I've haven't been perforuming much lately. I think it's because of my confidence. See I'm afraid of perforuming, like for example lets say,: the double lift. See I'm afraid if I accudently exspose the DL (double lift) then they know that if I do a different trick and it has a DL involved then they know I did a DL. (and the tricks ruined)

what do you guys think?

thanks,

big k

It's all about confidence. I used to have that problem a lot. What I learned was this: you should worry more about your presentation than your technique. With a good story and patter, even a beginner's self working trick can seem like a miracle.

I know its been said before, but have fun! And if you do mess up, remember, its just a trick, not the end of the world. That is what I had to remember when I first started out.

XX

Yes...it is perfectly alright to mess up. The important part, though, is keeping your cool and finding a way out smoothly. If you can take the effect a different direction, go for it. Or you can always ease out with a healthy comedic escape:

"Wow! It just got quiet enough that I can hear my own career falling!"

Messing up is a permanent part of performing magic. Even the big guys do it every now and then. You've got to learn that it's ok to laugh at yourself. Make a joke out of it and everyone will be too busy laughing along with you to think, "This guy sucks!". I know that it's easier said than done to "just have confidence", but that's what it really boils down to. And don't take it so seriously, it's just a magic trick!

So you let slip a double lift to a couple of people. The worlds population stands at 6,300,000,000. So this is exposing (assuming they even notice) to less than 0.00000005% of the population, this isn't really significant, you should be able to forgive yourself.

Hey, sometimes its even better when you mess up... it brings you to the same level as the people you are performing for... David Williamson explained in his lecture that sometimes he screws up on purpose because it allows the spectators to see that you are human, and this sometimes makes your performance better..as long as you don't screw up too much...

And in some cases when you mess up, they may realize the absolute skill and dedication required to do the move you were trying.
Learn from it and keep going.

Frankly it is never OK to mess up! It is never OK to not be on top of your game!

However it is also never a case of “IF” you mess up a trick but “WHEN” you mess up a trick. It is going to happen sooner or later that is a double your money back grantee! How you recover is much more important than worrying about the actual event of messing up.

The key has already been mentioned. That is how you continue. Frankly, most of the time no one will really know for sure that you messed up unless you make a big deal of it! “Woops! I missed my double indexed turnover reverse,” you say and they say “?”.

Soldier on! Turn the messed up trick into something else (after all you are a magician!). Getting caught at a move tells you volumes. It tells you that your technique under pressure is not up to par, or that your timing is off, or that your misdirection (direction) is off, or that you have simply telegraphed that your are “doing something” to your audience. Learn from it and try not to make the same mistake again.

Big K,
I have somewhat the same problem. The way that I get better at the double lift is to do triple lifts. Once I do triple lifts I get used to them. Then it makes the double lift seem a lot easier.

If you haven't performed for a while, go through your basic moves a few times just for practice. You will feel more confident.

Another thing is to develop a good practice ethic. While I'm watching tv or reading a magazine, I'm doing a single move over and over. "Oh look. American Chopper is on." Elmsley count, elmsley count, elmsley count.... Anyway, works well for me. Seems to help my movements feel (and hopefully look) like second nature.

I LOVE AMERICAN CHOPPER!!! I get most of my practicing done during American Chopper marathons! That show is hot!

I t is ok to mess up.How you handle the sitituation is the key.When I practice.I take note of all of the chances I have of getting caught.I ask myself what would I do in a sitituation where I mess up.Always try to leave yourself an out.Even if you are controlling their card and some how really do get their card hopelessly lost in the deck.Ask what it was.You heard me ask what their card was.Then look through the deck andfind it bring it to where ever you want.I bring it to the top for a palm and continue a card to pocket or card to wallet.Say something like it couldn't have been the two of spades.I put that card in my pocket before we started.

What I'm saying is that if someone calls you out, be prepaired.If you get caught doing a DL.Do a pass and prove them wrong.You can even say in fact the card I merely showed you 2 seconds ago,before you accused me of cheating.As if magicians would ever do such a thing.Has simply vanished.Bring it back to the top and start over.
I used to get really nervous when performing too. Then I realized that I'm supposed to be having fun too.Otherwise, why on earth would I be performing.They are there to have fun too.They want to be amazed.Alright,I'm starting to ramble now so I just have one more thing to say.You can only control what you do and we all mess up.Learn to embrace the variable of the unknown as a challenge not a threat and be prepared for the unexpected.

It is never ok to mess up. When you mess up, you must commit hari-gami. This is a form of ritual suicide that is performed by folding ones self to death.

This must be done each time you mess up.

Seriously, everyone messes up occasionally. The main thing is that you must figure out what you did wrong and take steps to correct the problem. This is called "learning from your mistakes."

Mmmm..... "learning from mistakes......." I got to try that some day. and what did that first paragraph have to do with any thing? I don't quite uunderstand it.

big k

Hari-gami! LOL!

Well, if you expose the DL, then some tricks are ruined. But if you don't even perform because of fear of exposing something, then ALL are ruined. They are quite useless unless you show them to people.

BTW, Firedice's practice thing sounds good. I'll have to try it the next time something boring is on tv

I am having the same problem man, I am in magic for about 5 months now and I practice pretty hard. I am now finally starting to perform to people (I didn't want to start too early in case I expose tricks to more then 0.0000000005% of the world.....) But any way I just wanted to tell something funny that happend to me in a train a week ago,
I was just practicing some hot shot cuts and other things when the man sitting opposite me say; are you going to show me a trick today or not", I thought okay, he seems nice why not. I did uhh my version of the biddle trick, then the last trick of dr. jacob daley and then I started with dunbury aces and I mess it up. and I just can't think of a way to correct it so I start turning a little red etc. etc. and suddenly the man start telling me what I did wrong, He turned out to be a magician too, He wanted to see a couple of my patters he said.
It was really funny, oh well just wanted to tell this somewhere,

greetings all of you!

It's ok to mess up, but it more important to keep moving. Distract from the flub by moving to another trick.

Practice makes perfect. No one wants to hear it but it's true. Plus the more selights you know 1) the less you have to depend on any one selight and 2) you may be able to clean up by using another sleight.

Finally keep it fun. Unless you're getting paid to do a job, we're all just having fun.

Gavin K

Just wanted to share an experience with you:
When I performed on the street for the first time I did a pen-thru-dollar effect with a borrowed dollar bill. Guess what happened? I REALLY destroyed this guy's banknote... (I just punched to hard) *lol*

This was SO embarassing, but his reaction was super cool. He asked me if I wanted to try again and gave me a second dollar!

We all mess up at times... it's just part of what we do.