Entertainment...

[William Draven]

I was reading a MuM magazine today and saw something I thought I'd share with everyone.

MuM incase you didn't know or aren't familiar with the publication is the Society of American Magicians magazine.

There was a couple of quotes that caught my eye. They were:

"Only magicians care about secrets. Everybody else just wants to be entertained." - Regina Reynolds

The other quote was from Albert Einstein who said: "Mankind's greatest problem is a perfection of means and a confusion of ends."

Isn't that just the problem we face in magic? We convoluted ourselves with intricate methods, knuckle busting sleights, and needless politics when at the end of the day all our audience wants is a good show, a happy memory and a positive experience.

Where did we miss the ship on this concept?

 

[AlfieWhattamMagic]

I agree...

As magicians our goal is to entertain not to find out the coolest slights...

 

[Cedric Taylor]

I was reading a MuM magazine today and saw something I thought I'd share with everyone.

MuM incase you didn't know or aren't familiar with the publication is the Society of American Magicians magazine.

There was a couple of quotes that caught my eye. They were:

"Only magicians care about secrets. Everybody else just wants to be entertained." - Regina Reynolds

The other quote was from Albert Einstein who said: "Mankind's greatest problem is a perfection of means and a confusion of ends."

Isn't that just the problem we face in magic? We convoluted ourselves with intricate methods, knuckle busting sleights, and needless politics when at the end of the day all our audience wants is a good show, a happy memory and a positive experience.

Where did we miss the ship on this concept?

great topic.....interesting points...i think you should speak on this even more....

 

[chriswiehl]

we were talking about this on tinychat yesterday a lil. about how its all about the audience enjoyment.
but yes. magic is more about slights we dont need.
like the swe shift and these fancy double lifts and impractical changes and what not.

 

[Donald C.]

Good point, my view:
There are people who want to be magicians' and people who want to learn knucle busting moves to show off at magic conventions and in front of other magicians, in my opinion that is fine.
Be who you want to be a sleight of hand artist working conventions or an entertainer. I myself enjoy both.
This is just an opinion.

 

[RikAllen]

"Only magicians care about secrets. Everybody else just wants to be entertained." - Regina Reynolds

The other quote was from Albert Einstein who said: "Mankind's greatest problem is a perfection of means and a confusion of ends."

Isn't that just the problem we face in magic? We convoluted ourselves with intricate methods, knuckle busting sleights, and needless politics when at the end of the day all our audience wants is a good show, a happy memory and a positive experience.

Where did we miss the ship on this concept?

We missed the ship when magician's decided a performing art could be a good hobby. I've got nothing against hobbyist, but many of them are move-monkeys.

Magic has also become very easy to learn without the aid of a professional. You buy a dvd or book and can learn magic. The problem is you're learning alone, in your room, without social interaction. The first advice given when asked online is 'practice practice practice!! Don't perform until it's perfect!!!!'

Nothing wrong with practicing, it's how develop our routines, but many magicians loose focus of why they are practicing. Many think they are practicing in order to show off their skills, not entertain audiences. There are too many suggestions given to beginners that don't pull them in the direction of performing properly.

Every magician should have books of tricks and sleights, but I think every beginner should pick up a book on entertaining as well. There are a good number of texts to help develop scripts and characters for magic, but any book that explains how to hold interest and entertain an audience would be worth reading.

 

[descartes]

We missed the ship when magician's decided a performing art could be a good hobby.

Why is that a problem? Do you mean to say that hobbyists are somehow bad for the art? I don't see why that is true.

I've got nothing against hobbyist, but many of them are move-monkeys.

So are a lot of professionals. Bill Malone is the first living example that comes to mind. I don't think being focussed on technique is a problem by itself as long as you don't sacrifice other important aspects like presentation.

Nothing wrong with practicing, it's how develop our routines, but many magicians loose focus of why they are practicing. Many think they are practicing in order to show off their skills, not entertain audiences. There are too many suggestions given to beginners that don't pull them in the direction of performing properly.

I agree with this. Some magicians want the audiences to appreciate the hours of practice it took to learn a difficult sleight or routine. Unfortunately, lay audiences are never going to do that because good technique in magic is always well hidden. If laymen see it, they wont be entertained. If they don't see anything suspicious, how can they appreciate what they don't see?

 

[RikAllen]

Why is that a problem? Do you mean to say that hobbyists are somehow bad for the art? I don't see why that is true.

Some of the best magicians are hobbyist and we've all seen professional (semi-pro's too) that are horrible magicians. They can market themselves well, but are dreadful, bland, and un-entertaining.

While hobbyist aren't all bad, a good amount of them don't perform. With that said a lot of amateurs who aspire to be professionals are too concentrated on moves and not enough on who they're performing for.

So are a lot of professionals. Bill Malone is the first living example that comes to mind. I don't think being focussed on technique is a problem by itself as long as you don't sacrifice other important aspects like presentation.

True, my statements were directed towards people who think of nothing but moves and methods. The same people who might use stock scripts and neglect to acknowledge their audience and surroundings.

I agree with this. Some magicians want the audiences to appreciate the hours of practice it took to learn a difficult sleight or routine. Unfortunately, lay audiences are never going to do that because good technique in magic is always well hidden. If laymen see it, they wont be entertained. If they don't see anything suspicious, how can they appreciate what they don't see?

A good magician knows the reactions (applause, silence, freaking out) is a sign that your practice paid off. If you don't get a reaction then you either performed sloppily or you were technically precise and people don't like you.

 

[ZacEckstein]

I was reading a MuM magazine today and saw something I thought I'd share with everyone.

MuM incase you didn't know or aren't familiar with the publication is the Society of American Magicians magazine.

There was a couple of quotes that caught my eye. They were:

"Only magicians care about secrets. Everybody else just wants to be entertained." - Regina Reynolds

The other quote was from Albert Einstein who said: "Mankind's greatest problem is a perfection of means and a confusion of ends."

Isn't that just the problem we face in magic? We convoluted ourselves with intricate methods, knuckle busting sleights, and needless politics when at the end of the day all our audience wants is a good show, a happy memory and a positive experience.

Where did we miss the ship on this concept?

You know, I get called a crap magician every once in a while because I can't do the things that the Buck Twins do, but when I go to an audience and perform they usually love me... Unless they hate Texas..... I wear a bunch of Texas things..... I love Texas.... TEXAS...

 

[Justin.Morris]

Keeping my magic simple is something I have strived to do because of the advice of guys like Eugene Burger.

However I have been recently challenged a bit on this.

Why can't it be both.

Obviously we cannot get so focused on the method that we no longer entertain the crowd, BUT it doesn't need to be a dichotomy - method OR effect. Use tricky methods, but also entertain. It's similar to what Jason England said about the best performer is the great entertainer with the most tools at their disposal.

 

[oldavid1]

Absolutely agree with you Draven. All the audience wants to do is be entertained; who cares if you did a pass or a double lift? I swear if I did both to my audience, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Thinking of it this way: If I can do a perfect DL, it would look (to my spec) that I put ONE card inside the deck, and instantly it's back on top. If I did a perfect pass, it would look like I put ONE card in the deck, and instantly back on top.

Nothing against move-monkeys (because I find pleasure in doing Clipshift), but I'm just saying what the spectator sees. And what the spectator sees is what matters to me, especially as a mentalist.