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Hello,

I've been working my way through Card College Vol.1 and 2 and RRTCM over the past few months in a bid to become vaguely proficient with cards and I would appreciate some advice from the collective knowledge that gathers here.

Here's my problem: I am working through the chapters and the effects from both books and feel that I am making progress on learning sleights and techniques. I sit in front of the tv with my cards and practice a lot.

But... I get the feeling all I am doing is accumulating sleights rather than effects. I was thinking of picking a handful of effects I can do well and perfecting (as far as I can) these so I perform more. I would continue working through the books but just allocate half my practice to these effects.

What do you think? Any tips for an overwhelmed beginner?

Cheers,

Alex

It is far too easy to get carried away thhinking 'there's x number of chapters, xx number of moves I must I must learn them all' but this is not the way...

You must sit down and treat it like a college course.... you don't go to college on monday expecting to learn a years worth of stuff by friday do you??

The royal road is just that, it as a road of learning.... each chapter introduces the sleights or moves and then offers up some tricks for you to do utilising those moves. Don't even leave chapter 1 until you can do everything without thinking about it only then will you be ready for chapter 2 without feeling overwhelmed!!

There are magicians who have been doing cards for a couple of years that will still not be totally proficient at every sleight introduced so what you have to do is first of all relax.... a tense mind is not very absorbent and will only cause you frustration. Then you need to choose a section of the book and practice practice practice and when you think you've practiced enough practice some more and then some more..... only by complete rehearsal and repetition can you ever hope to become good at any of the stuff presented before you.

Use the effects that are presented in the books in the order that they are, even if you think you won't use any of them because they are helping you get to grips with a particular move and will also give you tips on the misdirection required. Then when you have got to grips with them you can then decide which ones you really like and will be the ones you perform.

Don't try to run before you can walk....... Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your journey down the royal road be in a day either.

Thanks. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no hurry, and am doing more or less exactly as you suggested. I also use Card College more than Royal Road.

I suppose what it boils down to is how much practice time to allocate to learning sleights and how much to learning or perfecting tricks.

you shouldn't move on to learning new and more complex sleights until you fully understand the basics otherwise it is inevitable to become frustrated at a later time.... Relax, read, understand, then practice practice practice

I don't know anything about Card College but I certainly do about Royal Road to Card Magic. Perhaps you are being overwhelmed because you are studying two books instead of one. And Card College is ginormous.

I think I would put Card College aside until you have mastered the Royal Road. And that will take some time. Months and months in fact.

The Royal Road is my bible. About 50% of my card trick repertoire comes from that book. Other magicians might tend to sniff at this and look down their noses since they would consider the book to be a beginner's book and they themselves get more fascination from more up to date books with all sorts of technical gyrations which don't mean a thing to audiences.

Yet if they were to show their supposedly advanced stuff to laymen after I have done a few tricks from the Royal Road to the same people I can assure you that they would come off very badly in the comparison. It is how you entertain with strong simple material (as in the Royal Road) rather than how esoteric and difficult your stuff is. the biggest secret of all is in the presentation and the Royal Road is full of hints and tips with regard to this.

Now as to the study of this incredible book. I would do exactly what the preface says. Look up paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 and study them carefully. The plan of study for the book is indicated there.

You take the book chapter by chapter slowly without rushing ahead. You learn as many of the sleights described therein as you can. You select TWO of the tricks among the say 5 or 6 described in the chapter. You take the ones that appeal to you. There is no law of course that you have to select two if you happen to find only one in the chapter that you like or perhaps 3 that seem terrific but in general two is a good number for now.

When you feel that you have absorbed the chapter then go on to the next one and repeat the procedure. However what I used to do was when I felt that I had mastered the next chapter I would then go back to the preceding one and do the same thing again before rushing on to the next one. In other words revise the preceding chapter. Once that was done I would go on the next new chapter and when that was finished revise the preceding one again.

This slow method gave me a chance in the meantime of finding laymen to show the tricks I had learned. And I consider this to be the most essential part of the study. It is no good doing these tricks in your bedroom or living room. You have to get beyond the confines of your own home and get out and about showing people. Even showing the tricks to your family is not enough because as the Royal Road states "they will either say you are wonderful or that you are not very good and neither may be the exact truth".

Now where do you find audiences to practice the tricks on? I could write paragraph after paragraph about this one subject alone but for now I will leave it to you. If you need help on this then ask me again. However you really need to find living people to try the tricks out after you have practiced them. This is the only way you will become good. If you don't do this essential step then there is no point studying the book in the first place. Magic is PEOPLE!

I wish you luck in your studies. The knowledge I gained from the Royal Road to Card Magic has stood me in good stead for 46 years and I will go up against any card magician in the world performing for laymen with nothing but the material in this book.

This wonderful volume has the real secret of being a great magician and emphasises it throughout.

PRESENTATION.

Fabulous words of wisdom. Should be required reading for anyone about to pay for the latest Ellusionist download. How on earth did you end up in the shabby world of mediums, Mr Lewis?

One thing though; you're a bit hasty in your dismissal of other techniques. A broad palette is a good thing to have (once you have the grounding).

What has been said above is pretty much spot on. I'm in a similar situation to you, I started doing magic more seriously back in August. I bought Mark Wilsons book and RRTCM. in September. I started with Mark Wilsons book and have only just got about half way through. Haven't even started on RRTCM yet. Take it nice and slowly and learn everything so that you've got it 110%.

One thing I did was, as I worked through the book I started building up routines of 5 tricks (built 3 routines in total) that I could take out and show people. As I learnt better tricks I substituted these into the routines and this is what I continue to do at the moment. I found this really useful in learning the tricks and the sleights involved.

Thanks for that considered response Mark.
People seem to have got the impression that I am somehow rushing ahead or haven't read the bit on how to get the most out of the book but the opposite is the case -- I am following it to the letter.
The thing you point out that makes a lot of sense is doing some revision.
I was actually thinking of going over the first half of both books again before I move on, just to recap and to refresh my memory as I have been working on the books for a couple of months now.
The other key point you make is showing tricks to people -- I would love to hear your advice on this, bearing in mind I am 36 and look like Russian Mafia, according to my colleagues, who should know.
As you say, the whole point is to perform and performing to more people would be very beneficial.

My tactic when finding people to perform for is to go into a pub with my girlfriend. Show her some tricks and you will always get people watching from other tables. Move over to them and ask if they want to see something. Then keep an eye out for other people who look interested and move on to them.

I don't have the impression you are rushing ahead, I was offering a word of caution against doing so..... practice makes perfect and then the patter and presentation make it magical.

Stick with one book for now as suggested - which is what I mean by don't run before you can walk.

It will be very rewarding for you and as for performing to people, start with family and friends and then randoms in a pub etc... basically anyone who will let you show them a trick or two with cards!!

you could also make a video of an effect and post it in file sharing where evryone here will be able to see what you have done and offer you constructive advice on how to polish it up!!

It sounds like you are already well on your way so just take some time to think if you have taken on board everything you've been learning so revision may be a good idea..... something I must confess I'm guilty of not doing enough of!!

Thanks for the encouragement Jordan -- I read this forum regularly and appreciate everyone's feedback.

I want to make sure I am learning in the most effective way I can and all the posts here will help me do that.

How good it is to see such fullsome praise for Royal Road. This was my first introduction to proper magic and is tha basis of all of the sleights I use.

I have recently "found" Mark Wilson and would agree that this is another must have book. But I followed the suggested study route with Royal Road and it works. It leads you deeper in to the more difficult stuff and throws in a trick or two for each move explained. Soyou start to build a repertoire whilst learning and you are then able to practice with a live trick.

All of my magic is run past Mrs Wizz before it goes out of the house. She is a fierce critic (well actually she is just pretty fierce) and now knows enough to know what to look for.

For example I tried the Hindu Colour change from Mark Wilson on her and she immediately spotted what I did. I had thought it might be a bit weak and she confirmed it. I did the Hindu Aces however from the same book and she passed it as fit for public consumption straight away!

no worries.... I'm an eager learner and I have learnt painfully and embarrassingly that to move on without fully understanding and knowing what you are doing only makes you look like a t*** when you get it all wrong....... so I took a few steps back and started methodically and incessantly and now.... it's all so much easier and I look like a wonder not a misdemeanour!! LOL

I will perhaps yap further about how to find audiences when I have the energy. For now I would merely say that you should find other people who look like Russian Mafia and show a few card tricks to them. Like seeks like and that sort of thing.

I must inform Mr Calthorp that I am not a shabby medium. I am a most reverend and holy man of the cloth. Besides I am not really a medium-I am a psychic. I do not talk to dead people except a few on the various magic forums or when I am attempting to sell svengali decks to various verminous members of the public.

And besides I do not do "shabby" work. I help people with their distresses and am very proud of it. I think however we had better not go off topic and stick to card tricks for the moment.

It is not true that I "dismiss" other techniques. I know all about them and do not approve of many of them on the grounds that they came out after 1954. I therefore have no interest in them since even foetuses are writing books and producing videos nowadays.

I only said 50% of my repertoire comes from the Royal Road. The other 50% comes from other sources such as the Vernon card books, Harry Lorayne's older books, and the excellent Paul Le Paul card book. One fantastic little known book is called "Outs, Precautions and Challenges" by Charles Hopkins. It has been out of print for a long time but has now been reprinted (don't ask me who by) and is very cheap. I recommend it thoroughly for anyone who does card tricks and is a wonderful book for someone like myself who keeps doing tricks wrong. It covers the areas of "outs" and getting out of trouble very effectively.

It is not that I dismiss the other stuff. It is merely that in one lifetime there are only so many card tricks that one can learn. I believe I have learned the best and have no need of any more. And the ones I have learned are stuff from the old books and are not contaminated by dreadful and obvious finger flinging. I believe strongly in the philosophy espoused in the Royal Road of "the art that hides art" and I am afraid that a lot of this modern tommyrot goes in the opposite direction.

I may be in Moscow next week Mark and Kazakhstan of all places in a couple of weeks, so maybe I can try out some tricks in the airport lounge (Mafia section)!