talkmagic.co.uk

I've noticed that there are a couple of fellow Aspies on board. We do seem to have a light sprinkling around the magic communities, which I find interesting in itself. Seems that magic opens itself to the possibility of confusion and impromptu, which I prefer to avoid, but I guess it's countered by the degree of rehearsal.

Anyhoo, I was just wondering what strategies Aspies used for dealing with issues that might crop up, e.g. performing and people skills, or thinking on your feet.

'Asperger's On The Job' by Rudy Simone, makes a lot of good points, including:
Up to 85% of Aspies are without full time employment (though many of us are above average intelligence), many are underemployed and unemployed.

And given our inclination to focus on one thing, it's important for us to work in areas we love (all else is hell).

So do any Aspies aspire to work in magic? I know there's an Aussie Aspies who does. I saw his web site. Even did a show called Aspie-cadabra (or some such).

Whilst I'm not an Aspie I'm an INTJ (so aspie tendencies). I always was very good at mastering sleights but difficult at connecting with the crowd and improvising.

Connecting with the crowd is the most important part of magic. I remember seeing a well-known unicycle act in London, and though it was only based around a few skills, it was so hilarious that everyone was throwing money at the entertainer in the end. The personality of the performer is everything.

So whilst I'm not talking about things from the Aspie's perspective, I'm talking about what you need to develop. Whilst I'm not a professional entertainer, I have really worked on making a more fun, jokey and easy going character with the audience enjoy.

So how is this obtainable? Practice the skills until you know them like the back of your hand, then perform for people, no matter of your fears. You will pick up confidence and people will respect you for the magic. They may even tell jokes whilst you're doing the magic which you can then use later.

Alternatively, there are many entertainers who are extremely skilled but their presentation is a little dry - this just means more attention is on the magic, which should be stunning to compensate. Examples would be Paul Wilson, Jonathan Kamm (on youtube), and Lennart Green (to an extent, although he has developed his own "clumsy" character to make up for it)

I hope that helped, you probably knew most of it already. As I said, personally I'm not a full Aspie but have Aspie tendencies, and I overcame it just by going against my better nature and just performing, then over several practices my patter and confidence improved until I felt like a better all-rounder.

It's the going out and doing things for real live people that's the hard part, definitely. And the only way to get around that is to grit your teeth and do it. Pretend to be confident. Experience from work helps a lot -- if you've had to stand up for yourself in meetings, or tell colleagues how to use a system, it's all good people practice.

Going to a TM meet-up, club meeting, etc is just as hard. I've only been to one local TM meet, and I had a good time and everybody was very friendly, but I still haven't got up the nerve to go a second time. Similarly, I went to a lecture at the local magic club, and again a good time was had, but I don't think I would ever join the club and keep going back.

I was out of magic for a good 20-30 years, and have only recently got back into it. So the past few years have been spent mainly catching up and absorbing knowledge, with no interest in actually doing it. I can feel that I'm coming to the end of this absorption phase, and will have to start performing in some way soon, and that's a damn scary thought.

Even more so because, being self-employed and working from home, I have no contact with people in my everyday life -- most days I see my husband, the newsagent, and maybe the postman. So there's no opportunity to do the occasional trick for classmates, workmates, etc. This is the big practical problem I can't see a way around. If anybody can think of a solution, I'd be delighted to hear it.

If anybody can think of a solution, I'd be delighted to hear it.

Well Jeff McBride mentions that he performs an effect he is working on to everyone who comes to his door - to the point people who regularly come to his door, postman, delivery people etc... say, 'What have you got for me today.'

I think that would be a bit awkward introducing that, the first time - oh, while you're here, I'm gonna show you some magic, but it's worth a shot.

Robbie if practice and feedbacks the problem you could set up a private youtube account and either give the password out on the forum or in a private area or just P.M people you trust.

It's not really a problem for me anymore, although I'm at the high functioning end of the spectum, certainly.

It's strange to think that I had lower than average communication skills as a teenager, but now I think I have better than average, and I put that down to twenty years of performing.

I know of a few Aspies in magic personally, and except for one of them, the others have learned to adapt and are successful performers.

The first thing is not to label yourself, lest others pick up on it. Then it's a question of confidence which comes from a number of strategies.

Take care, Ian

Thanks folks. There's a lot of good thinking there.

One possible point of interaction is our kids. We homeschool, but even then they have their social events. Meetups with other homeschoolers and their parents, and local kids groups. Our local town hall is active and hosts events (quiz nights or whatever fundraiser helps to keep the hall afloat).

There's any number of small interest groups around (though no magic groups in the ENTIRE state that I know of). Organic gardening clubs, sports clubs, there's even a halloween event for charity.

I really gotta get out more. And stop overthinking. I have a tendancy to think myself into things and then think myself out of them.

Jing wrote:Well Jeff McBride mentions that he performs an effect he is working on to everyone who comes to his door - to the point people who regularly come to his door, postman, delivery people etc... say, 'What have you got for me today.'

I think that would be a bit awkward introducing that, the first time - oh, while you're here, I'm gonna show you some magic, but it's worth a shot.

Interesting, but the Special Delivery chappie (who is generally the only one I see) is always in a tearing hurry. He wouldn't appreciate being asked to hang around for a few minutes.

An extra problem is that, being interested in mentalism, I can't do much practising without another willing bod around to mind-read, or 'fluence, or whatever. Practising technical moves you can do on your own, but that won't take you very far in mentalism.

Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread, so I'll shut up now.

It's also different because Jeff McBride was a Las Vegas stage magician, so he would just produce random items out of thin air.