talkmagic.co.uk

Can anyone offer any tips on more productive practise time?
I am constantly practising and find it very hard not to have a deck of cards or coins in my hand maybe this is my problem? I also use a mirror, its just that i feel with more structure and discepline I could be so much better! sounds like i just answered my own question, but where do I start with structuring routines? how do I turn sheer frustration into something positive? where do you start with working out exactly what to take where to put it and coming up with logical sensible patter to make a routine flow?

for all my practise it still feels like I'm just doing a couple of great effects with no real well........magic!

I really dont want to be one of those guys who can do a few card tricks well, but thats as deep as it goes!! thats not my ambition and certainly not why magic is deemed an "art" !!

I also guess this is a lot down to my pesonal character but there must be some way of bucking my ideas up and progressing to the next level!!?

It seems like you want to know how to routine your tricks together into a...er...routine (wow, that wasn't as redundant while I was thinking about it)

Anyways this is how I go about doing things.

First of all, I work on sleights in front of a mirror until I can do them regularly to an acceptable level with no hesitation on my part. This allows me to practice more while watching TV, etc as I know that the technique is there, it's just about being natural and in the case of a pass, speed.

Once we have the basic building blocks, I'll sit down and work on a trick using those sleights over and over. If something goes wrong during the trick, I stop right there and repractice that particular sleight until I have it perfect, then resume practicing the trick.

Basically, you have to have ALL of your tricks completely comfy at home before you practice in front of people. I'm going to assume that you want even further instruction because this is something along the lines of what you've been doing and you need even deeper guidelines (just making sure we've got the basics here).

So routining, there's really three things that I personally keep in mind when I'm putting something together. First of all, think of all your tricks and for each one quickly make a mental checklist of...

1. How does this trick start?
2. How does this trick end?
3. What kind of effect does this have on the audience?

For instance, lets say that I want to make a routine involving the 4 aces and their.... mystical powers? You get the idea, what I would do is think of the tricks that start with a squared deck and end with the aces being produced. A couple card cheat things come to mind. Once they're produced, I'd think of the tricks that start with the aces already out, and end with them out again. Perhaps rewind (but you need to get the queens somehow) maybe the spectator cuts to the aces, etc. All this time, think of the theme of your routine, this example ended up comming out card-cheatish so I'd probably use the spec cuts after the production and go on from there.

So you have your routine set, now all you have to do is practice. Get in front of a mirror and start going through the routine from start to finish, get ALL the technicalities in order. Make it flow well, that's why we thought about how things start and finish. If you mess up anywhere, don't go on, keep practicing that one part. Focus everything. It's bad to just skimp over a mess up and then say oh I'll fix that on the second run.

Once you have all the technicalities set to the point where the moves are a second nature, close-your-eyes, sort of thing, start working on patter. I never set my patter in stone because if you accidentally trip somewhere it can throw you off (but that's just my opinion). Get a general idea of what you're going to say and when and WHY. Is the patter for misdirection? Background? A lot of magicians use patter as a sort of safety blanket, don't do this. One of my friends is a decent magician skill-wise, but when he performs, it's talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk and you can't focus on anything but him TALKING the whole time.

So we have our patter, we have our tricks put together, now practice them together. And once again, if something doesn't flow, stop, back up, and redo it until you get it. Everything must be focused for your practice time to be productive.

Once you have your routine set, you'll be ready to go ...good luck with this, I really hope it helped.

When doing an effect you it must be down to an art, it must be perfect, if its a longish trick like and ambitous card routine, break the trick down and practise each bit, i think it was said above but differently.

Also with the patter, somebody told me Ecko i think it was, to script your patter and learn it.

Cheers for the tips! yeah a lot of it made sense and i guess it was the routining i was strugglng with! you have given me some good thing to think about,......its appreciated!

my mentor used to tell me it is better to know a lot about a little than know a little about a lot. u could know every magic trick under the sun but not neccesarily know them well enough to perform. perfect the tricks u know and i mean perfect them so that u can do them with your eyes closed forwards backwards and one handed once u can do that then move onto the next trick u'll find that u get faster and faster and learning the tricks and ur magic and patter will improve. the best advice i can give u about your patter is don't force it let it come naturally if u force it, it won't be half as funny or effective than if it comes naturally

i agree with the point about patter but tie it together, its alot nicer if one trick flows to another

for example

appering candle - lighted match production - flash paper trick - ....

its simple but then you can make up a story from it


Del

These are thought provoking comments about practicing with a mirror. Also, a video of your rehearsals (and/or performance) can be a terrific eye-opener. Although mirrors and videos are of great help in the beginning stages of practice and rehearsal, they do have their drawbacks and limitations. We tend to see what we want to see in mirrors and/or videos. In the final analysis, “one can not be one’s own director.” (I don’t know for sure whose quote that is, but it is an insightful one.)

It is wise to find a qualified, experienced mentor. Listen and follow their advice. Imagine if you had Steven Spielberg to direct you from a dramatic, theatrical viewpoint and Dai Vernon (alas, not possible) to direct you from a technical standpoint. They would tell you what you needed to hear, probably not what you would want to hear. What an education that would be!

Thanks for considering my thoughts.

Gerald

Just in relation to the scripting method, this is a great place to start. However to get the most out of the performance you surely must be in a position to be dynamic, take advantage of funny things happening during your presentation, roll with your audience, get to know them and play off it.

If you just rattle through your script you may miss oporunities to increase your reaction.

Thats exactly what a good well learnt script alows you to do!

You can deviate from it reacting to your conditions and surroundings, with the relaxed confidence that you can fall back on any stage of it as required.

Go and see a good stand up comic three or four nights on the trot, his/her stories and chat will feel like they're made up on the spot, 99% of it though will be EXACTLY the same every night.

John