talkmagic.co.uk

Hello Everyone,

I've been really loving reading from as many sections on this board as I've been able to. And, during the last, however long it's been since I've been here, I'm beginning to see patterns of who is who and how things work here. And it is truly fascinating. It's like I'm a strange girl in a strange land. Wait a minute, I am a strange girl and this is not Kansas anymore so maybe this all makes sense and is at it should be.

Now while that might seem, well, rather dull and irrelevant to all of you, the point of it is that I am trying to refer to practice. In this silly example, it is the practice of taking the time and putting in countless hours this last week or whatever and really studying what is going on. With this, I am but at the very beginning with a truly wonderful and exciting world ahead of me to explore.

And here is the relevant part as it relates to magic and all us if any of you are still reading this. It seems to me that many of us see a trick, want that trick, buy that trick, learn that trick quickly, and then think we've mastered it. And then we want the next trick.

But I can't help thinking of the words of one of your own great, David Devant . Naturally, you Mentalists out there already know what I am going to say, but for those who don't practice Mentalism, the words were:

"I know only 8 (tricks) "... "I have devoted my entire life to learning how to entertain an audience with them."

That, to me, is what mastery is all about. And, how few of us follow such wisdom? After all, sparklies are fun.

Blackstone said the same thing more or less to Blackstone Jr. "Don't waste your time on trying to learn every new trick you hear about. Instead, spend that time in learning to do only a few really good tricks and learn to do them really well." Golly, I always loved Blackstone and Blackstone Jr. These words here, of course, make me think of the value of PM's and sharing with each other using them.

So what I am saying here is that I am so happy to be getting to know you all better through what I am reading. Sure, I have talked to very few of you so far, and I see those talks as performances. The time on my own, in the dark of the night, reading and learning in the woodshed, that is what practice is all about, whether learning about a new family (all of you) or learning a new trick or illusion.

Mastery, to me, means but a beginning and it is only then that one begins to learn how to learn. It is just like in martial arts, to many, a black belt means the end of a journey, but really, it simply means that you are now a dedicated student. That is how I like to think of magic. An endless path of personal exploration of oneself and of the audience.

Love,

Amanda Angeli

Amanda

A well written and thought out post which I agree with.

Speaking of my own experience to date, I have most certainly made my fair share those impulse purchases and perhaps I'm still trying to find the definitive eight tricks to master

However, despite hat I do buy I always seem to eventually come back to the same tried and trusted few, which is currently around ten.

What I do get from buying new is not just anoher trick to learn, I get ideas that I can sometimes use elsewhere, whether it's technique or performance.

That's one of the reasons why I, and I suspect many love performing magic. To get the most out of what you learn, you do then have to translate all of that learning into a performance.

dat8962 wrote:Amanda

A well written and thought out post which I agree with.

Hello Dat,

Golly, thank you, that is very kind of you to say that.

Speaking of my own experience to date, I have most certainly made my fair share those impulse purchases and perhaps I'm still trying to find the definitive eight tricks to master

Oh Dat, now I just have to know, from you and everybody of course, which 8 or 10 do you love? And, what is that one trick that you bought that makes you think, "goodness, what was I thinking?"

What I do get from buying new is not just anoher trick to learn, I get ideas that I can sometimes use elsewhere, whether it's technique or performance.

Well said. And, it is those very ideas of which you spoke which makes magic so fun and so sings to the inner child in all of us.

I'm so looking forward to hearing more from you.

Love,

Amanda Angeli

now I just have to know, from you and everybody of course, which 8 or 10 do you love

To begin, the first two routines are Roped In by Joe Riding (which I've harped on about many times before) and Fibre Optics. I first saw Mike Danata perform this in his magic studio and it was the first rope routine that I had seen. It's a cut and restored with the professors nightmare / 3 ropes routine in the middle and I was blown away and bought the manuscript. It got great reactions although I was only performing for friends and family at the time. I next bought Richard Sanders Firbe Optics DVD, also from Mike and after perfecting both I began to experiment. A little later I bought Jahn Gallos Ring and Rope DVD (guess who from? ) and I began to experiment by adding parts from all three titles together to make the routine more individual. Although from three different titles I consider the whole rope routine as only being one of the eight. It's something that I still consider to be a work in motion as I'm still fiddling about with it but I do get good reactions, even from magicians.

Others that I love and would include in my eight are:

Martin Sanderson's Rapid Fire Chop Cup routine
Senior Mardo Egg Bag
Liquid Metal
Out of this World
A simple TT
Ninja Rings

... and I'm working on the other one and perhaps I don't want to find an eigth just so I have an excuse to keep looking

that one trick that you bought that makes you think, "goodness, what was I thinking?"

Looking back, almost everything that I purchased in my first 18 months of magic which is far far to much to list