talkmagic.co.uk

Hi..

I've just recently started practicing some rubber band magic (Dan Harlan) and just wondered if someone could give me some advice on the setups.

Dan just uses quickness of his fingers to do the setup but I just wondered whether any of you rubber band experts could tell me whether there are better ways of doing the setups.

I guess what I'm really asking is do you do the setup and rely on speed and misdirection or do you do the setup in stages with misdirection along the way.

For instance.. with the linking rubber bands I thought that the setup could be done in stages as you show the band and try and find the hole etc.. or should I just go with Dan's methods and just get my speed up.

Thanks

Slippery

I never like fast moves - they invariably attract attention.
The spectators won't know what you've done, but they'll know you've done something.

Whereas moving slowly with some well thought out misdirection you can get away with murder.

As with cards, I find the slower you can do the move (without giving the game away), the better.

Yes, using more speed may cover up things you don't want seen but it also increases the chances of making a mistake and you'll probably get asked to "do it again, I missed it the first time".

Personally, I think a bit of misdirection is better than too much speed.

I know this may sound to simple but just look at your audience and dont try to draw attention to the setup.

Michael Ammar advises that all the moves in CMH etc should be done in a controlled way, not too fast and not too slow. Only show the bands against each other once. Patter and direction are important as it will keep the spec's eyes off your hands while you do the biz - plenty of looking them in the eyes, then looking at another spec so their gaze follows yours and so on.

I've only just started looking at rubber band stuff and Dan's DVD is excellent as an example of how to perform things with lots of body movement, lots of changing concentration from one spec to another and so on. Just watching the performance part of such a DVD is great teaching, never mind the 'moves' and secrets involved!

Yep - watch your audience and when their eye catches yours you do the setup. If they don't know what you're about to do then they won't know what to look for. I setup for linking bands after doing something and I'm chatting to them - I don't give the impression that I'm going to do anything else and then once I'm set I ask if they want to see more.
After CMH I usually go into the shrinking band - as if I'm goint to show CMH again. The usually ask for me to do it again - so it's a good oppurtunity. I usually do the set up in the break where they're "how the .. did you do that" - they usually look down. It's kind of on the 'offbeat'.

With broken and restored I usually do the setup quite quickly - also while I'm looking at them, not really drawing attention to what I'm doing - no-one has ever noticed.

Thanks everyone..

Some great advice..

I have to admit that I'm really quite enjoying the band stuff (having been into cards for a year or so).. makes a ice change.


Anyway.. Thanks again..

Slippery

As it's the season of peace, harmony, goodwill and prezzies (!) here's little offer from me to you! I recently stated looking at rubber band routines and decided to get hold of the proper No 19's from some friends in the US to make sure I started with the most appropriate props. Being very generous souls, they've sent me a 1lb box of Alliance Gold number 19's ( http://www.rubberband.com/products/prod ... ?prodID=33 ) which is a minimum of 1890 bands and far more than I'll ever use so, if anyone else would like a few bands, just PM me with your full name, address and postcode, and I'll send you a bag of 20 or so. No catches, no hidden charges, and no salesman will call!
Merry Christmas !

(Update @ 15/12/04 - apparently these are quite compatible with 'Pinnacle' ( http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic1536.p ... t=pinnacle ) as well.)

Thanks, Mandrake.

Postie has just delivered an early Christmas prezzie for me.
I've popped a couple in my pocket - hopefully, I can find a willing spec whilst at work today,

You're most welcome! NB: Offer applies Internationally, not just in the UK!
(Ho, ho, ho!!)

On a random visit to our local Staples this week, I noticed they had bags of rubber bands marked No.19 No.18 and No.16. These bear the US Staples address (PO Box 5114 Westborough, MA 01581) and are made in Thailand. The No.18's are 3" x 1/16" and the No.16's are 2.1/2" x 1/16". The Alliance No.19's I referred to earlier seem a bit more stretchy but then again they're supposed to be a superior brand and are larger at 3.1/2" x 1/16". However, it's quite possible to do CMH with both the 18 and 16's and may be more appropriate if your hands aren't comfortable with the 19's. At 99p a bag (625 x 16's or 525 x 18's), they're probably worth buying to try out anyway.

I have loved rubber band magic since before I was ever a magician, and now am proud to say that I do some of it on a regular basis.

Being a "rubberband vet", I can reccommend some things.

1. Wear a few around your wrist. Sometimes, people will notice. Then, they just might ask you why you have ruberbands around your wrist. Wham! There's your opening. I have to say, that rubberbands around the wrist are A. not very eye-catching, and B. doesn't always preovoke people in to interrogating you about it.

2. When it comes to CMH, slow equals good. It is a beautiful trick, and the slower you do it, the more beautiful it is. Keep that in mind while you perform it, and that feeling will be carried across through your performance.

3. Again, talking of CMH, try to disarm your audience as much as possible. Do this as an opener if you need to. I present it not as a magic trick, but as something interesting about the physical properties of rubber bands. It may sound silly, but simply telling your audience that you are not going to do a magic trick, but show them something interesting in stead, really relaxes them. This will allow you to slow down the pace a bit, and let the amazement of this most magical of rubber band tricks smack them in the back of the head.

4. Finally, when it comes to the linking rubber bands, it is my opinion that faster is better concerning the setup. it's a mess, and doing it slowly only keeps your hands in awkward positions for longer periods of time. I've seen it done ridiculously fast--by Dan and others. So fast, in fact, that it does not lend itself to the spectators thinking "wait a minute, something just happened." The setup can be done that quickly, and really should be done that quickly for the trick to pack the punch that it is capable of packing.

Thanks for listening, do with it what you will.

Ok I know this thread is a little old but I guess it´s better to continue with this one instead making a new one.
I also have this setup problem with Dan Harlan linking rubberbands from his "Bandshark DVD" and he also has a very convincing link with two different size bands on the"rubberband magic vol.2" which requieres more misdirection than hell.
I don´t like the big or the fast motion he does because is not pretty for me. The tricks that I love are the ones that requieres little o no misdirection at all. That way those tricks are safe under the worst spectators´s eyes.
So as I said on a similar thread, I consider the Harlan methods as a guide or as a challenge to create new an cleaner stuff. I mean I´m always trying to modify the techniques adapting them to my style and my preferences in order to come up with something like a "no misdirection setup".
I have a very clean variation already and I guess is not invented yet. So if this doesn´t go agains the rules I can film myself doing it and send it to you. Believe me it is very clean and slow and can be done without misdirection (or very little misdirection). This way you won´t have to worry about this particular setup (linking rubberband) again anymore

What do you think?