Hey guys,
I apologize if this has come up before, but I'm not even sure how I would look it up.
I love buskers, but I've never felt that I had the right personality for it however, I recently got Jeff Sheridan's DVD set and I really liked his performance style and I feel I would be up to trying something similar.
Here's the thing I don't get, if your doing a silent act to music how do you gather a crowd? It seems like most street magicians are fairly loud in addressing passers by to get peoples attention and get them over.
Does anyone perform like Jeff Sheridan does? If so could you tell how this works, or perhaps point me inthe right direction.
thanks
-Courntey

To begin with, a lot of pitches don't allow amplified music.
Secondly, gathering a crowd is the hardest part.
Thirdly, I would first search here on crowd gathering. There are a few million ways...

I only saw Jeff a couple of times in Central Park. Each time, he'd already started and had drawn the crowd. (I'm surprised it isn't mentioned on the DVD) I don't remember him using music.

If you are moving around doing something interesting people will stop and watch. If there is music going on as well then more people will stop and watch. I would say to just choose something that you can do for a while to get a few people to stop before beginning your actual show. It seems like card manipulation would work well, but I don't really know. When I busk I will occasionally perform silently. When I do I usually use a TT and silk or Slydini silks. I go up to people and interact with them, I just don't talk. People will stop and watch, but they stand about 15-20 feet away as opposed to the 5-7 feet away they do when I talk.

Seadog93, I used to do a silent manipulation act to music.. first thing to remember especially if your in a busy tourist town is people WANT to have fun.. that's why they go out..

This was my formula for getting an audience silent..
SOUND , COLOR , MOVEMENT

get yourself a thick colorful rope to make an edge.. every sidewalk guy has one.. you can get it at home depot.. oh, yeah, if your in the states get a sign that says "magic show" , with your name on it maybe..

start your music and do a short manipulation routine using large objects.. this is supposed to get peoples attention from a distance..

Next , pick up the rope, and gesture for the people watching from a distance to come in closer as if your going to hand the rope to somebody ..... let the first few audience members grab the rope, and from their you can actually pull them in .. like a dog on a leash. and than have them let go of the rope... You have your edge

this worked for me because I never came off threatning .. if the intro routine is strong enough, they know your a magician and they trust that your are just trying to show them more magic

Hey check out the cellini dvds

I remember that when I saw him, Jeff was doing one-handed fans. It also didn't hurt that he was dressed all in black and standing on the ledge of a statue which put him a foot or so over the crowd.

I miss NYC.

Im jealous, Rhodes, that you have seen Sheridan perform live. ..

That pitch is Fenced off now.. Eric Evans did a report on it here

http://sidewalkperformers.com/wordpress/?p=81

You don't need to be "loud" to draw a crowd, in fact it is my opinion that people that start screaming "MAGIC SHOW" are annoying in the same respect as email spammers. That's just noise pollution.

George done revealed the secret ... sound, color, and motion. People like to see colorful things moving, and sound can get them to look in the direction of something colorful moving.

-JoeJoe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=750FXbD8N_M

I'm jealous of my younger self. He got to see Sheridan and didn't appreciate what he was seeing. Oh yeah, "This guy is great." ran through my mind, but I didn't realize I was watching history in the making until I read about him in Magic magazine, YEARS later!

Jeff is presently playing the Tieger Palace (sp) in Frankfurt.