Tips for Beginners

[Kevin Kane]

Wow thank you every one for the advice haha....And I have actually become better by just sitting there and practicing haha....

[Jason Clarke]

I do double lifts during the ads on TV or when I'm at the Movies. I will ususally run through the deck half a dozen times, in a mindless way. Yes, I do have half a dozen decks scattered around the House.

Practice is perscistance, you just have to keep at it.

It might help if you have some goals in mind, to help KEEP you motivated to learn, polish and "perfect" the move. As an example, if you like Marlow's "Twisting the Aces" and you have found a showing of it on Youtube, every one in a while go back to that vision and think how good it will be to do that trick.

After all, all you need to do is master the Elsley Count.

Do you think much about the people you are likely to be 'performing for'? What they may like or dislike? What is your personality and how can you bring that to your performances?

One of the best questions to have a real and meaningfull answer to is: "Why do I want to do magic?"
Do you have your answer to this question?

[John Logan]

Originally Posted by Orbitbrown

Practice. Learn moves, not tricks. The mirror is your best friend. The more hours you spend in front of it, the sharper you get. Learn the CORRECT way to do something. For example, the pass...Watch Kaufman's "the Pass" video. Literally study the move and practice the hell out of it before you perform it. I'm just now performing things i learned 6 months ago. Also, try to keep as much to yourself as possible. Don't be quick to share your personal technique and ideas with people. Safeguard it like its your treasure. Also, be selective about what you perform. Perform what applies... Don't do Morgan Strebler's fork bends on the street...why would you have a fork on the street? Do it in a resteraunt. Learn things with everyday objects. The more you read/watch/learn...the deadlier magician you'll be. If you can have a mentor, that would be the best way to learn. No doubt about it.

I remember a while back I PM you on myspace and asked for some tips. I remember that thats exactly what you told me: learn moves, not tricks. The more sleights you learn, the more open your imagination can be.

Ive been trying to live up to that ever since you told me.

Thanks.

~John Logan

[Steve Vaughn]

There are two types of people, those that collect 'sleights' and those that perform magic. I'm rather surprised to see someone suggest to learn moves rather than tricks. To relate it to building a house is not accurate at all. I've found that when learning the art of magic you should learn sleights as you need them. The reason is you will eventually add to your base of knowledge as you learn more routines. A tool is useless if you don't have a use for it. When learning to play guitar do you suggest learning the chords and then assume that they will jump straight into writing their own music? Nonsense. You take a song and say "for this song we need the following chords to be known...xxxxxxx" and you learn those chords as you learn the song. At the end you know the chords AND can play the song. You then learn another song and use those chords as well as a new one, and so on and so forth. Eventually you may perhaps be able to write your own song. No one expects musicians to write originals at the get go and only a fool would think the same of magicians. Whit Haydn wrote a very interesting essay on that very subject.

The fellow says to collect sleights as one collects tools. So you collect your tools, you have your saws, your hammers, your drills, all your bits and wonderful things like that. You have practiced using them, driving nails into a piece of lumber, cutting boards with your saws, drilling holes, you are happy with the fact you can drive a nail. You still cannot build a house. Heck you can't even build a shed. What you can do is nail, drill, cut, and so on. You have to learn how to frame, how to read blue prints, how to hold things together safely and so on. The way this skill is taught is not by teaching them how to use the tools but how the tools are used, big difference.

Learn magic and don't be a move monkey. Magicians entertain people, move monkeys entertain themselves. Move monkeys also tend to muck up any magic they do eventually try to do.

Lastly it is an honor to see Bob Klase here. He is an outstanding magician with vast experience. I respect him a great deal. Between us we only have about 75 years of experience in magic.

In case anyone wonders how I learn a routine this is how it generally goes:

1. read the routine and determine if I like it and it will fit. I'll write the basic routine for me and go over it until I can visualize the performance of the routine.
2. l look at the sleights and if there is one I don't know (now not real likely) I'll go through it enough to allow the smooth walk through of the routine.
3. I walk through the routine changing sleights to match other routines (I do not do seven different double lift versions, that is poor magic, you want everything to look natural).
4. I rehearse the routine, not just practice it, and in the act of rehearsing the new sleight will continue to improve. Performance will not take place until it is down.

Rock on.

[Steve Vaughn]

I do want to bring out there are some sleights that for many, most, people do take some time to get right and the ones that immediately come to mind are the pass and specialty deals (seconds, bottoms). Good seconds and bottoms can take years. Top changes also are tough for some but those are things you'll want to work on. The pass is interesting because you can use different methods to get in the same position but the pass is more effective. Wesley James ones told me, and I believe him, that the only people who say a pass isn't needed are the guys who can't do one.

[Chris Clemmons]

Originally Posted by Orbitbrown

Practice. Learn moves, not tricks. The mirror is your best friend. The more hours you spend in front of it, the sharper you get. Learn the CORRECT way to do something. For example, the pass...Watch Kaufman's "the Pass" video. Literally study the move and practice the hell out of it before you perform it. I'm just now performing things i learned 6 months ago. Also, try to keep as much to yourself as possible. Don't be quick to share your personal technique and ideas with people. Safeguard it like its your treasure. Also, be selective about what you perform. Perform what applies... Don't do Morgan Strebler's fork bends on the street...why would you have a fork on the street? Do it in a resteraunt. Learn things with everyday objects. The more you read/watch/learn...the deadlier magician you'll be. If you can have a mentor, that would be the best way to learn. No doubt about it.

Last thing...realize that nothing is impossible. Cyril understands this concept very well. Live with no boundaries and you'll reach places you only dreamed of. And remember, have fun and spread your talent. It can really change a life if applied the right way. Peace.


Infinitely,
Chris Brown

Well said bro... but you forgot to credit yoda!!!! He's going to be pretty mad... you know what I mean. haha

[Jason Clarke]

Originally Posted by Orbitbrown

Tricks are like sentences you learn in spanish 1. Moves is like understanding what you're saying and knowing the actual language rather than a few canned responses. This allows you move more fluidly throughout any routine or any freestyle effect. . . . . . All I'm saying is, if you keep worrying about the tricks/gaffs/self working parts, you won't have any technique.

Now its up to you ultimately if you don't care about technique and only care about making somebody scratch their heads. The invisible deck is a perfect example of this. No skill required whatsoever, but it generates great reactions. So you can say you don't really NEED technique but if you want to respect yourself and the art you create, brush up on your technique like its a car that you're keeping in mint condition to show your grandchildren and the world someday.

Infinitely,
Chris Brown

Chris, I like the analogy you make with the Spanish Language, one of the clearest and most appropriate ones I've come across.

Try turning off the sound to the DVD player when you are watching the 'performance' section. That way you are less likely to end up being a clone of someone else and not yourself.

If you are learning a multi - phase routine, learn and practice one phase at a time and only move to the next phase in sequence when you are satisfied that you have 'that phase' 60% right. Some may argue for higher or lower %s, I believe that as you incorporate more of the phases to you practice, you improvement in the earlier phases will increase fairly rapidly as you see the whole thing starting to come together

[John Logan]

Originally Posted by John Logan

I remember a while back I PM you on myspace and asked for some tips. I remember that thats exactly what you told me: learn moves, not tricks. The more sleights you learn, the more open your imagination can be.

Ive been trying to live up to that ever since you told me.

Thanks.

~John Logan

When I said that, I meant learn moves first, then learn tricks. It would be hard to do a trick that says "Perform a p**** then double lift" if you dont even know what they are.