with practicing on the same people all the time is that once they know what you're doing it becomes much less reliable.

If you want to go down this road, read up so you know the workings inside out. Then, as Lady of Mystery says, get out there and do it. If you sandwich it in between two effects that you know will work (and get good reactions), then it doesn't matter if they don't work. In fact, if you pitch it correctly, you can make it seem more believable.

Oddly enough some time ago I annotated Step Two of the Thirteen Steps for International Magic. Martin MacMillan has the rights to this and I have no idea if he will ever publish this. Perhaps one day.

I wrote something about the best way to practice muscle reading and here is a small extract from the annotations:

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"So how do you practice? I think the best approach is that suggested by Stanton Carlisle. You fake it until you make it! In other words you find out the information by other devious methods then use muscle reading to confirm it. If your efforts fail then nobody will know the difference and if they succeed you can pat yourself on the back! In other words you learn while performing.

For example you can have the location of the hidden object written down and get information via impression devices or centre tears or suchlike. It really doesn’t matter how you get the information. Now you try out the contact mind reading and if your results are mediocre you won’t end up with egg on your face.

I particularly like the idea suggested by Stanton Carlisle where you ask a spectator to select a card and replace it in the deck. You now ask him to shuffle the cards after which he is to remove 7 cards one of which is his chosen card. Naturally you know which card is the selected one because you have simply forced it by any of the myriad methods available. These cards are laid out face upwards in a straight line.

The spectator grabs your right wrist from above with his left hand, fingers on one side and thumb on the other. Pass your hand down the row and ask him to think intently about his card as you go down the line. If the wind is with you he may well pull your hand down to the card or if you pass it he will bring you back towards it. In any case you reveal the card whether the muscle reading works or not.

You can elaborate on this test by using more cards, say a dozen and scatter them all over the table face upwards. Now you move haphazardly all over the table. With suitable subjects you will get forward and backward impulses in addition to the usual left to right ones.

With a certain amount of work and dedication you will eventually learn a very powerful skill in mentalism and I wish you all the success in the world with it."

Picking pockets, watch steals, classic pass, classic force all the same, learn it as best you can and just go for it.

To be honest, this problem is one of the reasons I have never mastered muscle reading. One of the others is that, frankly, I have never needed it! These Steps are not all essential to every performer and they don't need to be studied in order.

I have got a "game plan" for how I would learn, should the need arise, and Mark has pretty much said what I was going to do. However, I would add one small suggestion on top. If possible, try to use a method where you don't know the answer instantly, but can find out if you have to (or can add in an answer after the event).

My thinking is that, if you know the answer immediately, you might kid yourself into thinking you are muscle reading (or pencil reading or whatever), but really you are just imposing your knowledge onto your experience. If, on the other hand, you genuinely do not know the answer, but can find out if you need (or fake the result), you can try to learn the process in a relaxed fashion.

But what do I know, I have never done it!

As an example, as you have probably studied Step 1, have half a dozen objects offered by volunteers (keys, pen, lipstick, etc.) and placed on a table. Write them down on a business card, study them for a bit and perhaps write something else. The list is then placed on the table, or perhaps in a coin envelope, handy wallet or business card holder, "for later". Have one object thought of and try to muscle read the answer. If you get it wrong, say that you should have gone with your first instinct and remove the list. The chosen item has a tick next to it. You can, of course, produce this even if you get the muscle reading right, should someone ask.

One other thing. When I did try to learn (in a very loose sense) pencil reading, I discovered that people know that you can tell what they are writing or drawing by watching them write or draw. Perhaps your audiences will not be so astute as mine. This experience was another reason for me not taking this skill any further.

Surely the whole point about magic/mentalism is that we always fake it!!!

Part-Timer wrote:My thinking is that, if you know the answer immediately, you might kid yourself into thinking you are muscle reading (or pencil reading or whatever), but really you are just imposing your knowledge onto your experience. If, on the other hand, you genuinely do not know the answer, but can find out if you need (or fake the result), you can try to learn the process in a relaxed fashion.

Yeah I totally agree that's what I thought about! Perhaps these reading skills need to be developed over a long period of experience as oppose to setting out a month to learn them and then move on. The good thing about mentalism is that a lot of the skills and techniques overlap a lot so you really can have a lot of fun matching skills and using outs!

In light of what has been said simply put the cards face down after mixing them. You will know the identity of the card but you won't know which one it is. Do the procedure but before turning it over peek and see if you are right. If you are not then turn them face up and start again. Problem solved.

I think Mark's initial point is very sensible and applies to all sorts of new (to you) methods.

If you want to use them but are not confident then don't rely on it, but use other trickery. This doesn't just apply to muscle reading. bmat mentioned the classic force, which is a great example. If your force succeeds you have your work done for you. If not, have another method ready (fully rehearsed).

T.

If the classic force does not succeed then simply have the selected card replaced beneath the force card. You then have a key card and the selection can easily be found. There are actually quite a few ways of practicing things without someone to help you. Even pickpocketing can be practiced without a human being around. However, I have never figured out how to practice the thumb tie trick without having someone there to do the tying.

Just jump in and DO IT!

This is the truth to the matter and no, it doesn't take "years" to develop. . . I can teach a person a bit more than the foundations of Muscle Reading in under an hour and having them do it. But there are a few "tricks" that you may want to use (one having been mentioned; insert MR stunts into your existing material as an experiment).

Introduce a Pendulum. . . it works on the very same principle and will allow you to gain confidence in working with it first, before moving to direct CMR.

GET THE BANACHEK BOOK & DVD! (Psychophysiological Thought Reading and Disc 3 of the PSI Series collection)

Aside from that Hanussen guide the Banachek material, especially the DVD, is the easiest to learn from and will help clarify things for you. If I remember right, Steve even offers suggestions about practice & development.

Practice with everyone you can, as often as you can. I used to have people simply hide things at random so I could track them down; today I find things they've "lost". . . but that's after nearly 40 years of practice.

There is a book from Hades Publishing on CONTACT MINDREADING by Shantz that you may want to invest in. He as well as certain of Bob Cassidy's published works, offers effects that you can do that look like true CMR which allows you to practice the technique while having a positive outcome. I don't like to encourage people to use the trickery cheats because they get lazy and rely on the trick vs. the real method. Effects that you can use however, would include Rick Maue's TERASABOS in that the CMR element will be your "out" should the psychology not work - you can verify if or not they have chosen the "correct" item.

CMR and Non-Contact MR are part of the ideomotor aspect of technique used in Mentalism and one of the primary skills every mentalist should master. . . you can (and many top pros do) present over 90% of your show using little other than this one skill set and do so in many different ways. Aside from the books & videos I've suggested here you may want to look into Jerome Finley's THOUGHT CHANNEL as well as Richard Webster's book Dowsing for Beginners: How to Find Water, Wealth and Lost Objects . . . this is a non-magic book you can find at amazon.com for around $10.00 but it will give you another way of looking at this natural phenomena as well as a means of performance & practice.

Thought Channel is an intermediate level bit of business that deals more with Non-contact, but it will help you in discovering the physical nuances that you can use during a CMR routine that will help you know when you're on the right track. . . a series of natural "outs" so to speak. Besides that it's an awesome bit of empowerment that will allow you to out-do the typical magic buff when they are playing "sinner & saint" games with coins.

There is another treatise by Dale Heldibrandt but I can't remember the title. . . the technique can be found in other books, including Finley's CMR manual. The gist of the routine is that you and the participant hold hands palm to palm with your fingertips touching. You ask them to simply think of any finger and you can almost instantly name it. . . it is an excellent way of screening people and finding a good transmitter to work with in other experiments.

One last note. . . you want to pre-screen & qualify the person you work with in that you want a participant that gives off as strong a signal as possible. Oddly, some of the best senders I've worked with were self-described skeptics that hadn't a clue about how CMR worked. . . I usually made them believers as the result of the demo.

Keep your experiments simple at first. . . when you have articles on a table, separate them by several inches, narrowing the gap between items as you become more proficient. Understand that locating a hidden item is easier in most cases, than being able to I.D. a thought of card in a spread. Too, when you first start off locating items use something that's a bit larger than the proverbial hat pin such as a book or cell phone. . . the size will limit how well they can conceal the item as well as where they can place it. Also, restrict where they can put the item -- it must be readily accessible without the need to climb and of course, it can't be kept on the person sending you the signal.

One bit cheat I use when I locate objects in large areas is I have a committee hide the item and then, have at least 3 members of that group touching me. This works well when you've not been able to test out your transmitters in that you will always have one person in the trio that sends better than the other two. When doing this I have them placing hands on the back of my head (at the base) and on my shoulders, not the usual grip. . . I do change positions and dismiss participants when I know I'm getting closer to the hidden item but there are many nuances to learn to use here that we needn't get into.

While I'm not here as much as I used to be, feel free to ask away. This is something I've studied and worked with for decades in that I have family members that have done dowsing and pendulum readings for more than a few generations. . . it's a tradition with us.

Oops!

I nearly forgot to address the other elements of your question; lip, pencil and other forms of "Reading" things.

When it comes to Pencil Reading there is a great alternative available through Paper Crane Productions known as TECHNIQUE. While the developer of this skill refuses to see it as being Pencil Reading it is in fact a variation to said skill that can be used in certain circumstances. . . understand, Pencil Reading is a more refined aspect that can be used in more intimate situations whereas TECHNIQUE is quite sound for stage and sidewalk scenarios where larger motion would be involved/encouraged.

Sound Reading, which is associated with Pencil Reading is another critter entirely. While I have hearing problems now days the way I first learned this involved my sitting down and using pencils, markers and chalk (the 3 noisiest writing tools). I would blindfold myself so that I was just HEARING what is sounded like when I drew certain basic shapes or wrote letters (printing, not cursive). . . once I was familiar with how it sounded when I did these things I'd have some of my magic chums do the same thing for me, helping me to become more familiar to the patterns people tend to take when writing certain things.

I found that the best way to exploit this technique is when you and the participant are back to back. This allows you to read their body motion as well as the sound and serves as a decent starting point for most that are trying to learn this rarely used skill.

Lip Reading is something I've never been good at but well established friends of mine that are part of the deaf community as well as performing Mentalists literally went to school in order to master this skill. Now days I think there are Youtube videos that you can watch that teach the basics.

Hope this all helps

I'm a bit late reading this but great advice Craig, thanks for taking the time to share it.
Due to dodgy eyesight, muscle and sound reading are areas I'm intending putting more focus on.

Steve

I'm not sure if it's helpful to contribute to a 3 year old post, but here it goes.
Learning from family and friends is going to be making it more difficult for you - especially if they're not in the mood to take it seriously. You will get discouraged by your results if your family participant decides to be a challenger, rather than a receptive subject. There's already loads of helpful advice here.
When I first started, it was at my junior college. I told friends and acquaintances that I was experimenting with something I'd learned in a class and that the location they were to concentrate on was their next classroom. I positioned myself and my participant in ways that were simple left to right, forward and back. That was just to get the general technique down.
Later on in my study, for more advance locations I discovered a "trick" (so to speak) to help improve my chances by reversed roles.

They were supposed to receive MY thought of location - little did they know the object to be found was on me the whole time -- after I felt I had picked up where they thought I had put it - this allowed me to ask them "here? Are you sure?" And then proceed to the reveal (usually just a palmed, sometimes duplicate object). Tip: this is best done after a simple test of them sending YOU the location.

As for pencil and sound reading, Corinda has so many tools laid out at your disposal that you shouldn't be worried about missing a letter or number or two while you're still refining your skill. Remember start simple!