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Am I the only person who just doesn't "get" rope magic? The guys holds up some rope. Puts it into his hand. Pulls it around a bit and then looks at me as if to say "pretty amazing huh?" and I never know how to respond because I'm not entirely sure what he's actually done, so I just go "wow".

Sounds a bit like card magic.

This thread could get messy. I'm in the crash position already.

Cutting and restoring is perhaps more visual and baffling but the rope routines I've seen and enjoyed all employed some very entertaining patter.

I have to say I do veer towards Paul V's thinking on this one but then I think we can all be a bit odd in terms of what type of magic we find entertaining, being magicians ourselves.

For example I'm not much of a card man and find good, visual card work the most entertaining to watch and be a part of, I can't get enough of it at a meet for example (for the short duration I'm sober enough to follow the effect). I know Agecroft, an excellent card guy, is able to sit down and enjoy a good mentalism effect for what it is also without letting the 'technical' part of things get into his head.

Ropes though.... I have to agree, I just don't 'get' it.... Perhaps I need to see the same performances that Mandrake has.

Dave Taylor - dat8962 - is a virtuoso of rope magic, don't miss any chance to see him.

the problem with rope magic is, when people start doing it, THEY NEVER KNOW WHEN TO STOP!
most rope magicians seem to Cut, restore, stretch, shrink, join, knot, un knot.... ect, ect, ect,.... over and over again......... and I am sitting there thinking who cares? Its just a bit of rope.

Its like the egg bag. short sweet, non repetative routines are great.. but few seem to do this.

I.M.H.O. 3 great rope workers out there who entertain, Piere Erdenac, ( without doubt the greatest) Flip Halma, Pavell...

All others, are clever, but far from entertaining.

( Dave excluded. naturally)

Jon Allen does a great Professor's Nightmare routine, details were in his lecture notes a few years ago. Plenty of audience involvement so it's not a 'look how clever I am' type of routine.

PS The routine is also in his book Experience: The Magic of Jon Allen reviewed at http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic31556-0-asc-30.php

Thanks Mandrake

I do agree with a number of comments made here and yes, some routines can go on for far too long.

First off, rope magic is perhaps a classic example of magicians watching and seeing something completely different to a layperson.

In my opinion, the essence of a good rope routine is to use your knowledge to try and do something that's original and which isn't just a straight copy of a DVD routine. Probably the main one in question is Fibre Optics as the majority of magicians perform, or try ot perform it EXACTLY as Richard Sanders doesm even down to the patter.

When you've seen Fiber Optics a couple of times then like a lot of other magic - it can become tedious and people will soon lose interest.

If you can keep the routine relatively short and unpredictable then you've got something that nearly all other magicians lack and which is original.

These days, the routine that I use for the most of the time is a 90 second routine using a series of sleights from Tabbary, Flip and Daryl and is something that I can call my own.

You have to learn a number of routines well before you can disect them and then re-assemble into something that you can call your own but the effort is worthwhile.

I think cutting and restoring a rope can be strong visual magic, but when it comes to all that stuff with knots and penetrations I agree, its as if a magician had some spare rope left after doing cut and restored and so tried to invent some more rope tricks to use it for.

However with the same mind magic with rope doesn't even come close to the absolute worst - rubber band magic. So many close up workers say they do this Crazy Man's Rubber Band trick and I just wonder what on earth could possibly be so appealing about a horrible little tangled up rubber band and why on earth would anyone want to do magic with a tangled rubber band? The best place for a tangled rubber band is the bin in my opinion.

For a short period I became quite proficient with ropes and then wondered why I'd bothered. I quite enjoyed it, but it didn't make for much of a routine. I now do a rope through body with skipping ropes at school and that's about it.
There is a bizarre magic book of rope routines out there which has tempted me, as with a bit of a story there are a lot of possibilities, but I can only think of a handful of rope routine I've seen that have been truly memorable.

But you can't argue with what a paying audience likes and it's visually strong if performed well. That's why working magician's frequently perform it but often hate to watch someone else performing it.

No you can't really. I think your probably right that magicians do see something different from a layperson. Also agree that short and snappy is best. It does have the advantage of being visual. I know its a popular choice for stage as it is cheap and plenty that can done that plays to a big crowd, but then overdo it. But at least it breaks up the repetition of card tricks.

dat8962 wrote:In my opinion, the essence of a good rope routine is to use your knowledge to try and do something that's original and which isn't just a straight copy of a DVD routine.

If you can keep the routine relatively short and unpredictable then you've got something that nearly all other magicians lack and which is original.

Agreed entirely. I think the important thing with rope magic is to keep it visually strong and basic, as ropes and string often somehow get tangled and knotted into completely bizarre knots all by themselves without any human input, so something simple and strong is far better than all these knot and "penetration" tricks in my opinion.

Short, strong and visual - applies to all types of magic, methinks...