talkmagic.co.uk

yo people.

i've read through the first bit of RRTCM after glancing through it all.
the introduction does tell me not to skip through chapters etc. but after reading the first chapter, i feel it wasn't much use to me. it told me the VERY basics, with card control and fake shuffles.
before i read on, does anyone have any suggestions where an "intermediate" card magician could start reading from? with basic cuts, shuffles, and card control under my belt, im not sure where to start.

many thanx

erm, expert card techniques by jean hugard...........Also it may seem very simple to begin with but try out jogging without looking at the deck and then controlling it back on top, very hard, and it becomes harder at you go through it. So if the first chapters seem easy, it doesnt mean you intermediate.

BTW im not being HArd on you, its just i found the same things very simple but then you do a trick using an overhand shuffle and your constantly looking at the deck, and everything is too neat, making it fairly easy to establish what you are doing.

its ok.
i don't like catergorizing, but, i would say i have the basics nailed. and to my own preference. when i started card magic i never new names of sleights or anything. and i never new the where books on it.

but it just so happens that false shuffles that i thought i had made up (laughs at self) when i was younger, turns out they've been around for ages. and being limited to them for a few years, they're like second nature.

however, the cuts and slip backs are useful in this book. i have my own method of a slip back, now i have 2 lol.

My personal favourite false shuffle in the whole of RRTCM is the Charlier. It looks so messy, and so obviously "real" but believe me, the specs never get it.

i dont like tht shuffle. it's so....messy, lol.

hi
I'm gald you feel you have the tools down, this isn't the important bit though!

Now you need to apply them to effects and perform those effects, learn from the performance fine tune and improve the effects.

This is what made RRTCM such agood learning resource (card college is excellent too) it introduces you to performance straight away and encourages performance at every stage, while you are aquireing the 'tools' (sleights and subtleties).

So it dosen't matter how easy or difficult a sleight is, just as long as tyou are using the best one for the job.

cheers,
John

Good thoughts on this topic! Royal Road to Card Magic, (and Expert Card Technique and the five volumes of Card College) should be in every card magician’s library. However, may I add the following thought? I believe it is certainly something to consider.

I have a friend who is a terrific bar magician. He uses only a pack of cards to entertain his patrons. We’ve been close friends for thirty years or more. He performs his own material which involves the patrons in comedic, fun situations. His personality, sense of humor, demeanor and spectator handling skills are something to behold. He does not perform “at” the spectators, but has fun “with” them. I’ve watched him many times over the years. It is always a “hoot” and a real “happening.”

The significant thing is: he uses only five or six basic sleights (found in RRTCM) to entertain the crowd. He is highly skilled with those few sleights and you never see any "moves." He devises his own entertaining plots and plans strong misdirection within the plots. When we talk, it is rarely about sleights. The subject matter is about a new presentation plot he has devised, how he has built in the misdirection, the lines and jokes and how much fun he has with the spectators. He is a very creative fellow.

Fool them? You bet he does. But his goal is to have fun with the patrons, entertain them and get them to buy more drinks!

This guy is one of a kind. But then, we all are.

Regards,

Gerald

hmmmmmmmmm.

your friend seems to have very similar personalities to myself.
maybe i should take that approach to it all.

Mikey.666,
Hey, you never know!

His routines are most always of the “in the hands” variety. I’ve rarely seen him do “lay out” tricks, other than a terrific presentation of a poker deal. He said he wanted to do a Three Card Monte routine. I sent him a copy of the Vernon routine from Further Inner Secrets. That was a number of years ago. The last time I talked to him, he said he had “changed it up a little.”: Which means it has no resemblance to the original.

Regards,
Gerald

Gerald Edmundson wrote: he said he had “changed it up a little.”: Which means it has no resemblance to the original.

haha.
yeah. i have my own version of the 2 card monte. where instead of the aces urning into queens, they turn into the to cards chosen by the speactators.
i like it as it gets the audience more involved.

I know this sounds silly, but Mikey.666, take some time to read through Geralds post(s) again, there is a great deal about magic to be learnt there in just a few lines lol!

having fun with your audience is the essence!! magic should be shared with your spectators not presented as a puzzle or see if you can catch me type of thing.

take the sleights you know and go and have fun with your audiences.

Gerald they were really great posts hit the spot perfectly!!

All the best,
John

im not sure what ya on about but ok.

He's saying that magic isn't about knowing a ton of sleights, it's about getting the ones you already have down perfectly and being able to perform well.

Magic is about entertaining before it's about fooling people.

If you think RRTCM is too basic then you haven't read it properly. It has one of the best learning curves I have ever seen in a book. Some of the sleights and actual tricks in their are crowd killers. Yeah it focusses heavily on the basics but without that foundation there is nothing to build on and it touches on core aspects of card manipulation. If you can honestly say that you can perform the basics convincingly i.e basic single and multiple card control, false cuts and shuffle and multiple lifts then you're all set I still dip back into RRTCM well written and as I said - have another look at the tricks it gives you.

before i read on, does anyone have any suggestions where an "intermediate" card magician could start reading from? with basic cuts, shuffles, and card control under my belt, im not sure where to start.

Yes... here's a suggestion...

DO AS THE BOOK SAYS and read chapter by chapter.


If you're really thinking you're good enough to start SOMEWHERE, but don't know WHERE, then where did you learn to get to 'intermediate'???

I am just curious—as even stern and seasoned professionals return to RRTCM from time to time.

If you're serious about card magic, then read the book to the end.

If you're just looking for tricks and the shortcuts, go get Born to Perform.