So You Want To Be A Magician?

Have you always wondered how magicians perform all those incredible mind-boggling magic tricks and illusions? How did David Copperfield make the Statue Of Liberty disappear? How did David Blaine levitate into the air? Do you have a burning desire to learn to perform some of these amazing feats yourself? Here’s what you need…

First of all let me make sure we are both on the same track. When I talk about learning or performing magic in this blog, I’m only referring to magic tricks or illusions that fool the eyes and mind. There are no voodoo spells, witchcraft, evil spirits or supernatural powers at work. This may seem obvious to most people reading this but you’ll be surprised. Let me tell you a funny story that relates to this.

Some time back a magician at a magic school told me about a young man in his twenties who enrolled in this magic course that was being offered by the school. After being shown how to vanish a coin by some clever hand techniques, the guy said, “That was just a trick. Now show me how to really vanish the coin.” When told that he was just learning tricks and not “real” magic, the guy demanded for his money back!

Now you see why I want to make this point very clear, which is: “Everything we talk about here is not real magic but just tricks.” However, many times for the sake of presentation to make the trick more interesting to the audience, the magician may use a theme or story line that involves the supernatural. Ok, let’s move on.

So you want to be a magician? What do you need?

A Sense Of Wonder

A lot of magicians first became interested in magic when an uncle or grandfather pulled a coin from behind their ears or gave them a magic set for Christmas. Somehow that sense of wonder and amazement will stay on in their minds and will never fade away.

In magician’s language, this is called “being bitten by the magic bug”. Even after you find out how a trick works, you will still enjoy showing it to others but now your enjoyment comes from seeing the looks of astonishment and feeling the sense of wonder of your audience.

If you’re learning magic tricks just to find out the secrets, you’ll be very disappointed. This is because most tricks are actually very simple. Without a sense of wonder, you won’t last very long as a magician. You must enjoy creating wonder for others and in doing so feel the wonder yourself.

Be Able To Keep A Secret

Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard this many times before: “A good magician always keeps his secrets”.

Why is keeping the secret to a trick so important? Besides protecting the livelihood of all the professional magicians who do shows for a living, it is also to keep the audience guessing and help them maintain their sense of wonder.

By revealing the secret, you will actually ruin it for them and they will just feel dumb and stupid for having been fooled by something so simple. The next time you offer to show them a trick again, they’ll just say, “Nah, it’s just another one of your stupid tricks.”

Practise, Practise And Practise

Just knowing how a trick is done is not enough. You have to practise a trick so well until you can do it without thinking too much about the workings and focus on its presentation.

The audience will be able to tune in to your mood and feelings during the show. If you are struggling and fumbling during the performance, they will feel uncomfortable. The less polite ones might just walk out or boo you.

If you have mastered the tricks well, you will relax and enjoy yourself while performing. As a result, the audience will also relax and temporarily suspend disbelief to go along with your theme or story line. They will be able to enjoy themselves and give you your due applause.

Is that all you need? For a start, yes. Becoming a magician is not that difficult. As long as you can understand and follow instructions, and are willing to put in some time to practise, you’ll be doing tricks for your family and friends in no time at all. You don’t need to be very clever or very skillful with your hands.

Of course, some people will be more naturally talented than others at magic, just like some people pick up a sport easily and quickly become very good at it. You don’t have to be the next David Blaine or David Copperfield. Just be yourself and learn at your own pace. You’ll even amaze yourself after a short while.

In my coming posts, I’ll share with you more resources and ideas that’ll help you become a good magician. Although I have to keep with the magician’s code of honor and won’t reveal any secrets haphazardly, I will make sure that you have more than enough to start you on your journey of magical discovery.

Until next time, have a magical week!