Lesson Guide

• Welcome and Housekeeping

• An Introduction to the Problem

Section 1: Technical Considerations

• Example: Rubber Band Through Spectator’s Arm tutorial

• Effect Design Part 3: Layering

• Technique

  Section 2: Performance

• Tension and Release

• Atmosphere

• Character

  Section 3: The Inner Game of Performing Magic

• Closing Thoughts

• NEW: Questions and Answers

Course Features

TWO ORIGINAL, UNPUBLISHED ROUTINES

Making Tricks Into Magic features two of my strongest pieces. Rubber Band Through Spectator’s Arm is a close-up workhorse—the sort of anywhere, anytime effect that you’ll end up doing everywhere. Name is a piece of mental magic I use to close my platform/stage show. It’s one of the strongest pieces in my show—certainly the strangest—and I teach it here as a way to illustrate some of the techniques we explore during the course.

SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

We’ll unpack a collection of tools designed to amplify the power of your performances, from standalone techniques you can add to your show tonight to more foundational skills like the use of silence and the manipulation of dramatic tension throughout a routine. These techniques are style-agnostic so you can integrate them into your work regardless of your performance character and can be used in both close-up and platform/stage environments.

CREATIVE MODELS FOR STRONGER MAGIC

During the course we’ll examine a few different models that can improve the impact of a piece of magic. The Cone of Attention is a tool to guide the spectator’s experience throughout a routine so the effect is clear and the method is invisible. Cancelation and Layering are two techniques to enhance the impossibility of a piece of magic, both during the performance and in the audience’s memory afterwards. Each of these models are presented with practical examples and applications, and also with guided questions to help you apply them to your own work.