The Adequate Blog

Magic is one of those rare fields which does not require any qualitative demonstration of skill before the practitioner declares his membership in that group. Sort of like “poet” and “Internet Marketing Guru”.

However, “Magician” is also one of those fields where declaring yourself to be one inevitably results in a request, if not a demand to demonstrate your skill.

“So do something magical!”

Now, aside from the responses we all think about saying, there are two ways to react to this.

• Graciously demur
• Perform something small and quick

There is a third option: request money as you are a professional, but it’s rarely received in the spirit in which it is intended.

So, the practicing stage magician must have a few bits of close up stuff which he or she can do for the appropriate people. I’m not suggesting one become a performing monkey, busting out tricks on demand or (god forbid) doing them when they’re not requested*, but having a couple of things on hand will be useful for those occasions when it is appropriate to do so.

Fortunately, it’s not too hard to find small variations of what one does big on stage, and have those handy.  A piece of rope, a handkerchief, even the dreaded “little vanishing bit of silk” and the gadget with which magicians cause things to vanish  is enough. Oh yes, and a deck of cards if you’re into that sort of thing.

Jeff McBride did a great demonstration of how to take a small card trick and turn it into something big enough to play for a large crowd - the exact same trick, it’s all in the presentation and how “big” you make yourself and your demonstration.  Don’t worry about having an entire close-up magic act on hand, just one or two things and you’re good to go.

Now, deciding when it’s appropriate to perform an impromptu magic trick is the stuff of long, sometimes heated debate. Some say to go ahead and do so when asked the first time, some suggest demurring until at least two or three requests have been made.  For me, it depends on a number of things - where I am, who I’m with, what I have on my person at the time - even taking a napkin or straw wrapper and making it go away can be enough.

One of the more satisfying impromptu moments came from doing a bare bones, bone-simple ‘tear the bill up and restore it’ gag - we’ve all seen this - for the checkout clerk at a quickiemart as I was loading up on carbs and sugar for the drive back to the airport after a gig. But that’s just me.

Having a balance of big and small things will make you a more effective performer. I recommend you look into it.

* Much like being a bagpipe player or demolitions expert, knowing when not to demonstrate your trade is as important as knowing when to demonstrate it

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