First and foremost, this set of lectures notes do not contain any effect. It teaches no effects, but secrets to advancing one's magic performance. The notes are nicely categorized into several topics including:

- Magic's Greatest Secret Revealed
- Building a Professional Stage Show
- Performing Magic for Money
- Producing Magic for TV and
- Annex: Applause Devices

The first part of the lecture notes are on how to communicate your magic to the audience. Personally, as an amateur in magic, I benefitted most from this part of the notes (I even made a mindmap of it so i could remember it!!). Many 'faults' I committed during performance that I had never noticed were touched upon. JC touched on topics like routine structuring, audience control and how to captivate your audience etc. For the serious and hobbyist alike, I believe the tips will serve well in improving your performance. I believe this will be especially so for those who feel that even though you seem to be executing your effects with perfect technique, your audience seem not to respond.

For the serious magician who is venturing into stage magic, the section on building a professional show is truly a gem. JC brings the reader through the hows of constructing the full routine. The approach is systematic and he gave a clear example of a show program with the principles behind each piece of magic.

The chapter on performing magic for money is sure to interest many of us here. In it, he gave tips and pointers on how to market and promote oneself. If you are thinking of earning dollars using magic, this will be highly useful to you. Though some of the tips are basic, they are sufficient to get the new performer on the road.

For me, the chapter on producing magic for TV is more eye-opening than anything else. If you have seen the Magic segment that JC did on TV, i'm sure you would like to know more about the thoughts behind the segments (as i did). It was very interesting to me, and I thought people who like to film your effects may find good tips to making a good magic clip.

And now, for the annex, I had actually read it before reading it in the lecture notes again. I thought it to be more applicable to big group/stage performances.

Personally, I had read quite some notes on performing that JC had written before the lecture notes were published. I would have very much liked certain topics he wrote on before to be in the lecture notes - such as addressing dead time (which was touched upon rather briefly in the lecture notes) etc, though i thought that would be more of my own preference.

The lecture notes were clear, nicely categorized, easily digestable. There's no hard language, sufficient examples are given and most should find it a good and easy read. The notes contain invaluable advise that will stand you in good stead for performance (provided you apply it of course). Overall, I learnt a great deal from the notes, its one of my best investment.

Two thumbs up - I would have given it a few more thumbs had I had more than two thumbs. :lol:

Ade.

where to get the notes?

It was sold at the Micro Magic Convention which was held early this year during January. Maybe you can give jcsum a pm and ask if you still can order a copy from him

For those who are seriously considering building a professional career out of your magic, this lecture note is a MUST buy booklet. It teaches a lot of techniques uses to improve your overall magic and your presentation.Examples of techniques taught in the lecture notes are how to control the audience through communication and how to structure your routines.
JC Sum uses classic magic to demonstrate which effect is best for opening and explanation why this should be the opening.He also teaches how to market yourself which i find it very useful if you intend to get regular serious work as a performing magician.Overall this lecture note is definitely worth its money which i think this is the first step u need to take in building a professional career. B)

Hi guys,

Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm interested to hear what others have to say and if it has benefited them. We sold a bunch at the micro convention so I know you are out there! :-)

The notes are limited and not readily available from anywhere but if you want a copy, they are S$30 each. E-mail me if you are interested.

OR, the notes as well as my 'Street Illusions' DVD will be available direct from me during the The Little Magic Shop 'Good Friday Magic Sale' at the studio on 6 Apr 2007. See the other post by Ning for more info on that.

See you then!


Back to the lecture notes:

I wrote the set of notes as a way to give back to the local magic community and trust me when I say that the info inside is worth 10 times what the lecture notes cost.

For those in doubt, here is the foreword I wrote for the notes:

"This set of lecture notes has been long overdue. I had the notion of writing these notes in 2003 but constantly pushed back the project due to show commitments and the writing of my three illusion books. Some of the basic information was outlined in a number of essays I wrote for various magic newsletters and websites. But, it was Concept:Magic’s 3rd Micro MAGIC Convention in Jan 2007 that provided the motivation to finally put my thoughts, ideas and experience together into a substantial set of notes.

The information in these lecture notes detail the personal techniques and approaches that I have employed in my 14-year career as a professional magician. These notes were written specifically for magicians looking for opportunities to showcase their magic at a high level.

I wished I had this type of information in one place when I first started in the business - an affordable set of notes that would save valuable time in building and marketing myself as a magician. I would have saved so much time, money and effort.

The first three chapters of the notes form the building blocks for a magician looking to break into professional and commercial performing. Over the years, I have developed a systematic framework and approach to producing a show and subsequently marketing it. Besides producing and marketing three of my own illusion shows, four theatre shows and shows for half a dozen professional performers in Singapore, these techniques have proven successful each and every time.

The chapter, ‘Producing Magic for TV’, is kind of a bonus chapter. The information shared is drawn on my experience of producing the first-of-its-kind landmark magic content for mass media projects in Singapore.

It is my hope that I will take you beyond the stage of techniques, tricks, secrets and methods and offer a solid foundation for you to launch your own show and career."


Best,

J C

+ 1 for this book for me


I was asked by my platoon to perform for OC night and was at a loss for material and routining

JC's book helped me to source out the right effects ( etc.linkin rings ) to incorporate into my show and most importantly taught me how to present the magic to a larger audience ( 180 people ) with the right body language and communication as i usually do close up work to like 10 -20 people max

the 15min parlour show was a success and i got a night off plus countless of sargeants/officers/recruits just totally stunned for days and even weeks after the performance and they kept bugging me about my "miracles"

for the price u're paying , an excellent book that will cover all the basics of how to improve ur magic beyond tricks/effects and secrets .

Here are my short two cents!

This set of lecture notes from J C Sum entitled "Beyond the Stage" is truly one of the best set of notes I've come across in my relatively short time of delving into the area of magic and entertainment. How i wished that i had this set of notes to start me off as a budding magician!

To me, although this set of lecture notes is sub-headed 'Approaches to Superior Magic Performance', i believe that the advice also applies to many other scenarios. Such as maybe, doing a balloon show? Maybe even your next big speech you'll do during your next meeting with your CEO? Or even simply marketing yourself as a magician, balloonist or maybe even as a clown! This set of notes covers all the angles of what you should do and should not do and indeed sets you on a straight path to "superior performance" if u take hold of the sound advice and put it into practice.

The set of notes really applies to everyone, no matter whether you are new to magic, or already a pro, the advice applies differently to each and everyone, at whatever stage/level they are at. This is something that i do not notice in some other notes as they may have their own targetted audience. But JC has succeeded in producing these notes suit everyone.

For my last words, i would really like to thank JC for his excellent work in producing such materials for the magic community and improving the local magic scene. =)

And oh, for that price, what are you waiting for?? Get it now!


Cheers,
Ken

PS: Sorry if i sounded long-winded. i tend to get repetitive. :P

I personally think that this set of lecture notes will benefit everyone. As what kennection has posted, it is suitable for every performer, even a balloon artist. It has topics on how to get the maximize the the magical experience to developing your own stage show to making more money from performing magic to performing magic for tv. I found this set of lecture notes both very useful and fun to read. I'm sure it has helped anyone who read this to become a better performer.

So get it NOW~!

hey guys.

Reading the reviews I really want to get a copy =). I was there at the micro magic convention and this amateur guy was being a sale person and he was into magic for an year and a half and didnt really seem to be confident about what he was saying. I originally intended to buy Darwin Ortiz's strong magic when i went to the convention but it wasnt available. Anyway, I browsed through the notes and recall that one of the references JC gives is that of Strong Magic. How do the notes compare to the book?

CSJoshi