Get professional skill even if you don t plan to go on the stage. Whether you are learning magic just for the purpose of entertaining your family or whether you are going on the stage you will be a Real Magician when you are through. There is nothing halfway about it. Now then, with Professional Skill is your goal, first of all, get the PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE.
By this I mean:
* In learning Magic, your mirror is your laboratory. In it see the results you accomplish. You see your wrong and your right moves. So with every minute of practice you get nearer and nearer the right method of doing the different moves upon which the Art of Magic is based.
* When you see the progress you make in every day s practice, you will be filled with enthusiasm. You will find real Professional satisfaction and joy in practicing.
* Many of the details of Magic are so simple that you may make the mistake of thinking them unimportant. That mistake is fatal. When explained, these details are ridiculously simple. Yet, how mystifying to your audience! I need not tell you this. The very tricks which have completely mystified you are based on these simple details!
* Professional magician knows that the whole Art depends on these small moves and
poses. So remember, give strict attention to every detail of every move, and regard it with the same importance that the Professional Magician does.
* Don t forget that you were once one of the spectators and believed these tricks to be almost superhuman feats. Now, when you learn how very simple they are, remember that to those who are not in the know, they are still deep mysteries.
* The amateur most often has the idea that a trick must be very elaborate. He thinks that the method of doing it must be very difficult and that there must be great deal of complicated equipment to do it with. I want you to get that idea out of your head and remember that in the simplicity of your tricks lies their great power to mystify the other fellow.
* You must study your hands before your mirror. Watch the natural poses of them in different positions. Practice with NATURALNESS always in mind.
* Practice every day! Pretend you are before your audience. This will make you do your moves in the best possible manner.
* Patter is an essential part of each trick. Every time you practice your trick, use the patter with each move. In this way the patter will become a part of the trick in your mind, and you will keep up a running fire of talk without hesitating or laboring over it as if it were a memorized speech.
* Never repeat the same trick by the same method during the same performance.
And remember, before you perform the card tricks and coin tricks, be sure to practice after you learn how to do the magic tricks!