What the next step after beginner

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What the next step after beginner

Postby FreeFlyer » Aug 6th, '17, 10:39



Hi guys, I'm at the next stage beyond beginner who is looking for some guidance / mentoring / courses for non beginners in or near London, any suggestions? so I do a few basic card tricks to impress friends and am currently reading the royal road to card magic. Earlier this year I did a beginners course at davenports but didn't much like the sponge balls, coins, cup and balls or rope tricks, I loved the cards though. I'm not sure what my question is exactly but I'm just wondering where I go from here. I watch things on YouTube but there is so much content out there I feel overwhelmed. I'm thinking, if I had a goal such as trying to audition for the magic circle one day then that would motivate me and drive me on, where would I start with something like that. Any and all suggestions appreciated. Thanks

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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby mr invisible » Aug 14th, '17, 16:22

Have you looked into joining a local magic club ??? Plenty of guidance should follow ? Especially with cards. Everyone seems to be doing card tricks these days. Personally, card magic, and Elastic band magic drives me mad !!... But after 18 years in the game, you do get particular..
good luck with your journey.
regards Garry.

MEMBER OF THE SHEFFIELD CIRCLE OF MAGICIANS.
Is magic really real ??
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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby HAMELDEN » Aug 15th, '17, 02:02

The next step after beginner? ....Intermediate, I suppose? XD (I'm a beginner).

First, I'd personally abandon YouTube when it comes to magic tricks, if I personally were you. Why? Because firstly, I personally feel it's disrespectful to reveal the secrets of magic for free. Secondly, I feel it takes a lot of the fun out of being a magician. Thirdly, I feel it's undignified for magicians to not put in the hard work to figuring magic out, opting to instead take the easy route by typing words into a search engine. ....But I might just have too high of standards; I've been called a brutally stubborn, cynical, condescending jerk on many occasions. Perhaps they're right...but I think I'll become a better magician in the end because of it...because I'm obsessed, because I take it so seriously; because of my seemingly "near impossible" standards. I'm a perfectionist, and freely admit that I'm a tad eccentric; I've even been called delusional before, but for other matters entirely haha....which I'm sure you'll inevitably find out at some, as it's quite a fascination of mine, and I'm bound to bring it up in conversation sooner or later, and (I'm making a prediction here; write down the time and date hahaha), you'll all probably think it defies all logic as well. XD Fear not though; I won't bite your heads off when you do; I'll understand completely. XD

Now...perhaps I should go into more detail as to why I feel the way I do about the first three areas I mentioned at the start of this writing.

I feel that to tell someone how a magic trick is done is disrespectful in a number of ways; it's disrespectful to the magicians who originally created that trick, and now neither they nor their families benefit in any financial form whatsoever because their work is being essentially plagiarized for all the World to see, nowadays more than ever, in this international society of Global Connectivity via the World Wide Web and Smart Phones. Secrets abound...and nobody stops to think if perhaps anybody out there is suffering the consequences of the revelations of those secrets, because someone gave it away when it was not their secret to share. In my opinion, if you want to become a magician, you should do it the old-fashioned way: Buy books written by magicians who want to share the knowledge of magic for a reasonable price; not for free, because then ANYONE could be a magician, and if EVERYONE'S a magician...nobody is. (Haha; see what I did there; it's a modification of a line from the Disney Pixar film "The Incredibles". XD). Anyway...it's not only disrespectful to the magicians to reveal their secrets, it's disrespectful to their families who may rely on them for financial support. Some of the BEST magic tricks in the world can be found for sale online at over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Not "just anybody" is going to want to buy that, nor should they! This way, the true MAGIC of the effect will remain in safe hands: The hands of Magicians. And every magician should know all about, and wish to abide by, the infamous Magician's Code: Never Reveal the Secret. :)

Lastly, it's disrespectful to yourself; don't take the easy way out, you should want to become better than that.

I also believe that revealing the secrets of magic, (Unless the price is right, of course! XD), takes the FUN out of magic, also, for a number of reasons haha. It takes the fun out of it for you, first off. At least, for me personally, I've always had the most fun as a magician, when watching other magicians perform illusions, hen trying to figure out how the heck they did that! I'll watch it over, and over, and over, and over, until I think I finally know; then it's just a matter of trying to perform better than they can, OR, find a NEW way to do it! I looove puzzles, and so for me, magic is all just one big puzzle to figure out. I'm STILL working on the Mental Magic Square Trick; tomorrow it will be exactly one week that I've been studying it, (it's in one of my six magic books; figure I'll just stick with these six for now instead of trying to buy more books and DVDs; it gets REALLY expensive because I'm, as you know, a tad eccentric; I wouldn't just want to buy the first season of "Mindfreak", I'd want to by the WHOLE SERIES! XD Secondly, revealing the secret takes the fun out of magic for the beloved audience members. They WANT to believe in magic....they need to believe in magic. To be told that there's no such thing as magic is a crushing blow to their fragile inner children. When you appear to perform a miracle right before their very eyes, you are creating in their minds a magnificent bubble of pure, unadulterated disbelief, and they will NEVER forget it....just so long as you make them BELIEVE, and never reveal the secret. That's your job as a magician in my opinion. :)

Thirdly, I formerly stated that there were three reasons I feel strongly about the Magician's Code, and the third reason was that it would be undignified of me. I feel I need no further explain as to the why of this matter, aside from redirecting you to my explanations in the last couple paragraphs or so, and try to combine it into a Bigger Picture; I think you'll be able to understand truly and fully then why I feel such an act is undignified.....unless of course you're getting filthy rich because of it hahahaha. XD



--Hamelden

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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby bmat » Aug 15th, '17, 14:46

I'm going to add one thing to Hamelden's post. Another reason to stay away from learning on youtube. It is fine to watch the classics, and those that are accomplished. However I have noticed with much sadness that there is a lot of exposure. Unlike most, the exposure doesn't bother me so much. I realized along time ago that while it is irritating and disrespectful it really doesn't hurt us, it doesn't help us but it really doesn't hurt. The sad and frustrating part is that those exposing have two problems, the effects they are exposing does not belong to them to expose so they are stealing. Granted you may not have an issue with that. But what you should have an issue with is that the majority of those teaching on youtube are horrible magicians. The handling is bad and amateur there is no presentation value. It is mostly just: I bought this trick yesterday here is how I do it.

And I can even tell you why they do that. It is because they are crappy magicians. They may love the art but they lack the ability to put in the time and patience it takes to make it an art. They buy the trick (or steal it on line) rush through it and then don't have an audience to show it too. And if you are not performing magic, then what do you do with it? So they get it half arsed and put it on a youtube channel.

You want to learn something from Youtube. Learn about performance. Watch magician Like Ricky Jay, Lance Burton, The recently late Eugene Burger, Paul Daniels.

Watch how they speak to and with an audience rather than at an audience. Watch their mannerisms, how the effect is routined together. Method is easy. Performance is hard.

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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby mark lewis » Aug 15th, '17, 19:05

I would be careful about joining a magic club. The danger is that you may well end up as mediocre as the other members. Still, if you can resist being overly influenced by them it might be a good thing.

However, I think the next step in your studies should be "The Magic Book" by Harry Lorayne. That should keep you
busy for a while.

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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby artychris » Aug 15th, '17, 20:35

This might help if you're London based!

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Quite a few of us coming along are circle members, if that's a goal... but just kicking around with magicians isn't a bad thing!

It's a friendly meet and the pub is very chilled :)

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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby HAMELDEN » Aug 15th, '17, 23:10

Be careful of watching magicians perform when trying to create your character; I'd suggest NOT watching just your favorite magicians, but try to get a wide variety of different kinds of magicians and watch their approaches to things; not so that you can copy what they do, but so that you're aware of what HASN'T been done before; what's truly UNIQUE. :)

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Re: What the next step after beginner

Postby U THINK I KNOW » Aug 19th, '17, 21:58

As for further studying you can check out Josh-Jay. He has lots of nice stuff with cards. And to move yourself up as a performer, why not challenge yourself to perform for strangers (on the street) at least 2 times a week. I did that for some time and it's very helpful.

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