Magic Tricks

Magic is easy- for the initiated. This repertoire of magic tricks – ranging from the simple (but still very effective) to the more complicated – can be performed by an amateur at home or in the living room of friends and relatives using mainly everyday items. Mastering them, however, is the matter of practice and still more practice. To be successful magician you need more than mere sleight of hand and a good memory. You must develop a certain amount of showmanship, whether to build us suspense or to disguise what you are up to. Any master magician will almost certainly add the following advice. • Never attempt to perform a trick in public unless you have thoroughly mastered it in private. • Never take the audience into your confidence and tell them what you are about to perform; the most impressive part of a trick in the same company. • Distract the attention of the audience during your performance by the use of a wand, and make use of plenty of ‘patter’ throughout your show. • If you are found out in a trick, don’t lose the temper; simply pass off the mistake with a joke. • Wherever possible, borrow from the audience any articles used in a trick; this gesture reassures people that your equipment is in no way ‘rigged’. • Constant practice and the determination to succeed are the basis of all good conjuring tricks.