Is 100% sleight consistency possible

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Is 100% sleight consistency possible

Postby Flood » Mar 6th, '11, 17:37



I've been recently working on a ring and rope routine and practicing one sleight in particular.I'm not sure the name of the sleight but it's the onw when you have the threaded ring in the palm of your hand and turn it over making a fist.You then wrap the rope around your fist to make an X shape at the back of the hand

Now I can get this move smooth about 95% of the time but there are some times when I drop the ring into the wrong part of my right hand thus flashing the ring that is supposed to be concealed.

I've been practicing this the past few days and it's very good most of the time.Obviously I'm not gonna show anyone yet until it's down.

The only thing is that I can imagine this kinda sleight being more trick to nail 100% perfectly than say your average DL or card sleight.Is it just me or does anyone else have any input on this.

I generally practice till my fingers fall off if that is the advice here anyways

cheers

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Postby spooneythegoon » Mar 6th, '11, 21:47

In the book I have it's called Cliftons Ring Move. I cant do it either :oops:, but have you tried watching yourself in the mirror doing it without the sleight, so you know how it should look?

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Postby Flood » Mar 7th, '11, 02:38

Yeah that's what it's called.I do mimic what it's supposed to look like and I can do it like I said most of the time.The only problem is that a small percentage of the time the ring drops into the wrong part of my right hand.

Perhaps it won't be noticed if i do it in a rushed manner?

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Postby jim ferguson » Mar 7th, '11, 17:40

In response to your original question, no, 100% consistency is not possible. We are human, and no matter how good our sleights get there will always be times when we are slightly off. You can get it pretty consistent and ALMOST 100%, but there will always be the odd error.
    You mentioned that you practice till your fingers fall off - this may actually be working against you. Regular short and focused practice sessions are how we seem to learn best. The practice sessions should also change as your ability with the sleight improves.
PM me if you want any additional info on this.
    jim


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Postby bmat » Mar 7th, '11, 18:30

jim ferguson wrote:In response to your original question, no, 100% consistency is not possible. We are human, and no matter how good our sleights get there will always be times when we are slightly off. You can get it pretty consistent and ALMOST 100%, but there will always be the odd error.
    You mentioned that you practice till your fingers fall off - this may actually be working against you. Regular short and focused practice sessions are how we learn best. The practice sessions should also change as your ability with the sleight improves.
PM me if you want any additional info on this.
    jim


have to agree with the above.
Also:
The ring doesn't have to fall into the exact same part of your hand each time. It is quite easy to maneuver the ring into any position you want. Unless of course it hits the floor, or you are just flashing, in which case more practice is required.

Do you just practice the move over and over again? Or do you rehearse the routine?

What should be happening is that you practice the move until you understand and can achieve tha outcome successfully more often than not.

One you practiced you should be rehearsing. Meaning you put the move into a routine and present the routine to your imaginary audience as if you are actually performing. No stopping or re-adjusting or do overs because you don't get to do that when performing. See the difference?

Practicing over and over again till your hands hurt probably also means you are practicing your mistakes over and over again. Something I've seen all to often.

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Postby spooneythegoon » Mar 7th, '11, 19:46

Flood wrote:Yeah that's what it's called.I do mimic what it's supposed to look like and I can do it like I said most of the time.The only problem is that a small percentage of the time the ring drops into the wrong part of my right hand.

Perhaps it won't be noticed if i do it in a rushed manner?

Dont rush the sleight when you perform, or it will be noticed.

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Postby Flood » Mar 8th, '11, 01:23

Thanks everybody for the feedback.I'm always amazed at how people on these forums respond with help even to people on the other side of the world they will never meet.

I'm not part of any magician society and dont know any magicians so it's difficult for me to rate myself.All I have is my mirror then my family and then out to the real world.

Anyways,I think I'll take that advice of practicing for short periods rather than getting frustrated thanks Jim.I'm an over perfectionist so I think that works against me.I prefer everything to be extra deceptive with no angle issues so when I'm working with this rope routine it's a rather strange thing for me

Bmat,that is good advice on the practicing sleight and then routine.I do both but I find myself in the middle of my 'routine' repeating certain steps if I don't feel it was 100%.I'm also practicing in front of a video camera too mainly because I seem to squint when I'm executing the sleights as if I don't want to see what I'm doing.I do beleive this is common though

And finally Spoony.When I say rushed I meant it as in keep the entire routine at a higher tempo so that the sleights will be quicker along with everything else.I don't mean everything is flowing and then suddenly a rushed sleight.

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Postby bmat » Mar 8th, '11, 03:01

Flood wrote:Thanks everybody for the feedback.I'm always amazed at how people on these forums respond with help even to people on the other side of the world they will never meet.

I'm not part of any magician society and dont know any magicians so it's difficult for me to rate myself.All I have is my mirror then my family and then out to the real world.

Anyways,I think I'll take that advice of practicing for short periods rather than getting frustrated thanks Jim.I'm an over perfectionist so I think that works against me.I prefer everything to be extra deceptive with no angle issues so when I'm working with this rope routine it's a rather strange thing for me

Bmat,that is good advice on the practicing sleight and then routine.I do both but I find myself in the middle of my 'routine' repeating certain steps if I don't feel it was 100%.I'm also practicing in front of a video camera too mainly because I seem to squint when I'm executing the sleights as if I don't want to see what I'm doing.I do beleive this is common though

And finally Spoony.When I say rushed I meant it as in keep the entire routine at a higher tempo so that the sleights will be quicker along with everything else.I don't mean everything is flowing and then suddenly a rushed sleight.


I am huge fan of practicing in front of the camera. Sounds like you are on the right track. Let the perfection thing go or at least try to take a step back, just let it all happen.

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Postby kolm » Mar 8th, '11, 03:04

Flood wrote:And finally Spoony.When I say rushed I meant it as in keep the entire routine at a higher tempo so that the sleights will be quicker along with everything else.I don't mean everything is flowing and then suddenly a rushed sleight.

Do things slowly and take your time, and it will appear even more impossible. People think that the hand is quicker than the eye - but if the hand is slow, they missed nothing

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Postby Nic Castle » Mar 9th, '11, 16:43

jim ferguson wrote:In response to your original question, no, 100% consistency is not possible. We are human, and no matter how good our sleights get there will always be times when we are slightly off. You can get it pretty consistent and ALMOST 100%, but there will always be the odd error.
    You mentioned that you practice till your fingers fall off - this may actually be working against you. Regular short and focused practice sessions are how we seem to learn best. The practice sessions should also change as your ability with the sleight improves.
PM me if you want any additional info on this.
    jim


I believe Jims adivce is excellent. Also I used to try and perfect a sleight so I performed it exactly as it was described or demonstrated. Then I came across a proble, "We are all different" Not everyone can perform a slieght exactly for numerous reasons. I find I learn a sleight or part of a routine and then both make it work for me and find a way of performing it in my style. Personally I have seen some effects performed by numerous magicians and they are all the same and boring. By making a sleight or effect work for you means you are able to make it your own.

Nic

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