By Brian Park
Executive In-Depth Editor|
Why start magic?
Before I start answering this question, first think to yourself: When was the last time someone presented a magic trick to you? For most people, it would probably be, if at all, a long time ago.
Because of the lack of magic from the rise of video games and social media, most people know basically nothing about magic, and this is why magic is so special.
If everyone in the world knew about the secrets of magic, magic wouldn’t even be called magic, maybe more like rereading a book because it wouldn’t be amazing or have a stunned reaction from the crowd.
Basically, magic gives you knowledge most other people do not know of, and that is why magic is so gratifying.
Also, I would say most teenagers have a perception that magic is for little kid’s birthday parties and they are too mature or smart enough. From my experience, however, it has been much more rewarding performing my magic to adults and my friends because they are seeing something they don’t understand when they might expect to know everything going on in the trick.
By performing some magic tricks to little kids for the first time recently at a fun fair, I realized that little kids just get too distracted, don’t understand the trick, or try to take your props and run.
Magic is also for a wide variety of people. For the attention lovers, magic will help guarantee that you will be the center of attention at a party or social gathering whenever you pull out a deck of cards and tell people about magic.
For the naturally introverted people like me, magic is a great way to help get out of that comfort zone by first performing in front of parents, then friends, and finally to strangers. By exposing your personality in front of people and eventually making mistakes in front of people (trust me, I also have made mistakes), you will get used to not really caring what strangers think of you and focusing on performing as best as you can in your ability level.
Lastly, I want to point out that magic is created in the mind. Magicians know how their tricks are done, but spectators do not. So what you might think as insignificant while doing sleight of hand, it will create miracles for spectators in their mind. Their awe-struck reaction is priceless with just a little practice and preparation, and that’s why I perform magic.
By the way, all you need to start learning card magic is a deck of cards. They are available at Walmart, Target and Walgreens, and I recommend Bicycle brand playing cards for beginners.
Part two of David Blaine’s TV show:
And here are some simple, beginner magic tricks to amaze your friends and family without any sleight of hand. But be warned, some of them can be pretty awesome, but they aren’t the coolest tricks ever; I might get to those later.
Math trick:
Killer prediction:
Every video blog I do will include a question for myself to answer, sleight of hand tutorial, and links to videos of magic tricks that can be performed by watching the tutorials and practice!
The next question is: What are the different types of magic?
To see the video i made, click here.
I didn’t mention all of this in the video, but spreading the cards has many practical applications within a card trick– it’s a nice way for spectators to select a card as well as to show you’ve found their card in the middle of the deck at the end of the trick.
To catch up on my Magic blog and read what magic is, click here.