Practice.. tips?
 

Hi guys!!

Long time no see^^

Now I want to make this thread a way to make myself a better magician.

I entered mismag822's Christmas Contest #32. I spent 3 days making my trick. (about 72 hours.. maybe)
So it took me about a week altogether. (including sleeping, school, etc.)
I was really proud of it myself, and even the other magicians loved it as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYzQQ...eature=related

Sadly, I didn't place anything. I was kind of disappointed.
Surprisingly, some magicians that I thought were good (ie: TricksQuick.. is all I could think of) didn't make it as well.

What was something I did bad and/or good? Any constructive criticism?

Here is another entry that was a trick that I used and won 7th place. (Meaning he used Fast Food as well)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXPyjFTB4cM

Many PMs were sent to me saying that they were surprised as well.

What should I work on?

Thanks,
Azuki

Heya Azuki,

This is a somewhat tough question to answer. However, there are many things you have to take into consideration when practicing a trick. I'm currently making multiple videos that will help explain some of the concepts I will briefly explain now, but, you want to make sure to apply these several things (not necessarily all, since that's difficult):

1) Good plot that is simple to understand and follow,
2) Involvement of spectators in the tricks you perform,
3) Good patter (Meaning what you said or implied previously should match what you say in the future. Otherwise, people will get lost as to what's happening in the trick),
4) Contains an unexpected result or surprise ending (something people did not expect);
5) Requires good showmanship and build up to the climax of the routine;
6) Handling of the cards that are justified, easy to follow for the spectators, and not doubtful. This includes practice x "IT'S OVER 9000!!!!!!" :mad:

These are general things I always keep in mind when coming up with a trick within my routine and they never failed me. Unless I go into detail, it's hard to understand it fully what I intend to say, but that's the gist of it. Otherwise, I'll be writing a book :p.

So in conclusion, look at your tricks, see if they make sense, see if there are parts the spectators may be confused of (from their point of view, not yours as a magician), and check if your handling of the cards are in any way suspicious from a laymen's perspective.

It sounds difficult at first, but it's pretty easy if you break it down. :grin: Good luck!

Bahaha. That made me laugh^^

Thanks Albert for your reply.
As I looked through my videos, I did notice some of my videos that were unclear to me and to the spectators (ppl who were commenting).
I believe that I do a video per week, and I think I should make that longer.
Mastering a trick in a week is too hard. I think about 2-3 weeks will involve my technique, patter, and presentation that will master all of the concept of the trick.

Thanks for the tip, Albert. I appreciate it.
I am going to master some techniques first and make my handlings better:D

Indeed Albert has provided a good excerpt of wisdom and I agree with what he said. I'd also like to add that perhaps even more practice that 2-3 weeks would be better, Ricky Jay said he practiced his moves for perhaps a year before he showed it. That's not to say practice for a year before showing anyone, but the amount of practice it takes to perfect something will take a while.

I actually have very little practice for most of my tricks, but I spend alot of time mastering sleights so when I perform a trick, it makes learning a future trick much easier. Now when I do a new trick I usually run through what patter I want to use, then when I perform I just wing it.Now this may not work for you, but for me it allows for me to use my own personality along with the trick without everything sounding like it's been rehearsed a million times. I know people can sense that. Even when I do tricks that I have done 1000's of times, I just make up stuff as I go along, Impromptu tricks and impromptu patter does wonders sometimes. Sometimes I may do an ACR for people and they pick a 2 of clubs and I may just come up with some stupid reason why that card is special and people beileve that it is indeed special just cause you say it is. But what I'm really trying to get at is rehearsing patter may make some people off as monotonous and that can be boring. This works for me and not everyone may agree, but adding something different everytime you perform may spice it up a notch.

Yup, depending on the style of performance of a magician, this can make or break a performance. So it's important to know what kind of a performer you really are too. However, in general, it's a good idea to have a routine planned out and also an idea of what the patter would be like if you aren't good at immediately coming up with a decent patter. This is personally me. Although I can sort of wing it, I need some kind of guidance to start in order to maximize the potentials of my performances. :)

A nice way to improve in the routines you wanna master is to do Jazz Magic more often (with Jazz Magic i mean improvising in the moment, just like Dani Daortiz normally does) Jazz magic helps you to understand which sleights you master the better (because when you're improvising, by instinct, you don't wanna screw up, so you do what you're confident of), also, Jazz Magic helps you with any kind of pattern because you have to say something while you're doing magic, and as you're not doing something planned, you start to talk and talk.

I started to do Jazz Magic like 6 months ago, now i do it all the time in my non-proffessional acts (pretty much every act i have), i have helped me to put myself in danger, it have gotten me many many ideas of sleights and effects, it have helped me to understand many techniques and it have made me a better magician (when talking about presentation which is the MOST important part of magic, forget about the sleights for a while). If you wanna get better, go out and do some magic after your practice sessions.