talkmagic.co.uk

i tend to practice, late in the evening when the rest of the family have gone to bed, and as such I don't spend my time "Pattering" over sleights and tricks.

The problems is "talking cards"....it is SO noticable that I cannot imagine that it would not be noticed when the trick is underneath some patter. Is it just my imagination and do cards talk much more than I realise or is it something that you can almost eliminate with practise?

I know what you are saying - but don't worry. Cards 'talking' (or 'chattering' as I call it) is quite literally nothing to worry about.

The first time I noticed this was during practice too, on the McClintock Twist - a LOT of card chatter!

OK, here's some tips:

1: Get your audience used to cards 'talking' and condition their ears. Do this by way of riffles, cuts, flourishes - use them as fill ins.
Don't let your fingers and hands stop moving. If you watch top card magicians in action, they're always clicking and riffling the cards.

2: Don't watch the cards. Try and maintain eye contact whilst manipulating/pattering.

3: Think of it like this - you're aware that you're doing sleights - the audience is NOT. The card chatter is a natural sound when shuffling, riffling etc. - see point 1

Hope that helps!

Chattering should not be audible at all. You have two choices;

1) Can I kill this chatter? (The answer should be yes, so practice.)
2) If not, find another trick.

aside from MagicBilly going all "Bruno" on us...my "chattering" is getting much better. It was mainly on my middle and bottom steals that I was having the problem and they are getting much better....c*** (not the best) still....but better than they were.

I think it is almost impossible to eliminate it totally from the top change so I have resigned myself to living with that one...

As I've said - you'll never FULLY eliminate the card chatter from certain sleights - but it can be covered by misdirection and sound conditioning. Desensitise your audience by handling the cards a lot between effects and sleights - in a fair manner, and suspecting no foul play, the speccies will become oblivious anyway.

Remember - it's only us who know what's going on, so don't worry too much!