The past few months I came to a couple of realizations and here is a couple!
I have more magic DVD’s and books than I care to admit to. I’ve watched too many YouTube videos searching for that next great routine that I was going to practice only to never actually perform for anyone other than the guy who watches from the mirror completely ignoring any flashes of any kind (I’ll talk about that more later). I would check forums for reviews on new effects and old. I would want to practice something but never actually get around to it. FaceBook, magic forums, or some other internet related time consumer would suck up, what little practice time I have! Worst of all I became lazy, I thought the routines I knew and the techniques I performed were great and didn’t need a lot of readjusting.
I don’t know what happened or where it began but I started seeing little things about the way I handle cards and the routines I perform. I seeing flashes and moments that I’m sure other people saw but were to nice to point out.
I decided that from then on I would be honest with myself, and I would only buy new magic that increased my technique! No more tricks. I would only learn things that polished my technique and my performance style. I became a student of Aaron Fishers, not to learn Search and Destroy, The Graduate, or any of his other wonderful routines. I wanted honest feedback and I wanted to learn how to make myself a better magician.
I started looking at the magic around me and what I wanted to accomplish! Was I really going to perform this effect or that effect, did I really need another spongeball routine? Did I need the first one at all? (I do and you do to trust me) Some techniques I needed to upgrade, for instance I took out the double undercut and replaced it with the classic pass. Harder technique to be sure, but the payoff is better and image is way better. What is the difference? Well the pass when done correctly has the appearance of being invisible, while the double undercut adds two cuts to the deck as a control. Does it take longer to the pass? Absolutely! But what is the image you prefer? Putting the card back in the middle and in the blink of an eye its back on top, or losing it in the middle only to be lost even more buy cutting the deck twice? You can see the redundancy. While my control of a card got harder, my double lift got easier.
Does this mean the pass will work for everyone? That the way I practice will work for everyone? Or even the way I go about selecting my material? The answer is no!
The one thing I have learned over the last several months is that the journey we have as magicians are completely different from one another. We learn different, we like different magicians, we like different styles of magic, and most of all we have different goals and things we want to accomplish. That’s the fun part, it’s all about the journey.
So my question to you is this. What is your journey, what do you want to accomplish, and what can you do better as a magician. Be specific and most of all be honest! It only help you and at worst it will make you a better magician knowing your weaknesses and strengths. What say you?
Brandon
