talkmagic.co.uk

My belief is that you need to get experience in other areas of social interaction before/as well as magic. Do some amateur dramatics, as someone else said - learn to dance with, and interact with strangers. Learn to do presentations to audiences. Learn to be confident in front of people, possibly as part of a group, THEN be confident in front of people performing magic. Most often in magic, you are on your own! There's no chorus line to hide behind, so learn the basic skills in a safe(r) environment.

Of course there comes a time when you need to do your first magic performance, but you need to have a grounding in other social skills first, and be confident of yourself. You will have enough worrying about the routines/sleights/patter etc.

Re your comments about what I call myself, I am not a "professional" magician, I have another "day job", my main income does not come from magic so I am not a "professional" magician. I am an amateur/hobbyist, but when I decide to, or get invited to work, I charge a fee - often a very good one! Example - professional golfers...pros earn their living from winnings, but amateur golfers can still win money at competitions.

I am a fee-charging amateur. I am much more comfortable with that then the multitude of magicians who have websites saying they are "professional" when they have other sorces of income. Saying that, I am professional in my attitude.

If you REALLY want to get out there, go and perform at charity shows, hospitals, old people's homes etc. They will usually be happy to have you there, and you can practice.

When you perform, you MUST care if things go wrong. You must care how you are going to retain your professionalism, because remember - most people have paid a fee that includes you being there. Think of it this way...."Come and see the amazing cc100, a magician who doesn't care if he screws up a trick in front of you!". They will care. Then they will start to comment and heckle. Have you practiced for that? What are your (rehearsed) outs? Are you going to try and "deal with" or "involve" the heckler - or are you going to just freeze?

I'm not saying you have to give up, but I am saying that social confidence, probably gained from another discipline or exposure is part of the solid grounding required to be a good performer. Many magicians do not think this is important, many do not bother, and that has (IMHO) an impact with the way people see us and what we do.

We pretty much ALL start off nervous like you, I know I did, and as said already in this thread, the nerves NEVER go, we just get better at dealing with them. However, years of presenting, performing, dancing and generall honing my people-facing skills made the first performance easier. Just think of this....as you work with cards, I am assuming you are going to be a close-up magician. Have you ever, really been "close-up" to a stranger, man or woman? Our culture does not normally allow for this, we usually keep a few feet away. You may need to be very close, so that you can load a card into their pocket, or (perhaps) put an arm around them as misdirection so that you can switch a deck. Are you comfortable with this? What if a lady grabs one of your sponges and puts it down her cleavage, what then? (My second gig....). What is your "out" then?

Many people will just say "Go out there and perform", I will not say that, I think too many magicians try and work in front of a fee-paying audience before they are ready and rehearsed in the entire package. It may work for you.

Either way, the only way to get social confidence is to force yourself into situations that may be alien to you. Magic is more than sleights. Even the simplest sleight will come undone when you add the element of an audience.

As they say in the armed forces, "No plan ever survives contact with the enemy".

Bruce

I completely agree with your comments here. Magic is entertainment, after all, and requires the performer to present in an entertaining way. I'm not the most confident person or the most comfortable in front of an audience, which is one of the reasons why I thought more intimate, close-up magic would be better suited to me. Besides, I don't think card magic really works in front of large audiences.

In that regards, I'll probably never become a professional magician. I've only really performed in front of close family and friends who wont really mind if I mess up. I don't know any other magicians personally, so I can only do my best with the books and cards I have. For me it's just a hobby, but even so, I'd like to be able to perform magic in an engaging and entertaining way.

I realise what I've written might seem a bit unstructured or irrelevant, so apologies if it is. Regarding the 'amateur/professional' distinction, a professional earns money from what they do, irrespective of whether they earn a living from it. If you're charging money for your performances, you're a part-time professional magician. At least, that's my opinion. [/i]

cc100 wrote:In that regards, I'll probably never become a professional magician. I've only really performed in front of close family and friends who wont really mind if I mess up. I don't know any other magicians personally, so I can only do my best with the books and cards I have. For me it's just a hobby, but even so, I'd like to be able to perform magic in an engaging and entertaining way.

Depending on where you live there might be a local magic group (bananafish has a link to a list of them in his signature), and there's some informal meetings organised over in the Regional Meetings section, where the most active seem to be London, Manchester and Wales. Everyone is very welcoming, and there's no pressure to do anything. It's a good place to show something and ask lots of questions

Not wishing to take the thread off track, in what other area of life would anyone, ever, claim to be "...a part-time pro"? None that I have ever come across, only ever used by magicians. I'm an amateur magician who occasionally charges people when I entertain them. I would not even say "semi-pro". I think anything else is just magicians trying to get an ego shot.
It's like a CV, say what you can do, not what you are.

Your other thoughts are not unstructured, you seem to be looking for a "roadmap", we all go through it.

You could do a lot worse than buy "Maximum Entertainment" by Weber. No tricks in it, but the best ever (IMHO) book written for mantalists and magicians that explains this jump in mindset that you need to make, in considerable detail.
Bruce

Checked the dictionary definition of 'professional', and I suppose we're both right BrucUK. It can mean 'one who earns a living in a given or implied profession [here, magic], but 'professional' can also mean 'performed by persons receiving pay'. So I suppose you're using the word in a more restrictive sense.

Thanks for the suggestion of joining a magic society. This would certainly allow me to improve and meet people with a similar interest. How strict are the entry requirements, generally? I've heard that for some you have to audition?

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestion of joining a magic society. This would certainly allow me to improve and meet people with a similar interest. How strict are the entry requirements, generally? I've heard that for some you have to audition?

Will be invaluable for contacts and experience. It will allow you to perform and to see how performance should (and should not if we are to be fair...) be crafted.
Yes - some have auditions, but none too hard. They just want to see that you are serious about being a member, and remember..everyone WANTS you to join
Do not get sucked into buying everything that a dealer comes to show you
Buy books until you know what "style" you want to develop into.
Where are you based/live? That way you can get some recommendations of options to try.
Good luck.
Bruce

I will be living in York next year, so I was maybe thinking of contacting the York Magic Circle society. Is anyone a member of it here?

You really shouldn't give up. Everybody experiences the nerves the first time (or hundred) they perform. Like others who've written here, I would say you should have some sort of a rudimentary script made in advance, with an our or two for every trick. Study it, then go out and perform it for free. You need the practice, and you need to feel people. Stand in the corner and perform. It'll come hard at first, but once you do your first trick and people become amazed, things will begin to flow.

I would advise you to perform at carnivals, small shows, restaurants, bars... any place where people won't mind you, and don't have to pay you for the performance. And always know when you're bothering them and leave before that.