Some authors think magician should be the "medium" between the magic and the audience. Which means, the magician is not the guy with magical powerbut rather he's acting as the middleman to present the magic for people to see.

Other authors think the magician should be the guy with the power, the reason for the magic to happen. It's because of HIM that the coins disappear, the cards change or the doves appear.

What do you guys think?

There is no right or wrong answer to this, as this is a question regarding your personal performance model.

However you view magic, it is your responsibility as a magician to communicate that effectively to your audience.

If you believe the magician is a medium to the magic then you must make every effort to portray that to your audience. (Derren Brown's performance model - magician as guide to a 'world of wonder')

If you believe that the magician should have supernatural powers to change coins and produce cards, then make it so to your audience. (The 'Insane God' - Cardini's performance model.)

Either way, if all your audience sees is a bunch of fiddly puzzles then you have failed.


For more information regarding the various performance persona's magicians may adopt see here:

http://erlandish.blogspot.com/2007/07/idea...models-for.html

Also, be sure to check out his series the 'Erland Elephant' where he talks more about 'performing archetypes' as he calls them.

Once again we can always count on Axl to post... well... something.

What are we?

We're MICE! :off:

:lol:

Shade

Now, I'll just let Adrian do the rest... :g:

I strongly think that for a magician to be a middleman is not desirable. But I have nothing to prove it other than pure feeling. -_-

From Michael Close's "Workers: Number 1"

My own preference is to consider the magician in the same way you would consider a motion picture screen: the screen is the medium by which we are able to view the movie. If you have ever been to a movie theater when the screen is stained or dirty you know how distracting it is. You become aware of the screen and less focused on the movie. Likewise the magician is the medium by which the spectators are able to see impossible happenings. This is also the function of the classical musician, his function is to transmit the music from the mind of the composer to the mind of the listener. If the performance draws undue attention to the performer, the impact of the music (or the magic) is lessoned.

The above describes his case for the "self-effacement" school of thought. But then again, as Darwin Ortiz says, I have never come out of the theater after a good movie singing praises to the screen. Nor will I say, "The next time is see a movie, I'll make sure I want it in that particular screen!" But rather, when I perform, I do want my clients to think, "Whenever I want to see magic, I'll make sure I want *whoever*!" Therefore, I disagree with this "self- effacement" thing which Michael Close has put it.

My stand is that magic is the medium, not the magician. We're in the show business after all, and in this business, I am selling ME. Magic is the selling point of ME. Therefore the second school of thought is the "look at me" school, which I belong to.

At the end of the day, I feel, no matter how you portray yourself as a performer, it is still the "look at me" thing that prevails. After all, that is what the spectators/clients/audiences will perceive. The selling point of the magician is the magic, not the other way around.

Kenneth

PS.

Time to get a book to read, eh?

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Credits to Darwin Ortiz's "Strong Magic" and Michael Close's "Workers: Number 1" for the above quotes and viewpoints.

Even though I do not agree with Close's stand about the above topic, I love his material. Don't get the wrong idea. Lol!

I agree with llamalamer.

Also, may I quote Robert Houdin, ' A magician is but an actor playing the role of a magician'.

So yeah, a magician may be part of us, taken and exaggerated.

I guess it boils down to the question of "Is magic for you alone, or for everyone?"

If it is for you alone, then I think you are stepping off on the wrong foot. This may lead to a lot of selfishness and showing off, without regard to the enjoyment of the spectator, later on.

If it is for everyone, then true enough, we are just the "middlemen". We are simply delivering the trick out to everyone, for the entertainment of our spectators, and for a little bit of self-satisfaction.