Hi!

I pretty much just fumbled my performance when a guest arrived at my house. And, well, i actually don't feel like performing to anyone again. What can i do to cure this depression! Two more guests have come and go but i haven't performed yet!!!!

<_< I have completely no idea on what to do!

No worries. EVERYONE failed at a trick at some point in their life, even the so-called master magicians/illusionists you see on TV. Those who told you they have never failed are either lying or never really performed.

Just dust it off and move on. The next successful act will drive away your current blues.

I do share the same problem with you.

Some other time will be either discouraging words or unappreciated actions from people.

Don't worry, I think we just have to do a "selective" performance to certain people only. And also to perfect our sleight.

I don't think blue_mode_1 failed because of the spectator. And it's impossible to do a 'selective' performance unless you perform to small groups of people. Can you imagine a magician who tells strangers, 'please don't watch my performance, I'm only performing to my group of friends who does not heckle me or screw my trick'? :unsure:

blue_mode_1, you don't have to perform to every guest who enters your house. If you're not in the mood to perform, then don't perform, as it will influence your performance negatively. Don't give up and keep practicing. Sooner or later, you will regain the confidence to perform to others again. Good luck and all the best.

:D Its one thing to feel "depressed" and another to be giving up magic.

Jia you!

Hey all of us make mistakes don't we, keep practicing to increase your confidence, and try again, don't give up because one or a few incidents, think of how many you have succeeded and not how many you have failed, because failures are events, not people.

Thanks for the advice. Will practice my sleights and perfect it so that i will not fumble EVER AGAIN!!!(hopefully :P )

Good Luck !

I hope the next time they come you will have tons of amazing tricks to show them .

:D

Its not really to never fumble again, just to do your best.

Well, if you don't fel like performing at that point of time, just don't do it. I don't think they will force you yea?

But sometimes people can be that persistant on seeing it even when you just don't feel like doing it at all at that time. What I would do during such situation is I usually just force myself to do a 20 seconds trick just to satisfy them. Try doing stuff that is visual and do not require any presentation when you are just too lazy. As to that, what I normally do in that 20 sec is I would simply do a coin vanish and reappearance. If executed well, that should be enough for them to go 'wow'. And you have just shown the rest you did magic.

Yeah, don't let one try affect you. If cards went wrong, go with coins, if all goes wrong. Go for self-working stuff.

I think If something has already gone wrong, and nothing is done to 'save' it, I doubt the performer will still have the heart to continue, but I still feel that you should try your best to 'save' it, to impress the audience, so there must always be a 'back-up plan' while practicing in case something like this happens.

Just continue practicing your magic, then after a while you will get tempted to perform

Yup, it nothing is done. The audience also will not have the heart to see them again, so it's good you have a backup plan while you are practising. You can also have another backup plan on using self-working or gimmick stuff, whenever u want to show a magic trick, there's a start and end. So plan your trick well, if you intend to show a group of people magic, it isn't nice to just show 1 trick and that's it.

WAIT A MINUTE!!!

While most of us here are dishing out advice after advice, I think we have forgotten to ask "what actually happened?"

Why do we assume that...

- he didn't try to salvage the situation? or prepared an "out"?
- he didn't practise hard enough?
- he was tempted to show off to people at every little opportunity?
- he was lacking in confidence and need to use a "self-working" trick?

We only know he failed at his tricks and that could just be a bad day in the office for him.

By the way... I don't understand the part by nottieboy about "if cards fail, use coins". Are you sure coins is any easier than cards?

Hmmm.. come to think of that, he's right. Instead of giving advise on how to salvage the situation. We should hear from him what really happens, although his blues might have gone away long ago. ^_^

Coins are easier when comes to doing a simple 1 coin routine, maybe I'm into coins recently. Haha, I feel that sometimes cards can be complicated to some people. Small objects like coin, making vanishes and re-appearances give a very visual performance.

Requires practice.

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply but i went m'sia! Okay, this is what really happened:

-I didn't know how to prepare an 'out' for this certain trick, so i went along with it

-My prediction was wrong, (gasps*) and he expected me to reveal the 4 cards in an unexpected way to match my prediction and BOOOOOM! I knew i was finished.

-But now, my blues are loooooooong gone! I went m'sia and performed to some people and they were amazed at even my simplest tricks! Of course, i failed one of them but went on to improvise and, well, amazed again!

At least you managed to regain your confidence and perform again, good luck in your other performances, keep practicing! Don't let failures get you down.

Nice to hear that your blues are gone. Just remember don't let mistake affect you while you are performing. Keep the magic going =D