Speed Kills
/Today we're back to talking about the Carefree Philosophy when approaching magic.
This is related to yesterday's post where I talked about the issue with quick glances when peeking.
One of the basic tenets of this philosophy I'm working on is that speed is anti-carefree. In fact, I think speed is anti-magical.
Eliminating speed from your performances is one of the biggest levers you can pull to make things feel less like "tricks" and therefore, less dismissible.
Areas where speed kills magic:
Quick Glances - As discussed yesterday, this trait is almost a caricature of a suspicious individual. In casual performing situations, there is no excuse to be darting your eyes in different places. Even if they're not sure precisely what you're looking at or how you might be seeing something of importance, it comes off as sketchy and non-magical.
Quick Actions - "The coins are going to magically travel from one hand to another."
Okay, fine. But quick, awkward, jerky movements are completely incongruous with the notion that something magical is happening. We've come to accept these things because we've lost sight of the idea that we're supposed to be emulating doing something with no possible explanation. Real magic would never look like frantic hand movements.
I've gotten rid of anything in my repertoire that looks like sleight-of-hand. And quick, unusual movements are the tell-tale sign of that.
There's a huge difference between a trick that leaves someone thinking, "That was sleight-of-hand," and one that leaves them thinking, "It must have been sleight-of-hand, but I can't see how." And you get the latter by only doing sleight-based tricks that can be executed calmly and casually.
Quick Pacing - A quickly paced effect will often come off as:
Confusing or
Overly rehearsed
Both of these things kill the feeling of magic.
That's not to say you can't be hyped up with what you're showing them: "Holy shit! Check this out. Look, look, look." That's fine. Enthusiasm feels human. What I'm talking about is a quickly paced routine made up of several magic moments. That's going to come off as your little routine that you put together for the Boy Scouts or something. Not a true moment of mystery.
Rushed Decisions - "Name the first flower that comes to your mind when I snap my fingers. <SNAP> A rose? Amazingly, I have a rose for you right here."
There are magicians who do stuff like this and think it's fooling. It's not.
In fact, any selection procedure that feels rushed will always lead to the effect coming off as more trick than miracle. This is the issue with the Classic Force. Or rushed Equivoque procedures.
If I was trying to show you something amazing that worked with "any" thought of flower, chosen card, selected object, etc., the last thing I would do is rush you through that selection process, because that would completely undermine the demonstration.
A misinterpretation of what I'm suggesting with the Carefree Philosophy is that you should just do easy tricks in a chill manner. That's not what it's about. It's about removing tightness and tension from your performances, so what they're seeing feels like this unreal moment that's living in a natural interaction, not "just a trick."
Speed is one of the big sources of tension that permeates magic. But it's also something that's pretty easy to identify and avoid. Unfortunately, there are a lot of tricks that rely on it, so it limits your options in some ways to eliminate them. But it’s worth it. My repertoire has only gotten stronger and more impossible seeming since I've worked to flush those tricks out.
