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Over the past two years of mine doing magic tricks, I have inevitably and frequently been dealt with the some question that many 'magicians' have once/will encounter/ed.
Some say that we are one of the many kinds of performers. This is further explained by the point that the tricks themselves bear no significance, but the way we present them does; Whereas some argue the presentations are simply a tiny portion of the trick, but the veiled secrets are the main part that filled up the bottle.
While I have also overheard people (magic-related) saying stuffs about the way we learn tricks. These guys always enough people buying a legitimate DVD over downloading materials from internet or Youtube. Because in that way 'we are actually paying a price for the tricks we learned'.

This article is not here to be judgemental or whatever, but only to discuss the behaviour of modern magicians and the future of us. First of all to talk a little over the difference a performer and a magician. There are many kinds of performers, a dancer is a performer, an actor is a performer, and a magician, definitely, is a performer. The ways we present our tricks are undoubtedly a major factor determining the quality of our shows. However tricky and clever is the secret behind a trick, it is nothing but diamonds in a stone if presented incorrectly.
So, yes, of course we are performers, but the amazing secret behind each trick is not to be left out, for it is exactly the thing that grants us with a uniqueness and branches us from the great pools of performers.

This lead us to a question, where do these tricks come from? Where do these crucial elements that composed our title come from? Unlike many of our predecessor who had developed many amazing tricks., or those simply half-devising them from reading texts, we learned our magic generally from comprehensive, with detail explanations and live shows DVDs. Included in the DVDs are not only the tricks themselves, but a full package of performances, routines and explanations. What is projected on our computer screen will be exactly what we will be doing to our friends and laymen. What Michael Arma doing in the Royal Road to Card Magic will be presented to our friends simply in a different version, yeah, just the man performing it is changed, other stuff will stay, the magic, the routine talking and even the laughing moments of the audiences.

Is that what makes us calling ourselves magicians? Simply stealing a trick from some great magician and 'bang', we are one ourselves. Some amateur magicians( I was and still am one of them deep in my heart) usually compete with their friends of how many new tricks or new false cuts they have learned. But is that really what a magician should do? Simply copying some tricks, then maybe with a slight changes we present them to our friends and enjoy the prestige that comes with the sickening 'how do you do that' noise. While I think we are something more than that.

Although what I perform now are mostly the classic ones, I am always trying to devise some tricks of my own. Have you ever thought you can produce a man on a school stage? Have you ever thought about producing a paper-rose from a drawing in close-up shows? Some may say that I am really ahead of myself and should I learn to walk before learn to jump. But I think creativity should have no boarder and no limitation. You don't need a licence or a mastermind to create magic, you just need to have the courage shared by the first man who ever did the classic palm and the persistence to work on your tricks. I think this is where the title 'magician' really lies. Although in a modern world today, everyone may think that there are no magic but just some illusions.A magician is not some one who do magic, but someone who creates them.


Any comments are welcomed.

Magician from HK, who will be studying in England next year

Whilst most of the points you raise have been discussed before here on TM, your article is thought provoking and I'm sure others will want to add their comments in due course. Welcome!

I've recently been reading "Mastering the Art of Magic" by Eugene Burger. Favourite quote so far?

"If you've been doing magic for over a year, you already know too many tricks".

Spot on.

Right on, Serendipity. Except Berger wasn't the first to say it; I believe it was Devant.