[mindfreak]

What advice do you have for beginners?

[loyal]

How do you not become frustrated when your hands are not working as fast as your brain?

Originally Posted by mindfreak

What advice do you have for beginners?

[nae]

I'm not exactly a seasoned magician but I do have one thing to add ....

Patience, patience, patience!
Don't feel the need to rush with learning an illusion. It takes time, dedication and practice.

[Matt]

Don't rush. I see this a lot. Practice in front of mirrors and video cameras. Practice makes permanent, so try the sleights or moves a couple times for a camera, and watch it. If you need to change it, do so. If you constantly practice something incorrectly, that is what you will get used to and it will be hard to change.

Don't jump into things you aren't ready for. Illusions and stage magic is more the routine than the effect. Especially kids magic. Make sure you are comfortable in front of an audience. Street magic is perfect for this, it can be anonymous, while on a stage you usually are introduced, and you have a captive audience.

BOOKS. The latest stuff is not always the greatest. Things printed in books are often time tested. They may be older tricks but there are always new audiences for that stuff. Mark Wilson's book is fantastic for those starting out. It teaches cards, coins, cups and balls, sponge balls, rope, scarves, etc. Tarbell is another fantastic resource. You can buy single volumes, or there is a new book of the first 5 or 6 volumes combined. There is SO much great magic to be learned from books.

Ask for criticism. Go to a magic club. There are hundreds of SAM and IBM groups across the country and world. There are professionals and hobbyists that go to the meetings. They can help make you better, and you get a great magazine.

[BessHoudini]

It is important to realize that all famous magicians had to start somewhere. Magic didn't come automatically for anyone.
Artistic people can get emotional (read that Impatient) about reaching goals quickly because they are so passionate about it.
It can be helpful to keep a Practice Journal, to help stay dedicated to the amount of time you rehearse. Set goals of when you'd like to show close friends your new effects. Write how things are going. After you can Wow your closest friends, you can branch out to show others who might be harsher in judgment. After you wow those, you can perform for strangers.
If magic is in your heart, do NOT give up!!!

[thatmagicguy]

All very good advice. I suggest setting out a specific amount of time a day to practice what you have learned and the new things that you are learning. Keep your practice time on a schedule. Set specific goals for that time. Set up structure for yourself. To give an example, I practice every routine in my show every day and go through every step of my show even though I have been doing the same show for the last year. I also work on putting my new show together every day and practice every routine and step I have so far. I do this every night at 10pm.

[MadFlava]

Get 2 or 3 tricks down to a science!!! Know all the angles, know the patter and break each technique down and master it. Most importantly practice until you can't get it wrong. I lied.....MOST IMPORTANTLY have fun!!!

[mentallyhyp]

I have been a magician for over 15 years. I have performed a variety of venues. If you like check out my site which I will post at the bottom of the thread. The one thing that has always kept me going is a three fold ideal. I have always been inspired by great magicians that I had the plesure to see either live or on television. I became amazed and intrigued when I was only 8 years old by watching David Copperfield. I then immediatle went to a costume store which was the only magic store within my area. I bought my first effect whoch was scotch and soda. I learned the illusion and would perform it for anyone who would give me the time. What I found over the course of a few weks was that I was no longer being amazed, but that the people I would show the trick to were. This was lesson number one for me. I found that it was never about the trick, but instead about the performance. The more I gave to the charechter the more they would belive. The second lesson was learned when I realized I only knew one trick. Now I am from a time when there was no DVD's and the Video tapes att he time where a closely guarded commodity. I went to the library and became a viracious reader and really from that point on learned as much as I could. I became more obbsessed over the how then the effect! I wanted to learn the inner workings and the basics for every style in magic that I could. I started to understand as well that I needed to find a niche that I found the most intresting and exciting to me. The last lesson was to always have a goal. Not just a magic trick goal, but a goal for my end result. What kind of show did I want the audience to expierience. What kind if magician did I want to be. Where did I want to go with my magic. Did I want to become a street performer like Gazzo or Chilini or was my style more set for stage or parlour. These are questions you can ask yourself. Take the time to find out where you are coming from. What you want to portray to your audience. And last but certainly not least. Practice like crazy before you show anyone your new illusions. If you have a close friend or family memeber who will help you make it look perfect and then demonstrate your new effect to someone with all of these ideas that I wrote about as second nature. It will take time and most likely not happen over night, but anything worth showing to the world never is!

Paul Carpenter
www.mentallyhyp.com