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Tips and Advice from a Young Magician - Part 1
by Cathal Kielty
In this essay I will share with you any tips and advice I have learned on
performing magic. I will look over the common mistakes made by beginner level
magicians and even fully-fledged pro magicians tend to make. I will tackle 2
common mistakes in part 1 but more to come in part 2.
1. Being tricked by the kings of advertising
Here is a very common problem among many magicians starting out in this
wonderful art. And I think it should be brought to the world's attention. Having
not defined what this common problem is I will do so now. When many people start
out in magic they first set their sights on gimmicks (now this is not everyone
so do not get offended), which is natural enough. And I don't want a big
argument about which being better gimmicks or sleights, I personally think but
can be used together to an enjoyable extent for the magician and equally
mystifying for the spectator.
But the problem lies in the fact that magic dealers manipulate more customers
than Derren Brown does with his audiences. It's a bit like impulse buying, you
might go to buy a magic book but then you see this deck that can do all these
amazing things and it only costs £5 you buy that as well. But then when you
learn how to do it, you will very rarely perform it again. So magicians beware
in what you buy, look around for reviews and compare prices with other dealers
and you'll find that you'll buy props/books/videos that you would use more than
you would if you had bought the cheaper items.
2. Practice Makes Perfect
You've heard that saying before but how many people listen to it? A common
factor among beginner level magicians and sometimes pro's is when they learn how
to DO A TRICK, they think they have it perfected but that is totally wrong. You
have not an effect perfected until you can do it in your sleep. Well maybe not
in your sleep but until you can do it without having to think. This applies even
to those gimmicked tricks that 'advertise' that no practice is required. That is
totally wrong even a self -working trick needs practice. Once you can pull off
an effect without having to think about it then you can start to add patter or
incorporate it with other effects in your routine. It's like learning to drive a
car you have to practice to let everything come automatically to you and then if
you ever need to stop suddenly without having to think you put your foot on the
brake, and until you can do your magic without having to think, you have not
mastered one effect. Good ways to practice is in front of a mirror or being
recorded by a video camera and then look back and see how it looked.
These thoughts were all my opinions and thoughts and are NOT gospel. But they
are my experiences in magic so far and I feel I should share them with you
because I'm sure it will help some beginning magician. There will be more advice
to come in part 2 in a few weeks.
Thanks for reading,
Cathal Kielty (you can email me at
cathalkielty@hotmail.com if you have any comments to make)
© Cathal Kielty June 2002