Seattle Magicians Blog

Author: Izrul Fizal

Anyone can perform professional magic tricks; all it takes is
courage and commitment. Most magicians can truthfully say that
the majority of tricks in their bag are relatively easy to
perform, yet the real work is done offstage with hours of
practice. Many professional magic tricks are based on scientific
principles, and learning what makes them work goes a long way in
making a better performance.

Whether you want to make a lasting name for yourself, or if you
just want to be the life of the next party, here are a few keys
tips to developing a set of professional magic tricks.

1) Learn Each Trick Completely

If you are a beginner, learn simple tricks first. The procedures
for doing magic tricks can be found online or even in books from
your local library. Even though tricks may be classified as
easy, study and memorize every step. This will be good training
for you when you advance to more difficult tricks. Get into the
habit of learning each trick completely; this is a good first
step to performing professional quality magic tricks.

2) Practice Makes Perfect

Sometimes, practicing is the hardest part. We all want to
immediately work in front of an audience to hear their applause
and gasps of wonder. But to get the accolades, you must first do
the time. Practice your magic tricks before a mirror, or
videotape yourself for a play by play account. Practicing is
never a waste of time.

Each minute brings you closer to your goal of performing
professional magic tricks. When you watch your performance,
either in a mirror or on videotape, you can spot any mistakes or
actions that should be corrected. Practicing is the best way to
progress.

3) Zero in on Details

Once you get the hang of a few tricks and understand the basics
of magic, you may think you can relax a bit. Not so. Magic
tricks, even the simple ones, have details that can’t be
overlooked.

Every magician knows that their entire performance may hinge on
the smallest of details. Never look for a shortcut; there are
none in magic. Professional magic tricks succeed because the
magician considers every step and detail to be equally
important.

4) Simplicity Equals Success

Here is an amazing and totally true thought: Most magic tricks
are incredibly simple. Of course, professionals want their magic
tricks to confound and astound, but the reality is that these
illusions are based on easy to learn principles. Sometimes, most
of the magic is in the magician’s performance, rather than the
trick itself. Many tricks that are currently seen in shows today
are actually hundreds of years old. This testifies to the
magician’s everlasting ability to entertain and to the
audience’s never ceasing wonder.

To perform professional magic tricks, first develop a
professional attitude and then practice until your skills are of
professional quality. Remember that a professional is merely
someone who has studied and mastered his subject. In the case of
magic, anyone can reach this level with a determined commitment
and a desire to be the best they can be. Before going onstage,
repeatedly practice your act offstage. And then listen to the
applause that you will conjure up!

About the author:
Get your Free trick called the “The Mental Card Read” and learn magic
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Author: Kim Wist

Trade shows offer a different but very interesting venue for
various entertainment artists. Because people move around and
performances are very seldom arranged at specific times, a
performer’s main job is usually to attract and keep customers by
the stand.

However, a skillful performer can attract a big group at the
same time and develop a good overall feeling about the company
he’s working for. I often found that some people don’t come
immediately to visit the stand after the performance, but
interest is awakened and they come later the same day.

As a magician I have worked on many trade show events and found
different ways to promote the client and their products. Magic
is good because people are generally very interested in it and I
have found that the company message is easy to deliver disguised
in a magic trick. The magic performed can use the company name
or product, thus linking the sales message with magic itself.

Different attraction methods has been used by companies;
musicians, jugglers, loud sound effects and even theater but
nothing works better than a seasoned performer who can gather
big crowds in minutes. As in street magic, we need sound, color
and movement to attract attention, it is a good idea to work on
a slightly elevated stand from time to time, but once some
onlookers are attracted, the interest is developed and more will
come.

Once the customers are around the stand, the sales staff has a
better chance to move in on them. This is why magic is good,
because it can hold peoples interest for many minutes and those
few minutes might be the difference between a sales person
making a contact or not.

I have had special cards printed with the company’s logo and
message printed on the other side. When doing a card trick I
make a visual card change in the customers hand and give the
changed card as a souvenir to keep. This is very strong, because
first of all the customer has an object to keep that changed in
his hands impossibly and he will show it to others and tell them
the story. The others will hear where this happened; the company
name and the magicians name get free promotion. If he tells this
story to his mates at the trade show café, one simple card trick
can attract many more free customers per day to the stand. This
is the power of good magic!

A magician at a trade show stand can create a much more
memorable image of the company than a standard, often boring
stand could ever do. Many trade shows stands are uninspiring,
except to those particularly interested in the product. People
walk around and see the same type of stands over and over again,
and we need something to really awaken their interest, get them
to stop, wake up from their day dreaming state and visit this
interesting stand. Using a magician as an attraction creates a
different image and can easily make this company stand out from
the others offering the same product or services. It also makes
you memorable, and sometimes at trade shows this is all you
seek.

The best way to do this, for me as a magician, is to use close
up magic and impromptu stand up performances by the stand. I
might start slowly with close up and get some people interested
and then slowly turn it to a more public performance. For the
stand up shows, I use a wireless microphone, some colorful items
in the beginning that change fast and some custom build sound
effects in between effects. Humor is also very important, and
once a good crowd is gathered, the important message is simple
to deliver. If done correctly and professionally customers will
remember this company and they get many new potential clients.

About the author:
Kim Wist is a professional magician and one of the most
successful performers in Finland, web site: Kim Wist

Author: yuushoji

A child’s life is not complete without magic. The supernatural
act has been known to humans since early 1400′s and has been
used as a ploy for thieves to make victims out of the magician’s
audience. Nowadays, magic has been extraordinarily brought to
streets with the likes of Criss Angel and David Blaine. What
better to way to enjoy this performance, than to learn magic
yourself!

Lay Your Cards on the Table

It is best to know where to go and who to ask for help. The
first step in order to learn magic is getting your resources
straight. A great way to start is to find your local magic shop
that sells props or equipments that would aid your performance.
More often than not, each tool would come with a handy
instruction guide on how to use it more effectively with your
chosen audience. You may also opt to seek advice from store
owners as they best know the tricks each product holds.

There are also books that hold collections of simple magic
tricks that can be done at home or out on the streets. And as
always, classes are also available in the World Wide Web that
can suit lessons for a toddler to a senior citizen. In your
quest to purchase the right prop to use and how to use it, you
will surely learn magic in different places.

Performance is the Key

To learn magic quickly and easily, one must also have the basic
knowledge of entertaining an audience. An essential part of this
mystical feat is not to hold your viewer’s attention to whatever
is in your hand. You have to look at them straight in the eye
and divert their attention to the questions you ask. This would
then allow your hand to move more freely and create that
seemingly impossible illusion that would make their jaws drop.

Another way to entertain your audience is by making them laugh.
When we laugh, we do not pay much attention to what is happening
and there are greater chances for you to do unnoticeable
gestures. This misdirection would lead to your observers
thinking that the ball did disappear or the rabbit did
materialize out of the hat.

‘Kid’ding Around

As a child, we easily get upset by things we couldn’t do. When
the sandcastle’s roof falls apart, we end up destroying
everything out of frustration. When we learn magic, there would
be times that we would fail. At this time, you may choose to
give up or to learn from your mistake. The latter would always
be more fulfilling.

The fruit of performing magic is not in the knowledge that you
are powerful and that you hold your spectator’s trust, but it is
in finding the joy in little things. You have to take your
viewers to a place that they’ve never been before, and this can
only be achieved by practice and perseverance. Without the two,
there are more chances that the trick will not work.

Lastly, remember to involve your audience. What makes a great
magician is not how big his audience is, but how in tune they
are to him.

About the author:
Wondering how to learn magic? You can become
the talk of your friends and town by following the steps at http://www.howtoleanmagic.com – It’s simple and easy to learn but will leave anybody you
show the tricks to mesmerized!

Author: Eliza Maledevic Ayson

The performing arts, whatever type of it is, are usually
presented to entertain in one way or another. One of the most
popular of which are the performing arts of magic. In fact,
there are many successful stage performances presenting magic
and there are many viewers who actually enjoy and appreciate its
show. And you must already know that these magic shows are
usually power-driven by magic tricks which require the person
who will do it years of careful practice. People have always
been struck in awe and interest in learning the ways of and the
arts of performing magic tricks. Given this fact, magic shows is
really one of the most well-liked and appreciated performing
arts.

The magic community today that is entirely engaged in the
performing arts is massive. In Las Vegas alone, judging by how
magicians execute their tricks and perform stunts and the like,
there are many people who are left to admire how perfectly they
do it. Perfecting its art require meticulous practice, tedious
years of sweat, blood and tears. Although some people may just
look at it as a low status job, for those who actually perform
it, believe that magic is but an integral part of their lives.
Have you ever watched David Copperfield perform his tricks on
streets? Isn’t it incredible? How about David Blaine? They do it
unbelievably, so perfectly executed. The amount of patience and
determination to perform a trick flawlessly is indeed
overwhelming. How these magicians put in and dedicate time for
their tricks is admirable, too. To faultlessly do a trick
requires heaps of effort and time. However, once you get the
drift of it, it can spell gold.

While there are many people who continuously criticizes the
performance of a magic trick or do not concur to the idea of
whatever the performer or magician is doing, there are still
some who believe that magic is a great part of the entertainment
industry. People who are against it must understand that
performing magic is just a way of entertaining people, to give
them something wondrously to watch while relaxing away from a
day’s work.

Learning the tricks is not easy. It requires passion to actually
learn it by heart. And usually those who succeed in perfecting
it are those who dedicate time and effort. Contradictory to what
we used to think of magic, it can not be yours with just one
snap of the hand or one wink of the eye. It is not that simple.
It might require full strength and full focus.

Magic done by the performing arts is not magic by Harry Potter who
uses his wand and presto! Their staged performance is a skill
learned and acquired through the years of sweat thirsty
practice.

About the author:
Eliza Maledevic Ayson writes for Jump2top.com – SEO Company

Author: Mick Hanzlik

Harry Houdini is probably the most famous magician there has
ever been – if you were to ask somebody on the street, even
today, to name a magician, there is a very good chance they’ll
name Houdini, even though he died in 1926.

So, here are a few facts about Houdini that you may not know:

1. He was born Erich Weiss, although he chose to call himself
Houdini in honour of a famous magician from France, Jean Eugène
Robert-Houdin.

2. He was actually born in Budapest, Hungary, although his
family moved to the USA when he was very young. However, he did
claim in later years to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin.

3. Houdini began his performing career as a magician, and not a
particularly good one, adopting the name King Of Kards for a
while, before embarking on his unique career as an escapologist,
for which he became so famous.

4. He married another artiste, Bess, who helped him on stage as
his assistant for the rest of his life.

5. It was during his highly successful tour of Europe, just
after the turn of the century, that he acquired the name The
Handcuff King.

6. He became renowned for his suspended straitjacket escapes, as
well as escapes from under water, but his greatest creation was
the Chinese Water Torture Cell, in which he escaped from a steel
and glass cabinet that was filled with water, while hung upside
down by his ankles.

7. Aviation was a fad of Houdini’s for a while, and was the
first person to achieve a controlled, powered flight over
Australia, in 1910, in his own Voisin biplane.

8. Houdini produced and starrred ina few movies, including The
Man From Beyond (1921), although it’s a good thing he never gave
up his day job, as they were far from successful.

9. For many years, Houdini was the highest paid performer in
vaudeville.

10. Houdini was a member of the Society Of American Magicians
and served as their President from 1917 until his death in 1926.

11. After the death of his beloved mother, Cecilia, he devoted a
large part of his time to debunking fraudulent mediums, after
many vain attempts to contact her from beyond the grave.

12. His exposures of spiritualists cost him his friendship with
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the famous Sherlock Homes
stories.

13. The best known movie about Houdini was released in 1953 and
starred Tony Curtis in the title role. This movie showed Houdini
dying when failing to escape while under water, but this was not
what actually happened – he really died – after contracting
peritonitis, supposedly after being punched in the abdomen by a
student before he had to time to steel himself. He died several
days later, on Halloween 1926, at the age of 52.

About the author:
Mick Hanzlik is one of the oldest-established locksmiths in
Northampton, England. He is also one of the country’s
leading experts on Harry Houdini, as well as being a
professional magician.