Hello to all who read my first post here,
For those who do not know me, my name is Tom and I'm form the Netherlands
(yes, that's in Europe
)
My interests are gambling, magic in general and dice stacking. I will be sharing my thoughts about this, and more, with you. It is possible that I write a new "topic" (is it called "topic" ? ) everyday, but it's also very possible that I write a new one once a week. It varies from the experiences I had, and if I think it's worhty enough to share with you all. Because it will take you some precious minutes of you're wonderful life to read the stuff I have to say, so I'd better make it interesting for you to read.
Therefore, I hope you will enjoy it and comments are always more than welcome.
Regards,
Tom.
ps: If my sentences do not match the English/American grammar, please feel free to correct me.
Also, for the sake of clearity, I asume that all the made up spectators and magicians are males.
It is easier to type he instead of he/she every time.
-Flourishing-
"The art of manipulation with cards" I think this will suit the term flourishing. If you're thinking: well, what about it? you're right. This has almost nothing to do with my interests I listed above. But somehow you're interested, otherwise you wouldn't have clicked on my blog in the first place.
I like flourishes, I'm not a master in it but I like to perform a few once in a while.
Recently, at a Dutch forum, someone asked an cunning question about performing flourishes in front of an audience. Is it good to show your skills with a deck of cards by doing fancy things? Is it better to act like you have no such quallity's and make the magic more believable?
If you're thinking that I have the answer, than I have to disappoint you. It's a matter of style, and especially, personal preferences. One can peform a magic show in front of an audience and mainly show his dexterity with cards. The audience, most likely, will be stunned by the performance and by the extreme skills the peformer has. If this is what you want, than flourishes are the way to go.
They look nice, fast and sometimes almost impossible. They can leave your audience baffled, but also bored if you perfrom to many flourishes at a time. People have to watch closely and they need to keep paying attention otherwise the effect of the flourish is gone. Because most of the times it is so fast it's hard to keep track of it for a spectator who is seated in front of you, because he is there to have some relaxed evening. And relaxed is not paying attention all the time. Finding a balance is best.
As is with close up magic, a magic performance can also stun and amaze people just like flourishes can do. With magic, even a spectator can participate and "feel" tha magic that is happening in front of his eyes, or in his hands.
A flourish effect can stand alone, as can a close up magical performance. Combining flourishes with close up magic seems a good idea. In fact is ís a good idea, íf you can find that one thing...balance.
Imagine a magician who performs a wonderful magic effect let's say, "Triumph!" Imagine that he does this so clean with no fancy cuts at all. He tells the story, and makes it believable.
Imagine the same magician doing the same effect (Triumph). Instead of doing the effect clean he does one fancy cut. Just one. It is a false cut "flip-flap cut". This looks really nice when performed well, and the deck remains unchanged. I will bet that he still has amazed the specator but less than when he did the effect with no fancy cut. The specator know's not how the effect is done. How the magician got all the cards back in the order they were expect for one card: the spectators selection.
If the specator watches a fancy cut, he will think that the magician did the trick pure by sleigh of hand.
While the magician want's to make the specator believe that this all happened by magic.
Finding a perfect balance is difficult, as said before, and if you like to perform flourishes and include them in your magic routine, it's best to do this secure. Do not weaken your effects by performing flourishes if you can make them stronger without them. But if you can make your effects stronger by flourishes, please do and let me know how you did it.
The only section I use flourishes in is when I demonstrate some gambling moves. People know it is not magic what I perform for them, they know it's sleight of hand. What they don't see is when the sleight of hand is performed. At least, that is the main goal of gambling. So during the shuffle I will perfom some flourishing effects to keep them satisfied. With gambling I noticed that it is important to explain very clearly what you're doing and what is going to happen. Prevent your audience form getting bored.
This is a whole different topic, and I think I've said enough about flourising for a while.
Keep practicing and I'd love to hear your personal experiences with flourishing.
Regards,
Tom.
For those who do not know me, my name is Tom and I'm form the Netherlands
(yes, that's in Europe
)My interests are gambling, magic in general and dice stacking. I will be sharing my thoughts about this, and more, with you. It is possible that I write a new "topic" (is it called "topic" ? ) everyday, but it's also very possible that I write a new one once a week. It varies from the experiences I had, and if I think it's worhty enough to share with you all. Because it will take you some precious minutes of you're wonderful life to read the stuff I have to say, so I'd better make it interesting for you to read.
Therefore, I hope you will enjoy it and comments are always more than welcome.
Regards,
Tom.
ps: If my sentences do not match the English/American grammar, please feel free to correct me.
Also, for the sake of clearity, I asume that all the made up spectators and magicians are males.
It is easier to type he instead of he/she every time.
-Flourishing-
"The art of manipulation with cards" I think this will suit the term flourishing. If you're thinking: well, what about it? you're right. This has almost nothing to do with my interests I listed above. But somehow you're interested, otherwise you wouldn't have clicked on my blog in the first place.
I like flourishes, I'm not a master in it but I like to perform a few once in a while.
Recently, at a Dutch forum, someone asked an cunning question about performing flourishes in front of an audience. Is it good to show your skills with a deck of cards by doing fancy things? Is it better to act like you have no such quallity's and make the magic more believable?
If you're thinking that I have the answer, than I have to disappoint you. It's a matter of style, and especially, personal preferences. One can peform a magic show in front of an audience and mainly show his dexterity with cards. The audience, most likely, will be stunned by the performance and by the extreme skills the peformer has. If this is what you want, than flourishes are the way to go.
They look nice, fast and sometimes almost impossible. They can leave your audience baffled, but also bored if you perfrom to many flourishes at a time. People have to watch closely and they need to keep paying attention otherwise the effect of the flourish is gone. Because most of the times it is so fast it's hard to keep track of it for a spectator who is seated in front of you, because he is there to have some relaxed evening. And relaxed is not paying attention all the time. Finding a balance is best.
As is with close up magic, a magic performance can also stun and amaze people just like flourishes can do. With magic, even a spectator can participate and "feel" tha magic that is happening in front of his eyes, or in his hands.
A flourish effect can stand alone, as can a close up magical performance. Combining flourishes with close up magic seems a good idea. In fact is ís a good idea, íf you can find that one thing...balance.
Imagine a magician who performs a wonderful magic effect let's say, "Triumph!" Imagine that he does this so clean with no fancy cuts at all. He tells the story, and makes it believable.
Imagine the same magician doing the same effect (Triumph). Instead of doing the effect clean he does one fancy cut. Just one. It is a false cut "flip-flap cut". This looks really nice when performed well, and the deck remains unchanged. I will bet that he still has amazed the specator but less than when he did the effect with no fancy cut. The specator know's not how the effect is done. How the magician got all the cards back in the order they were expect for one card: the spectators selection.
If the specator watches a fancy cut, he will think that the magician did the trick pure by sleigh of hand.
While the magician want's to make the specator believe that this all happened by magic.
Finding a perfect balance is difficult, as said before, and if you like to perform flourishes and include them in your magic routine, it's best to do this secure. Do not weaken your effects by performing flourishes if you can make them stronger without them. But if you can make your effects stronger by flourishes, please do and let me know how you did it.
The only section I use flourishes in is when I demonstrate some gambling moves. People know it is not magic what I perform for them, they know it's sleight of hand. What they don't see is when the sleight of hand is performed. At least, that is the main goal of gambling. So during the shuffle I will perfom some flourishing effects to keep them satisfied. With gambling I noticed that it is important to explain very clearly what you're doing and what is going to happen. Prevent your audience form getting bored.
This is a whole different topic, and I think I've said enough about flourising for a while.
Keep practicing and I'd love to hear your personal experiences with flourishing.
Regards,
Tom.