magictricks-12

Magic Tricks
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Teaching Your Child Magic Tricks
Author: Sally Rogers -
When it comes to fun family entertainment, consider teaching your child old fashioned magic tricks. This is a great way to kill time while waiting for an event to start or to stop those annoying questions of "are we there yet?" while driving in the car. Consider bringing clever magic tricks with you on vacation or camping trip so you children will have no complaints of being bored. You can find magic tricks at any specialty store or even your child's favorite toy store. Many magic tricks do not require any additional materials, besides the old standby of a handkerchief or a bright, shiny penny.

One fantastic option for individuals wishing to teach their kids magic tricks are the Klutz series of books. These books teach kids, "tweens," and teenagers all sorts of things, from different ways to braid hair to how to perform a variety of tricks using an old fashioned wooden yoyo. In addition to in depth instruction especially for the younger crowd, these books include several accessories that are necessary for performing the task. From their instruction book on magic tricks to their instruction book on card tricks, the Klutz series are perfect for any individual of any age looking to learn magic.

A quick trip to your favorite bookstore or local library will result in a plethora of books that will provide you with step by step instruction when it comes to teaching your child magic tricks. From classic tricks that are sure to elicit a chuckle to in depth slights of hand, magic tricks, and illusions that will wow all audiences, you are sure to find out how to perform each task with in depth step by step instructions that anyone will be able to flawlessly follow.

Consider bringing some necessary tools for teaching the specific magic tricks along on a long plane or train ride so your kids can do something more productive than mindlessly play video games or argue. This is a great idea if you are traveling to a city with a renowned magic shop, museum of magic, or show that features world class magicians. For instance, if you are traveling to Las Vegas to see the fantastic Lance Burton, teach your kids a few magic tricks along the way to make the show hit closer to home.

Magic tricks are great for school or club talent shows in which your child wishes to participate. Quite often, children are left at a loss when it comes to participating in talent shows and may feel left out if they cannot think of a talent that has not been chosen. Everyone sings or dances on stage at a talent show, but few children can don a magic hat and cape and perform astounding tricks of slight of hand or illusions. Learning magic can boost a child's self esteem, especially when he or she finally gets the gist of the trick and is able to flawlessly perform the trick in front of an audience. Who knows, your child may be the next great magician and they will only have you to thank for showing them basic magic tricks!

Article Source : http://www.articledashboard.com

Magic Trick Facts is an information site that contains articles, a directory and other Magic Trick Resources . It can be found at: www.magictrickfacts.com

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magictricks-11

Card Tricks
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A To Z Of Well-Known Magicians
Author: Jim Kapowski -
There are many well-known, skilled magicians that you might not know about because even though they're well known, they haven't reached magician cult status. Most people know about the magician David Copperfield, but there are many more magicians equally skilled. So, take a moment to learn about other wizards of magic and expand your knowledge about magicians.

Curtis Adams: A magician who appeared at the age of 16 in the Young Magicians Showcase featured on Fox Television. He was born on October 12, 1984 and was one of the youngest magicians to perform in Reno, Nevada casinos.

Criss Angel: The only three-time magician winner of the Merlin Award from the International Society of Magicians. Angel is a skilled magician who did stunts like lying on a bed of nails while a Hummer drove over him.

Ed Balducci: A street magician who died in 1988 at the age of 82. He is a magician known for his gimmick-free trick of visibly rising several inches from the ground with his back turned to his audience.

Derren Brown: A British magician who practiced traditional close-up magic in the 1990s. Brown's claim as a magician is his "mind-reading" act. Brown claims aliens abducted him.

Cardini: Richard "Cardini" Pitchford was a magician with almost 50 years of performing tricks and illusions. He's one of the world's most imitated magicians, but no one to date has ever been able to completely duplicate his tricks. He was a magician known for his sleight of hand. Items were forever appearing and disappearing from his hands. He died in 1973.

Tommy Cooper: A magician and comedian known who was a member of the Magic Circle until his death in 1984. He collapsed while doing a live magician act that became his last.

Paul Daniels: A currently retired British magician who in 1983 became the first magician to ever receive the prestigious Magician of the Year Award by the Hollywood Academy of Magical Arts.

S.W. Erndase: A magician and author whose real identity has never been figured out. Erndase is a magician who wrote a book in 1902 about card playing tricks.

Ching Ling Foo: The first Asian magician to achieve fame. He was a magician who did tricks like breathing fire and pulling a fifteen-foot pole from his mouth. He died in 1922.

Lennart Green: A magician known for his close-up card tricks. In 1991 this magician became the world champion of in close-up card magic.

Paul Harris: A magician known for pulling coins from mirrors. Many claim he is a magician with skills like a combination of Copperfield and Henning.

Scott Interrante: An American magician specializing in escape-artist tricks. He won awards from the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Ricky Jay: A magician listed in the Guinness Book of Records as throwing a playing card 190 feet at 90 miles per hour.

Fred Kaps: A Dutch magician who died in 1980. He is a magician known for making a saltshaker create an endless supply of salt.

Juan Tamariz: A Spanish magician who in 1971 founded a school that has trained generations of Spanish magicians.

Dia Vernon: This Canadian magician was born in 1894 as David Frederick Wingfield Verner. This magician, who died in 1992, is known for fooling Houdini with one of his card tricks.

Paul Zenon: A British street magician who also performed in the bars and pubs in the U.K. This magician has written three books about magic, the most recent published in 2005.

Article Source : http://www.articledashboard.com

Magic Magicians is an information site that contains articles, a directory and other Magician Resources . It can be found at: www.magicmagicians.com

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magictricks-10

Magic Tricks
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Setting Up Your Magic Shows: Part II - The Great Begining to a Great Magic Show
Author: J.L. Siefers

The last article described how to create a file for each magic trick that you might use in a magic show. This article will show you what kind of information you need to include in each and every magic trick file you create.

This is an important step, because having this information in a word processing file will be very useful for later steps in stting up your magic show.

Step 2

Each trick file needs to have these sections in this order:

• Trick Name
• Items Needed to Perform Trick
• Setup Notes
• Brief Description of Effect
• Performance Script
• Notes

Trick Name

This section needs little explanation. Use the trick's original name or a name you can easily remember.

Items Needed to Perform Trick

This is one of the most important sections of your file. You need to list in detail every item required to perform the trick. I usually separate out the consumables from the non-consumables. Consumables would include any item that is used up during the performance. For example flashpaper, paper money, and lemons are listed as consumables for my bill in lemon trick. Separating out the consumables means I am less likely to overlook them when packing up my show.

The non-consumables list is a great checklist to make sure you have everything you need to perform the magic trick.

Setup Notes

This section reminds you about any important points to remember when setting up your trick. As tricks come in and out of my performing repertoire, it is a nice reminder of key points I may have forgotten if I haven't performed the magic trick in a while.

Brief Description of Effect

You can use the description from the magic trick's ad or write a brief one yourself. I have found it useful to have a description handy if I am looking to add tricks for an upcoming show. You have a vague idea (or none at all) about what this trick is about.

Performance Script

This section contains the complete script that I use to perform the trick. I write out everything I do and say in the form of a script. This is the baseline for my performance of the trick. Once the script is mastered I am able to freely go on and off script during my performance.

Writing the script is a good way to study the intersection of this magic trick and your performing style. I work on the script all of the time. I view it as a work in progress. It is a good exercise to avoid just using the canned patter that comes with the trick. Try writing your own script out for a magic trick or two. You will be pleasantly surprised with the reactions you get from your audience.

Finally, the script is a nice refresher if you have not performed the trick in a while. I hated having developed a good routine for an effect only to have forgotten most of it because I had not used in a couple of years.

Notes

This section contains any of your thoughts and ideas for the magic trick. Put anything and everything you want to remember or try with the trick. This is a good place to record your insights about why the trick didn't play as well as you thought it would.

The next article explains how to create a very useful checklist for each magic show you do.

Copyright © 2005 J.L. Siefers, All rights reserved.

J.L. Siefers has been performing great magic for years. He has written extensively on many topics in magic. He has shown hundreds of people how to successfully learn to do great magic tricks.

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magictricks-1

Magic Tricks
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Performing Magic for Kids
Author: J.L. Siefers
You have just discovered the wonderful world of magic. Trip after trip to the magic shop has added to your ever growing arsenal of magic tricks. Thirty-three days later the credit card bills arrive to remind your wife that this IS an expensive hobby.

No problem! You will make back all of the money you've spent and more by becoming a part-time professional magician. Looking around for places to hone your craft, you suddenly remember that you niece has a seventh birthday coming up. You call you sister and offer your services in lieu of a gift.

Two weeks later the performance time arrives. You pack all of your "A" material into two large cardboard boxes. You start the show for sixteen first graders and all of your relatives. The show goes well. Everybody is laughing and having a good time. You take some theatrical pauses to build suspense as you search your boxes for the next great trick. Finally, your fifteen minute show concludes after fifty-three minutes. You never realized you had that much great magic. The kids cheer and applaud for your debut magic show. Even your sister, wiping the tears from her eyes, says, "I have never had more fun than I did watching your magic show. It was great. John got it all on tape."

This is how many part-time professional magicians attempt to begin their career. They look around and decided that doing kid shows is the best way to start. Performing magic for kids is one of the most difficult areas of magic to do well. This article explores some of the challenges of performing children's magic.

--You are training children--

Children don't understand many of the common cues in a live performance. Most children are raised in the age of television. Not a bad thing, except the laugh tracks prompt the children when to laugh. No laugh tracks and the children are left out in the cold. They are quick and will get up to speed in no time. But they need your help.

The same issue is even more problematic with applause. Children are not used to clapping. They don't understand applause cues. Those wonderfully timed applause cues will leave you and your audience with a lot of uncomfortable silence.

What can be done? Everything. One of your most important tasks as a children's magician is your opening. The beginning of your show must do four things:

•Establish audience control
•Teach the children to react to applause cues
•Set the tone for the show
•Introduce your performing personality

The audience needs to be warmed up prior to your magic show. It seems hokey and a waste of time, but it can make the difference between a great magic show and a horrible one.

Children love to have fun. Even in school children are taught to obey those in authority. For some reason, many magicians forget to establish authority early in the show. The result resembles a saloon brawl in the wild west.

When you step out for the start of your show, you have the perfect opportunity to establish the ground rules for the show. I don't mean that you should bring out a list of house rules for the show. Instead come out with confidence and warm up your audience.

After you welcome everyone to the show, look out over the audience and say, "This looks like a really great crowd. Let's see how loud you can clap. On the count of three ONE. . . TWO . . THREE . .Not bad! Let's try it again. On three . . ." After some byplay conclude by saying, "What do we do when we like the magic? (pause) What do we do when we LOVE the magic?" (pause and react strongly to the crowd)

Four things are being done by that warm up. You have taught the children to clap when they like the magic. It also trains them to react to the applause cues in the rest of the show. The warm up establishes that you are in control for this show. Finally, it sets a fun tone for the show. This is the first time your audience gets a sense of your performing personality.

--You are not performing for the kids--

You will learn quickly that the most difficult task facing the children's performer is to design the show to appeal to children and adults at the same time and at different levels. No I don't mean filling your performance with phrases that have sexual double meanings. Nothing is more pathetic and unprofessional than the performer that gets a child on stage and slyly eyes the adults in the crowd and says "Do I have a big magic wand or what? "

Children's cartoons provide the best examples of the point I am trying to make. Take Loony Toons or Spongebob Squarepants for example. These cartoons work for children and adults on different levels at the same time. This is what you must achieve to be a successful children's magician

This is very difficult thing to pull off. This is one of the main reasons that doing children's magic is so difficult. You must DESIGN your show for both audiences. One key to the show design is your performing personality.

--You are not yourself today--

When you perform magic for children, you must have a distinctive and appealing performing personality. Long gone are the days when the children's magician can come out on stage in a second hand tux and wow his audience with a formal magic show. Look at Silly Billy, one of the most successful children's magicians. His performing personality is fun and engaging. His show tone is fast paced and humorous.

Even beyond children's magic, examine the performing personalities of children's television. Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rodgers, and Peewee Herman are examples of compelling performing personalities. Each one was successful, yet, had very different performing personalities. The common factor was that each performer engaged children through fun.

Your performing personality must engage you audience, children and adults, with fun and wonderment. You must draw your audience into the show by your performing personality, but you must wow them with a well designed show that delivers great magic. This is why doing children's magic is so tough.

If you want to start your career in magic as a children's magician, think again. Kids are brutally honest. There is nothing tougher or more satisfying than have a great children's magic show. Being a children's magician is not the best way to become a part-time professional magician.

Find out more about perfroming for kids at http://www.learn-great-magic-tricks.com/more Learn-Great-Magic-Tricks

About the Author

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J.L. Siefers has been performing great magic for years.
He has shown hundreds of people how to successfully
learn to do great magic tricks.
http://www.Learn-Great-Magic-Tricks.com Learn-Great-Magic-Tricks.com
Click now to get your FREE magic tricks!
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