silent magic done to music

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
Guest

silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 19th, 2005, 1:56 pm

I would like some advice.I am considering doing some magic at our yearly banquet.I want to do the little 10-15 minute show at each close-up table to MUSIC.I am pretty good at theatrics.However,I like stand up magic the most.I have an act that I do to music on stage.I have some close-up material(not cards)that I do out side when I perform at our local park.The people react really well to the effects that they see done.I want to do some of these effects doing our close-up time at the banquet.What do you think? I would like to here some real opinions on this matter.
THANKS ! :whack:

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 21st, 2005, 5:35 pm

Well,I may have stumbled up on another venue in magic.It seem that none of you have any answers for me.( Silent Close-Up Magic).It takes courage.


:eek:


HARRY J.THE MAGICMAN

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 21st, 2005, 5:57 pm

Hi Harry,

Some things come to mind:

1) At ten to fifteen minutes per table, you are only going to cover 4 to 6 tables in an hour. This had better be a small banquet.

2) I was wondering if the same music at each table would begin to drive people crazy. The people at each table would hear it also at the adjoining tables, and it would seem that the repitition would drive them nuts.

Have a good one,

Bob

User avatar
Steve Bryant
Posts: 1947
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Ballantine
Location: Bloomington IN
Contact:

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Steve Bryant » January 21st, 2005, 6:02 pm

For dramatic impact, Albert Goshman would do some of his effects to music. He did his Cards Thru Newspaper completely silently to music, and he talked a bit but did his Devano deck routine to music. He was hailed for bringing "theater to the closeup table," in part for this. Slydini did some of his effects silently to music, such as his Paper Balls to Hat. Jason Latimer did his crystal cups and balls to music and won FISM with it. This isn't new, you just have to figure out how to introduce it, to make it play, etc. It can be very effective.

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 21st, 2005, 6:17 pm

Jean-Pierre Vallarino, of course, does an excellent close up act to music.

I worked out a 4 to 5 minute presentation set to music which I did at a school carnival a few years back -- I was set up at a table behind a partition and people paid to come back and see the mini show. It worked out well, and was a lot of fun from a creative standpoint. As in stage magic set to music, the main thing to keep in mind is that the effects have to speak for themselves.

I think it was Ganson who wrote about using a mini tape recorder and going table to table and doing a short act, some parts of which would be set to music. His idea was the performer would have brief exchanges with the tape recorder. For instance, you ask the recorder for a little music and it starts blaring out Stars And Stripes Forever, etc. I always thought it was a great idea, but never really tried it. Putting close up to music though was a lot of fun for me and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 24th, 2005, 11:23 am

Yea I so silent close up (with various techno songs) for some of my tricks but alot of my other ones require a little talking or storytelling. Maybe just work on mimizing your patter down to almost nothing. and I would have to agree don't you think that people hearing the same music over and over again will start to drive people nuts.

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 24th, 2005, 11:35 am

I agree that 10-15 minutes is probably a little long for table-to-table work. Perhaps you should work out six to eight effects and perform two to three of them per table, taking care to not repeat them at adjacent tables. That way, the tables ahead won't know what to expect and the ones that you just performed for won't get too much exposure to the routines also and figure out the method due to the repetition. As far as music, obviously you want to to very visual routines that don't require any explanation. Some of the routines mentioned are perfect. Goshman's cards through newspaper, rising cards, matrix, ace assemblies all come to mind. I once saw a magician do multiplying billiard balls and thimbles close up. The angles were a little tricky, but a fast-paced routine would work well in this case. Just some thoughts.

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 24th, 2005, 12:14 pm

This was brought up some years ago, so you stumbled over someone elses idea, sorry about that. When asked then I said the same thing I'll say now. Walking up and playing the music could iritate others at tables not having magic performed for them. Then hearing the same set of music again and again may result in a fork being put into your forhead. During a formal close up show in a small theater type setting, sure, close up at tableside, no.
Steve V

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » January 25th, 2005, 6:01 am

Good Afternoon,

I used to perform a silent act (table hopping) in a magic theme bar (The House of Illusion, Salou) though I did not perform to music, You will notice a great change in your body language and time will be used with facial expressions rather than telling a story or general patter. This did go down very well indeed.

Whilst performing back in the UK I have tried Close up Silent approaches and in honesty it isnt always accepted as well (though its a possible 70% success). This may be because in The House of Illusion I was a main feature to the illusion bar and people paid to enter.

As stated by other members 10 to 15 minuets is a long spot per table.

So I presume you mean your going to do a 15 min spot as a feature to the evening and everyone at the banquet will surround you!?!

From experience this is a great thing to do; I will be performing a 15 minute table spot for a leaving party as a feature to an evening (this Saturday) - you will/should notice great responses as family members/Friends are getting together and Joining in.
The main difference between me and you is that my spot will no be silent, though if you feel confident you can perform silently then go for it!

I also suppose the music has got to be right, if your looking for some music may I direct you to a couple of great CDs which Im sure you will enjoy performing to aswell as general listening.
Unkle Never Never Land.
Unkle Psycence Fiction
Venesse Mai Classical

Have fun and let me know how it goes.
Kind regard amigo.
Joel.

Brian Marks
Posts: 912
Joined: January 30th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Nyack, NY

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Brian Marks » January 26th, 2005, 11:35 pm

If your using music, is it really silent magic?

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » February 2nd, 2005, 3:35 am

haha! Nice one Brian...

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » February 2nd, 2005, 9:44 am

Even without the charm of hearing the same music repeatedly people just love mimes...

User avatar
mrgoat
Posts: 4242
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Brighton, UK
Contact:

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby mrgoat » February 2nd, 2005, 10:24 am

Originally posted by Joel Dickinson:

I also suppose the music has got to be right, if your looking for some music may I direct you to a couple of great CDs which Im sure you will enjoy performing to aswell as general listening.
Unkle Never Never Land.
Unkle Psycence Fiction
Venesse Mai Classical
How much did you have to pay the labels for permission to use UNKLE and Mai? I am surprised you even got permission for this, but props to you for pulling it off.

Was it expensive? Do you pay them per performance? Is it just UK rights you got or worldwide?

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » February 2nd, 2005, 10:34 am

Although I never tried using music in a table to table situation, I don't think the repetition of the music would present a problem. After all, the volume would be low, probably no louder than your speaking voice. It's not uncommon to repeat the same effects and patter at different tables and nobody seems concerned about the repetition.

David Acer
Posts: 733
Joined: February 9th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Contact:

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby David Acer » February 5th, 2005, 9:35 am

Gary Ouellet performed a close-up act to music in the late 1970s that included many of the routines in his Masters of Magic series (Coins Through Table, The Homing Ring, etc.). However, this was an act he did almost exclusively at magic conventions and would have been impractical to perform while table-hopping, partly because all the material required lapping, but mostly because the speakers he used were the size of human heads.
Now tweeting daily from @David_Acer

User avatar
Pete Biro
Posts: 7124
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Hollyweird
Contact:

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Pete Biro » February 5th, 2005, 9:51 am

I think a comedy performance would be great to turn on a radio and just play what happens to be ON... and go with its flow.

Even a talk radio program could lead to some funny stuff. :D

OR you could have music playing (recorded) and an emergency signal comes on with an announcement for everyone to get under their tables. :eek:

OR a voice criticizing - or praising - what your are doing could interupt the music. :p

THINK OUT OF THE SHIPPING CARTON :D
Stay tooned.

Guest

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby Guest » February 23rd, 2005, 6:14 am

Originally posted by mrgoat:
Originally posted by Joel Dickinson:
[b]
I also suppose the music has got to be right, if your looking for some music may I direct you to a couple of great CDs which Im sure you will enjoy performing to aswell as general listening.
Unkle Never Never Land.
Unkle Psycence Fiction
Venesse Mai Classical
How much did you have to pay the labels for permission to use UNKLE and Mai? I am surprised you even got permission for this, but props to you for pulling it off.

Was it expensive? Do you pay them per performance? Is it just UK rights you got or worldwide? [/b]
Please Re- read my post!

paulsunday
Posts: 16
Joined: March 13th, 2008, 1:55 am

Re: silent magic done to music

Postby paulsunday » April 17th, 2005, 6:08 pm

Does anyone know the title of the music Goshman used? I've always liked it and wonder if it's a piece of classic music or something else?


Return to “Close-Up Magic”