Magic Tips - The Basics

Here are some magic tips - consideration of www.magichat.co.uk


Tip 1: Be Natural
The secret to good sleight of hand is naturalness. No quick, jerky motions, no hand wagging or waving! You must work slowly, deliberately, and naturally. Then coins and balls and rings and cards will disappear and reappear at your fingertips, not because you are involved in all kinds of complicated machinations, but magically!

Tip 2: Watch Your Angles
Become aware of "angles." Those are the sight lines between the object you have palmed off and the spectator's eye. If your "angles" aren't right, your audience may glimse the object, and for all practical purposes your tricks will be exposed.

Tip 3: Practice Palming Wherever You Are
The most important skill of the good sleight of hand man-the ability to palm an object undetectably-can be acquired almost effortlessly if you get into the habit of palming coins and other small objects during the course of your daily activities. Palm an object in either or both hands while you write, eat, watch TV, walk around, or do almost anything else. If you are careful about your angles, no one will ever know what you are up to, and before long, what you now approach somewhat self-consciously will become second nature, and you'll palm objects boldly, confidently, and successfully every time.

Tip 4: Presentation Is Half The Battle!
Presentation is really what it's all about. A minor trick well presented is infinitely superior to the most elaborate machinations which an audience can't understand or relate to.
There are absolutely superb magicians... incredibly knowledgeable and adept practitioners of the magic art, respected and revered by their brother conjurers, who aren't nearly as effective in front of an audience as vastly less competent magicians who present their wares well.
What good are miracles if nobody enjoys them? Your presentations should be simple and straightforward and easily understood so that your audience grasps the full meaning of what you are doing and saying.
Think about that next time you do a trick.

Tip 5: Never Repeat A Trick!
Never repeat a trick for the same audience. That is one of the cardinal rules of magic. When you do, your audience knows what to expect, and what may have looked like a miracle the first time may be disappointingly easy to figure out the second time that you show it.

Tip 6: Patter is Important
Most magician's patter fits into one of two broad categories. The first, and by far the most popular, is the more or less straightforward approach. The magician simply describes what he is doing. He may do it with humor, he may do it seriously, but essentially he describes the action that is taking place.
The second type involves the use of a story-line. The magician weaves little stories around the effect he is performing. His props become the characters and places in his plot. Both techniques can be effective-or not-depending on how well they are done.
Obviously the type of patter you use is directly dependent on the type of person you are. Unless you are doing a pantomime act on stage or a short manipulative routine close-up, you do have to speak though or things will start to become boring. You don't have to be super-glib, but you do have to explain what you're doing and make it clear to your audience.
That doesn't mean that everytime you make a coin disappear you have to say, "Look, I place the coin in my right hand and I take it with my left...," but it does mean that you have to fill in awkward pauses, keep your audience interested, and make sure there is no confusion about what your are doing.
If you feel patter is going to be a problem for you, just be descriptive. After you repeat a particular effect a number of times, you'll find that the better phrases you use will stick with you, the duller phrases will slip away, and soon you will be presenting your trick with the finesse of a pro.

Tip 7: Practice Intelligently
Since practice is to a great degree repetition, there is a tendency to midlessly repeat the moves your are working on over and over again, and while this certainly helps, you will get much better results if you think about what you are doing, at least in the beginning. For example, if you are practicing a move like the Knuckle Cut, don't just slop along at a break-neck pace. Start out very slowly and deliberately, and make a conscious effort to do it as neatly and as smoothly as you can.
Continue at an exaggeratedly slow rate until your hands become thoroughly accustomed to the move, and then gradually increase your speed until you are proceeding at a natural pace.
Even when your are practicing while your are involved in doing something else, such as watching TV, for example-work slowly and the end results will be far more gratifying.

Tip 8: Never Show Anything You Can't Do Perfectly!
Never show anything to anybody, ever, unless you are thoroughtly prepared. Perfoming a sleight well enough to fool people requires self-confidence, and that come only when you have practiced sufficiently to do your moves smoothly and without hesitation. If you don't do them perfectly in front of your mirror, you are certainly not going to do them well in front of an audience, and nothing is more discouraging than flubbing in front of your friends.

Tip 9: Don't Tell!
Never expose a trick. Never tell how it's done... not to friends, not to family, not to anyone! Magicians never do. You will be admired and respected much more if you don't. If your friends really want to know, let them learn the hard way, as you did. You could also tell them to join MH to learn a few things.

Tip 10: You Can Learn Sleight Of Hand!
Most sleight of hand experts learned from books, and if they could do it, so can you. It doesn't take any inborn skills or special physical characteristics to do sleights well. If you can read what I'm typing, you certainly have enough intelligence to learn them easily, and if you can tie your own shoelace, you surely have enough coordination to do any move, and then some! Just remember that sleight of hand, like any skill, should be learned from the beginning, so start with the easiest effects first. Practice long and hard, and never proceed to the next sleight until you have mastered the one you are working on!




Cheers,
Josh

These are great tips and all magicians should read it. Many are so excited to perform magic (they don't know the general rules of magic) that they don't get the best reactions. It's like playing basketball, but not knowing how to pass, dribble, rebound, etc. Also, all experienced magicians should posess good audience management/control.

Here's a good one as well. Magicians should give credit where credit is due. I'm always sharing who inspired me or what magician (inventor/creator) inspired the idea of the trick. Great magicians also know their history and this is a good way to build that.

Well, thanks for the tips and I hope everyone take them to heart. Great job on the find.

Thank you kindly for the comment, hopefully there put into works by beginners. I'll have more coming soon.




Cheers,
Josh