Hello everyone. I just signed up on these forums. Since this is my first post I thought I'd make it worth while. For those who've seen this article on other sites this might be a good re-read but for those who haven't it may be helpful. This is an old article of mine. Here you go, enjoy...

When you get out into the world of magic you may start off by getting some fairly good reactions. However it will come to the point where you don’t think you’re getting the right stuff. You’ll want to know how to increase those reactions to make the performance stellar. Well here is what I think about this subject. In my opinion there are four key areas to look at when you want to increase your reactions…

Key Things to Increasing Your Reactions:

-Build Up, Build Up, Build Up

-Verbal Presentation

-Showmanship

-Clarity


That’s it. Seriously, that is all you need to focus on. Notice that I didn’t put down the technical aspect of magic. My reason being that your reactions will come from the mental aspect of magic more so than the technical. Let me go a little in-depth into those areas so you will understand where I’m coming from.

Build-Up
This is the main way to increase reactions. Build-up is simply going in a step-by-step manner with each step increasing the drama of the moment. Think of it this way, in a movie it wouldn’t be fun if it went from the opening scene to the ending dramatic scene. You wouldn’t be that affected. You missed all of the build-up to that ending scene. Here are some tips of build-up to remember …

1) You must start the build-up from the very instant you start your magic until it comes exploding at the end.

2) You must start off small and work your way up the scale as you perform your magic. That is why it’s called build-up.

3) Without build-up your magic will suffer. You must think about your routine and work in things that will help with build-up. Remember to piece it together step-by-step.

4) Build up can come from, what we call in magic, pacing the routine. However you cannot solely rely on pacing. All of these areas are intertwined and must work together to maximize your reactions.

As Robert Houdin said “ A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician” and I truly agree with this. We must have the ability to emphasize and be dramatic in every word and move we make. It is a great skill to have when creating build-up.

Verbal Presentation


Verbal Presentation is on the dramatic side of magic. The way you talk will affect your reactions believe it or not. As is obvious what you say is important too. However it is more important in the way you say it. Think about movies where in an emotional scene crying is suppose to take place between a mother and daughter. In one situation a mother could just go through and deliver heart breaking news to her daughter in a monotone, or she could put emotions into her words and be dramatic about it there by inflicting/controlling/causing her daughter to react in the way that was meant to be. I assume your making the connection here. So here are some of the tips about verbal presentation…

1)Don’t be repetitive about singular words. You don’t need to state the obvious.
Ex. “Watch this ok, you ready watch this I’m going to take your card and do this slowly ok, watch”

It is strongly advised not to do this. I see this from different performers and just frown upon it. You don’t need to state the obvious. It is a part of build-up however repeating a word will dull the effect and impact of the verbal presentation.

2) Become an actor with what you say. You must be dramatic in speech to really touch your spectator and affect them, as in the mother daughter example.

3) You must script out a general outline to your verbal presentation. You cannot script out an exact one because in the field of magic you must be prepared to improvise. However you must have a general idea of what you’re going to say. Another thing, you must practice it! Like a person who wants a role in a play you must practice with passion and devotion.

4) Use voice manipulations to help you dramatize your patter. Such as changing the rate, pitch, and loudness at which you speak.

5) Do not tell what you are going to do before you do it. This will ruin any chance of getting a surprised reaction.

Words are a powerful thing. Use them to your advantage and don’t miss out on the opportunity at hand.

To Be Continued....

Continued From...

Showmanship

How you carry yourself while performing is also vital to increasing your reactions. The movements you make with your hand and body are just as important as any other area. Consider this, in a scary movie a women is in a morgue and dead bodies are laid out on tables. She hears a creepy voice coming from somewhere. She walks around scared until she is right next to a body. She thinks the noises are coming from it. She gets close to the dead body praying that it isn’t coming from it. Then all goes quiet and the dead body raises it’s arm slowly at her. Now I’m sure she would get scared and her eyes would open wide. However consider this approach. Everything the same up until she gets real close. Then all goes silent when suddenly the body jumps out and grabs her. She reacts with a big reaction to this. You see how we move can greatly affect a person’s reactions. Here are some tips about showmanship…

1) Gestures are ok but do not over do it. Too much pepper on food will ruin it remember.

2) You must hold your body/stance so that the maximum amount of viewers can see what’s going on. This will enable a larger/broader reaction span.

3) You don’t want to jump out per say with your movement. You simply want to make the movements bold and clearly noticeable.

4) Do not cover anything unless a technique requires it. In a movie you need to see the entire picture to get the maximum effect. The same applies during performance.

5) Don’t make movements ridged and robotic. They should flow smooth like water. Keeping it to natural movements of the body.

Movements are a form of expression. Leave your mark on your spectators. Express yourself through your magic.

Clarity

Clarity is how simple something is in someone else’s mind or rather if they can understand it. In order to get a good reaction out of your spectator you must make sure they know what is going on. If they are confused then their reaction is greatly depleted. However it must first be clear in your own mind before it can be clear in another person’s mind. If you do not know what your doing or for what reasons then how will your spectator know? The point is that they wouldn’t. In magic simple hits hard. Think of it again in terms of movies. In a movie with so many twists a person may in the end realize what happened but in the time it took them to realize what happened their reaction was depleted. However in a straight forward (action) movie the point is right there and allows the spectator to react at that very instant which is what we want in magic. Here are some tips about clarity…

1) Look at your routine. Is it clear to you what is happening? Would it be clear to your spectator? Is their anything that you could do to make it any more obvious?

2) When performing what you say, this goes along with verbal presentation but I thought it would do better here, needs to be clear and precise. There must be no doubt what so ever in the spectators mind about what you say you are doing or going to do.

3) Your moves, while being as devious as they are, should not be confusing to your spectator. You don’t want to lose them in your moves.

It’s as clear as that. You must be clear about all things you do because as I said you don’t want to lose your spectator otherwise your reaction will suffer.

On a final note, after all I’ve talked about you must remember that all these things are intertwined and go together. Without a sense balance magic would fall apart. Practice on these areas and I will guarantee that your reactions will improve. With time and performing you will find what works for you. I hope this can be of some help to you. Remember that this was all my opinion. Thanks for reading it and taking the time out of your day to view my theory. Thanks and take care.

-Aaron

Yeah yeah, it's been done about a gazillion times on this board. So many topics with members writing about how we should all perform.

what a great way to welcome someone to the boards roy. Its so nice how you treat them fairly and everything. youre so kind...

Thanks for writing all that up. You're very dedicated and i hope that you will learn a lot from the boards. Welcome.


Ryan

Thats true but i know a lot of newcomers that post topics that are really useless. I think its a nice start stealthwizard.

My thread was a complied theory about how I do my magic and what I think about the topic. It's for you to view and critque. You don't have to follow these guidelines but rather know how others view them. I've been studying magic for 12 years now and it's just how i've experienced and how I gain the most out of my magic. However, with all that said, this article was an older one I came out with and posted another forum a long time ago. Believe me i'm no newcommer to magic. However I'm constantly keeping the mindset that I am in fact a beginner because of the unique mindset a beginner has. Some of you may not understand that philosophy but it's a very good one. Thanks and take care.

-Aaron

Thank you very much for the advice. Welcome to the boards. I agree with a lot of what you said, and when I read the post, knew that in no way were you a beginner. You will find on these boards, people with less post counts seem to be percieved as beginners-which is rarely the case! Thanks again though.

WOW, I already knew that but it refreshed my memory, THANKS!
Oh by the way welcome to the boards.

Well done Aaron! And welcome to the board!! I enjoyed your guidelines very much!!

hello, and welcome. i enjoyed the post, it is very insightful, and i have seen it before, but i cant recall where. most of the information in there should be words to live by for any budding magic enthusiast. as the old zen saying goes, "once you know everything, you will again know nothing" i completely understand your beginners mind point of view. i have studied the martial arts, as well as magic for 23 years now...martial arts came first only slightly. those two things i am glad i stuck with, and never quit.

when you look at any hobby, or art with a beginners mentality, you are "emptying your glass" and keeping your mind open, and receptive to new thoughts, an adage i still go by today. i found it very informative, and will help alot of ppl out who are willing to read through it. keep up the good posts, and enjoy your stay here.

i found it very humorous that david blaine completely broke rule #1 of your verbal presentation tips, yet he is one of the most well known, successful "entertainers" in the world. repetitive, monotonial, and overstating the obvious, have become his trademarks. "look...watch......ok watch...ready?" i like david blaine alot, but even i disliked the fact that he did not seem excited in the least at the miracles he was trying to sell. after maiking them happen, he looked as though he could care less. i for one am even amazed at my own miracles i produce! if your not displaying that type of presentation, and you dont seem to believe in your own magic, how can you expect the audience to?

he also rushed the magic alot of the time, sometimes not even making one magical gesture. kind of like in his ambitious card routine, where the spectator places his card in the middle, and then david almost said immediately "turn it over" to the top card. without the build up, and doing that effect that way, you are setting up a disaster. he did however catch himself later on, and make it seem a little more magical, instead of having the guy just turn it over, and having it seemingly be automatic . i also think his montonial voice fits well with his demonic spiritual approach. i feel acting, and showmanship are the best things he does.

he makes ppl believe, no matter how mundane he may seem to magicians. although his acting can use work on the part of actually making the magic happen, his overall acting ability of selling an effect as a means of supernatural methods, he does very well. i find it very entertaining to say the least. i would just like to see a little more build up to make the audience more reassured. you cant rush the climax of the trick, or it will be just as easily forgotten. i do however think he portrays the part of a "hobo" type average guy, blessed with supernatural gifts, very well. nobody is perfect, and we all can only improve with practice.

and what midset is that? Im just curious because i have never heard of that.




I think thats the best way to get a reaction. One word : credibility. If someone bet you 20 bucks that they had powers and did a trick would you believe them. It all depends. If he puts on an "I told you so" look on his face, than no. But if hes very serious and acts as if its something he does every day, than you would probably say something like "Holy poo, who is this guy!" Take a look at good mentalists. The good ones get reat reactions and the ok ones get no reaction at all. Its because the great ones can sell what there doing as real. You dont do that by acting as if its the most amazing thing you have ever saw.

When you say you have been studying magic for 12 years, I don't think that counts when you had a magic set when you were 5. I am assuming from your name (StealthWizard87) that you were born in 1987 and are 16 or 17. Anyway welcome to the forums and I hope you learn much, whether you have been doing magic 12 years or 12 minutes.

maybe its his graduation year

a great person that gets reactions is gregory wilson if your a snobby person you wont get good reactions u wanna be comical and act amazed your self wen u perform or present to anyone have a good story or some bullsh**t line thats good and the reactions will be great