The Tricky Connections Of Magic And Stage Presence

When a performer learns his skills, he knows that part of those skills is his ability to control his audience’s interest. This can be done through perfect incorporations of confidence, focus, projections, facial expressions, attention, etc.

Along with any performer, magicians know how important it is to have stage presence. In fact, it is the single most elusive factor that they need whenever they perform on stage or in any shows.

However, as simple as it may sound, acquiring or learning the art of stage presence is no easy job. Acquiring stage presence involves a continuous learning process, where every magician should gain knowledge on combining all the needed skills in order to hook the audience’s attention.

So for those who want to learn how to obtain stage presence, here are three easy steps that will definitely catch the audience’s interest and keep them glued to their seats:

1. A good performer knows the role

When it comes to performance, those who knows how to portray their roles best are those that are greatly applauded.

Why? Because they perform as if it is their true personality. In this way, the audience will be able to feel the reality that exudes from every move and every word that the performer delivers.

For magicians, owning the role is defined on how he defines his character. A good magician should know where he gets his “power,” convictions, thoughts, the things he has learned, etc.

2. Get real!

Stage presence is all about projecting reality. Even if 100% originality can't be achieved, the important thing in order for a magician to gain stage presence is to appear as real as possible.

Even if it has been a well-known fact that magic is just an illusion, to create a realistic view on stage is one area that will put the audience in astonishment and admiration.

Moreover, even if all the tricks of a magician are copied from the works of others, it is still important to create an original work that will distinguish him from the others.

3. Love the craft

Stage presence is all about learning to love one’s craft. Therefore, magicians should learn how to love their craft by being knowledgeable on what they do. If the audience can see how expert the magician is, chances are, their attention will be more focused on the show.

Indeed, magic and stage presence is such an important combination in order to keep the audience completely glued to their seats.

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Learning Paper Tricks

Performing magic tricks has always been one of the most popular past times enjoyed by a lot of people from all walks of life. There are various kinds of magic tricks. One of many kinds of the usual scene-stealing tricks is a paper trick. There could be innumerable ways to deliver a paper trick. Here are a few of those paper tricks that can be easily learned by a new magic aficionado:

1. A paper-tearing trick is a clever method of tearing and bringing back the form of a sheet of paper. You can do this trick mostly on tissue papers. This could be a little different compared to other paper tricks.

You will hand out two kinds of tissue papers; it can be color white or black. You will tear both the papers and fold them into tiny squares. When he opens the paper, the two are still there, but surprisingly it is formed into a large white square and in the center, there is a black square.

You wonder why there are no torn traces on the paper. The have an idea on the trick, the restored paper is already formed by sticking a black square on each side of the large white paper. On a particular side, the black part is paste all three edges and one edge is left open.

The paper formed is then folded into a tiny square, and the outside have an opening. It is then laid on the table for about 5 seconds. You will get the restored form and place it behind his back.

The paper is divided into four pieces of squares, and the whole is bundle is again shown in the front, the tricky part on this is that you will make a little wave in his hands, making the two torn pieces together, and then slowly opening the restored torn paper. This takes a narrow chance to poke the torn pieces into the secret pocket. Ending the trick with showing both hands and they will find nothing.

2. Another trick is called the generous offer. You will need a piece of paper and hand it out to a person. Ask him to tear it into quarters. It must be torn equally, you will then get the papers and give him back a quarter of it. He then thinks that the task is easy enough, and then he may ask for a prize for doing it.

You will then applaud him and give his prize of another quarter of the paper. From there you gave the person one of the four pieces of the paper, which was supposed to be a quarter also of the sheet of paper. You can use a different way to approach this trick in using slang expressions of offering or donate “two bits”. In this approach two pieces of paper is given to him, as it presents the two bits you said.

3. The next trick you may learn is the look easy trick. Find a sheet of paper and tear it in two thirds. It is required not totally tear the end sections. It should be a little loose, and the outcome will be a slit parallel sheet of paper with three flaps.

Give it to the person and tell him to have a hold on the edge of the flaps and hide one in each hand. From the center of the paper, you will make him tear the end flaps. It seems to be a piece of cake, but it is not. When he tries to work on it, only one edge of the flap is torn. The pull is purposely even distributed.

4. The floating paper ball needs to be performed under proper situations because it requires a little experiment. You need to crumple one piece of paper into a ball and you will have to hold it using your left hand with your right hand on top of it. You will remove your left hand, and have the paper just floated in the air moving upward to your right hand.

The trick is done because of the black silk thread. The thread is placed over your right ear forming a loop in one of the ends. The other end is tied loosely to your black coat button. They do not have the idea that you squeezed it around on the loose end, before the paper ball is formed.

When you move your right hand upward, you will use your right thumb to catch the thread. You will then draw the thread tightly so that when you take off your hand, the ball automatically floats. Move your hand forward, then raise the ball. Bringing it back lowers it. On the last part, you will have to get the ball on your left hand and untying it from the thread. The right hand brushing your hair will lift the loop from your ear, and the thread just falls down on the floor, without one noticing it.

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The Business Side Of Magic Shows: The Media And Advertising

A lot of people get intimidated by the word media and advertising and usually take it to mean powerful conglomerates of print, broadcast and the Internet. While that is a common perception, it should not come to the point that people like you would feel inferior because of it.

One thing you should know about media and advertising is that they are simply tools. The high-profile nature it has stems from the fact that the people in it want this to be so. But if you choose not to fall for this illusion, you’d find that you are in as much a position to use these tools as anyone else. To be more specific, you can use these tools to promote your business as a magician or illusionist.

Now before you protest with how much it will cost to put up ads in the paper, radio and TV, allow yourself to be informed on alternatives that may increase your bookings without breaking the bank.

First of all, your advertising strategy will not have as wide a coverage as a national campaign, which makes your costs all that much smaller. Second, you don’t need to be an established performer to get your own advertising. Even a newbie or someone building on a career in the magic business can make use of advertising tools.

Now you can move on to knowing what kind of media is out there and how you can advertise on them.

Tri-media
Print, TV and radio are the traditionally held avenues of advertisement and these are what you see as newspaper ads, TV and radio commercials. As the most established forms of media, these have the most circulation in a population. It is this ability to reach literally millions of people that advertisers pay a lot of money for.

Print
Since you don’t need to reach a million people, you may just do as well to start with your own local area. Very likely there is a community paper that you can visit to inquire about placing ads. If the rates are too high for you, consider putting out a press release and sending it to the paper’s editor. Press releases don’t cost you anything because publishers are always on the lookout for material to fill in blanks in the layout. Just make sure your press release is relevant to the paper you’ll be sending it to.

TV
Given the right circumstances, you can advertise yourself on TV and/or radio without spending a cent on production costs. You can do this by lending your services to existing shows that may need your skills as a magician. A deal can be worked out with the show’s producer where in exchange for your skills, your contact information will be put on air.

Radio
Obviously, the suggestion for TV will not work for radio but even then, you can advertise on radio in a similar way you did for print. Benefit shows or fundraisers enjoy the privilege of free radio announcements. If you can work out a deal with the fundraiser organizers, you may be able to have your name included in the radio announcement, thus creating awareness of your services.

New media
New media has come to identify everything else outside the realm of tri-media. For now, this pertains to the Internet and mobile technology that is growing at a breakneck pace while remaining affordable to the common Joe.

Websites
Most magicians now maintain their own websites meant to promote the performer and the show. One thing you should know about websites is that more does NOT necessarily mean better. Sometimes a website could have so many pictures or words that the information is literally in the visitor’s face. Instead of inviting the person to learn more about you, you may end up turning them off with a website that’s too cluttered or too loud.

Restraint is the key here. Remember that the idea is to generate an interest in you. Don’t rely on the website (or any other form of advertisement) to get you booked as only you (or your agent) can do that. Give enough information that answers typical questions like what you do and to what events have you performed at. Leave the nitty-gritty details of your act to the actual conversation you hopefully will have with a prospect after they’ve visited your site.

Other forms of new media like email and mobile technology employ the same principles as with websites and tri-media. It is simply a matter of mastering the technology of your choice and making it work along with your core message that you can help solve people’s problems with the services you offer.

Finally, after all that glitz in media, your quality of work is still the final deciding factor whether you can convert the hype to reality. So don’t forget to build on the skills you are advertising and your reputation in the magic business just might take off sooner than you know it.

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Magic Tricks For Kids

Most kids are fascinated with magic tricks. Finding good magic trick kits for kids is pretty easy because most of the big discount stores carry them in the toy aisle. You can also find plenty of magic trick kits for kids online. But your child can also perform magic tricks by using items found around the house. These magic tricks are very easy to perform and can be set up at a moment's notice.

The first magic trick we will discuss is the empty matchbox trick. You need two matchboxes. one of them should be empty. Get a rubber band and attach the matchbox with the matches in it to the upper arm underneath a shirt sleeve. Now hold the empty matchbox in the same hand and shake it. Ask your friends to guess how many matches are in the matchbox and then when it is opened, the matchbox is empty. The matches that they hear rattling are the ones taped to your upper arm.

Another fairly easy magic trick for a child to perform is the disappearing coin trick. You will need a glass, two sheets of the same colored paper, a coin and a handkerchief. You place the glass upside down on one sheet of the colored paper. You then place a coin beside the glass. Put the handkerchief over the upturned glass and move it, glass and all, over the coin. Say the magic word and remove the handkerchief and presto the coin has disappeared!. The trick to this is to carefully cut a circle from the same colored paper the exact size of the rim of the glass. Tape this paper to the rim and when you move the glass over the coin the colored paper will conceal the coin.

Another good trick is the wine into water trick. For this you will need water, red food coloring and bleaching powder. This should only be performed with adult supervision! Pour some water into a glass and add red food coloring to make the water turn red like wine. Another glass will contain your "magic" powder. Now pour the red liquid into the other glass and it becomes clear water again!

A very easy trick is the rubber pencil trick. Hold the pencil loosely at the tip. Now shake your hand up and down. This will create the illusion of your pencil turning to rubber.

If your child wishes to become a magician or wants to perform magic tricks at his next party, let him practice some of these. Kids and magic tricks go together like peanut butter and jelly!

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