Confessions of a Conjurer

After an ill advised attempt of dish washing I've thrown my back out. I had already booked today off work in an attempt to catch up on rest and then sort out one or two niggles in my life and maybe even a quick visit home to see the family. I'm now stuck flat on my back apart from brief moments of self imposed physio therapy (also known as tea making). This means I'll finally finish Derren Brown's latest work "Confessions of a Conjurer". This book is aimed at the laymen and doesn't''t reveal much in the way of magical method. Well maybe not physical method, but ethos and psychological handling is mentioned. IT is about 300 pages of rambling stream of consciousness. Initially it is set in the restaurant he first performed close up magic in, but takes a complete tangent every half a page. I'm currently on page 150 and he's JUST started performing a trick for a table. His description of his first approach to a table was perfect, and summed up my first ever approach to a pack of drinkers in a bar. Fortunately I still managed to get out and perform last Friday and Saturday morning at work. Oil and Water went down very well. I performed it for about 15 people in all, and only one noticed where something 'fishy' may have occurred. However much like Derren Brown himself says, the trick lacks reason, it lacks plot. it is purly showing off card manipulation there is no other explanation unlike other tricks where people can believe it was an example of mind twisting spiritual interference or just actual magic.

Gliding Away

I had meant to spend time this week working on the "Elmsley Count". However whilst reaching the slight in my now expanding Library I realised I was missing a wealth of effects by not working on "The Glide". This is one of the simplest slights, but it can be used to great effect it seams/ I am rapidly forming the opinion that you don't get points for being over complicated. Participants are impressed by smoothness and easy handling. That is not to say that complex slights are not to be ignores, merely that easier and more reliable slights can afford some wonderful reactions when you may not be up to performing something complex.

Oil and Water From Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. Effect. The spectator is shown 6 cards, three black and three red, (ace, two and three in red, four five and six in black) they are shown alternating red black red black red and black but the numbers appear random. The magician shows the bottom card and draws it, placing the card on the top of the deck. this is repeated several times. The magician then hands the pack over to the spectator who then fans the deck to reveal the cards have separated into two halves, red and black, and are now in numeric order.

Reaction Amazingly positive. There is a certain subtle misdirection involved, and I have tweaked the presentation from the book slightly. However all in all this is a very simple method of performing a classic of magic. I Have managed a very clumsy attempt of the Guy Hollingworth version of this trick. Once I can perform it smoothly I shall try each version against each other.

More Card Cheating from Daryl. Well Daryl showed how to control four cards with the "The Glide" I simply used 4 aces and turned it into another " Magicians cheat at cards" again. This time the spectator can say "Stop" when they want me to draw a card into my hand and I still show 4 aces.

Reaction Yet to be used in the wild.

new trick time methinks

Well we are rapidly approaching another night at the Goth club. The last time I was there I had no real new material. Instead I used this time to actually chat and socialize for once. However I need to build up the repertoire some more and more importantly hone what I have and tweak presentation. I've come up with a way of organising my act. On small card I write the name of the trick, what sort of effect the trick is if it uses slights or not and if the card is stacked. I then in one corner on the bottom write the starting stack and on the other corner the finished stack. This way I can group tricks in to theme (eg psychological, card sharp etc) and then work out the best order to work the effects. I already have a 'Starting Stack' that enables me to go through 'Here then there' and 'Do as I do' followed very quickly with 'Aces High'. Hopefully I'll have time today to work though Mark Wilson's course and find some other tricks that work well with this crowd. (there are MANY tricks very early on in the course HOWEVER some build on earlier tricks and so would feel slightly repative). I may see if I can laminate Paul Daniels 'Age Cards' effect and try it out with a few different presnetation.

That awkward stage

I'm at that awkward age. You know when your in your early teens and things a growing too fast and your clumsy. And you suddenly have knowledge of things such as women, but no idea on how to go about doing anything with them? Much like many other things I have studied I've reached a place where I can spot my mistakes very quickly, and I spot a lot of them. I've not gotten any worse as a card handler, I can just see what I'm doing wrong. Wrong is a rather big word for it really, I can see where I need improving. It's at this point many people give up but it's a useful tool in improving. This has happened before with regard to some slights (I may have mentioned it in the past) and each time I work through it I become a better magician. So the 'old school' approach is called for. This isn't a case of buying new books or props, nor is it some sort of self realisation meditation. it's, you guessed it practise.
On the subject of books. Is it so bad that I crave magic books to look just like that, MAGIC. Don't get me wrong, I KNOW what's inside is what's important. BUT I am a very large 5 year old, I like my things to be pretty and shiny. I recommended to a young lady who has just started contact juggling that she take the shiny pretty ball as she's more inclined to practise with it. It's the same with books and e, I love opening absolute magic, it looks like a magical tome, whilst Mark Wilson's course (The definitive magic book) looks like something form the kids department. I'm working through the Mark Wilson book and just dealing with the fact that the first bunch of tricks are just a little too simplistic for my audience. At least without giving major thought to presentation. So I'm not going to buy a new magic book for a few months BUT I am going to buy Derren Browns Confessions of a Conjurer. Apparently it's not so much an auto biography and more a stream of consciousness.

The strangest sort of vanity.

As a child I didn't like revising for exams. It wasn't because I found the task hard or boring. I just didn't like realising there may be something about a subject I didn't know. Maybe it was fear of failure that motivated this strange behaviour. it is possible I feared that if there was something I didn't know then I'd never know it. Silly, stupid and dangerous behaviour which i fought to control. I was the same with magic tricks as a kid. When given a magic set I'd try to make all the tricks work without reading the instructions because "I should be able to work it out!". Utter nonsense, at that point in my life I didn't know any fundamentals of magic to build on, but I still got angry with myself for not being able to work things out unaided. I am still guilty of this possibly indicator of mental illness at times. When reading a book I may skim some parts as if telling myself I'm not really reading it , thus necessitating a good hard slap from my super-ego. This is why I prefer to think of magic as a craft and not an art. To me an art is a pure expression in some form, which magic when performed with heart can be. But a craft is somethign you continually work at to improve. Thus you are allowed to be rubbish when you start, and even have days when you are not as fluent in your moves as you'd like. The point is to practise even when your messing up to remind yourself that this is all part of the process of getting better. All to often I may be feeling a little rough and so spend time reading books on the performance aspect instead of learning new tricks or more importantly, getting my current repertoire smooth and fluid. There's nothing wrong with this from time to time, showmanship IS important, but it's important to realise when you are studying for the the right reason and when you're just hiding from the practise because you've become afraid of it.

they problems with being masterless.

I sometimes wonder if my blog title makes me sound cocky. "I don't NEED a teacher" is what some people may assume. But it's more the case that like many people entering the world of magic I simply can't find one or afford one. So much like many magicians I have to learn from books, and now from DVD's. (on that note I must say that both are good ways of learning with their advantages and disadvantages). There are many problems with not having a teacher. For one case bad habits can creep in, and maybe we don't practise as much as we should because we don't get checked on once a week. This can be worked around by having friends also learning magic and demonstrate for them weekly. But there is one problem I have yet to find a way around. Confidence. I am awaiting a book on childrens' party magic. I love working with kids, they have the same amount as energy as me so I don't have to feel like I'm dragging my feet with them. But I also think children's magic is less scary to perform. I told my partner that once I get the book I may need a few simple, cheap prop before I can perform. She just looked at me for a few moments and said "You just need a plain pack of cards". She's seen me perform, for cash no less, with a simple plain deck of cards. For some reason I have just lost all my confidence for performing card magic and other close up magic for cynical grown ups. All this even though I got good reviews and received payment for doing it months a go and I have practised a lot since, and learnt more techniques both in tricks and handling people.
SO here's the plan. it's Christmas soon, there will be parties. It's time to work my socks off for a few weeks and get some gigs.

been a while again

It's been a while again since my last update. Unlike other times this is also means I haven't been practising as much as I should have. This doesn't mean I've not been working on the craft however. The reason behind the lack of practise does sound like a rather lame excuse. My gf has asked me not to work with cards whilst we were watching television. That was my main double lift and false shuffle time! We've talked more and the ban has been lifted.
To prepare to become a party magician I've taken the following steps. I've been learning to juggle to begin with,. I'll never perform juggling in the act I think, at least not for a very long time anyway. HOWEVER juggling has improved my hand eye co-ordination as well as my ability to control my hands in separate tasks at the same time. I may well try to incorporate a little contact juggling however. I've also dabbled in Balloon Modelling. I tried a few years ago with no success but now -with a very cheap kit no less- I picked it up in a few minutes. I think this adds weight to my theory that when you practise magic you develop a 'knack' for picking up skills that use digital dexterity.

Following the Paul Daniels course I've looked into the actual performing part or magic. I've started the ball rolling with my CRB check and I've found an easy and cheap way to sort out insurance etc. (according to a friend who performs balloon modelling at childrens' parties says he's never really been asked for it)

One side note, after seeing some flourish displays from young magic students my confidence took a huge knock. BUT then I realised they didn't' know many actual tricks, and the tricks they knew were quite transparent. Confidence come with elegance and ease of handling, and vice versa. Both have their seed in practice practice practice.