Practice, Practice, Practice and Plan - When Magic Becomes Real
by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon

Your magic will never be real to others unless it is first real to you. It is far too often with people that I meet who are novice conjurers that they want to learn something new for the sake of learning it. I perform some magic. They are the spectator. It’s built up and they are amazed. Then they want to learn it because they cannot believe they just saw it. Maybe it was a routine out of a book, or maybe it is a very well known principle that has simply been moved around a bit and a new story put to it. In any case, they try to learn it. It may be amazing, and it may be astounding, and they may certainly take to it as pleasing, but if they do not practice it, when they perform it for someone else after going through it once or twice, then it will never be magic. Magic becomes “magical” and “mysterious” when the trick is practiced so many times that you get sick of it, and then, in a step beyond, it suddenly transforms from being a trick you have practiced a thousand times, to a card miracle that you cannot even believe you have just accomplished with all the smoothness and comfort that every good performance should capture. Magic is magic for others, when it is first magic for you through incessant practice and planning.

Dai Vernon, in his work, “The Dai Vernon Book of Magic”, says this: “Why does practice frighten so many people? Practice can and should be thoroughly enjoyable because it brings the pleasure and satisfaction of achievement. Achievement is a universally gratifying thing and by practicing, one ends up with something of value to one’s self and others. If skill and cleverness could be acquired for the asking, there would be little profit to anyone. Will my readers conduct and experiment? Sometime when alone, start trying to improve some move or sleight that has already been learnt. Experiment with it, strive to incorporate your own ideas – keep trying – it is surprising how the time will fly by, but when headway has been made a most satisfactory feeling of delight will be experienced. Even a minor achievement is most gratifying and as the result has been brought about by practice, it makes practice enjoyable. If people cannot derive pleasure and satisfaction from practice and are not prepared to expend the time and thought and energy required because they find it irksome, then magic is not for them – they should turn to a different hobby.”

Practicing a card miracle takes into consideration all the parts of the routine. This does not mean that you just practice sleight-of-hand in front of a mirror, but that you consider everything that should be considered. How will the audience perceive it? What will you say? How will you say it? What moves will you make while speaking? What moves will you not make while speaking? Will you walk and talk? Will you motion with your hand this way or that way? Will you tilt the cards in this direction or that direction? Will the audience be here, or there, or over there? Where will you be in relation to them? Is this a good routine for that kind of audience? Is there some variation that needs to be made at a particular point? What will the lighting be like? Does the lighting matter? Have you considered everything?

Some magic tricks are very easy to learn and take only a few minutes. Others are more difficult and take considerable time. But with either, the performer should make everything out of them that he can. An easy trick, a hard trick – it does not matter – achieve card miracles every time. Build it up. Don’t simply turn over the card and say “Presto Chango!” That’s boring and cliché. Take your time. Add a storyline. Add something more. For example, you could learn the top change rather quickly, and you may master it relatively fast. But simply because a person may have all the plumbing tools at his disposal may not make him a plumber. And simply because you can do the top change does not mean people you perform it for will believe you are a real magician. No doubt, there are quite a bit of people out there and they may believe your magic because they are interested in being entertained for the moment – they are after a “trick”. Street magic is often performed, for example, on the street, for a crowd of people who are on the corner to watch a trick – and sometimes those tricks are really amazing. But when those people go home at night, they will say – “Hey, there was this guy on the street doing tricks. They were pretty cool.” That will be the end of it. The street magician may be very skilled, but he is going to be remembered along with the juggler, cotton candy maker, and Gospel street preacher who are a few hundred feet away. This is very different than people leaving a theater they have been sitting in for two hours, going home, sitting in their parlor, and saying, “That was most amazing performance I have ever seen. I was watching miracles.” They will be talking about the performer who accomplished those marvels for years to come.

Robert-Houdin, Alexander Herrmann, Thurston, Devant, Cardini, Slydini, Harry Blackstone Jr., Shimada, Paul Daniels, Ricky Jay, Harry Houdini, Dante, Harry Blackstone Sr., Doug Henning, Richiardi, Tihany, Mark Wilson, Siegfried and Roy, Lance Burton, Dai Vernon, David Copperfield, David Blaine, and Criss Angel have all become famous because of the “container” that they place magic in, and the perception that goes along with it. A person is going to remember the astounder who makes something simple astounding. Remember, about 5000 B.C. there were Egyptian magicians working cups and balls. It is not that "cups and balls" is a new performance that someone just made up a week ago.  Instead, the routine and the practice that accompanies the "magic" is of such a simple kind, that the performance itself in the conjuring act can turn into a whirlwind of mystery and magic.

Practice makes perfect. I am not sure who said this, but that’s not all. Practice only makes a particular move perfect, or at least perfectly attainable. Thoughtfulness and planning will make a routine perfect. Practice is only one component that is essential. Without the proper thought and planning, practice is going to make magic just a “trick.” But couple practice and thought together, with a dash of concentrated planning, then you have something that will be considered a card miracle.