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Ok so im a self confessed newbie and im trying to do things the right way round.

Ive spent the last month or so reading RRTCM and Mark Wilson's CCTM and i have a short list of about 8 effects i really like (from those books and a gimmicked deck). I've tried them all individually to family and friends and i can see which ones get which type of reaction.

My question is, would you recommend practising them individually, or put them into groups and rehearse 2 or 3 at a time?

It might just be personal taste but i thought i'd ask as everyone on here has been really helpful so far (flattery always seems to help a bit!)

cheers

Relish

Okay here is my 2 cents. I would practice them to death individually so you know them inside out and backwards and possibly upside down. Then I would routine them all together to make one seamless show rather then just perform a trick, then another trick and so on.

So the short answer is do both.

Sounds to me like you are on the right track. Have fun

Don't practice tricks... practice moves.

Put them together into a routine. Find a story or just loose connections that bind each of the "tricks" until they become chapters of the same story. Then practice, practice, practice - both the tricks and the patter. Both equally important.

I'm with Magic Wand on this one. Routine your tricks and then practice the whole routine and patter at the same time. The reason for this is that when you come to perform the routine, it'll be so ingrained and automatic that you'll be able to perform it without really thinking. Giving you more time to concentrate on your presentation and the spectators.

Lady of Mystery wrote:when you come to perform the routine, it'll be so ingrained and automatic that you'll be able to perform it without really thinking. Giving you more time to concentrate on your presentation and the spectators.

Yes I agree here. It's the mark of a well practiced magician when something out of the ordinary happens (such as a recalcitrant spectator) and the magcian rolls with it seamlessly, without distracting at all from what is happening in his hands.

As a beginner I would get a kind of 'tunnel vision' when performing anything difficult. A nuclear bomb could detonate and I wouldn't notice. This would have grave consequences - something bad could happen, like me dropping the cards and I just wouldn't react. I would just keep on going because I was concentrating too much on my hands. I dread to think how bad I looked - in all probability very nervously.

The answer of course is to be so well practiced that the sleights are automatic. This gives you enough attention left over to concentrate on other things.

queen of clubs wrote:Don't practice tricks... practice moves.

eek!

queen of clubs wrote:Don't practice tricks... practice moves.

funnily enough im in work at lunch practising an overhand shuffle-jog-undercut! (might be easy but not something i want to get wrong!)

practice the whole routine and patter at the same time

No no no no! all wrong....whats with the practice patter rubbish.....Big no's....ok get the effect/book/gimmic out of its packaging, read thru it read it again, play with it, play with it again until you see how it works.....then go use it.....theres nothing more boring and annoying than a Magician that says the same patter and speal to each person he does a trick on.......

DO NOT WRITE IT LOOK A BOOK!!!! have a rough outline in your head of how the effect should go, and then use the natural element of performace and your audiences reactions and their attitudes as part of the patter...its shud be different everytime, therefore making you better at dealing with every situation that performing that effect could offer......If you practice it like a book and do the same each time, you cant handle different situations....STOP BEING LIKE OTHER MAGICIANS AND USE BE DIFFERENT........THIS IS WHY SO MANY FOLK HATE US!!! we bore people with the same old rubbish...come folks think outside the box a bit, go on just give it a try, in time youll see how great this method is...

Cheers, and have fun x

Lawrence wrote:

queen of clubs wrote:Don't practice tricks... practice moves.

eek!

Sorry, was that a bit blunt of me? Hehe! I meant if you're a complete beginner it's more useful to practice the individual sleights on their own before thinking of putting them together to form a complete effect. Like wot it says in RRTCM, guv'nor.

Magic Chris wrote:

practice the whole routine and patter at the same time

No no no no! all wrong....whats with the practice patter rubbish.....Big no's....ok get the effect/book/gimmic out of its packaging, read thru it read it again, play with it, play with it again until you see how it works.....then go use it.....theres nothing more boring and annoying than a Magician that says the same patter and speal to each person he does a trick on.......

Gotta disagree with you on this one. I have just a few routines that I use professionally. With each routine I know the opening lines, the plot, where the routine is going and how exactly it's going to end. That way I can roll with the punches, not get fazed if something goes slightly awry, not worry if a drunken spec comes over and starts swearing at me, because I know exactly where I am at all times in the routine, and know where I'm headed.

I'd hate to sit down with a group of specs and be thinking "Right, what shall I say? Hmmm. Not sure."

Going into situations blind, not knowing what you're going to say, and winging it each time sounds good and sexy on paper, but in reality I fear it would lead to second rate routines that appeared to be just thrown together - because that essentially is what they are. I may be wrong. I usually am. Each to there own. Peace man.

I'll be over here doing tarot readings. Which of course are never scripted. Honest.

themagicwand wrote:I'll be over here doing tarot readings. Which of course are never scripted. Honest.

"Yes, that's all exactly right. It's amazing! How did you know th-..... are you reading off the back of that tarot card!?"

Every one of my routines are scripted and practiced over and over so that I can do them without thinking about it. Of course, there's nothing at all wrong with altering your presentation slightly to fit in with the audience but by sticking to a script, I know exactly where I am at all times and there's far less chance of something going wrong. And if it does, I know where I am and it's much easier to recover from, rather than having to think, opps what do I do now?

Far as I'm concerned, if you don't have a script you are looking for trouble.

Judge it from successful acts in other genre:

Movies: they all have scripts.

Plays: they all have scripts.

Here's an experiment - go see your favorite comedian in three different venues on three different nights. By the third night, you should almost be able to guess what he's going to say, because he says the same stuff, over and over. Why? Because he is scripted and he knows that the lack of a scripted performance means that he'll bomb on stage.

This isn't to say that there isn't a time and a place for "jazz" magic (or comedy, or anything else) because there is - there is a time and a place for everything under the sun. But if all of your stuff is unscripted, you will always be on the ropes and you will always look amateurish.

Even Robin Williams, the king of ad lib, has a script that he follows for at least 90% of any of his stand up gigs.

Learn from those who are successful at what they do. Script your material, even if it is just a loose script.

Mike.

Magic Chris wrote:

practice the whole routine and patter at the same time

No no no no! all wrong....whats with the practice patter rubbish.....Big no's....theres nothing more boring and annoying than a Magician that says the same patter and speal to each person he does a trick on.......

DO NOT WRITE IT LOOK A BOOK!!!!

I totally disagree. It's not boring or annoying unless you perform the same routine to the same people

Every great magic act I've seen has scripted their performance including Penn & Teller and John Archer. In fact they were so great I would watch the same routine and patter they do again & again

Words have different impacts depending on sentence order and some words are funny and some aren't. All stand up comedians will play around with their word order, shortening or elongating sentences or replacing certain words, along with pauses in different places, in order to gain maximum effect with their joke.

If we aim to be entertaining with our magic we need to apply the same principles. Once the script is learnt and revised in real life situations it will play as if it is natural and impromptu and will have the flexibility to deal with real life people and situations.

Be professional & be entertaining