The Genii Forum

I saw Jay Sankey tuesday night at a lecture and he re-newed my interest in coin magic. Well I got home and pulled out my half dollars and soon realized why I gave it up...sweaty palms.

Does anyone have any suggestions for drying out your hands and looseing your hands up. What about strenghtening your pinky muscle?

I had sweaty palms as kid--before I lost my fear of performing magic for people. Once I began practicing a lot, and KNEW that I could perform my material without fear of screwing it up, my sweaty palms vanished.
In fact, the ultimate test came when I did a trick for Derek Dingle and realized, in the middle, that it felt like I was doing a trick for anyone else. A nice feeling.
As far as finger limbering, try a music store for books on piano playing.

If you're a pianist already, check out the Czerny exercises. Ouch.

If you're not already a pianist, there are some good books for beginners in many bookstores. Spend some time on the scales -- they aren't popular, but they do help to develop dexterity and good technique. I wish my earlier teachers had focused more on the scales.

Best,
JMT, Atlanta area piano teacher

If you haven't already been advised, real silver coins (pre-1965) are easier to palm that modern, silver clad copper coins. Hopefully this will help to some degree.

CardTrix,

Take a look at this thread regarding overly dry or moist hands: http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~alain/ma ... hands.html

As for strengthening the muscle at your pinky base, David Stone had a good idea, that you can stick a beer bottle (or root beer whetever) over your pinky and with your hand palm up, lift your pinky up and back down like weight lifting.

Also just having coins nearby and palming throughout the day will make the palm feel more natural and develop the hand motor skills used in palming.

For more tips on the classic palm check out www.coinvanish.com in the "Foundations section" for an essay on how to palm a coin.

Good luck with your coin magic.

It's interesing how practicing piano helps your dexterity. What about practicing guitar?

Sweaty palms? Dr. Mitchams anti-perspirant cream! No kidding. It was reccomended by a magician friend of mine who is a doctor. Apparently it only works with Doctor Mitcham's and not the other brands. Make sure you get the cream. It will make your hands have a powdery feel but it's not much.

David Roth once recommended to me to use rosin, and rub it around the rim of your coins. Rosin is used by violinists, and available in music stores, and is rubbed on the hairs of the bow. Regards, Gregg Webb