Mailbag #119 - Carefree Magic Edition
/To reiterate, let’s start with this: In order to do magic that affects people, they have to embrace the experience.
If they’re indifferent or turned off by the experience, it doesn’t matter how strong the trick is. (And, in fact, sometimes a strong trick is part of what turns them off.)
People have a profound capacity for dismissing magic effects. If they don’t really enjoy the experience they might be briefly astounded but will wave it off with, “Eh, it’s just a trick.” And move on with their lives.
But with the right vibe, even an average trick will be an experience that people carry with them.
“Carefree” is a designation I’m using to apply to the ideal vibe for different aspects of the magic experience.
It applies to things like:
Your comfort-level performing the material
The number of conditions that need to be met for you to perform a trick. (E.g., something that must be performed seated, in low-light, while wearing a jacket is less "carefree” than something you can get into anywhere.)
The vibe between you and the spectator
The spectator’s comfort-level witnessing magic.
How naturally you get into the effect.
Among other things.
To the readers for whom English isn’t a first language, “carefree” doesn’t mean that you don’t care. It means that you are without cares. Without concerns. Without tension.
I’m certainly not saying everything should just come off as some “meaningless fun.”
I’m saying you want to eliminate, as much as possible, the audience’s concerns about watching magic and their ability to pick up on the magician’s concerns of performing magic.
Think of a bad magician. He’s tense. He’s up in his own head. He’s focused on his hands. He’s not listening. He’s clearly “scripted.” He’s awkward getting into the trick. He’s seeking validation and comes off as smug or demeaning.
Spectators pick up on this and they become uncomfortable and they withdraw.
This is anti-carefree.
Carefree is about getting the flow and the vibe right. If that’s right, you can still have very deep meaningful magic, or a tension-filled performance, but those feelings will come from the premise, instead of them reading meaning and tension into your awkwardness as a performer.
The Carefree school of magic performance (which could be called “casual magic” or “jerxian” or whatever) suggests that Vibe matters first, followed by Premise/Story, and then Effect.
This is the opposite of how most magicians operate. They focus on Effect first. Maybe consider Premise. And don’t even know what I’m talking about with Vibe.
That may work for your TV Special or your stage-show. It doesn’t work great for showing magic to friends and family.
Focusing on the effect is like focusing only on how fast you can play your bass guitar. It’s interesting to watch people go nuts on the bass. And it’s cool to listen to… for 30 seconds. But what people really want is something they can groove to. A baseline that feels good.
If this subject sounds abstract and lacking somewhat in practical advice, that’s because I’m putting all these pieces together in real time. I’m sure I’ll have more practical advice on the subject as time goes on.
Now for some quick emails:
Loved the latest blog post - carefree and effortless is more fun for the magician and the audience.
One more to add - carefree is never the latest gimmick from an Alakazam email.—KH
Yes and no.
It’s fun to get new tricks and incorporate them into your repertoire. That’s one of the joys of the jobby.
But there is definitely an anti-Carefree attitude of constantly chasing the “new” thing as if this will be the trick that’s finally going to get you the reactions that you’re hoping for.
It’s like those guys who try to buy colognes with pheromones in them that are supposed to attract women. It’s not going to work. It’s not the cologne. It’s not the tricks. It’s you.
If people aren’t resonating with the tricks you’re showing them, it’s because they’re not resonating with you.
[In last Wednesday’s post] you wrote that magic:
Frequently comes off as egocentric, try-hard, and needy. You could argue that it’s inherently those things. How else would you define learning how to do some arbitrary thing that seems impossible (but isn’t) and then showing it to people and not telling them how it’s done?
Are you suggesting we should be telling people “how things are done”? —EB
No. I’m saying that is how magic is perceived by many people—as a means to demonstrate our cleverness and dangle it over them by not explaining how we did something.
This is what magic feels like to them if your only goal is to fool them.
But if they can see that the trick is part of creating this memorable and weird experience/story for them, then they’re less likely to feel like you’re just withholding information to lord it over them.
As far as exposure goes, there are some rare examples of it being used to do something interesting or artistic. But in most cases, it comes off as desperate. Not just to me, but to non-magicians as well, I believe.
You’ll feel good doing it because you’re giving people something they want in the moment, but they’re not going to cherish this information you’re giving them long-term.
Just want to say I’m enjoying this week’s “Carefree” posts as a unifying theory of your ideas. I hope you keep it up.
Can you explain what you mean by saying “Audience management isn’t carefree.” —KE
Audience management, by definition, means keeping the audience from doing something they might otherwise be naturally inclined to do. Don’t let them look where they want to look. Don’t let them touch what they want to touch. Don’t let them do what they want to do.
There are sometimes subtle ways of “managing” your audience, but that’s not how most magicians use the term.
“They want to examine the deck? Well, use some audience management. Put the deck away and show them another trick.” That’s the level of thought most magicians are using.
Certainly, most all tricks require some level of “control” by the performer. But when that level of control gets to the point of being described as “audience management” it usually means an abnormal, unnatural, level of control. This creates a tension. And Tense is the opposite of Carefree.