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I realised the performance of the trick can be worth more than the trick it self and can turn a simple card trick into an impossible feat and mystical experience.

But the prolem is I have no idea where to learn anything like this. We have books and videos to teach sleight of hand and menalism, but I haven't come across too much that helps me with the theatrics of the performance itself.

Please name some resources where I can learn how to control tension and attitude and whatever can help my overall performance.

Just name some sources please. I know half of you magicians right now are dying to tell me it comes with experience and you learn by performing. Thanks~

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz is gold.

5 Points in Magic by Juan Tamariz is also a classic.

Some of the essays in Eric Mead's Tangled Web are also very inspirational.

http://shwood.squarespace.com/news/2009 ... areer.html <-- Very insightful. The suggestion to read Dahl alone is very wise.

Here's a question...

how did richard burton, al pacino and michael caine become such good actors?

IAIN wrote:Here's a question...

how did richard burton, al pacino and michael caine become such good actors?

and William Shatner.....dont forget Shatner

For Shatner it was a bit of a trek becomming a star.

You could join a local amateur dramatics society and learn some acting skills.

By far the best thing you can do to learn showmanship and audience control is join your local Toastmasters club and learn to present with skill and confidence.

The next best option is to join a local drama group and learn to act.

A third option is to begin busking. You will either sink or learn to swim.

I also recomend toast masters. Communication is everything. And it really is amazing how just speaking properly and effectivly spruces up a performance. Watch Ricky Jay if you need an example if how effective a good speaker can be.

You could join a local amateur dramatics society and learn some acting skills.

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz is gold.

I agree with both of these, but also your own advice...

it comes with experience and you learn by performing.

Maybe you're not ready for paid performance, I get annoyed with the whole, been a magician for five minutes and they are already a 'professional' have a website, and are booking gigs.

I would suggest meet friends, and show them magic, or perform at family gatherings. You'll get better the more you do, just try to do a little each day.

Jeff McBride strongly recommends Toastmasters.

TonyB wrote:Jeff McBride strongly recommends Toastmasters.

And also Ballroom dancing, apparently. He and his Wife were taking lessons round about the time of his Blackpool Lecture.

Never underestimate acting. I cannot stand hammy acting. Plus, don't think you have to reinvent the wheel; there is an entire field related to theatrical meaningful performance studies- drama and theatre. Obviously nobody has all the answers which everyone agrees with as to how performance should work and that's part of the journey, thinking and learning for yourself. For this end then, I could reccomend definitely:

-Stanislavski 'An actor's work' (A single volume which contains 'An actor prepares' and 'Building a character' I think you can get it off Amazon)- The master of the 'naturalist' school of acting- perfect for magic, in my opinion. Elementary text on acting theory.

-'Brecht on theatre' again, easy to get hold of, some great thoughts contained within. Elementary text.

-'Theatre and its double' by Antonin Artaud. Again, one of the pioneers of modern theatre and the 'theatre of cruelty'; elementary reading on theatre.


Well... as a matter of fact, there are many, many books in this field that I could reccomend, but whats all this about finding stuff out for yourself? But look up some key people like Bertold Brecht, Artaud, Peter Brook e.t.c. and just have a google about these things if you're not prepared to invest time and money in books. Thinking about theatre will help you answer the questions about 'what should performance mean? What is it's role? How should it work?' and developing your artistic vision for Magic. All the greats have done this, not all explicitly through thinking about theatre (although in the earlier days of 'modern' magic I believe this to be so) but in some respect they all have- Tommy Wonder being the perfect example.

Of course though, there are some magic related texts. Darwin Ortiz' 'Strong Magic' has been reccomended, as has Juan Tamariz (I would probably reccomend getting every single thing you can find of Tamariz, but thats probably not very helpful) both of which are perfect examples. Nelms' 'Magic and Showmanship' would be quite an accessable and easy to get hold of book, too. Nelms, as I psychically predict Mark Lewis will back me up on, did not actually perform magic or prepare magic shows, but, he was a theatre director and if you know anything about theatre and acting it is incredibly obvious throughout the book. The insight is in how the book relates to Magic.

Finally, it will take 'time and experience'. But there may not be millions of books strictly related to magic/ mentalism performance philosophy (Possibly because there is no correct 'answer' per se) however, once you get used to magic literature you will find that authors tend to write their performance philosophy in there somewhere and offer advice on performance all over the place, which you will pick up as you go along. For example, if you know the age old classics of Harlan Tarbell's contributions to magic*, there is not a set section on 'this is how you should perform' which gives all his advice and the rest are just packet tricks... absolutley not! Performance advice rears it's head on every single page, every trick and every interlude and digression. To give another example, take 'Expert Card Technique'. By title you may assume that it is not performance philosophy related, but as will all good magic books there is performance advice given all over the place and in this particular book, a chapter devoted entirley to presentation which is worth the books value on its own.

So- read around... think... stick with it... and time, hard work and origionality always pay.



* If you don't, you really should! What Euclid is to Geometry (In fact, there are '13 books' to Euclid and the term 'Royal road' was first used by Alexander the great- I think- in reference to this this work!), the 13 steps is to mentalism, RRTCM is to card performance... the Tarbell course is to magic.

EDIT: I forgot to mention being entertaining. Perhaps the most glossed over aspect of performance theory. If you can't be entertaining, unless you are selling yourself as Jesus, there is no point in doing magic.

Mandrake wrote:

TonyB wrote:Jeff McBride strongly recommends Toastmasters.

And also Ballroom dancing, apparently. He and his Wife were taking lessons round about the time of his Blackpool Lecture.

...and martial arts (to improve stage movement).

You can see the martial arts influence in his shows. Can't see the dancing though!

Jing wrote:Can't see the dancing though!

I got the impression that it was Mrs. McBride's idea - "C'mon Jeff, put those masks down and let's foxtrot around the room'!"

lolz wrote:But the prolem is I have no idea where to learn anything like this. We have books and videos to teach sleight of hand and menalism, but I haven't come across too much that helps me with the theatrics of the performance itself.

Please name some resources where I can learn how to control tension and attitude

To begin with I think you may be best looking up on Amazon or in your local library books on Actors Warm-Up Exercises. Practice the exercises on breathing/filling lungs and then the exercises that are usually tongue twisters or expressing different vowel sounds everytime immediately before you perform. It is important to do this. It will give your voice a more solid sound and your words will be much more fluent - your audience (no matter how large or small, formal or informal) will find your voice much easier to listen to and you will find your performance benefits no end as a result. I think this is very important and will help alot with any tension you are feeling prior to performing and will help to loosen you up. That is the purpose of the exercises.

I think this is more important to begin with than reading Stanislavski at this stage. There are some wise stories he tells, but I can't see it as an instant fix - it took me almost a year to read An Actors Work. If you are having problems with controlling tension and attitude and want to know the basics of theatrics of the performance I think you are better off looking up the various books on Amazon that give you exercises on Actors Warm-Up Exercises. They will both help you de-stress and work on your voice.

I tried to read Stansosikis books and got bored by it. It great for some people but not everybody and he often fails at getting to the freaking point.

There is a book out called "Win The Crowd" that should help you out too. It's written by a magician, but it's also a book on how to speak in public confidently.