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I've been wondering lately about the reasons behind the advice we often hear from professional magicians about having a very small repertoire.

The advice is usually that we should only have 5 of 6 effects that we ever perform, and this is apparently something that is regarded as excellent advice.

Why, though?

I understand the logic in the fact that the fewer effects you perform the quicker you will master them, but the reason I'm wondering about this is that I know probably 20 card effects and I can practically do them all in my sleep, so why shouldn't I keep all 20 and just perform whichever and whenever I see fit?

If you've mastered, for instance, 100 tricks, then why not have them all in your repertoire and pick and choose the 4 of 5 that you think the audience will appreciate best on the occasion?

What am I missing here?

If you do 5 or 6 over and over again you naturally begin to work on the presentation more and more.

You fnd out what works and what doesn't and each time you do it you add more and more ways of getting the best reactions until the presentation is nigh on perfect.


I've done a card show for people before doing just three tricks - tricks which I've been doing since I started magic.
During one trick I got the whole room in breathless suspense - during another I had everyone cheering and laughing at the final reveal.

When I did another one which I haven't performed so much, despite it being a "stronger" effect, the reaction was nowhere near as good as the previous ones.

Afterwards no one asked me to do the extra effect again - they all wanted to see one from my usual repertoire again.

i think its more a case of you pick your top five or six that you can do the best AND link together to flow seemlessly from one to another...an entire set of effects that gives both variety and some kind of cohesive quality to it all...

and so the scripting becomes just as important as the physical practice...

here's some silks, and now some cards, oooh coins, and some sponges!

that start/stop/start thing i find infuriating to watch...im not saying you do that kinda thing queenie, just if you watch someone like chan canasta (you may like him actually as you loooooooooooooooooooooove derren)...

cards too!

anyway - if you watch him, his overall thing was psycho-magic, that everything he did was to do with subtle influence, coincidence and people believing they can achieve something extraordinary....he was very bold, but everything he did came out of his geist...

each show he did was usually 5-6 effects, but they all progressed from one another...

i digress...isnt he a welshman?

as i was saying - i think people recommend the same five or six cos it encourages you to build them into a proper routine...

I'm rambling - sorry - quite tired...

oh and i cant remember who said it, but someone did...

"if you can do one thing better than anyone else in the world, and become known for that one thing...you're on the way to being remembered forever..."

may of been big john holmes...

queen of clubs wrote:If you've mastered, for instance, 100 tricks, then why not have them all in your repertoire and pick and choose the 4 of 5 that you think the audience will appreciate best on the occasion?

What am I missing here?

Simple - you won't have 'mastered' them at all. You might be able to do them perfectly (or maybe not even that!), but you won't have done them under fire, with drunks messing you around, spectators giving you grief, etc.

EckoZero is absolutely right about presentation. There's a different level involved when you do a trick that you have got nailed back-to-front, side-to-side and upside-down too.

For example, Paul Daniels is a good magician. However, even though many of us love magic, how many times did you see Paul do a close-up trick that absolutely knocked your socks off? I don't just mean good, or that it fooled you, or entertained you, I mean one that blew you away.

The one that sticks in my mind as amazing is his Chop Cup presentation. He spent a ridiculous amount of time routining that, and getting it practised to perfection and, in my opinion, it shows.

Similarly, if you've really mastered a trick, you'll often put your own trademark touches to it. This may be in presentation, routining, pace, method, or whatever, but you'll have made it your own. I might be wrong, but I doubt many magicians have a hundred tricks they know that well.

Also, if you have a hundred effects to choose from, it can become hard to choose between them. You go up to a table. They seem polite, not especially eager to see magic, but they aren't turning you away.

Triumph?
OOTW?
ACR?
MacDonald's Aces?
Twisted Sisters?
3 Card Monte?
2 Card Monte?
Elmsley's 4 Card Trick?

Having a huge variety of 'mastered' effects doesn't necessarily make it easier to choose the right effects; it can make it harder.

As I recall, Gordon Ramsay claims that you only need two knives to do all food preparation. Enthusiastic amateurs may well have dozens.

i cant remember which magician it was, but its a kinda famous story - that a young 'un walked up to him and said - hey i know around 300 tricks and how they're done...how many do you know?

he says - ooooh about six....

you should listen to timer's explanation..he's always very clear in his help...i ramble and I'm not as wise...

i did have/have got maybe 5 or 6 different sets depending on what I'm doing...but i dont perform much these days, maybe more impromptu or very close up - which can get quite tricky with mentalism...

im missing doing my little after dinner gigs...

anyway - i understand that its just exciting to learn lots and lots of different things, i still do it after nearly 9 years of being into magic and mentalism...

but when you do settle on 5 effects and work on them and that strange level of confidence you get when you do so...its lovely...

i learnt it 3 months ago - but paul hallas's 43 i absolutely love, but i still wont perform it much for punters until its more settled and feels more "me"...that'll take some more work..plus i want to tie it in with a prediction as a final kicker....

abraxus wrote:i cant remember which magician it was, but its a kinda famous story - that a young 'un walked up to him and said - hey i know around 300 tricks and how they're done...how many do you know?

he says - ooooh about six....

I think that was David Devant, the first president of the Magic Circle (I seem to recall that it was specifically card tricks, but I might be wrong).

I'm not as wise...

I am not so sure!

A mixture of both has always been my particular approach. I don't strive to learn 100's of effects, but I don't see that I should limit myself to only a handful.

I have a regular rotation of 10-15 effects that I can perform and present. As others have said here, it's all about audience-tested work, when it all comes down to it.

I worked on my card act for nearly two years - and as a result, I have what I considered a very strong routine. The routine consisted of 5-6 effects, but I always kept my options open. Knowing more than just the effects you plan to use in a show is something I've always valued. You want to be able to adapt to any given situation, be prepared for the moments you may need to swap one particular effect in or out, or have something for an encore.

This is precisely the route I'm taking with my mentalism act. I've been working on it for nearly 7 months now, and it's still not ready. I want the same concept though - 5-6 effects that build my core routine, with a few other effects that work in that routine, which I can swap in and out if needed.

So, while the advice that you should only perform a number of effects that you can perform absolutely perfectly is sound - it doesn't (at least to me) mean that you should ONLY know those particular effects.

The debate comes up with the extremes. Like Abraxus' post said. No one turns their head when a seasoned says they know 20 effects cold.

A perfect case is you, Queen. You claim you know 20 card effects to perfection. Given your videos and your posts and contributions here - I would say there isn't a member here who would scoff at such a claim. You have shown diligence, technical ability, and presentational excellence. Thus - why SHOULDN'T you know more than a handful of effects?

It's when people go to the extreme - ie- "I know 300 tricks". It's ridiculous comments like these that spark the debate, simply because it's next to impossible for someone to know that quanitity of information to performance standards. I think the argument is more contextual than all-encompassing, and only becomes relevant when you pursue quantity over quality.

When you're working night after night in front of real people. you quickly find out which routines and tricks get the desired effects and which ones don't. The effects you can do very well on your own or in front of friends may be surprisingly ineffectual in front of strangers.

Personally I only have around half a dozen routines that I would use out in the wild. I get hold of new effects and 9 times out of 10 they fall flat and get binned. I know what I do well, I'm happy with what I do well, and I'm perfectly happy to just concentrate on those routines and become absolutely brilliant at them.

To this end I now concentrate almost exclusively on the readings side of things. This is because it has always been the strongest part of my act, and once I start doing palm readings of tarot card readings, no-one wants to see "tricks" anymore. Nobody ever believes me when I say this until they try it for themselves.

So there you are. My entire professional career is now based around one "trick". It's the way to go folks. If you really could read minds or make sponge balls disappear, why on earth would you want to pull a rabbit out of a hat as well.

Do one thing and do it brilliantly.

I have about 20 or so effects that I can comfortably do, they get pulled out of the hat at sessioning, club meetings, fellow magicians and slight practice.
If ever I am out and about and get asked to perform magic I always do the same three tricks, Invisible palm, 2 card monte and deck to pocket.
Why?
Because these are the ones I have worked on the presentation for right down to what I feel is nearly as perfect as can be. I am happy for spectators with to have these as their introduction to magic (because most people I know still haven't seen a magician live) I can relax while performing them knowing that if something happens, I am prepared. I'm not worried, trying to make sure they don't see this or see that.

I have recently thought.. why bother buying all these new dvds etc.. I only have about 10 - 15 effects I regularly perform.. and work to make improvements on..

All this new stuff ends up as just something to watch.. occasionally i will switch out and old effect for a new one.. but genrally rotate the same stuff round.

I actually dug out my royal road / exper card technique and Mark Wilsons thingy this week and am re-reading them to bring back some old tricks..

That's good. I've been reading through Bobo's, and that's a lot of fun.
I think one good reason to stick with a small amount of effects is to make sure you don't do the wrong sleight in the wrong routine!
I did that once...

yeh bobo too.. now that im doin more coin work im gonna work through bobo and actually learn something lol...

mind you.. Jay Noblezadas 'In the beginning there were coins' has some fantastic routines that suit me to a T!!

Wait, Bobo is for learning things?

Oh I better start over.

yeh!! it took me a few read throughs to realise I was supposed to follow along with coins in hand