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jay sankey Advice For Beginners By Jay Sankeywww.sankeymagic.com 

Jay Sankey gives some of his best tips, advice and inspiration for new magicians:

Practice Makes Perfect: before you show anyone a trick be sure to practice it at least a few times. Much better chance of performing it well!

Never repeat a trick: I don’t mean never show a trick more than once to anyone, just to the same audience! If you repeat the trick, they will have a much better chance of figuring out the method

Be an entertainer, not a trickster: people only like being fooled when you make it FUN. Don’t just try to “fool them” (i.e. make fools of them) but try to ENTERTAIN them.

Fewer the words the better: most magic can speak for itself so be sure to keep your script or words to a minimum. Then practice those few sentences until you know them by heart.

Only show your magic to people who like magic! As wonderful as it is, not everyone likes magic. Also, you want people to be polite and supportive of what you are doing! They will also make for the best audiences!

Avoid the “the hand is quicker than the eye cliche” and perform your magic SLOWLY. This will take a lot of practice because you might be a little nervous, but you will be able to do it with enough experience. Slower is clearer and much more magical.

Don’t be a pest. As excited as you are about magic, try not to “burn out” your friends or family by showing them a trick every single day. Instead, try to show them magic only once or twice a week and wait for a time that works for them, not just you!

Learn everything you can about magic. You can find books about magic in your local library and there is lots of information on-line. You can also purchase magic tricks, books and dvds from your local magic dealer.

Don’t reveal the secret to a trick! This hard not to do because it’s fun to show the cool trick behind the magic. Also, friends and family will often push you to tell them, but don’t. They will be disappointed and think less of the marvelous magic you do.

Mirror practice: spend time on a regular basis practicing your tricks in front of a mirror so you can see how the tricks will look to your audience. This will teach you a great deal about performing magic.

They will look where you look. This is a key to theatre. The audience will look at whatever you look at. So when you are doing a secret move, don’t look at your hands. Instead, look at your audience.

Surprise is one of the golden keys. Don’t tell the audience what you are going to do before you do it or you increase the chances of getting caught. It also lessens the drama of any story you are telling.

Knowing the secret doesn’t make you a magician. This is very important to remember. Anybody can learn a trick, but only a real magician can PERFORM a trick.

Every trick should have a magic moment, some moment when you snap your fingers or wave your hand or when the magic is supposed to have JUST happened. That makes for good theatre.

You don’t have to be funny! You can be serious, silly, witty, funny, thoughtful or anything you want when you present your magic! If you don’t feel comfortable trying to be funny, don’t worry, just be yourself!!!

Make everything look as natural as possible. No suspicious moves or awkward gestures. It will be more deceptive and more pleasing to the eye.

There’s only one way to get good: perform, perform, perform! The more people you perform for, the better you will get – and FASTER!

Everybody gets nervous. It’s only natural. But don’t let that stop you from sharing your magic with friends and family. With more experience, your nerves will disappear!

Make the magic yours! Develop your own presentations and even the way you go from one trick to another. Bring your own unique style to your magic.

Get the audiences involved as much as possible. Shuffle the cards, think of a number, examine a prop, etc. The more they get involved, the more they will care about what you do!

Don’t just practice, rehearse! Rehease mean that, instead of just doing the moves over and over, you add the words too! Pretend there is a real audience in front of you and slowly perform EVERY aspect of the trick!

Don’t make the magic look too easy to do! Take a lesson from professional jugglers and acrobats. Whenever you can, try to make what you do look HARDER THAN IT REALLY IS. People will be all the more impressed!

Believe in your magic. When you pretend to make a coin vanish, try to really BELIEVE that you really made it vanish. Belief is like yawning- it’s contagious!

Get a magic buddy! Not only can you watch this show together, you can learn a lot by watching each other and rehearsing together!

By Jay Sankey – Be sure to check out Jay’s website: SankeyMagic.com

Read more articles about magic by Jay Sankey on Blifaloo.com