talkmagic.co.uk

Plenty of sound, well thought-out advice there.

My thoughts would be firstly - have a sit and think about this; what's the absolute worst thing that can happen if you do a trick for a stranger and it goes wrong (presuming we're not talking about sword swallowing or extreme escapology)? It goes wrong. End of. There isn't one of us with any experience here who hasn't made a bollix of something sometime - so what?
There's a scottish saying - the man who never made a mistake never made anything. I think one of the things that can hold us back is the idea that these strangers will spend the rest of their lives sniggering about you. They won't. If you screw something up they'll forget it in a minute. Get it right, and they'll remember you forever.

Secondly - one of the differences between immature and mature people is how we deal with mistakes. We either beat ourselves up about them, or we learn from them. Mistakes are how we get good.

Thirdly - if you practise magic, you're a fan as well. You love to be amazed, amused and baffled by magic. You get enormous enjoyment from watching it; so realise that you have a chance to give some of that to someone else. A spec isn't doing you a favour by watching, you're doing him one by performing.

And finally, remember this. Everything you've ever done that was worth doing; from learning to drive to asking your girlfriend out for the first time was scary.

They were worth it though, weren't they...

Craig Browning wrote:You have a point here and I will admit that I've had to use such resources along side Hypnotherapy and my own routine of Meditation/Affirmation and even self-hypnotic programming. Yet, there still comes that point in time where you have to jump into the pool and actually start swimming.

I agree, Craig. The difference between CBT and almost any other form of therapy is that it absolutly requires you to do what you are afraid of. The reason I think it is useful is that the CBT therapist is trained to support you through the process, and to reduce fear and anxiety.

All of you have really valid points to make and I'm gonna print each message out and stick them on the wall in front of me.
I don't have "colour Monte" but I'm gonna get one looks like a goodun.
Again i can't thank you all enough for the kind words. I can and will get over this small problem.

Although I never had any problems performing for large groups I was crippled by shyness until I hit my twenties. Even now I have to talk myself up for a close-up gig, though I would walk onto the stage at the Royal Albert Hall without even thinking about it.
In my twenties I made the decision that I would have to live in the real world (no one would pay me to sit and read books all day) so I had to get out there. It wasn't always easy, but it was worth the effort. I quickly discovered that the worst that can happen is embarassment - and embarassment passes quickly and hurts a lot less than a brick dropping on your toe.
You need to just screw up your courage and do it and to hell with the consequences. And when you do that you will discover that the consequences are never that bad. Good luck with it.

liverpool 7 wrote: I don't have "colour Monte" but I'm gonna get one looks like a goodun.

Color Monte is still one of my favorite packet effects... your mentioning it here brought back some fond memories

You might look at the Gypsy Curse routine as well... loads of fun!

Ordered "colour monte" last night, don't know how i missed this from what i've read about it, it's a well renowned and classic packet trick. .
Craig. Which Gypsy curse routine? i've googled it and there seems to be 2. One by peter Kane and one by Tonny Van Rhee.

liverpool 7 wrote:Ordered "colour monte" last night, don't know how i missed this from what i've read about it, it's a well renowned and classic packet trick. .
Craig. Which Gypsy curse routine? i've googled it and there seems to be 2. One by peter Kane and one by Tonny Van Rhee.

I don't know that I can answer that... I'd go with the older version of the two but I honestly don't recall who introduced the version I've used for years.

Basically it is a packet of old styled playing cards with a "find the lady" type of theme to it -- a gambling trick... at first. At the end, every card is revealed as a winner, which is the curse in that the mage hustled an old Gypsy who swore vengeance.

That's the original Gypsys curse, which evolved into the wild card, and was the work of Peter Kane.( a lovely man.. i really miss him)

You might also want to try Strange Travelers and maybe the Princess Card trick. Both are pretty much self working and should give you a good boost in confidence.

You might also want to try Strange Travelers and maybe the Princess Card trick. Both are pretty much self working and should give you a good boost in confidence

Cheers Randy.
Since i got the Colour/Color Monte i've been practicing it every day and can do it with my eye's shut. Yesterday i showed my girlfriend and when i'de done the Monte she said "that was good" and i felt a bit sort of let down, as i'de done it perfectly and it went well. I went out the room about 10 minutes later and came back in almost immediately and found my girlfriend had taken the 3 cards out the wallet that they came in and was looking for extra cards and even inspecting the wallet to see if there was anything hidden. I said "what you doing" she said "how the f%*k did you do that, i know you got some hidden cards here some where". It was then that my confidence shot through the roof and it felt great. Going to carry that packet trick with me every where now and show as many people as i can.

Good for you!

I love Color Monte - it never gets old.

if you dont have the confidence to approach a complete stranger, start from that first. talk to shop people, they have to be nice. build it on from asking a stranger about a location of something etc.
if you have no problem approaching a stranger, start doing some easy self working tricks.

just start slowly and you`ll progress. with experience you get confidence

kaala wrote:if you dont have the confidence to approach a complete stranger, start from that first. talk to shop people, they have to be nice. build it on from asking a stranger about a location of something etc.
if you have no problem approaching a stranger, start doing some easy self working tricks.

just start slowly and you`ll progress. with experience you get confidence

To an extent you have to have a friendley personality though I mean if you are arogant and confrontational do not bother (this is not saying you are this liverpool btw (I understand how it could be mis construde))
I find that I do not have to find people to perform too they tend to find me...

I was messing round with a deck of cards on teh train the other day when a lad walked past and said "are you a magician can you show me a trick....so I did.

20 minutes later and half a carriage full of spectators I got off to thanks mate that made the jounrey much better.

and the other day on the way home from London I performed for a couple of kids with there paretns and again half the train started to get involved.....

If I had been arogant with my first trick no one would have watched they would have gone ... tosser and looked out the window.

Is what I mean is do not get over confident or it will be for the worst. In my honest opion but I am just an amateur so take my words with a pinch of salt if you will

I must be the only person on the planet who plays with a deck of cards on the train and never ends up performing for people as I've never been asked once

I must be really unfriendly or something!

Liverpool, the thing I love about colour monte is that with some blank face cards you can adapt it to anything you want to

Kaala wrote

if you dont have the confidence to approach a complete stranger, start from that first. talk to shop people, they have to be nice. build it on from asking a stranger about a location of something etc.
if you have no problem approaching a stranger, start doing some easy self working tricks.

just start slowly and you`ll progress. with experience you get confidence

Cheers Kaala. Yes this is something that I'm defo' going to work on.
Magicalsmithy wrote

To an extent you have to have a friendley personality though I mean if you are arogant and confrontational do not bother (this is not saying you are this liverpool btw (I understand how it could be mis construde))

I do have a friendly personality smithy and find it easy to talk to people face to face, much easier in fact than typing messages on forums etc.
agecroft wrote

Liverpool, the thing I love about colour monte is that with some blank face cards you can adapt it to anything you want to

Cheers agecroft thats defo' something to think about and work on.
Thanks for all the advice lads, much appreciated.
PS Can some body please tell me how you put someones name where it says Quote. I did it once on another forum ages ago and can't for the life of me remember how it's done.