Im still very new to magic. And i havent heard of many magicians unlike you people since i tend to "avoid" cards.

The one magician that i had always been fasinated by his persona and that bit of finnase in his tricks, would be David Stone.

I believe that many heard of his name and remembers him from Real Secrets of Magic.

Alot of his performances demostrates that high level misdirection that not just anyone can accomplish. Some might say that it just takes alot of experience and performances.

I'd say its something more. David Stone obtaining a degree in Philosophy and that took him 6 years of studying. Im sure that this process in his life, has one huge impact in his presentation, style and performances.

Despite the many sub forums in this forum, this section on Magical theory and philosophy don't seem to be as "popular". But yet it'd probably be the most important part in magic for any serious magicians.

I don't know much about Philosophy, although im sure many of you like me would have read a thing or two about it before. And perharps you'd be able to relate to what im trying to say.

Its more often than not, more than just practicing a trick itself that helps improve your performances. Many might just slap me for saying something so obvious when you see so many posts out there telling another that its the presentation that makes one a magician. Many books and dvds also emphasized that its you, but not the trick that makes the magic happen.

Could it be a gift? Is there such a thing as natural talent in being a "good" magician? Or isit something we learn along the way? And if it can learnt, can it be taught?

Having made the effort to meet up with different magician over time, im convienced that clearly, it's something more than just practicing, watching dvds, reading books that makes someone a good performer.

Den i chanced upon Hyashi the magician. I believe Zi An posted a vid up on his performances. For those who never heard about him, here's a little bit of research:

My competition history is one of the most international and extensive in the magic industry. I am the current European Champion of Magic in Close-Up and well-known among magicians across Europe. I have competed in 24 major competitions around the world, been featured on live national television in three different countries, performed in seven languages, and lectured in fifteen countries spanning three continents.

More importantly:

I spent most of my time with girls, parties, rollerblading, performing magic, and the martial arts, and still managed to graduate. I studied languages and linguistics at Carleton University in Ottawa. This background in languages proved very useful later when I toured the world performing at magic competitions in order to make a name for myself in the industry.

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If you take the time to watch a few of his performance, you'd realise how structured it is, and how clear his presentations are. Many at times i cant catch what many magicians are talking about and i'd be just waiting for the effect to happen.

For those with Loops dvd vol 1, you'd realise that at some point of Finn's performance, he talked so much about china and some other country for just a simple floating bill effect. The female audience even casually said "whatever you say". I didn't get what he was trying to convey either.

The thing about Hayashi is that he may look asian, but he spent most of his time abroad and he's exposed to different cultures. He is extremely confident about himself and he is just so clear with his words because of his studies in language.

Thank you to anyone who bothered to read up on such a long post that may sound as if its getting no where. Im intrigued by the idea that there are academic studies that is really the key to good performances. Over the months i have been reading up on Derren brown because his theory on magic presentations are ingenius. And right now, im just searching on what i can to improve myself, hopefully through such... "solid" grounds to tap on, to overall improve on one's performances. E.g. NLP, Sociology, etc

Feel free to share your bit of opinion about mine.

And for those who don't get half the things im trying to say, lol, pardon me.

Usually, academia demands for one to become more observant and think more critically. I would go so far to say that no matter which path you take, humanities or sciences, it will help you to develop a keener mind and a set of skills unique to your field of study. However, whether you can apply these skills to life or magic is another matter altogether. It seems to me that even though some people have studied a degree, some of these people are merely studying through just for the degree's name and have not developed any core logic skills as they may not have been that focused enough to gain from the rigors of getting a degree.

What's a good way to go? Be unassuming, inquisitive (pertains to learning), reflective and modest. And of course work hard. That way, one will always be able to improve constantly. (To myself: Easier said than done really...)

I think for many of us, myself included, in the initial phase of magic, we are often concerned solely with the tricks in magic (Eg. What is the best trick?) instead of focusing on how we should be upping the standards of our magic in terms of overall presentation and structure. If we get stuck in that initial phase, I don't think a lot of progress can be made as a magician. I'm not saying that we should stop searching for new tricks altogether, but rather, one's choice of effects should be dependent upon other factors such as suitability to one's own presentation, etc and not just based solely upon the merit, impact of the trick. We've often heard of famous magicians who have worked hard on a particular routine but stopped using it because they have since changed in their persona and direction owing to certain factors like perhaps age. Or even seen painful and terrible imitations.

For books, I will highly recommend Ortiz's Designing Miracles and Tamariz's Five Points of Magic. These two books are written so clearly that I have been able to put into practice some of the principles explained upon reading. Often times, I find that certain theories are very interesting or well written but am unable to apply them as the author does not really explain how to. I have felt differently for the above two books.

Well, this question or thoughts have been thrown around for a long time.

But bring it straight front, magicians that are involved in learning from the hard way in the past, where there is no DVDs, Youtube around. They tend to be much more successful in achieving the personal touch and presentation. Well the result is, you are not affect but the performance in the video by the way he presented himself, and books are dead, when you are reading out loud, you are visualizing yourself in the picture. Which in the end, helps build yourself.

So next question is, does study in certain skills help? Yes and No. Alot of people study for the sake of study, they don't understand the principle of what they studied and it will be a waste in the pool. And Yes in the sense is, social skill, business studies, all have relative to people and talking to people.

But deep down, I feel that these skills should only enhance what you might have for yourself. If you have nothing to start with, like you are quiet kid, you like to stay at home and read books, etc. These skills cannot help you. You have to break through that barrier and walk out of your zone and look into yourself.

Are you able to talk to people freely? How to do that? If you can talk to people freely and you know the approach skills, good for you and any studies will enhance your knowledge and your speech.

Let say you don't have, its time to develop it, how you do that? RELATE. Relate yourself to the magic and the audience. Example for crazy man handcuff, let say, when I was young, many of us like to play with rubber band, shooting girls and being shot, but I often see people or magicians able to link rubber bands together and take them out, that really amaze me and thats how my magic start. Well, I not going to do the shooting thing to anyone, but we going to use these 2 rubber bands here...

As you can see, the story continues, you relate yourself to your childhood where people also have. Who never play with rubber band before. For other magic, you have to sit down and think, what you want to achieve? Ambitious card: The card will go up to the top. So what is relative to that effect? Taking a lift? Up the stairs? Etc? Think about these, and bring it into the picture with the effect, then relate it to your life. Everytime I take a lift, how much I hope that I can fly up to my floor immediately, well obviously I cannot do that, but I have something very interesting here... And the story continues..

You see, life is a good way to use to relate yourself to the magic. You are the magic and not the magic itself is. So present yourself, then present the magic. It works better..