Use humor. You have a brown paper bag. You reach in and pull out a Coke Bottle. You put it back and pull out a Juice Box. You keep alternating this. The kids know you have 2 items in the bag. BORING!
"When I was in school, I used to get in trouble for bringing Coke to school. When the teacher walks by - it's just a juice box. When the teacher leaves - it's really a Coke!" The kids and adults are laughing. Then, when you do the trick, the kids yell 'Whoa! What just happened?'
Humor is a great tool for the magician! I cannot think of a quality magician that does not use humor!
I think it is important to make sure your humor matches you style of performance. It is something that people overlook when putting together new routines.
I believe more than ever that a unique, memorable performance is the key to being the best you can be. All the best magicians are memorable performers.
Now, what makes a performance memorable? Is there a performance of performer that you will always remember? Who and why?
The terse answer would be, quite simply, to be entertaining. After all, first and foremost, we ARE entertainers. And an entertainer's job is to entertain. The medium we choose as magicians to achieve that end is through magic as a performance art - the rest is really up to you. Tools used, besides the "effects" themselves, can include humour, music, dance, lighting, themes, storytelling, etc. The sky is, quite literally, the limit. Bottom line, if you fail to entertain (regardless of your particular medium - in our case, as magicians, it is magic) you fail as an entertainer, regardless whether your audience consists of 1 or 1,000. "Be entertaining!"
Robert I agree completely. Now the question is how does a person become entertaining? Another good question is how to see if you are performing and not entertaining?
Use humor. You have a brown paper bag. You reach in and pull out a Coke Bottle. You put it back and pull out a Juice Box. You keep alternating this. The kids know you have 2 items in the bag. BORING!
ReplyDelete"When I was in school, I used to get in trouble for bringing Coke to school. When the teacher walks by - it's just a juice box. When the teacher leaves - it's really a Coke!" The kids and adults are laughing. Then, when you do the trick, the kids yell 'Whoa! What just happened?'
Humor is a great tool for the magician! I cannot think of a quality magician that does not use humor!
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to make sure your humor matches you style of performance. It is something that people overlook when putting together new routines.
I believe more than ever that a unique, memorable performance is the key to being the best you can be. All the best magicians are memorable performers.
ReplyDeleteNow, what makes a performance memorable? Is there a performance of performer that you will always remember? Who and why?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe terse answer would be, quite simply, to be entertaining. After all, first and foremost, we ARE entertainers. And an entertainer's job is to entertain. The medium we choose as magicians to achieve that end is through magic as a performance art - the rest is really up to you. Tools used, besides the "effects" themselves, can include humour, music, dance, lighting, themes, storytelling, etc. The sky is, quite literally, the limit. Bottom line, if you fail to entertain (regardless of your particular medium - in our case, as magicians, it is magic) you fail as an entertainer, regardless whether your audience consists of 1 or 1,000. "Be entertaining!"
ReplyDeleteRobert I agree completely. Now the question is how does a person become entertaining? Another good question is how to see if you are performing and not entertaining?
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts?