How to Become a Magician Magic Practice Manual

Have you ever been deceived by a magician and his magic? How exactly do you cultivate to become a magician?

Prerequisites, the indispensable basic skills of the magician, like building a house to have a solid foundation, are described in detail:

Magicians, like actors in other arts, must have solid basic skills. The basic skills of the magician, in a broad sense, include the basic training of changing skills, performance methods and the performing arts. In a narrow sense, the basic skills of the magician refer specifically to the skills of the hand. Undoubtedly, the technique is the main one.

How magicians train themselves

There is a saying that "the master leads the door, and the practice is in the individual", and experience proves that this statement is justified. Generally, professional magicians have teachers to teach skills, give guidance and help in training content and training methods, but even so, actors must also insist on self-training. For amateur actors, self-training is even more important. How do I train myself?

1. Training of changing skills

The techniques or techniques of change do not exist in isolation and must be combined with some specific hand-color programs. Hand color programs are inseparable from the basic skills, and the level of basic skills is obviously reflected in the hand color program, the two are unified, such as "empty hand change ball" (magic props sponge ball), "empty hand change card" (magic prop ultra thin card), "empty hand dye towel" (magic prop silk scarf color change), "empty hand change smoke" (magic props change cigarette), "smart change thimble", etc., is not only the training content of basic skills, but also an excellent hand color program. Therefore, some people list changing balls, cards, smoke, rings (magic props four rings), flowers (magic props torches turning roses), scarves, thimbles, silver dollars, handcuffs (magic props escape handcuffs), pigeons (magic props simulated pigeons) and so on as the ten basic skills. The magician gradually masters the basic skills of the technique through the training of various typical hand color programs.

When training changing skills or techniques, we should pay attention to two points: First, we must first make it easy and then difficult, step by step, do not put the cart before the horse, and rush to achieve results. After the first action is mastered, then practice the second and third movements, such as "Empty Hand Change Ball", first practice the basic skills and techniques of changing a ball, and then practice three balls and four balls, and you can't practice four balls at the beginning. Second, it is necessary to study diligently and practice diligently and persevere. Many actors "do not leave the ball, the card does not leave the body", anytime and anywhere practice. Of course, we must also be good at using our brains, groping for laws, and mastering the essentials. As long as there is this spirit of serious self-study and hard work, even the most difficult skills can be practiced.

Some people take refuge easily, do not perform hand-draw magic programs with high difficult skills, and specialize in "door work", although it can also work, but after all, it is not comprehensive. Magicians have solid basic skills in technique, which helps to perform various types of magic shows. Therefore, from either point of view, the magician must practice the basic skills of the technique.

2. Training of performance methods

In a magic show, performance methods and changing techniques are not the same thing. The trick of change refers to the technique of the actor and is the basis of the magic show. Each program should be based on specific changes needs, the combination of change skills and related magic props together to form a complete process of change, called the performance method. The performance method is also extremely important in magic performances, but it is often ignored by some people, so although the technique is good, the performance effect is not ideal.

3. Training and cultivation of performing arts

The performing arts of magic refer to the artistry of the magician's performance form. The training of performing arts should begin with "hands, eyes, body, law, and steps." Although martial arts and other professions also pay attention to hands, eyes, bodies, methods, and steps, they are not the same as the line of magic, and these five words have a different content in the training of the basic skills of magicians.

"Hand": Refers to the changing techniques and various gestures. Therefore, it is not only necessary to train the flexibility and agility of the techniques, but also to meet the requirements of beauty.

"Eyes": Refers to the spirit and inner temperament of the magician, which can only be reflected through the eyes and facial expressions. Therefore, magicians should be trained to use changeable eyes to lead and convey affection, and to create the image of a mysterious magician with characteristics.

"Body": refers to the body and performance form of the magician. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out physical training, and the magician's performance form should be natural and generous, beautiful and free, which can not only skillfully cover up the secret of magic, but also show physical beauty and artistic charm.

"Law": Generally, the "law" and the "body" are connected together, called the "body method", which can also refer to the changing techniques and performance methods here. In training, we should deliberately seek innovation and be full of fun.

"Step": Refers to the footwork of the magician moving on the stage. The actor's position in the performance needs to have a certain footwork. There is a difference between its footwork and life reality, and it is necessary to pay attention to dance and rhythm.

In the magic show, the hands, eyes, body, law, and steps are closely combined to unify in the artistic image of the performer, giving the audience a sense of beauty.

Magic, like other performing arts, pays attention to beauty and artistic charm. Magicians are required to have both gods and shapes in their performances, not only beautiful but also beautiful. The old artists of juggling often say that magicians should "have a play and a law", and "drama" means that they can play and perform, and both drama and law should be taken into account.

To improve the performing arts, magicians must also carry out multi-faceted basic training, with multi-faceted artistic accomplishment, such as: confession, music, dance and other basic training, stage art and plastic arts, literature, drama art, scientific knowledge accumulation, and aesthetic training, etc., and are good at absorbing its essence, integrated into the performing arts.

After mastering the basic skills with ease, the magician should have other qualities

Interestingly, magic is not only a form of entertainment, it also contains human psychology. Now, people are increasingly interested in the interaction between magic and psychology.

The world's oldest magicians association, the Magic Circle, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. As part of the celebration, a conference of scholars and magicians was held in London at the end of July 2010. Magicians around the world performed their stunts, and audience reactions were monitored to facilitate the analysis of psychology about perception, attention, and memory.

There are thousands of magic tricks, and they are constantly innovating. Objects can mysteriously appear, disappear, move, become something else, or be restored after being broken. What all magic tricks have in common is that magicians use a method to create an effect that you see. In a good magic trick, the audience cannot understand the method, and its effect is contrary to the audience's understanding of the world. The achievement of these methods and effects depends to a large extent on the manipulation of the audience's psychology.

Being able to get a clear picture of your surroundings is obviously important. When a magician performs, a lot of things suddenly become less clear, and you can no longer understand what's going on. Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Harfordshire in the United Kingdom who used to be a magician, said: "Magicians know very well how people construct their worlds, and they use them to fool the audience. "When the magician performs, he will subtly control the audience's attention. Chad Wiseman said: "Manipulating the audience's attention is absolutely the key to magic. "In short, the magician can divert your attention from the method of the magic show and direct it to the effect he wants you to see.

Even if you are suspicious of the tricks of magic and keep yourself on your guard, the magician will control the intensity of your attention. Because the magician will let the audience relax, thus reducing their attention.

The magician's performance doesn't end at the end of the magic. Chad Wiseman said: "It is also important to interfere with the psychology of the audience after the performance. Magic is not good if it lasts only a few seconds before the viewer realizes it. "That is to say, to make the audience wonder what is going on in the scene they are seeing.

It's natural for the audience to want to know the tricks behind the magic, but there are many ways that the magician can successfully prevent the audience from doing so. He can choose to use mathematical or scientific knowledge that almost no one knows, so the audience simply cannot understand the principles behind such a magic trick. One of the assumptions of the wire-piercing balloon magic is that the balloon will burst when pierced. While this is true of puncturing a hole in the thin surface of the balloon, this is not the case at the bottom of the thicker rubber and where the other end of the balloon is pierced. There is no tension between these two places, so even if the wire passes through these two places, it will not burst the balloon. The magician also takes advantage of the weakness of people's inaccurate memory, and if he tries to behave naturally, the audience will not remember the things and situations that can help them see through the mysteries during the performance.

　　It takes a long time to do this, but it doesn't require expertise in psychology. In fact, magicians and psychologists belong to two completely different worlds. Chad Wiseman said: "Psychology is a theoretical thing, magic is entertainment." "But the two may also come together." Chad Wiseman said: "Using psychology to create new magic is very attractive. He added that magic and science actually have a lot in common. "Magic is a lot like a mental experiment," he says. They either work or they don't. This makes magic an unusual art form. Many magicians may be good scientists.