Okay....I've been in magic for a long time now and I shake ALOT when doing my tricks...can anybody tell me what to do? I'm mostly just too excited-sometimes I drop the cards, sometimes you can tell what I'm doing-I dont know what to do...can anybody help me????

me too, just take a deep breath and relax for a while but it didnt works.yeah i wanna know too

i can sometimes be hard for me because my hands are usually shakey to begin with. my friend had this problem. we were trying to pour a box of Nerds on a bus and we counldnt hold the box still, so the floor was filled with nerds. anyways, i would think to myself, what is there to be shakey about? there is no reason to shake. and take a deep breath and try to forget about it. i guess the more you perform and attempt to overcome it, you'll eventually be able to perform without shaking.

All you need is experience performing for real people, you will be fine after a few performances.
j

mainly, you need to be confident in what your performing. The only time i got nervous, is when I had to do a slight that i haven't practiced. Now i realized that its much easier to not take chances. Practice until you cant get it wrong, and im sure that you will be more confident, and will stop alot of the shaking...

good luck

Elliot

practice god dannit

It should go without saying that you should only perform those tricks that you can do just about with your eyes closed. When performing a routine, it helps to start with a trick or two that you've been doing so long that you couldn't possibly make a mistake. That will help build your confidence, when you find the audience on your side.

Nervousness will often make you perform more quickly than you normally do, so be aware of that and slow down a bit.

Most of the time, you'll find that the audience had no idea you were so nervous, even if you feel that your hands were shaking, your teeth chattering, and your voice quavering!

What I usually do is start out w/ something gimmicked...that does'nt make me shake or anything...and usually gimmicked stuff gets their eyes to open...then I start to go into cards-The ambitious card, flourishes, other stuff...it just depends what day it is really-haha! sometimes when i do the pass i go so quick-both halfs of the deck go face-to-face then i'm screwed...but i've worked alot on it-now i'm getting alot better. THnaks guys!

i just take a deep breath and start with something slow and easy and when thae crowd loves you is much easier to do the harder tricks

i get a minor case of this. its hilarious. my shake when theyre comin up to the climax and everythings done but i know they've yet to see what ive done. MWAHAHA! I LOVE IT!

First the problem. What you are describing is what we call "stage fright". Most performers will tell you that they get a slight case of stage fright just before they're about to go onstage. You're worried about being perfect, about not getting caught, putting on a good show. It's normal.

Now the solution: First, and I know you've probably heard this a thousand times already but keep practicing. Realize that you don't have to do a trick perfect all the time. In fact, you're not going to. Sooner or later you're going to make a mistake or someone is going to catch on to what you're doing. I practice my back palm all the time. Sometimes (most of the time) I leave a small part of the card sticking out from inbetween my pinkie and ring fingers. Most people don't catch it, but for some reason it seems that 8-10 year old boys see it and blurt out "It didn't disappear. It's stuck on the back of your hand". I'll just reply "Not bad, I have to keep practicing that one, now see if you can figure this one out." Then move on to the next trick. It seems to work well for me. Second, enjoy yourself and don't worry about getting caught. It's going to happen once in a while. People are going to be entertained by your magic even if they figure out one of your tricks if you keep your cool and continue to put on the best show you can. Hope this helps.

A few general anti-stage fright relaxation tips:

Don't lock your legs. Your knees don't have to be bent, but make sure you have some freedom in your legs. Otherwise your whole body goes tense.

tension stress

Don't stare directly forwards or focus on a particular point. Keep your gaze soft and use fairly peripheral vision. You can take in a lot more and it makes you less tense (see above)

Perform fiddly stressful actions as you exhale. Again it makes yoou more relaxed. If you feel more relaxed, you have more control. The more control you have, the less reason to worry.

Have fun. You are in control. You have power. Relax and enjoy it.

These points (especially re: leg locking and gaze) apply to music and drama as well. Stage fright is a nuisance, but it's basically irrational, as it's the stage fright that's making you screw up, which makes you scared and so on. Break that cycle by approaching performance in a relaxed state, physically and mentally.

The more you perform, and the higher the profile of performance, the better you get at dealing with stage fright afterwards (ok, this works for me, a few performers claim they always have stage fright. This is unusual). I've performed music in public on many occasions, so I know from experience that how large or important or scary my audience is has no bearing on my technical performance. What it should affect in magic is how you engage your audience, and that is something you can only do when you are confident in your technical ability. People say 'practice'. They are right, that does ensure that your technical ability is up to it, but you have to be in a position to trust your technical ability. That takes some mental work, and is much easier when in a relaxed state.

Cheers,
manic_B

Make a joke. Something along the lines of "Bad time to run outta Ritalin!"

be silly. and funny. no worries.

I get this a lot as well for some reason, and in my mind it is realy easy to get rid of.

Clench your hands into a fist as tight as you can and hold it for as long as you can. Then when you release, your hands will just naturally relax. I do stuff like this to help me get to sleep as well because for some reason my eye lids love to get real gittery right before bed time. I just squeeze my eye lids together as tight as I can and for as long as I can then release. Then, its off to la-la land to build a go-cart with my ex-landlord.

Hope this helps
-Craig