Study The Professor

Study The Professor
By Jeff Stone

“Confusion isn’t magic.”

“Be natural and use your head.”

Two pieces of wisdom by The Professor Himself, Dai Vernon. So let’s liken this quote unto ourselves. What in our magic causes confusion? What about our magic is unnatural or suggests that we are not using our heads?

Root:
Let’s remember our roots… why is “Twisting The Aces” a classic? Why is “Triumph” a classic? Because they are simple and direct. Twisting the aces has a very direct plot. The cards magically turn over one at a time. It’s a simple show piece that needs minimal patter. Triumph, on the other hand, is a show piece with a story… the secret? As Vernon would say, “You must make the story believable.”

If you don’t have any books or videos of Dai Vernon’s magic, may I suggest that you stop right now and go buy some. There’s an excellent piece on him in the August 2008 Issue of Genii Magazine.

This month’s root is simplicity and naturalness.

Branch:
Let’s build our branches… The challenge this month is to take a look at each of the effects you perform, and ask yourself the following questions about each effect:

  • Is the effect clear?
  • Is the effect logical?
  • Is your patter straight-forward?
  • Are the moves natural?

Is the effect clear?
It’s simple. First, can the effect be described in a short sentence or two? That’s a good indicator. It’s not the end all be all of indicators, but it’s a start. Secondly, is there a clear “punchline?” Have you ever performed an effect where the audience didn’t realize that something had happened? Don’t let that happen to you.

Is the effect logical?
Are you using a riffle force? That’s fine, but the audience may be thinking, “why can’t I just pick a card?” When I use a riffle force I use under one of two conditions. I either purposely pick someone who is a bit of a distance away or I put something sandwiched between the spectator’s hands.

Now I can use one of these lines:

  • Sir, rather than have you come all the way up here to pick a card, I’ll just have you say “stop” as I riffle down the cards.
  • Ma’am since your hands are full (holding the prediction or whatever), rather than having you “pick” a card, I’ll just have you say “stop” as I riffle down the cards.

Obviously the riffle force is only application of this concept. There are plenty of other places where you can double check yourself to make sure you are using logic in your actions.

Is your patter straight-forward?
Seriously folks, let’s not ramble on with a bunch of quasi-scientific long and drawn out patter. I’ve seen some presentations where the magician literally takes five minutes to make some bizarre comparison to science and magic or art and magic.

If you’re table-hopping, you just don’t have that kind of time. If you’re doing a stand up/stage gig, it’s gonna get old real quick when each of your effects take five minutes to set up with some convoluted story. Now as an introduction to your act, it might be okay to have an intro.

For example, my father traveled with the carnival, and I have a lot of fond memories as a child going to the carnival with my dad and getting in for free because he was an ex-carny. I’ve got a lot of great stories that relate to that. He passed away three years ago, and I’ve been thinking about dedicating an act to him that is centered around a carnival theme. Each effect with be centered around a carnival game or something like that… The details aren’t hammered out yet.

The point is that I will likely start the show with a brief monologue about the memories, my father, etc that may take about 5 minutes. However, I will not have a 5 minute story for each effect. Maybe a 30 second joke or story about my father, but that’s it.

Keep your patter direct, simple and logical.

Are the moves natural?
When you palm a card, is your arm held unnaturally by your side? Do you feel nervous when your holding out a recently vanished object? Video tape yourself practicing or have a friend come to a show and film it. Then look at yourself and have others look at you and watch for any unnatural movement.

I remember watching a magician do a basic false-put to vanish a lighter. When he did the move of apparently dumping it from his right hand to his left, his whole body turned 180 degrees to the left and he quickly raised his left arm up in the air. It looked ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain knew it.

As Vernon said, “The large action covers the small.” However, that doesn’t mean that when the small action is a one-handed top palm that the large action should be you doing the splits. The large action covering the small action must be part of the naturalness of your movement.

Obviously I can’t examine each of you and your own idiosyncrasies; you’ll have to do that yourself. Examine them and fix them if need be. Don’t confuse your audience; don’t be unnatural, and most importantly, don’t forget to use your head.

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

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