talkmagic.co.uk

So obviously there are spoil sports out there who discover how to do a trick and then put on the net. That is ofcourse great for the likes of myself who need some free and easy tricks to practice with to start. It is also not so bad in that spoil sports dont often pay out for decent tricks, or work them out.

As start it is fine to practice a trick over and over, and it is fine to practice it in the mirror, but at some point you need to discover how other people see it. I have been practising a simple free trick courtesy of youtube at work, and a couple of people have sussed it quite quickly due to my lack of dexterity.

I dont think this is a problem, since the trick is free anyway, and easy to find. Or should I keep it to myself longer until I am assured of my skill?
Needles to say having payed or figured a trick out I am not likely to show it until I can keep the secret with my hands.

They're not "free" tricks you're getting from YouTube any more than if they're from a free copy of a DVD your frend makes fro you. They're stolen.

Talk Magic is against piracy.

Oh. well, considering that I have in my error found this stolen trick, How can one judge when they are skillful enough to show a trick without giving it away? Except by showing it and buggering up (or not.)

Also to what degree does a trick become a trick?

I currently take a few long train journeys and can use the time to practice with elastic bands and making cards stop being in the palm of my hand, and even experimenting with whatever is to hand. Ofcourse all of this is in a public place, where the causal observer could well see what I am doing (and laugh, because of afore mentioned lack of dexterity.) Do I even have to practice the 'disapearance' of a card behind closed doors?

You missed a significant point made by Tomo. Dextrous or not, by obtaining the "free" information, you're taking money from the originators of the sleights and routines. You're also indirectly supporting the person who's "sharing" the method to pirate more by boosting his post count. Buy "Royal Road To Card Magic", "Now You See it Now You Don't", or any other beginner book. It will have more information and more advice than all the horrible youtube videos.

Also, you'll have more respect when posting here at TM.

Regarding your question, when practicing sleights in front of a non-audience, don't make it look like you're trying sleight of hand. Just look like you're playing with the cards in some strange way. I'm guessing you're practicing either Tenkai or the back palm. Mirror work is essential for them to work.

Please buy the books and respect the originators.

The answer you seeking is not necessarily to do with sleight of hand and dexterity and this topic has been debated on a number of occasions here at TM.

Part of the answer that you're looking for is simply that these free tricks are always easy to spot becase they only expose the very basics of the method. What makes the trick work is the timing, the subtleties, the misdirection, the psychology etc. the list can go on.

These ingrediants that make the trick work when studied and put into practice, are often the components that are missing from the free download either because the person posting also hasn't studied magic and therefore thinks them unimportant, or the person posting is just a bad teacher and doesn't have time to impart this knowledge before the memory on their mobile phone becomes full.

When you buy the proper product then you get all of this and more and the only reason that you will then fail is becuase you haven't put the required practice time in.

This should go straight to the SinBin

not really he was just asking about that kind of thing, and now he knows its wrong, so i dont see a problem here, why do you?

The problem is that he's supporting free tricks on YouTube. That's gonna bug some people on here.

well, if you're like me, every time you do a trick in front of the mirror, you think it is painfully obvious how you are doing it. I always seem to think that my sleights are not good enough to myself, but I think most magicians/upcoming magicians think like that. So I was as soon as you positvely CANT see the sleight or what have you in the mirror you can go ahead and show an audience, another method might be waiting untill u can do the trick without looking at the cards or ur hands or whatever. That way you know you can perform it my muscle-memory

I'd personally avoid those you tube tutorials, if for no other reason then the fact that the methods are often very bad. You're so much better off getting yourself a good beginners book, something like Mark Wilson's Complete Course is very good.

Just keep working on the trick until you're confidant that you can do it well before showing anyone. I often spend a months working on a new routine before I show it to anyone.

Thanks.

It was before I came here, and my main appreciation on the tube is for those videos which leave me wanting more and puzzling to work it out. I just had the wrong end of the wrong stick and I was waving it in a completely inappropriate way.

Back to the mirror then.

ur, some people might not agree with this but i think its good to have someone you can trust to try out your tricks on before getting them out for the unsuspecting public. I use my 11 year old son and he is very good at spotting stuff going on so if i can get it past him i can get it past (pretty much)anyone.
i have to say i agree with other peoples opinions on the homemade tutorials on the internet. they are generally very poor for all the reasons stated above.
if you search the forum for threads on "exposure" you will see that most, if not all, of the people here have quite strong views on these vids and give some very good reasons.

chryles is right, it is a very good idea to have a trusted person to stry your magic out on. I use my boyfriend for this, he's gotten to know the sorts of things to look out for and gives good feedback on what I need to work on.

I use my younger sister to try stuff out on, she's not overly impressed by magic and will try everyway she can to work out how something is done, so if I can fool her, then it's generally a good un. If I can impress her, it's definitely on to put in the repertoire. she's any eagled eyed annoying one sometimes, but she does point out where it's gone wrong so I know what to improve on.

Plus there's nothing quite like the feeling you get, for me it was with "no smoking" when you see yourself in the mirror and and say to yourself "hang on a minute".
If you can fool yourself, and belive me, apart from Simon Cowell, you will be your harshest judge, then you probably ready to perform.
I say "Probably" only because somtimes you need to be able to check you angles (or is it angels (my spelling is ruddish)) and it's very hard to check angels on your own.