Teach Me Magic Tricks
It wasn’t all that long ago that I remember asking my father to teach me magic tricks. I was young, eager, and ready to learn. Unfortunately for me (or rather, fortunately), my father was a stickler for learning in a proper manner, and this extended to all aspects of my childhood, not only to magic.
I never imagined that when I asked my father to teach me magic tricks, that I would first begin by doing the easiest of tricks, nor that I would be doing exercises which were designed to help my magic endeavors.
I can truthfully say that I never imagined that I would have to practice for days on end just to get one trick right, and that I would not be allowed to perform in front of an audience (other than friends and family of course), until I was proficient at what I did.
In hindsight of course, this intensive training set me up to be a good magician, but I have to say that I definitely did not appreciate it at the time. I wanted to be able to go to my friends and impress them with the magic tricks which I could perform, and which I would perform oh-so-casually in front of their disbelieving eyes.
Since this was not the case, I was restricted to showing off only in small bouts because luckily for me, as the months flew past me that summer, I came to realize the importance of practicing my magic tricks well, before I showed anyone my abilities. (A few fumbles and drops had more or less brought me to this conclusion!)
The young of today however, don’t seem to have a need to go through the customary stages to learning anything, much less magic these days, and this can be a downfall for them if it is not treated in a proper manner. They also don’t need to go around asking anyone to “teach me magic tricks, please”, all the teaching aids can be found right at their fingertips.
However, the tools which can be found so readily these days to help in the learning and performing of magic tricks can only take a person so far, after that, you will need to get in on the act yourself if you’re to make into a good one.
And for this, I have to say that there is one ingredient which hasn’t changed over the course of time, and that is practice, practice and practice. So the next time a child comes over and asks you to “teach me magic tricks, please” much the same as you also probably did when you were young, don’t forget to stress the need for practice, if they are to get it right.