More thoughts on Magic!
I received the "Gift of Magic" when I was but a child. Like so many who receive a Magic Kit I couldn't wait to find someone to fool with my new found skills. I had gotten into the thought that I was invinceable. The Great "JFK the Magnificent". That's what I called myself.
I was actually dangerous. You see, the kit included 175 different tricks. I had to learn them all at the same time and couldn't wait to show off my new found skills. Boy, What a mistake that was. I knew them all but I really didn't know any of them. Not well enough to fool anyone with my skills. I was stumbling through them one by one. My parents and some of the other adults humored me with thier expressions of surprise but, really, I was fooling no one but myself.
Later, as I matured, I would learn that the only way to excell at Magic was to PRACTICE. PRACTICE does indeed make Perfect. Eventually I learned to perfect one trick before even attempting to take on another. That's when I started to attract attention as one who knew what he was doing. People were starting to offer me higher fees to perform at thier functions. Magic was actually becomming more fun, both for me and for my audiences.
Now I've gotten to the point where I perform so often I rarely even have to think much about what I'm doing. I just do it. When I have to choreograph a special program my knowledge of the effects is so that I have a ready idea of what tricks I can employ to achieve the effect required of my client and a running knowledge of how long it takes to perform each trick. This makes the performance so much more stress free. It also makes it so much more fun. I have always said that Magic is the most fun you can have working.
The smallest crowd I have performed for was 1 while the largest was approximately 30,000. I've performed for the Dene Indians in the far reaches of the Northwest Territories of Canada and I've been invited to perform in the White House as well. Magic has been, and continues to be good for me.
In future Blogs I will eventually share some of its secrets with you so stick around. I'll be talking with you again real soon.
I was actually dangerous. You see, the kit included 175 different tricks. I had to learn them all at the same time and couldn't wait to show off my new found skills. Boy, What a mistake that was. I knew them all but I really didn't know any of them. Not well enough to fool anyone with my skills. I was stumbling through them one by one. My parents and some of the other adults humored me with thier expressions of surprise but, really, I was fooling no one but myself.
Later, as I matured, I would learn that the only way to excell at Magic was to PRACTICE. PRACTICE does indeed make Perfect. Eventually I learned to perfect one trick before even attempting to take on another. That's when I started to attract attention as one who knew what he was doing. People were starting to offer me higher fees to perform at thier functions. Magic was actually becomming more fun, both for me and for my audiences.
Now I've gotten to the point where I perform so often I rarely even have to think much about what I'm doing. I just do it. When I have to choreograph a special program my knowledge of the effects is so that I have a ready idea of what tricks I can employ to achieve the effect required of my client and a running knowledge of how long it takes to perform each trick. This makes the performance so much more stress free. It also makes it so much more fun. I have always said that Magic is the most fun you can have working.
The smallest crowd I have performed for was 1 while the largest was approximately 30,000. I've performed for the Dene Indians in the far reaches of the Northwest Territories of Canada and I've been invited to perform in the White House as well. Magic has been, and continues to be good for me.
In future Blogs I will eventually share some of its secrets with you so stick around. I'll be talking with you again real soon.
posted by The Professor's Magic Blog at 8:15 PM
3 Comments:
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Joe,
Looking back on my own pursuits and aspirations, I am somewhat ashamed of the fact that it took me 31 years to come into Magic. I know that when we had our conversation, you made me realize that magic is really not about age or self-perception but about being just where you are in your art and living in it every moment of your life. At least, that is what I believe now. When I was first introduced to magic, it was in a magic shop in Atlantic City; I remember thinking that here is an art that resonates with me in a way that I can't explain. I have been through a lot of emotional ups and downs during the last 10 years, years which have taken me on a search of something that lifts me and others out of themselves. Being a music teacher and now teaching 9th grade English and Drama at the high school, I was looking for magic; I just didn't know it yet. Once I felt it that day in the shop, I knew I was changed forever. I spent the next year practicing, refining, and testing my art on colleagues, students, and family. I feel that I am becoming a real magician, although there is so much more that needs to be done. I guess what I am trying to say is that, for me, magic has become me; it has consumed my mind and spirit, and I know deep down that it is truly a gift that found me. Now, my job is to make sure that it finds others. I struggle continuously with those who wish to know the secrets but do not respect the effect of the secret; to some that I encounter, magic is simply another logic puzzle to solve in this world of science and explanation. Where has the belief in mystery that we knew as children gone to? Many of my effects now incorporate different systems of thought from different branches of magic. In the words of Masklyn ye Mage himself, "we do not do tricks, we do miracles". I plead with anyone who may be reading this blog to keep our art in the delicate balance between the shadow of mystery and the enlightenment of teaching. By this, I mean that we have an obligation to lift people out of themselves, to provide not a trick, but an experience. I want my audience to come away with something that they did not have before the performance, that is, wonderment and joy. I wish this on all of you practicing today, especially in those darker moments where we question why we perform in the first place. Finally, I need to say how grateful I am that magicians, such as yourself, Joe, are here to share your knowledge and experience. Without artists like you, the "seeker" can remain in the search for support, feeling that their efforts are in vain. I know that is how I feel many times; maybe I will never shake that feeling, and maybe it is because I am a teacher myself that I know the importance of guidance. I thank you for your guidance and never ending support of us, the magicians, and the art.
Your friend in Magic,
Tony Scaltz
Hi. I like your blog. I wrote an article about whether or not magicians are artists, and I wondered what you thought of it.
the link to the blog post is here.
http://www.bradlaughs.com/2008/03/16/are-magicians-artists-or-paint-by-number-fakes/
Cheers!
Brad Montgomery
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