Shut Up and Listen - Stone Cold Magic Magazine

Every time I watch the following video, it’s just as magical as if I were seeing it for the first time. Take a peek. We’ll meet on the other side.

Notice that Jeff never says a word. His body language says everything. With some gestures, posture and a few nods of the head, he turns a young boy into a super star magician. It’s beautiful. In the world of pointless pontificatory palaver it’s a refreshing change to see something so beautiful without a single word spoken. And, yes . . . I made up a new word to suit my need for the always alluring alliteration.

Root:

Let’s Remember Our Roots. The Root: Silence and Showmanship. Don’t be afraid to stop. breathe. wait. think. Don’t be in a rush folks. There is nothing more annoying than a so called presentation where the magician won’t shut up and won’t give the audience a chance to participate. I’ve actually got several examples of this, but I thought I’d rather not call anyone out and start a flame war, so just trust me when I say that they’re out there. Many of your perform the Emerson & West effect, Color Monte. It has a very specific patter: This happened, then that happened, then I was out one dollar. Then next that happened, and this happened, and now I’m out two dollars. Then when he did that, $3, then this then that, then $4, etc., etc., etc.

Watch the video below, then I’ll meet you on the other side.

Think about that presentation for a moment. It’s almost word for word right out of the instructions that come with the trick. First, it’s a great trick. Second, the patter is decent. But here’s the problem. When you do that effect for a human (not a video camera), the humans tend to make comments, oohs, and aahs, laughs, gasps, etc. They often will try to talk and relate to the effect. However, everyone I’ve ever seen do this effect (myself included – years ago) just went through the very mechanical motions of the effect and “read” the script not allowing the audience in.

The effect is never as good when you do that. Put some personality and showmanship into. Look to Jeff McBride as an example of how to present.

Branch:

Let’s Build Our Branches. Your Challenge: Shut Up!

Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.

Mystic Mel says:

April 2014 at 9:53 am

I agree, this comes when you are comfortable with your routine and confident in yourself. Another factor is having the ability to be creative. This is where sharing of skills come in to play. You share your mechanic skills and I share my creative skills and we both gain keeping our own personality. To accomplish this, we must both be humble and self confident to share.

Thanks, I enjoyed the article, it was a good learning experience.

Jeff Stone says:

April 2014 at 5:40 pm

@MM – Thanks for the feedback. You’re totally correct. It’s all about self-confidence. That’s a tough thing to have. It’s also the reason guys like Jim Carrey are so funny . . . he has so much confidence that he’s willing to just “let go” and not care what other people think. This allows you to take risks. Without taking some risk, you never know how far you can go.