talkmagic.co.uk

Hi

I have been a member for a while, more of a lurker!!! I am currently studying the RRTCM, which is fantastic as you already know, I have also got the R. Paul Wilson DVD set, had them for a year or more now, and just got back into magic, and plan studying the RRTCM over and over till I get everything on it down to a fine art.

R Paul, was recommending the following books, but I would like to know as time has moved on now, with DVD's etc, what you guys recommend as the next step up???? The DVD recommends, 1, expert card tehcnique, 2 Dai vernon book of magic, and Collection of works Alex Elmsley.

I am more of a DVD watcher than a reader, any good DVD's for a relative noob....


Sorry if this question has been asked 100000 times before

Thanks

Paul

Well for a relative beginner, go back over the Royal Road like you said. Once you've done that and think you proficient enough to move on, you could look for a different dvd with more advance techniques, or you could look at seperate dvd's dedicated to a single move.

For example The Roadrunner Cull -Kosta Kimlat...A seriously decent culling technique that you can do absolute wonders with, although it willt ake some serious study.

Paul, my personal recommendation would be to work through the RRTCM book without DVDs. It may be old-fashioned but this forces you to concentrate on what you are doing rather than just copying someone else from the viewpoint of the camera. DVDs have their places but to my mind, later on.

Good Luck

If you're looking for DVDs I can recommend anything by Oz Pearlman. Perhaps not "Born to Perform" since that disc covers things that you will already learn from RRTCM, but some of his other more advanced DVDs are great. Also don't overlook Bill Malone. His box sets are fairly expensive, but that's because they are gold.

For books I would suggest card college. If you want to stick with DVDs Michael Ammars 'easy to master card miracles' seem very good but I only have volume 1 so I can' comment on the whole series. Books as others have said, tend to be much better value in terms of the volume of information you get for the price you pay so I'd pick a book over a DVD anytime.

cragglecat wrote:Books as others have said, tend to be much better value in terms of the volume of information you get for the price you pay so I'd pick a book over a DVD anytime.

Card College is fantastic, athough not cheap with 5 volumes + the Lite. I agree though with craggelcat ( (as I said before) that you get more from a skillfully written book than a DVD . Card College is very skillfully written

Many thanks to you guys for that info, I agree you would learn alot more from books,. I will try a couple of those books and maybe a couple of dvd's, it all takes time to learn.

With regards to the RRTCM, did you learn every single routine before moving on?? I am now going back over the book, and will use that to restudy the course...

Thanks guys, it certainly takes time to study and learn, and practice is 100% needed. I now take my cards to work and when quiet shuffle, etc..

I bought a Raven X2 the other day, not too keen on it so far, do you guys use it in general?? Its rather large and noisy.....

Thanks again

Rgds

Paul

Hey Paul!

Wise words from the other TM members there as usual.

I think with any learning material you get, you don't have to learn every routine given - if you did that, your brain would be frazzled. The best plan is to pick and choose which effects you feel would work for you (the ones you feel most comfortable with) and make them your own. This especially if you learn the method from a DVD - it's so easy to copy everything that performer does, but it may not fit your style and that comes out in your presentation.

When you've chosen a couple of effects you enjoy or think they have something special, practise, practise and practise again and again. Some performers will write a script of their own if there's some story associated with it, etc. See if this helps you?

Hope that helps?

I guess that there is a difference between techniques and routines. RRTCM tries to teach a technique and then suggests routines where the technique might be useful (ditto Card College). I feel that you do need to know all the techniques as it is a self-building course, but whether you need to know all or indeed any of the routines is up to you.

Good Luck