For various reasons, I rarely give private lessons.

But here are some

thoughts on what I would try to teach someone, if they were my
student so that they could advance, and eventually continue on
their own. These are not so much rules, as guidelines.
_____________________
Whats the secret of being a better magician?
Setting a Personal Ideal not just good enough. Each new trick
should have an ideal vision behind it. What would it look like for real,
without moves?
Personal Discipline
Malcom Gladwell speculates 10,000 hours of study, experimentation
and practice to master something.
Cultivate Integrity
Dont quit thinking too soon
Become your most observant, objective critic, and your most
nurturing, positive minded coach. Build up mentally.
Learn from Historical Magic
More than just what is on YouTube and at your web site dealer. The
latest trick is fun, but is it what everyone else is doing?
Is it a performance piece, or a product?
Are you responsible for the result?
Have you worked on the presentation, details of handling,
technique. really thought things through?

Why else should you deserve applause? If you are not using your
muscles, someone else,
perhaps the tricks creator, deserves that approbation more than you.
Is magic an art?
Just participating means nothing How much are you
contributing?. If you become an artist, with all the hard work,
integrity and responsibility that entails art will be a part of what
you do.
Whats the best way to practice?
Focus. Eliminate distractions. Dont be satisfied with good enough
First, get it off the page. Memorizing the moves and the sequence is
the first step this is where most magicians stop!
As Al Baker said, Magicians stop thinking too soon
Different types of Practice
Thoughtful research, experiment, adjust
Technical.. repetition, to work in muscle memory.
if there are problems, you go back to thoughtful and find out why it is
not working, you are dropping the cards, or it doesnt look right
Alternate mechanical and thoughtful until you have a smooth,
workable method.
Rehearsal
Different from practice. Rehearsal should be like a live
performance . the same energy as a real show to memorize your
lines,
the sequence, and block out your actions
What is the effect?

If you cant explain the effect in a short phrase, its not a memorable
effect.
Rings link
Cards Rise, appear or change.
He did a lot of cool things is not an effect. If they cant talk about it
the next day, they wont remember it and your impact will be minimal.
Writing scripts
Even if you dont follow it word for word, you have a foundation for
what you will say. You can move parargraphs, change words, cut
words, and eliminate or substitute entire parargraphs. After you have
done it a dozen times or more, you are on your way. If you change it
incrementally over many shows, you will be surprised how much it
has changed over time sometimes not even close to your written
script. but this will get you started.
Mentors/Teachers/Inspiration
Respect past masters . if you just think magic starts and ends with
youtube and the latest magic product, your are doomed to mediocrity.
Dont just have one person that you listen to. its great to have a
guide, but take in good ideas any where you find them.. and toss
out what doesnt make sense.
Studying magic
Much different than just buying things. Learn from past masters, but
then exercise your own creativity. How can you fix weaknesses?
Present it differently? Enhance the effect through streamlined
methods, understanding of showmanship, presentation and theater
skills.

Video or Books?
Video is fine, but only a small percentage of magic knowledge is
available on video. And it does not force you to think any differently.
You will most likely do it exactly as the person in the video, with the
same method, gestures, jokes.
Books give you basic concepts where you can read between the
lines, and interpret things to come up with something new.
But not just originality for originalitys sake. it must solve a problem
or make it more practical or a better effect. Just changing a move or
the color of the cards does not bring anything truly new to the idea.
Notebook
Keep notes on your ideas.. variations on what you work on,
changing and adding over time inspirations, inside and outside of
magic
Working Repertoire
OK to work on lots of things, but come back to a core of strong
effects over time these would become your go to routines.
Effective and practical under most circumstance. If you keep
trying to improve, even these routines you have done for years, they
will become like gold to you. You can always rely on them and when
you do them, you are always seen at your best.
Experience and refinement
Learn from your mistakes make adjustments.. try again.
repeat.
Good technique is a series of incremental adjustments, eventually
resulting in a consistent outcome.

Simplify
Beginners always know the easy way, they never know the simple
way. Simplify means taking out anything that detracts.. awkward
moves, susupicious moments. making things practical and not
something that just works most of the time.. Simple does not
mean easy it is a distillation to an essence. Exactly was is
required, no more, no less.
Many simple things take great skill to eliminate tedious procedure and
superfluous action.
Character
If you dont decide what you want to project to people, you are leaving
it to chance. If you are not a funny guy, settle for being of good humor
and a likeable guy. nothing is more uncomfortable than someone
trying to hard to be funny.. or someone trying to be dashing and
romantic, when they dont fit the role.
Have daily, weekly, monthly, long term goals.
If you practice 5 days a week, for 30 minutes a day, totally focused
without distraction.. you wont be a great magician, but you will be
miles ahead of most. If you raise that to a couple hours a day. in
just a few years, you could be one of the greats.
Choose material according to what people like, not just a clever
principle, prop or gimmick that you like.
Real World vs. Contests
Goal of a contest should be self improvement, with a deadline and

goal. If your only goal is to win, you might lose. Otherwise, you have
advanced and have an act you can use in the real world.
Be careful learning from YouTube
Not everyone knows what they are talking about. Even if you think
they do.
Reading Required
From The Book of Secrets
If you are only learning from videos, you are leaving out an important
component in your magical progress: your own interpretation. Videos
teach us to imitate, not just technique, but the style and manner of the
performer you are watching; his timing, his sense of humor, his
gestures. To remedy this, I enthusiastically recommend books as
your major information source, with much to be learned between the
lines.
In listing the following books, I have included a potpourri of titles and
subjects. I feel that it not only makes for a more complete conjuror,
but also stretches ones possibilities. It keeps the love for magic in a
perpetual romantic stage, preserving our interest long after the
bloom is off the rose.
It is impossible to know it all, and when you believe that you do, you
are no longer capable of further learning and growth. A general
understanding of dove magic will help you with your coin magic, and
a familiarity with illusion design and principles will assist you in
creating smaller gimmicks and props.
As Edwin Sachs suggests, one is not ready for stage magic until a
general mastery of small magic is attained. The skills learned
working for a few people at a time provide an indispensable

cornerstone of technique and general performance skills. These skills

provide a springboard for making the rather prodigious leap onto the
stage.
Here I specifically list sources to find direct methods and clear effects.
I have included material with a wide variety of objects for both stage
and close-up. I have purposely avoided mention of most current
books and those that deal exclusively with technical minutia. Current
pop tricks and books should be seen in proper perspective. Trends
come and go in magic. The classics will always provide a strong
foundation that will stay the weather of many years.
Many volumes listed below are out of print but still available through
dealers in used magic books. This list could be regarded simply as a
few books that I, personally, would bring to the proverbial desert
island. I have many other favorites, but I believe that these books
alone would provide enough material and knowledge to keep any of
us thinking about magic for a lifetime.
I have found biographies of magicians to be quite fascinating and
inspirational. Except in the most deifying interpretations, they show
the greats of the past as real people like ourselves, experimenting
and sometimes failing, but remaining relentless in their pursuit of the
hidden secrets of the craft. My favorites in this genre are Carter the
Great, The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, The Life and Times of
Augustus Rapp, and David Bambergs Illusion Show. Milbourne
Christophers Illustrated History of Magic and David Prices
Magic offer hundreds of fascinating profiles and insightful perspective
on magics development.

Johann Hofzinsers work is exceptional in the history of magic with

beautiful, poetic plots and innovative, ingenious methods. J.N.
Hofzinsers Card Conjuring and The Magic of J.N. Hofzinser will
inspire awe as well as new respect for the artistic potential of the
magic craft.
Sleight of Hand by Edwin Sachs is probably the single most complete
book ever written on magic. It includes both stage and close-up
magic, chapters on technique, presentation, and all the peripheral
skills necessary for great conjuring.
David Devant, arguably the greatest conjuror in Englands history,
has written several terrific books on magic including Secrets of My
Magic andMy Magic Life. He performed both sleight of hand and
illusions, with all his books written from the perspective of a real
performer. Together with Nevil Maskelyne, he wrote Our Magic, one
of the most thorough and thought-provoking magic books ever.
Not all the ideas presented here will be immediately understood or
applicable to what you do. However, if you absorb these concepts,
the more you perform, the more relevance they will have for you. I
have reread Our Magic every few years and find that each time I
discover something that I have learned through experience, along
with a foreshadowing of what I have yet to learn.
An excellent and entertaining introduction to the principles and
psychology of stage illusion may be found in Jim Steinmeyers
analysis of Guy Jarrett, The Complete Jarrett. I recommend all of
Mr. Steinmeyers excellent books of original material, my favorite
being Device and Illusion. I would also recommend Steinmeyers The
Magic of Alan Wakelingas one of the best books on stage conjuring
in recent memory. [Recently all of Mr. Steinmeyers articles in MAGIC

magazine have been condensed into one of the finest books on stage
magic ever written The Conjuring Anthology.]
It is no secret that I consider Al Baker one of the greatest minds
magic has ever produced. His Magical Ways and Means and Pet
Secrets are indispensable to the serious student of magic. Period. If
you can manage to find them, he also published Al Bakers Book
One, and Book Two, two small paperback booklets that contain a
wealth of clever, practical material. [All Al Baker material has been
recently compiled in one fantastic, must-have volume, The Secret
Ways of Al Baker.]
If you want to understand misdirection and timing, there are no
greater authorities than John Ramsay and Tony Slydini. Ramsays
student, Andrew Galloway, has written The Ramsay Legend, The
Ramsay Classics, and The Ramsay Finale. In these superb books,
many of the arts most subtle secrets are revealed along with some
devilishly clever magic. Lewis Gansons The Magic of Slydini and
Leon Nathansons Slydini Encores, two very important books in my
early development. Slydini was certainly a master of misdirection, but
the greatest lessons he teaches are those regarding timing and
choreographed movement.
Every magicians library should have reference books covering a
wide range of subjects. The classic Modern Magic by Professor
Hoffmann, along with the sequels More Magic and Later Magic, are
some of the most exhaustive studies of the magical art. Everything
from mechanical principles, prop construction, sleight of hand, and
presentation are covered in these indispensable volumes.

No magic reference shelf would be complete without S.H.

SharpesConjurors Optical Secrets, Conjurors Mechanical
Secrets, Conjurors Psychological Secrets, and Conjurors
Hydraulic and Pneumatic Secrets. These excellent books give a
brief, understandable overview of nearly every major principle in
magic. Sharpe wrote several inspiring books of magic theory, recently
republished in a single volume as Neo Magic Artistry.
The original six volumes of The Tarbell Course in Magic contain
enough material and sound advice to construct several excellent
career-building routines.
I would, of course, recommend any book of material by or about the
magic of The Professor, Dai Vernon. I consider Lewis
Gansons The Dai Vernon Book of Magic to be the most complete
of all his books. It contains magic with a variety of objects, with each
routine a lesson unto itself. Be sure to read and reread The Vernon
Touch chapter at the beginning of the book. This section effectively
encapsulates his theories on sleight of hand that may be applied to
every routine you undertake. Vernon was, without a doubt, one of the
worlds greatest exponents of pure sleight of hand.
Magic with Faucett Ross, one of my favorite books, contains many
practical, audience-tested routines for the stage from my early mentor
and friend. Faucett understood the meaning of a good effect and was
skilled at transforming standard trick, through routining and fresh
combinations, created great magic entertainment.
In The Books of Wonder, Stephen Minch presents the superlative
work of Tommy Wonder. This two volume set is filled with brilliant,

visual magic and thoughtful essays. Wonder does not demand that
we agree with his theories, instead he inspires us to think for
ourselves, using our own experience, ideas and hard work to elevate
the art though our participation.
This list is by no means complete, but should serve the reader in
good steed. Use these books for reference, guidance, and
inspiration. Through your appreciation and respect alone, significant
improvements will begin to show in your magic. Knowledge is indeed
power, the power to manifest your ultimate potential.