Tag Archives: magicians

Halloween Magic Fun

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This year’s Halloween was awesome but very busy! My magic buddy Shinnosuke and I had shows together in Takamatsu Kagawa Prefecture. Our first show was a stage show at Yonden Plaza ( Shikoku Electric). We performed an hour stage show in their modern electricity show room. It was like performing in a very modern  home. There was a great turn out the the show was fun for both of us. This was the first time we performed a stage show together professionally and it was great fun. After that we hustled down the the other end of the shopping district in Takamatsu to perform close-up magic for people attended the shopping district Halloween event. We both were very tired, but had great shows and great fun. This week we will both be working the Intiki Magic Bar from Wednesday to Saturday. Should be fun!

Aaron

Last Night’s Magic Friends Meeting

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Last night’s magic meeting in Takamatsu had a great turnout. It’s a small club and most meetings have between 4 and 6 people. Last night we had 10 which was great. Our normal meeting this year consists of learning effects from the Japanese magic book “Encyclopedia of Card Magic” which is different than the English book of the same name. We started doing this in January of this year. Over these 10 months we have discovered many mistakes in the book. LOL If we were smart we should have kept detailed notes and sent them to the publisher. I am sure this book has not been reedited since it was originally published. Anyway its been fun going through the effects in this book. Two of our members, Terushita and Jack Amano will be competing in the AMA (Asia Magic Association) Convention in November. They both did a great job. It was a great meeting last night and I hope the next one will be able to keep up the momentum.

Aaron

Creating Good Memories

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Making Memories

Making Memories

Part of the enjoyment of performing magic is creating great memories for my audience members and myself. Every show is different and the audience is different as well as the atmosphere. This is a great opportunity to use our magic to create great memories for everyone at the event. I also believe it is a part of our job when he are hired to perform for a group of people. It makes our magic more relevant and helps us to create better routines that make good memories for people. There has been a lot written by many magicians over the years on methods for making our making memorable but I believe we should always pursue this. Not just with effects but with the whole show experience. This goes beyond just the tricks themselves but to how we interact with the audience  and create this feeling. It also means that sometimes we have to let audience members be the star as this is one of the best ways to do this. This is one of the things I have been thinking about recently and I am interested what you have to say about this. Please let me know!

Aaron

Magic Renaissance In My Head

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Street Festival Magic In Takamatsu

Street Festival Magic In Takamatsu

If you have been following my blog, and I am not really sure how many regular readers I have if any at all, you will have noticed I have have been blogging about magic basics, books etc. Well because I a have been going back and reading old books again and thinking in different ways about magic there seems to be a magic renaissance going on in my head. What do I mean by this? Well because I have been going back to basics recently many things I read and learned when I was younger have suddenly all started coming back to me. However they are not coming back to me in the form they did when I first learned them. They are coming back different and it has started my brain to think different about the magic I perform. It also has changed my magic taste as well. My performing style seems to be staying the same but my technique and the way I have worked out routining has changed a lot in the last little while. I have moved into having more engagement with my audiences as well have been working deeper to apply magic theories in terms of misdirection, timing, and audience management. It has also caused me to edit my performances and cut unnecessary performance parts, techniques and props. I am not sure where this is leading me but I see a new light and I am excited. It is like when I started magic for the first time again, but this time with the experience and knowledge and how to apply the knowledge. It is going to be a fun ride! Have you had a magic renaissance in your head?

Aaron

Impressed! My First Copy Of The Gibecière Arrived

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Gibecière

Gibecière

This week I officially joined the Conjuring Arts Research Center, party because I was so excited and impressed by the access to the Ask Alexander search engine. I blogged about this here. With membership you also receive their semi–annual journal on Magic History Gibecière edited by Stephen Minch. All I can say is WOW. This 180 page publication is worth the price of the basic membership alone. It already has me captivated. One reason is there is an article that relates to my University Degree which is on Japan Society from the Meiji Restoration (1868). There is a series that continues in this issue about Magic in Japan from that time so I am all set to get into it. If you are serious about magic the Conjuring Arts Center has done a great job of producing, and researching on the history of magic very academically and you should really check them out.

The Expert at the Card Table

The Expert at the Card Table

I also ordered their reprint of Erdanse’s The Expert at the Card Table. It is done “Bible” style. A great little carry around version of this classic text on card magic. I was just impressed by Ask Alexander and now they have impressed me again with the publication that goes with membership. I highly recommend joining the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

Aaron

Speaking Clearly

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Talking Magic

Talking Magic

If you perform magic then the chances are you will have to speak in front of a lot of people unless you perform only a silent act to music. When performing and speaking it is important that you speak well. What you say has to be clearly said and understandable. I have seen many great technical magicians but their speaking is too quite and no one can  hear what they say. As a performer you need to practice speaking and work on you volume, cadence, diction, intonation etc. If you do have a problem with this I suggest seeking advice from other performers or look into attending a speech club. Watch TV news anchors, comedians, and other people on TV and radio and listen how they speak. Try to work to make your voice clear. On way I practice is by recording only my voice. This way I can listen to what I am saying and what I need to fix. I tend to speak clear but way too fast so it is always a battle for me. Now that I perform in Japanese I am always working on my pronunciation and how I sound. This has made me more sensitive to how I speak in English as well. Anyways work on a clear voice and make sure your audience can hear you it one of the most important things for performing magic.

Aaron

Things I Enjoy About Performing Magic

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Enjoying Performing

Enjoying Performing

I enjoy performing magic. That may be obvious but I think that to be a good magician you do really have to enjoy performing and I have talked about this before on my blog and on my AudioBoo. However today I want to talk about some of the things I enjoy about performing magic.

The first thing I really enjoy about performing is the people. If there were no people to watch my magic I would not be a performer. I enjoy people and how I can enjoy time with them having fun doing magic. I enjoy when they smile and laugh and the things they do. When they enjoy what I am doing  I enjoy it even better. When they have fun watching and interacting with my show I know that I am being entertaining and I am happy that they can enjoy and escape things during my performance.  The people become a big part of my show and I enjoy the interactions I have with them.

Another aspect of performing that I think is the intellectual challenge of putting together the show itself. Working out how effects fit together and how they fit me and the feeling I want to create during my show is a great challenge. Finding good effects that the audience will enjoy and working on ways to maximize magic theory, performance and fun together is enjoyable for me. Basically building a good show that the people will enjoy is very satisfying.

I also enjoy visiting the many places I get to perform at and enjoy performing in a variety of places. Sometimes certain venues can be challenging to perform at and once it again it brings that intellectual challenge to me that I enjoy. Once again meeting various people at different places is always fun.

These are just a few of the many reasons why I enjoy performing but the main one is common through all reasons and that is the first reasons I mentioned the people. The main reason is that I get to perform great people at many various places and that is what it is all about for me. What do you enjoy about performing magic?

Aaron