Lesson 1: Prepare to Amaze!

The Professor invites you to learn easy-to-do magic tricks using items from your home and perform them for friends and family.

The first lesson is on PRACTICE. When you have chosen the trick you wish to perform, the first task is to locate the items you need from around the house or from a store if you do not have them on hand. Make sure that the items you choose are in good shape and not dirty, broken, or wrinkled.

Presentation is very important, so the items you are using should be pleasant to look at for the audience. The Professor recommends that you decorate the items with magical designs, stickers, etc. It is a good idea to make a magic box and decorate it as well with your name or your stage name on it. Use the box to hold the materials needed for the show and to keep them organized nicely for easy access as you perform.

At this point, you will read the directions on how to do the trick and then begin practicing. It helps many people if they practice in front of a mirror. That way you can see yourself as you do the trick and look for any movements you are doing that could give the trick away and then correct them.

Some magicians, if they have the equipment, will record themselves as they practice and rewatch the practice performance several times for the same reason. If you have a trusted accomplice to help you, try practicing in front of them before an actual performance of the trick and ask them for their honest opinion and suggestions on improving your presentation.

Do not get so frustrated while practicing that you give up on the trick altogether. Sometimes you will do well to just leave it alone for awhile and come back later to try again. Focus is important, so practice in a well lit, quiet area where you will not be interrupted.

Practice your patter as well. Patter is the story you tell or a history of the trick you give which helps relax the audience and take some of their attention off of the movements you are using to do the trick and it gets them to focus more on you, your facial expressions and your humor.

Some moves require lots and lots of practice and it is easy to get discouraged. But when you have finally succeeded, it is a wonderfull feeling.

Class dismissed for today - come back soon for the next lesson!

Lesson 2: It's All in the Presentation!

Good day. The Professor will now give you a lesson on performance techniques, so pay close attention. These will be very helpful to you later.

There are several important facets to performance that we will be discussing. The first one to be reviewed will be presentation. As discussed last week, it is important to have your costume, cards, silks, and other props clean and tidy. It is more appealing to your audience when they watch you. Find an eye catching costume to add to your magical look, such as a hat, colorful shirt, or maybe a jacket with lots of pockets.

Come up with a stage name such as 'The Amazing Cindy', or 'Mystery The Magician'. Be creative and have fun choosing a magical and entertaining name to use during your shows.

Always speak loudly enough to be heard clearly, saying your words carefully. Ask the audience at the beginning of the show if everyone can hear you well. Use humor when you can as it is a good distraction and adds a great element to your performance.

Background music for tricks not involving a lot of talking by you is always nice. Sometimes you will choose to use a mystical, serious tone of voice to make the effect of the trick you are doing more mysterious. Always make good eye contact with your audience so that they feel involved in the show.

Some magicians use live animals in their performances. I recommend the use of animals in magic for performers at least 18 years and older only. I use a little white mouse in my shows, while some magicians use rabbits and doves. But any time you are using animals in your act, make sure that they are not hurt as you perform. Feed and clean them well, and treat them with the utmost care and respect. If hurt, an animal will possibly bite or scratch you. And could you blame them?

Use a table or stand to set your tricks and materials on so that you can easily get to them during the show. The table is good place to set them down out of your way after you have performed that effect.

I will teach you more about presentation next week.

Class dismissed for today - come back soon for the next lesson!

Lesson 3: Presentation is Key - More Cool Tips!

Good day. The Professor will now continue the class on presentation. The next aspect to discuss is misdirection. Misdirection is simply the magicians way of getting the audience to focus on something besides the sleight of hand that you are using to do the trick.

A good misdirection technique is to use your eyes. During the performance, look at what you want the audience to look at. Do not look at the place where you are doing the actual sleight of hand.

Sleight of hand, by the way, is the actual movement of your hands to perform the effect, a secret move that you make to cause the effect, such as dropping a coin into your pocket or moving a card in the deck to a different spot.

Move your hands at a steady speed at all times so that the audience will not focus on your movements. If you slow down your movement during the sleight of hand part of the trick, or speed it up, they will notice.

Keep all of your movements smooth and steady and very casual so as not to draw attention to the movement. Repeat a particular movement several times, if you can, so that when it comes time to perform the sleight of hand the audience will be caught off guard and not so focused on the move.

Always explain what you are doing ,except for the secret move, so that the audience does not get suspicious. Remember, they will be watching you closely!

I often wave my hands around and point to things around me to distract the audience. Bringing up a volunteer and talking with them during the performance is also a good distraction.

It is always helpfull as well to use misdirection if something goes wrong while you are performing the trick. For example, if I drop something that I need to use during the trick and cannot get to it, I will make a joke about how I shouldn't eat buttered bread before a show anymore or I will get butter fingers. Then I will say something like, "Wow, I just noticed that you have not yet seen the Amazing Zombie Ball! Does anyone here want to meet the Amazing Zombie Ball now, because he wants to meet you, he just told me so. Because ... The Amazing Zombie Ball can communicate with me, and do alot of other awesome things. Are you ready to meet him ?".

Well that about wraps up class for now, folks. I know you are anxious to learn some tricks, and you will soon. But first, it is important to get a couple of more lessons on performance. Remember, the effect of a trick depends on great presentation. Even a good trick can be ruined by a poor presentation. You will drive the magic using these skills we have learned today, students.

Class dismissed for today - come back soon for the next lesson!

Lesson 4: Last Lesson on Presentation - and a Contest!

Good day. The professor is ready to present you with the last lesson on presentation.  After this, we will begin to learn new magic tricks for you to practice and perform!!
The best talent to have as an entertainer is confidence, class. An entertainer who does not appear nervous or shy will almost always be successful. A confident performer will stand with good posture. He or she will speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard by all. You should not second guess yourself during a performance. Once you begin a sentence, complete it. Do not repeat yourself or correct yourself during a show. Keep moving on and your audience probably won't even realize that you made a mistake.

And class, keep in mind that no matter how much a person begs you to tell them how your magic trick works, you should never tell the secret of the trick to anyone !!! If you do, then why would they want to watch you do magic? They can just go do it themselves if you give away all of your secrets. Also, even if they don't realize it themselves, the mystery of the trick is what makes it fun for them. The same is true with repeating a magic trick over and over. Your audience may want you to repeat a trick for them. Say to them that you can't because you have too many other great tricks that you want to show them. If you repeat a trick too many times, someone will figure out how the trick works. So, do not give away your secrets.

To close out the class for today, we will have a contest for you to participate in. It is like a test, but much more fun. I will list several styles of magic performance. Your task is to write what you think the correct answers are and send them to the Professor from the  Contact Me page on this website. Just put your answers in the box that says comments. Anyone who answers all of the questions correctly will receive a personal e-mail from Professor Longhair containing your own personal magic trick lesson that will never appear on this website. It will just be for the winners of the contest only. You will also receive a coupon good for a discount on a personal magic lesson or show! The contest questions are listed below.

Good Luck on the TEST, er, CONTEST. Class dismissed.

1. Close up magic is:
A) The magician stands VERY close to his magic tricks.
B) The magician closes up all of his tricks when he FINISHES each one.
C)The magician PERFORMS the magic tricks while standing CLOSE to his audience.

2. Ventriloquism is:
A) The performer has a real person on their KNEE who is dressed as a PUPPET.
B) The Performer has a PUPPET on his or her knee and makes it APPEAR as though the puppet is TALKING as the performer   NEVER seems to be moving his or her LIPS.
C) The performer moves a puppet around the stage using strings that are attached to the puppet.

3. Stage magic is:
A) The magician MAKES the whole STAGE disappear.
B) The magician makes someone float ABOVE the stage.
C) The magician performs ALL of the tricks FROM THE STAGE only, rarely coming down and getting close to the audience.

4. An escape artist is:
A) A magician who ESCAPES from chains and handcuffs while HANGING upside down or in some other frightening situation.
B) A magician who DRAWS escape tricks out on paper for other magicians to perform.
C) A magician who disappears from THE STAGE and NEVER returns.

5. Levitation in a magic show is:
A) When a magician makes the whole AUDIENCE disappear.
B) When the magician makes it APPEAR as though he is MAKING a person or thing FLOAT in the air.
C) When the magician makes ANIMALS turn very, very small.

Lesson 5: Your First Magic Trick: Name That Crayon!

This is a great trick for the beginning magician as it will amaze your friends and is easy to perform. It is very important to practice several times before performing it. Use the performance tips discussed in past lessons to really entertain your audience.

First, find a clear cup and a handful of differently colored crayons. Put the crayons into the cup. When you are ready to perform the trick, have a member of the audience come up and hold the cup full of crayons. Talk about how you are going to read his mind. Tell a story about crayons and your mind reading abilities,(this is your patter).Be creative.

Turn your back to the volunteer and ask him to pick a crayon out of the cup. While your back is to the volunteer, have him put the crayon he has chosen into your hand. Have him hide the cup with the crayons behind his back so that you cannot see which of the crayons is missing.

Turn around to face him with your hands behind your back and still holding the crayon. Begin with more patter about reading his mind. As you are doing this, scrape the tip of the crayon with your thumb nail while the crayon and your hands are still behind your back. Keep the crayon in one hand behind your back and bring the other hand,(which you used to scrape the crayon with)out from behind your back. Put the back of your hand out towards the volunteer and keep your thumb behind your other fingers.

Hold your finger tips to your forehead as if you are concentrating very hard on his guess. Meanwhile glance at your thumb nail and look at the color of the wax scraping under the nail without being obvious about it. Name the color out loud and congratulate your volunteer for concentrating so well.

 Job well done, and you will have amazed your friends!

Class dismissed for today. Come back soon for the next lesson.