Dai Vernon
Ed Marlo
Jeff McBride
Eugene Burger
Lee Asher
Helder Guimaraes
Wayne Houchin
Bro John Hamman
Derren Brown
Darwin Ortiz
These are just a few names, and I left out plenty of others. But when you read that list what do you think? Sure you will probably think to yourself that is a list of very talented magicians, some of the very best in fact.
But why do you think that? Do you think that they were born with more talent than you or I? That Marlo came out of the womb dealing seconds, or that McBride was doing back palms at recess in kindergarten (Ok the Marlo part might actually be true, it hasn’t been confirmed……yet)?
Let me tell you what I see. I see great thinkers, people who think magic is more than just doing a trick for someone. They thought about their magic. Why does this work, why doesn’t that, what do they see here and do they remember there. It’s that way of thinking when you think about laymen that put you over the top. Don’t get me wrong, you can a great ACR and you might get great reactions. But do you really know why it works? Do you know the psychology behind it? If you hear a magician talk about “leading them down the garden path” do you understand what that means? What do you think about your magic, is it something you actually care to know about?
For some magicians it doesn’t matter, and there are some very successful magicians who just don’t care. And that’s fine also, but I can assure you that those are the magicians who are not creating, who are not putting their personal stamps on the effects that they perform. I do not care to be one of those magicians!
What kind of magician do you want to be? And don’t think that you can’t be a great thinker and a great performer. Some of the people on the list above are wonderful at both.
So how does analyzing your routines and effects make you a better magician?
