talkmagic.co.uk

I've been approached for advice from a couple of serious magical neophytes recently, and I could do with some advice with one in particular.

I've guided him towards what I would consider as the sensible first pieces of literature, for value and effectiveness (no-one in the real world would spend £30+ on a book, outside academia at least)

Now, he's digesting RRTCM, Bobo, Annemann and Mark Wilson, and cards seem to be his thing for the time being.

That being said, RRTCM's descriptions are (apparently) a little too obtuse for him. This is fine, of course, and he's thinking about picking up Paul Wilson's DVD's as well, which I haven't seen but have only heard good things about.

Now, I'm going to run through a couple of informal beer-and-cardie sessions with him, to get him off to as smooth a beginning as possible. It's unpaid and purely for the love of the thing, so it's not massively serious, but it would please me greatly if I can deliver something of value to him.

I'm painfully aware that the standard response to this kind of query is to "buy this book" or similar, but in this case I don't believe this would help him at all - he's got plenty of material in front of him, and I'd like to have him using that effectively before he gets paralysed with the possibilities.


So, with RRTCM as the base, what would you recommend as a decent way to begin?


Obviously if there is anything he's having trouble with, that will be focused on, but should the instructions come purely from RRTCM (including that dodgy DL), or should there be routines and moves from elsewhere?

I've got it fairly clear in my head what I'm actually going to do in terms of informal "lesson plans", as it's what would have helped me if I was given the chance, but I'd be interested in any of your thoughts.

How about teaching him about showmanship and presentation? Maybe you do a fairly straightforward trick, but with your own spin, and his challenge is to do the same thing with something else.

The DL and a card force are in my mind the most useful tools for card magic, you could start him off there and see what he comes up with.

Dominic, as someone being mentored by a professional card magician, please feel free to PM me any questions and I'll be more than happy to anwser.

Dominic. Mentoring is such an individual thing. I am mentoring one young magician in USA, one in Germany, One in Cyprus one in Bulgaria, and one in the UK.
The important point is not to give them TOO much at once.If the young man in question is a beginner or near beginner then the Mark Wilson huge book SHOULD be enough for him to cope with for several months.
Only then onto the RRTCM.
Annemann is best left till he is very experienced.

Let him master the handlings of several effects then TEACH him HOW to routine them into a small Act/performance. Otherwise he will end up as just another'Show Us A Trick Guy'.

Make him SCRIPT his patter. Most important to avoid the hm's, er's, ah's, awkward pauses, wrong wordage etc.

Running alongside this I would put him onto watching tapes or dvd's-- other magicians performing--performing NOT explaining tricks. And even this, at his early stage--limit the number of what & who he watches.
Encourage him to go see Good Theatre-- Not magic and watch how actors & performers, control & sway & convince their audiences.

STRESS Presentation. Teach him to engrave on his heart & mind:
Presentation First. Method second. And
Magicians love tricks. Audiences love entertainment.

Showmanship: I have written a lot on this. You cannot, at the beginning, stress Showmanship. He will, at this stage be interested in --tricks.
Develop these but again NOT too many.
Remember: all Magicians, young mature, amateur or professional are like sponges! They love to absorb more and more and more. Check your own magic cupboards & ask yourself, 'How much of this stuff do I really use??'

Once he has some linked Routines & Presentations, you begin, slowly, to add the Showmanship.
teach him to play the tricks TO his audience not AT them. Eye contact, head & hand positioning, gestures, pace., timing, vocal expression, variation, clarity and audibility.
NOT all at once I might add.

Many magic writers say-- be yourself. This doesn;t always work.
Alas, many magicians do NOT have a natural, performing personality.
If your pupil has any 'flare' then you start there, with what he has got.
If not, the personality, may have to be developed, even to the extent of playing 'in character'.
But start with what he has.

ABOVE all; ensure he reads magic and does not become a dvd clone!
Dvd's show you how but books make you think for yourself.

Allen Tipton

Interesting points.

As a relative newbie I'm coming at this stuff from two angles. I learnt some easy but impressive tricks (Out of this World, Do as I Do, Spectator cuts the aces, etc etc etc) and do them as often as possible purely to work on patter, presentation and so on without having to worry about technique. This is proving very helpful. At the same time I'm working on various sleights and gradually introducing them as I build confidence. The Ambitious Card routine is ideal for this because you can make it as simple or complicated as you want and the more skills you acquire the better it gets.

Thank you everyone, especially Allen, thank you for taking the time, it much appreciated.

Lenoir too, as you've been very helpful via PM.

I just happy to be in a position to give someone else some of the chances I didn't have.

i'd be really interested to read what lenoir wrote.

must be top secret i guess


allen that was some really soild advice
makes me wish i had a mentor

im worried im turning into a show us a trick guy as its something i hear alot at work an home
and in my local

speaking as a mentor..( I am , and not only to the many good folk here, and on other forums that seek my advice ) Ive got to tell you that on the whole it can be a bit of a thankless task.

I love doing it, dont get me wrong.. but it can get a bit much when you see those you have taught, go off and be more sucessfull than you.

When I started out with RRTCM I found the Go Magic Go Beginner Series Podcast very useful (I think I found a reference to it on this forum somewhere).
I don't know if it would perhaps be helpful for you give him some or all of that?

This link should take you to part one and a little site navigation will find you the rest of 'em:
http://gomagicgo.libsyn.com/index.php?post_year=2005&post_month=09

with great power, comes great responsibility...

looking back, i dunno if i'd have liked a mentor or not...i kinda like finding my own way through things...learn stuff the hard way and all that...

though, i dont see myself turning my nose up at being tutored by someone like lewis jones...

its the patter and the showmanship id like to learn
i've read books on it

but i cant imagine anything could compare than having someone instructing you how to own a crowd