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I was thinking this morning (take note, a rare occurence) as I prepared to do a trick in front of a fairly large group of people (stage magic not my area but i was helping someone out and it went well) about people's wanining attention spans. I was going to do Three Ropes and a Baby (by Richard Sanders) a trick which i love and a trick that inspired me to start practising magic all the time (probably too much as it is my GCSE year) but i had cut it down to two or three phases of a 6 phase routine. (I usually leave one out anyway as i just don't think its that impressive) but i just thought some people would become bored.

I was wondering if any of you who have been in magic for say at least 15 years have perhaps shortened your ambitious card, shortened your coin or rope routines because in this age of TV a spectators attention span is not long enough?

Comments please (you may think im talking rubbish)

Pitto

PS People don't seem to do 'complicated' tricks anymore even if they are reallly good because the spectator has to think about what has happened (lightning card for example)

People will give you there attention if you earn and deserve it.

I perform a lot with ropes and know about 6 different routines, each lasting between four and eight minutes and a lot of rope slieghts and moves.

I hardly EVER perform any of these routines as I learned them and instead, I chop and change to whatever takes my fancy. I can move from Ring & Rope into Fibre Optics and then into a cut and restored and then back into the other routines.

After a while you get a feeling about what is and isn't keeping the attention of the specs and you adjust accordingly. This could include just ending the routine short if they're not responding.

You mentioned the Ambitious Card, I don't actually have a routine for it. I make the card come to the top in as many different ways that I feel and it goes down great

I do the ambitious card as almost an ad-lib. Basically because over the years, I've learned numerous ways to do the effect, and it's nice to have some fun with it and keep the effect going until a point I feel boredom is setting in (usually when someone nips away to the bar!).

My personal advice is that not every effect suits every magician. Perhaps if you're becoming aware that people's attention span is somewhat diminishing, either drop the effect from your set or fizz it up a little.

Another fabulous way to enhance any set is to pace it correctly. Build them up, with something amazing, then fill the gap when they're still high with something less fantastic. And always finish on a high—a lovely thing is to be asked to do 'one more, one more'.

I have fizzed upo my rope trick but the particular on i mentioned when i saw it the first time lasted about 12 mins. You mentioned 6-8 which i do not think is too long.

RE getting asked to do one more i am familliar with that pleasure cant keep up ther's a few people that always ask to see one i am running out of tricks for these people (not wanting to repeat one).

It was not meant as a question to help me as such, just a questoin out of genreral interest.

Thanks for the comments

Pitto

why the 15 yrs+ why not 10yr or 5.
anyway i see your point over the years i have seen that children and adults expect more from there entertainers content wise and expect more bang for there buck so to speek.

alot of the old classics have been over exposed and are avalable to any kid or adult willing to by a cheap magic set or book they also expect you to do harry potter grade magic and they want it just as instaneous.

so yes i have cut down routines and emphasised the punch lines, that said theres now a trend to swing back to the longer programe particularly with the pre mtv generation and the shall we say less teletubby more book read section of the public.

at the end of the day its horses for courses and you need to be more flexable thease days than you could get away with in the past.

Magicdiscoman, thats what i meant!

You phrased it bettere than me. People want everything 'punch line standard' all the way through so you have to cut down the routine.

Cheers,

Pitto

no problem i,m not always that clear but glad to help when i can.

why the 15 yrs+ why not 10yr or 5.

Interesting thought. Is this to say that magicians of 15 years are greater than those of 10 or 5. Years help, but the learning curve varies.