by stevebo » Dec 30th, '08, 23:05
Oh my God... It was painful to watch!
Okay though... so he messed up. And yes, we all hate Mr Masked Magician. But this teaches us a valuable lesson. We all mess up from time to time, be it a trick we just learnt, and we were too eager to perform even though not enough practice went into it, or just a slip on a trick that we know from heart. But what to do when we mess up?
This is why I don't usually use routines. My "routines" always change depending on the situation. In my opinion, improvisation and spontaneity are key to a successful performance. It keeps YOU as well as your spectator engaged in the act. When practising tricks, try and link different tricks and routines together and at every stage of a trick, try to think of different possibilities.
In this example, what would you have done? I hope people reply to this question because it would be really interesting to read.
Personally, I would continue on with the trick until the four cards are revealed. (In a piece of music you are playing in a concert, you do NOT pause if you make a mistake... continue on. I made that mistake in a piano piece and I can tell you that it is NOT fun to be shaking and your face being red hot. Luckily for the Masked Magician, red faces don't exist for him.) When the four cards are revealed, I would continue on as a Poker demonstration. I would gather up the pile and control the rest of the aces NONCHALANTLY and SUBTLY (something which he failed to achieve) whilst I talk about the demonstration. I would go on and say that having one Ace is good, then I execute a switch of some kind (4 for 4 switch is my personal favourite), then say that it's better to have a four of a kind. If I were confident with it all, I would probably then change it to a Royal Flush.