Brad Burt's Magic Shop Online Audio-Visual Newsletter
and Stuff
-
What the heck is happening?
- A great article by Ron St. Pierre
- Some VERY nice words on some of my products
- Let's take a look at magicshop.com
The
Power of the Theme in Magic Shows
By Ron St. Pierre
Copyright 2009 Brad Burt's Magic
Shop Online
I
thank my good friend Brad Burt for allowing me to add to his email magic
lessons. I am living in Japan and have mostly been performing shows for the
young ones - birthdays, fairs at schools and holiday shows: Easter, Christmas,
and the international clubs here. I started doing shows rather late in my career
and never had any personal instruction or any magical friends with which to
share ideas and techniques. So, being self-taught, I learned a great deal while
actually performing.
The
most rewarding moments I have had in performing magic was seeing the look on
people's faces when they were astounded. I remember doing a great little sucker
trick called Color Changing CD's. A little girl in the audience finally called
me on the method and as I finished and she realized she was in error as to the
'method', her eyes went wide in disbelief and she and the rest of the audience
roared with laughter. This is my
favorite reward for doing a show. (A sucker tick is an effect that seems
transparent to the audience. They all 'think' that the magic was done in a
simple manner and they call the magician on it and he reveals that the method
that seemed obvious was completely wrong. Hippity Hop Rabbits is another good
example.)
In the early years of doing shows, I was just doing one trick and then another
with no good segue or movement from one to the next. So I decided to try making
shows based on a single theme. I tried many.
One
theme was "Magic of Color." In that show, there were lots of color
changing effects. Another was "You are a Magician." In this show,
almost all the tricks involved the spectators actually doing the magic.
One more was called, "The Forgetful Magician." Obviously, each trick
had something to do about forgetting. As
a magician, I am supposed to be perfect. But in this show, I kept forgetting
everything. I used the Lota Bowl and between tricks I asked the audience if I
had emptied it or not? I pretended I
could not remember. They said yes, and I emptied it again and again with lots of
laughs. Not all tricks were about forgetting, but in one way or another I
referred to forgetting. One trick I introduced with, "Here is something you
will never forget."
The point is a theme helps to keep a show coherent and memorable. Michael Ammar
has a series of Easy to Master Card Magic DVDs, and he teaches a trick called
"Further Than That." An excellent trick and easy to do, but what makes
it memorable is the repetition of "Further Than That" several times.
This catch phrase makes the trick all the more memorable. As in advertisements,
repeating a catch phrase makes people remember the product and they will buy it.
Try this with your shows. If your shows are a half-hour to forty-five minutes,
have a single theme. If you have a longer show, divide your show into two,
three, or more parts each having a particular theme. I mentioned earlier my
"Forgetful Magician" show. I did that once. Here in Japan, I have the
same kids in the shows again and again, so I have to make up a new show each
time and cannot do the same show here and there at different schools, for
instance.
Well, I did this show one year once for youngsters, seven to ten or twelve.
Three years later I was setting up a birthday show. One boy came to me and asked
if I was the Forgetful Magician. That floored me. Here is a little boy, maybe
nine or ten when I did the Forgetful Magician show and three years later he saw
my face and remembered I was the Forgetful Magician. He remembered me and the
show because a theme made the show memorable. You may want to try the same in
your shows. It will allow you to
make a powerful and positive impression that will stay with your audience
forever.
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Brad Get’s Emails! VERY, VERY NICE
Emails!
Hi Brad,
I am an amateur magician and bought your Billiard Balls & Thimble
manipulation
video on
VHS tape on Ebay recently. I just wanted to say how clear and thorough your
approach to instruction
is - very easy and pleasant to follow. It was good to see you drop the balls a
few times.
This gave me hope as I thought "Oh, I can do that bit" : )
Anyway, I'll look
forward to learning some basics from the Card techniques vol 1 dvd.
Best wishes,
Richard
(Concerning
the Brad Burt Haunted Match Boxes)
Dear Brad,
I just wanted to
let you know how highly I regard this effect that I
purchased from you a couple of week ago. It's
a kick to rehearse and the
first time I performed it, I saw jaws drop and that glassy-eyed stare we all
love to see in our spectators.
Thanks for making
such a great prop -- and even though you say it
will last a long time -- I will probably order one or two back-ups soon.
This is going into the close-up strolling repertoire for good, I believe.
Next week I have a walkaround gig at a kid's Easter party in a country club.
I'm definitely
bringing the matchboxes.
--Jim
The SUDBURY II Penny:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Product390
Six Card Repeat:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Product557
Haunted Match Boxes - Brad Burt's:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Product533
Brad Burt Teaching DVD's:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Category18
REALLY, REALLY NEW ADDS:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Category46
New Killer Magic 2007-2008:
http://www.nexternal.com/bburt/Category44