talkmagic.co.uk

Hello,

Out of interest, how did you guys as beginners begin to develop your magic? Did you purely work through Mark Wilson's complete course/another book? Or did you use various books and choose just your favourite effects from them? And another question, if you CAN remember explain your development after 9 months of magic, did you by then know a lot of basic sleights? a couple of card tricks?

Just wanted to know so I can have an idea if I'm on the right track or if I'm just a lost soul..

Regards,

Johnny

For me, I just started working my way through Mark Wilson. If I remember rightly, I set myself a month on each chapter, to go through it and really learn it. I'm not quite sure where I was after nine months but I probably had a very basic card set together by then and perhaps a few coin effects that I was annoying my friends and family with.

For me I found a magic book in the charity shop that was what started my journey.

Just learn what interests you. If you spot an effect that makes you buzz, learn it. A lot of people find a 'type' of magic that captivates them, so try a bit of all of it and that might happen to you, and the route will be obvious.

The main thing is to remember that you shouldn't learn to do a trick, you should learn to understand how and why a trick works. Understand what is achieved in each phase. Understand timing. Understand misdirection, and understand what really creates a magic moment.

Dont neglect the basics, but at the same time, don't be scared of something complicated. Try it, and if you cant do it you, come back to it.

Theres a ton of amateur magicians that give up because they get daunted, but the truly passionate ones will alway keep learning and trying and creating and developing.

I wish Mark Wilson's book had been available when I started! I began with "What's New in Magic" by Walter Gibson, Hugard's "Modern Magic Manual" and Henry Hay's "Amateur Magician's Handbook". I can still recommend all of these. Look out for other Gibson books too - his two "Complete Books" especially (out of print, of course).

Barry

For card-work you can do no better than spending time on each volume of Roberto Giobbi's Card College.

I spent about 4 years methodically working through vol's 1-5, and now have a solid foundation of core techniques that have helped me progress through card magic these past 11 years.

As a kid I had magic kits and books by Ali Bongo.

I largely forgot all of it though.

As an adult getting back into magic I started with "Royal Road To Card Magic" and from there the most useful books have been "Every Trick In The Book" by Charles Dancey and "Seriously Silly" by David Kaye.

I started at seven, so I can't remember.

TonyB wrote:I started at seven, so I can't remember.

Are you sure, Tony? I started at around five, and I remember very well! I began with tricks from Ellisdons, then a magic set from Woolworths.

Barry

I started with a book in French of card magic when I was about 8 or so, then did nothing until the age of 39 when I picked up a copy of Royal Road and started to make my way through that.
I then went to a "magic school" - six sessions of tutoring in various forms of magic and performance by a pair of professional magicians and never looked back...

My father opened a magic shop when I was nine and I was drafted.

When it comes to practise I break it down like this.
Read or watch an effect (or slight or flourish).
Focus through it, work out what is happening and when.
Then if it's close up, esp card or coin work through the moves when watching Tv. You need dedicated practise time as well, but I find constant practise for an hour a night in front of "Castle" or "The Mentalist" helps build up the muscle memory as well.
My card fans, one handed cuts and shuffles were all worked through in front of the goggle box.

If you reach a point where you are messing up a move then do something else for a few hours and then return to it. Often you are exercising muscles in new and interesting ways and they need time to recover. Hope this helps you.

me, i talk to myself a lot, i have a tape recorder often on hand. or my easel. i find this helps me. i get in a lot of disagrements with myself when working on devising routines