Old, New, What’s a Magi to Do?

Old, New, What’s a Magi to Do?
By Jeff Stone

How many tricks have you learned over the years? I know I’ve literally learned thousands of tricks. I dare say that I even learned well hundreds and hundreds. I might even say that I’ve mastered dozens and dozens. We’re all in a different category or skill level when it comes to how many we’ve each learned, learned well, and mastered, but if you’ve been into magic more than a year, you know of enough tricks that you could spend your life perfecting the ones you’ve learned, and you still wouldn’t make it through the list.

The question that often arises from this situation is, “what tricks do I perform at a gig?” Another variation of that question is “what’s the right mix of old and new stuff?”

Roots:
Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root is material management. The basics of this root is that material you perform should meet two main criterion. First, you must enjoy performing it. There must be something about it that appeals to you. If you are bored with the effect or it’s not interesting to you, then you’ll be less likely to perform it well, and give it the attention it needs to meet criteria number two: The audience must be able to connect with it.

Both of these stipulations apply to not only the effect itself, but the patter as well. Unless you’re performing for a group of NASA engineers, patter about quantum particles and “special material” that has “special properties” is pretty much a snooze fest for your audience. Sure you may like it, but it’s likely that you’re passion alone will not be enough to carry the audience’s lack of interest.

Take the ambitious card as an example. This is a trick that is very magical, but doesn’t have a huge inherent interest. So the card goes in the middle and pops back up to the top… big dealio. Now take, for example, David Regal’s idea of drawing a puppy on the card, and the master calls the puppy. The puppy then responds to the master and comes to the top of the deck. That’s fun for the audience.  I mean who doesn’t like puppies!

The challenge, especially in close up magic – which is what I do the most, is making the magic mean something to the audience. In order to make it mean something to the audience, in most cases, it must mean something to you.

Branch:
Let’s build our branches. This month’s message is short and sweet and to the point. I have a very specific assignment for you. Stop right now and write down the first 20 tricks you can think of that you could somewhat perform. Pick tricks that you somewhat know or that you completely know. The point is, don’t just go through a magic book and copy down the table of contents. Write down tricks that you’ve read or watched on a video that you have some level of interest in.

Next I want you to immediately cross off of that list 5 tricks that you think are the least likely to ever make it to your repertoire. This serves one purpose: it gets you used to cutting material out of your act. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do, so cut out a few tricks.

Make a list in a spreadsheet if you’ve got one. The above is a sample of what it might look like. The “My Interest” and “Audience Interest” is a scale from 1 to 10 of what my interest level is and what I think a layperson’s interest might be. Of course I’m not a mind reader so some of these numbers for “Audience Interest” are guesstimations based on experience. Also, the last column is a list of things that I think the relate to the effect that the audience might relate to.

Next, sort the list by what interests you the most. Take the top 10. Resort those ten in order of audience interest. Take the top 5. Take those five and perfect them. Perform them in every single close up show that you do. Obviously if two or more have a very similar plot, you can leave one of them out when you perform. Maybe two of them are ace assemblies (let’s hope not). You certainly don’t want to do two ace assemblies at every table or gig. In that case, alternate.

Either way, work to build a solid and interesting presentation. Put your heart and soul into these five effects. Continue performing other stuff as well, but make sure to give these 5 your full attention. Over time, as you study more books, more videos and create your own magic, slowly add to the list of effects that you completely master. A good example of one effect like this might be Bill Malone’s handling of Sam the Bellhop. I’d bet that he doesn’t do a gig without doing that trick.

You want to slowly work your arsenal up to a point where everything you do is one of these tricks that you’ve mastered. Maybe you’ll stop at 20 effects or 30 effects, maybe less, maybe more. If you do stand up or set shows, then you can take those 30 effects and create 3 separate shows (ten tricks each) that you perform. If you do strolling, then you can create 5 or 6 sets of 4 or 5 tricks that you do at each table… do these 5 at this table and those 5 at that table.

You get the idea. Using this formula, you can work in new material and grow your repertoire. With each new trick you’ve mastered replace one that you and your audience are less interested in. The idea is to, over time, develop a repertoire of material that is 100% stuff that you enjoy performing, and 100% stuff that the audience has a decent level of interest in.

Of course, this relies hugely on your personality and ability to connect with an audience. Remember, it’s never just about the tricks. It’s about you using the tricks to connect and communicate astonishment with your audience.

Keep in mind that you will also need to try out material with your audience. You read an effect in a book and like it. Practice it at home. Then when you’re confident with it, take it to the tables/streets/stage, etc and test it. See what level of interest you can generate in your audience. If it ranks well in the above table then start mastering it and allow it to become one of the permanent additions to your arsenal.

One last note, don’t feel peer pressured into performing an effect you don’t find interesting. There are many popular effects that many magicians feel should be in everyone’s repertoire, yet I don’t find them interesting enough to perform them. Perform material and create material that suits you and that your audience can relate to.

Finally, don’t feel like you need to make a chart and a graph for every new trick you’re interested in adding to your act. This is just an exercise to start the ball rolling. With experience, you’ll be able to quickly identify effects that you feel are worthy of your time. Now go study the classics, and go discover your true magical self.

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