Allright fellow magicians how are you all doing, Fine i hope. Can anyone tell me if this is a beginners trick Cigarette Thru Pound Coin. Thanks for your time and help it is very much appreciated.
Best and Kind Regards
Take Care all of you
Cigarette thru pound coin
-
Guest
Re: Cigarette thru pound coin
Beginner? Why is there always a huge concern over whether or not something is appropriate to someone just starting out in magic? If the trick is new to someone, then they are a beginner with it no matter what the background. Get it and give it the same dilligence that anyone would before doing it. Learn the trick thoroughly, learn the handling, rehearse it all until you can do it without thinking about it, and while you are doing that, learn the coin moves (like a shuttle pass and other "switching" options for you) and learn those thoroughly. If you never do anything else, you will be able to do this one effect better than anyone else (or at least you should strive to do that) and when you can do it so effectively that you can fool yourself, then you can start showing it to lay people. (And not until then). If you learn that and do that, it does not matter what tricks you start out with.
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft
-
Bill Duncan
- Posts: 1639
- Joined: March 13th, 2008, 11:33 pm
Re: Cigarette thru pound coin
Jamed,
Cig. Through Coin is a terrible trick for a beginner. It's a best seller in the magic shops, has been seen again and again on David Blaine's TV special and exposed on FOX TV. Worse yet it requires a fair amount of finesse to handle well.
The BEST tricks for beginners are the ones no one else is doing.
There's nothing that hurts a budding performer like being busted by someone who bought a cig. through coin at DisneyLand because they had to know how it was done. Stay away from Scotch and Soda too.
Buy a book and learn something that you can fool and entertain people with and forget about "buying" magic. It can't be done.
cheers
bill
Cig. Through Coin is a terrible trick for a beginner. It's a best seller in the magic shops, has been seen again and again on David Blaine's TV special and exposed on FOX TV. Worse yet it requires a fair amount of finesse to handle well.
The BEST tricks for beginners are the ones no one else is doing.
There's nothing that hurts a budding performer like being busted by someone who bought a cig. through coin at DisneyLand because they had to know how it was done. Stay away from Scotch and Soda too.
Buy a book and learn something that you can fool and entertain people with and forget about "buying" magic. It can't be done.
cheers
bill
-
Pete McCabe
- Posts: 2332
- Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
- Location: Simi Valley, CA
Re: Cigarette thru pound coin
Although Paul's comments are valid, I gotta agree with Bill Duncan that Cigarette thru pound coin is a poor choice for a beginner.
The big problem is that the trick requires a completely invisible -- both physically and mentally -- switch of a gaffed coin right at the exact moment when there is maximum heat on it. It's hard enough for a beginner to add a new trick to their repertoire without starting with such a risky and challenging one.
On top of that, this trick has been performed far and wide and exposed on national TV. So even if you do it perfectly there's a fair chance your spectators will know the trick and the method.
This is not, IMO, the model for a good beginners trick. Hell, I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a professional.
I alwas recommend that a beginner start with a trick that is both very strong and completely self-working. Spend a few months learning how to perform and present it to the audience.
If you enjoy the process of learning it and the joy of performing, then move on to learning sleight of hand or whatever aspect of magic interests you.
By the way the standard trick I recommend in these cases is "Gemini Twins" from More Self-Working Card Tricks by Karl Fulves. This trick is mechanically dead easy to perform and to remember and will fool anyone who isn't a magician.
The big problem is that the trick requires a completely invisible -- both physically and mentally -- switch of a gaffed coin right at the exact moment when there is maximum heat on it. It's hard enough for a beginner to add a new trick to their repertoire without starting with such a risky and challenging one.
On top of that, this trick has been performed far and wide and exposed on national TV. So even if you do it perfectly there's a fair chance your spectators will know the trick and the method.
This is not, IMO, the model for a good beginners trick. Hell, I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a professional.
I alwas recommend that a beginner start with a trick that is both very strong and completely self-working. Spend a few months learning how to perform and present it to the audience.
If you enjoy the process of learning it and the joy of performing, then move on to learning sleight of hand or whatever aspect of magic interests you.
By the way the standard trick I recommend in these cases is "Gemini Twins" from More Self-Working Card Tricks by Karl Fulves. This trick is mechanically dead easy to perform and to remember and will fool anyone who isn't a magician.
-
Guest
Re: Cigarette thru pound coin
However, if a beginner truly studies and learns the effect (as I suggested without just purchasing it and then trying to do it), and if they learn to perform under heat with the most difficult audiences, they will develop into a much better performer.
For a beginner, it does not matter what effects they are learning as long as they learn them correctly which does not mean purchasing ti and then doing it. That is NOT a magician. If it were, why not walk into a magic shop, buy a few self working tricks and go next door to the printers and have some business cards printed calling you a magician. No wait!!!! Many already do that.
What I am advocating is that even for a beginner, start to learn the REAL magic, effects that you cannot simple walk in, purchase and do. Something that takes practice and rehersal is what seperates the real men from the boys (sorry ladies it's only an expression). If they properly learn to do a good coin switch, under pressure, they will blow away anyone that knows the secret of the trick. I do it all the time, with a "mental" bent to it, and it never fails to have jaws drop. One just needs to learn how to do it correctly. Why on earth should a beginner not learn that too?
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft
For a beginner, it does not matter what effects they are learning as long as they learn them correctly which does not mean purchasing ti and then doing it. That is NOT a magician. If it were, why not walk into a magic shop, buy a few self working tricks and go next door to the printers and have some business cards printed calling you a magician. No wait!!!! Many already do that.
What I am advocating is that even for a beginner, start to learn the REAL magic, effects that you cannot simple walk in, purchase and do. Something that takes practice and rehersal is what seperates the real men from the boys (sorry ladies it's only an expression). If they properly learn to do a good coin switch, under pressure, they will blow away anyone that knows the secret of the trick. I do it all the time, with a "mental" bent to it, and it never fails to have jaws drop. One just needs to learn how to do it correctly. Why on earth should a beginner not learn that too?
PSIncerely Yours,
Paul Alberstat
http://www.stores.ebay.ca/abstagecraft
-
Pete McCabe
- Posts: 2332
- Joined: January 18th, 2008, 12:00 pm
- Location: Simi Valley, CA
Re: Cigarette thru pound coin
For me, the question is, how much time does it take to get a routine to performable level -- even if it's just a level where you can perform for friends?
Let's say it takes you a month to rehearse your presentation to the point where you can perform it well without having to constantly think of what comes next.
Now we have to add to that the time it takes to learn the mechanics of the technique required. A good coin switch that can be done under the kind of heat the cig through coin generates would take, I would estimate, a good solid year of dedicated work. I've only ever seen a small handful of magicians who can do it -- including many people who have been performing professionally for more than ten years.
It's an incredibly hard thing to do.
It's also extremely stressful to "break in" such a sleight, even for an experienced magician. For a beginner, who can be expected to be nervous enough just performing a self-working trick, that's an incredible amount of pressure.
Finally, although the visual effect of Presley Guitar's gimmick is unsurpassed, the ultimate effect on the audience is frequently less than desired because the ultimate method -- "you switched in a gimmicked coin" -- is the very first one that will occur to many spectators. Jamy Ian Swiss writes about this; he performed the trick many times and the audiences were amazed -- at how he was able to switch coins wihout them seeing. And Jamy is, I venture to say, better than any beginner.
So if you're a beginner and you want to advance in magic, it behooves you to learn, as early as possible, the real skills of magic. Presentation. Performance. Projection. Connecting with the audience.
This is the real magic. It has nothing to do with whether your method is self-working or not.
Once you are committed to magic for the long haul, then it will make more sense for you to begin working on sleights and/or tricks that will require enormous amounts of time to be able to use.
Let's say it takes you a month to rehearse your presentation to the point where you can perform it well without having to constantly think of what comes next.
Now we have to add to that the time it takes to learn the mechanics of the technique required. A good coin switch that can be done under the kind of heat the cig through coin generates would take, I would estimate, a good solid year of dedicated work. I've only ever seen a small handful of magicians who can do it -- including many people who have been performing professionally for more than ten years.
It's an incredibly hard thing to do.
It's also extremely stressful to "break in" such a sleight, even for an experienced magician. For a beginner, who can be expected to be nervous enough just performing a self-working trick, that's an incredible amount of pressure.
Finally, although the visual effect of Presley Guitar's gimmick is unsurpassed, the ultimate effect on the audience is frequently less than desired because the ultimate method -- "you switched in a gimmicked coin" -- is the very first one that will occur to many spectators. Jamy Ian Swiss writes about this; he performed the trick many times and the audiences were amazed -- at how he was able to switch coins wihout them seeing. And Jamy is, I venture to say, better than any beginner.
So if you're a beginner and you want to advance in magic, it behooves you to learn, as early as possible, the real skills of magic. Presentation. Performance. Projection. Connecting with the audience.
This is the real magic. It has nothing to do with whether your method is self-working or not.
Once you are committed to magic for the long haul, then it will make more sense for you to begin working on sleights and/or tricks that will require enormous amounts of time to be able to use.