Someone told me that the best trick on earth doesnt have be a trick with tons of sleights. Even the simplest trick is good enough to amuse and entertain your audience.

The longer someone does magic, the more he or she needs to remind themselves about why[B] did they do magic for? Purely to entertain the audience or to satisfy themselves just because they can do a sleight thats almost flawless?

Well people, what do you guys think?


Stuart ^_^

Whether non sleight or sleight magic is not important. Be an entertainer not a demonstrator.

"Self working" if done well still amaze the audience. Make you routines clear and easy for lay person to understand.

Uncle Bob

The trick just have to be SIMPLE, CLEAR CUT and STRAIGHT in your audience face.

Usually self working tricks will STUN the ADVANCE magician and laymen greatly.
Do not look down on self working tricks!(By Uncle Bob at the last Smc gathering).

Haha.


Cheers, Jerome aka AH boi

i still think the best trick is D***** L**.It's very in you face,yet so simple.

Is a there a trick named D***** L**

Just wondering.

DL is a sleight, not a trick.

Here are some thoughts...

Skillfulness is appreciated by even lay crowds. In many occasions, skill becomes magic. Ever heard commentators on ESPN saying that Tennis greatest Roger Federer does "magic" on court? It sure looks and feel that way!

As magicians, this becomes more a reality! Every educated audience knows that your magic is not real but if they can't find an explaination...they may choose to belief (at least emotionally) that it is real. And that's the fun of getting mystified.

Few sleights effects are not always good. Don't count on the "less the better" principle, rather take it another step...the SIMPLER, the better. But mind you, simple does not mean EASY! What's straight forward to your lay audience can be really difficult to you, the performer.

Tommy Wonder is a classic class expression of great magic. He uses little sleight, lots of mechanics and tons of thinking. The reward is tantamount to the effort.

So don't be surprise that if you do a difficult to do effect, people will verbally display their appreciation of the intracacies you just displayed, even though they have no clue how you did those things.

As for ego...one shouldn't attain a high level of skill just to show off (the satisfaction comes later in succesful performance - wait for it...its worthwhile). Difficult moves are meant to be productive, because some moves get you there much faster and more effectively.

Shade was pointing out somewhere else that a Pass beats some other types of shuffle control, as it looks like nothings done (and yet the magic happens at will and thus more magical). If you've seen Nique Tan, it's never EASY but mostly SIMPLE.

And....heed Bob Chua's wisdom..."CLEAR FOR THE <LAY> AUDIENCE TO UNDERSTAND!!"

Lay-people see the end product of the magic effect that a magician performs. The means are entirely up to the magician. In some cases, knuckle-busting moves and be replaced with a series of easier moves that can avoid detection and suspicion more easily.

The choice of sleight made by the magician reflects his own philosophy on magic, and in this case, the conflict between the concepts of self-expression and self-indulgence. Self-indulgence is dependent on performing magic as a means to feel an uplifting but often unwarranted sense of arrogance, where the magician performs more for himself than for his audiences.

Usefulness aside, knuckle-busting sleights then becomes increasingly attractive for the sole purpose of its difficulty. On the other hand, self-expression may have stemmed from the need to prove oneself worthy of others' praise and recognition, but it almost always results in cleanliness and an efficiency of magic, because replacing a difficult sleight with a series of easier moves(one of the many examples of the diference between self-indulgence and self-expression) proves that one understands that lay-people only see the end product of your performance - the magic, as opposed to how the magician got there - the sleights, and by doing so, it subsequently proves that the magician can express himself without indulging in his own ability.

Both of our fellow magicians metioned good points about bringing out the magic effects to the impact.

Often we wonder, how simple should it be? How hard can it be?

In the end, since you are the one that is performing. You should ask yourself. Can you do it anot? Are you able to perform the Aerial Multiple Card Appearance sequence.. If you don't have the confidence, don't do it. If you have the confidence, is the situation allow you do it? If don't have, don't do it.

So in short, you ask yourself able to handle it anot. If you can, even the toughest flying in the air is simple to you. If you cannot, even walking can be tough for you.

I believe to build up the confidence level, doing more self working trick during the beginning stage of a magician line can help him to develop the speech, the handling of audience, and the confidence for him. I missed this stage and I getting it back also. So not that if you are 20 years into the line of magic, you must be able to perform a back facing audience 2nd deal blindfolded. But 20 years later, you are still able to perform the self working trick and proudly say that you used that to earn your living. And if you can earn your living using that self working trick, I salute you for being a good magician not because of the trick, but the way you carried yourself that makes the self working trick a impact, miracle to people that they pay to watch you do it.

Larry