Pacing

While you watch some of Craig's stuff on youtube, I somewhat doubt this video is top of your list. But this quote, to me, showed the complete difference in performance style between the two of you (and by extension professional vs amateur).

Quote from Craig Petty in his recent Introduction to Sponge Ball Magic video:

"Most tricks don't have multiple phases where lots of different things are happening one after another. The tricks that do are the ones that are most revered by magicians. Why does ambitious card work as well as it does? Why does card in the box work as well as it does? Why do coins across work as well as it does? Because it's happening again and again and again. You're almost beating them up with magic, which for me, at least in my opinion, is far better than having a seven or 8 minute buildup for one moment of magic at the end."

I would say what he says only applies to professional strolling close up. Anyone doing a formal show, stage or close up, would also include some slow builds. —DF

Yes, this is an important distinction in the amateur/professional divide.

Do you do the same thing over and over? Or do you build to one crazy moment?

If you’re performing a restaurant gig, or at a wedding reception, or for other magicians, then the same thing over and over is probably preferable. Those environments aren’t built for focusing on story or atmosphere, just the raw impossibility. So yeah, hit them with it repeatedly. That’s probably what I’d do too.

But in casual situations, it’s exactly the opposite. Especially if you’re performing one-on-one.

It’s the height of magician-centrism to repeat the same general effect again and again. It’s not a great look.

“Watch! The coin goes from my right hand to my left hand! Wait, wait. Look! Another coin went from my right hand to my left hand! Wait, hold up. Check this out. Another coin went from my right hand to my left hand!”

“Great trick, Timmy, Now, make sure you put your helmet on if you’re going to take your scooter out today. And I’m not going to buy you any more Play-Doh if you keep eating it…. What? Yes you have. It’s all over your lips.”

Craig says,

“You're almost beating them up with magic, which for me, at least in my opinion, is far better than having a seven or 8 minute buildup for one moment of magic at the end.”

I’ll buy that logic when you’re working a close-up gig. People want to see the moment over and over. They want to try to catch you, or watch how their friends react to it.

But keep in mind that tricks with multiple phases are inherently weak magic. They almost have to be. You can’t do an effect that truly blows people away… and then repeat it twelve times in four minutes.

Here is the key to keep in mind…

The pace you choose tells the audience how much the moment matters.

There may be dozens of moments of magic in your cups and balls routine, but none of them really affect the audience. The moments just sort of wash over the spectators. How special can this moment be if it keeps happening over and over again?

But you genuinely could do a one-phase cup and ball routine for someone, where the ball vanishes from your hand and appears under the cup. You could build up to that single moment over eight minutes where you set the conditions, and lay out the premise regarding how you learned this technique, etc. And I believe you’d have something far more interesting, engaging, and impossible-seeming, even though it has only 1/36th the amount of actual magic.

Of course, you wouldn’t do that table-hopping because it’s not the environment for it. That’s the environment for giving people a traditional magic experience.

Pacing is often the difference between someone thinking, “I just saw a pleasant magic routine,” and someone thinking, “I just saw… something strange.”

My general rule is to let the size of my audience dictate my pace. Usually (not always) the more people I’m performing for, the faster I’ll perform (or the more beats I’ll put into an effect). While my desire is usually to go slow and to put a lot of emphasis on each moment, I just don’t think that’s feasible with larger or unfamiliar groups. If you’re going to go slow, build tension, and craft an experience for people, then you need to tailor that interaction to the people you’re with. And you can’t tailor an interaction to 40 people at once.