Discourse in Magic

Michael Ammar joins Jonah this week to talk about signature tricks, mentors, and leaving room for your audience’s imagination. From teaching to creating to performing, Michael Ammar has done it all, building his name in the magic community.  Magic never seemed like a viable career path for him. Sure, he liked it, but he always thought he’d take over his father’s steakhouse. The turning point came one busy day at the steakhouse where his father told him that the restaurant would one day be his. Realizing that the steakhouse wasn’t fun the way magic was, Michael made a deal with his dad; he had two years to do something with magic or he’d come back.  Knowing what would wait for him if he didn’t succeed, Michael started doing conferences and schools, alongside winning at a SAM convention which led him to doing lecture tours. Along the way, he’d perform some of the best spots on late night shows, create one of the most in-depth magic tutorial series, and become a mainstay in the community.  Signature Magic If you’ve seen any of Michael’s material, the word “visual” would most likely come to mind. The effects he chooses, Michael explains, are simple to explain and visual because it is a visual art form. However, over the years, he’s come to appreciate the cerebral aspects of magic.  Referencing the book Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, Michael explains that by leaving spaces for the audience’s imagination to fill in the blanks, you create a collaborative environment. Suddenly, the audience and performer are working together to create the magic. After they’ve filled in the blank, Michael will then hit them with the strongest visual possible.  Writing & Performing a Script  Michael approaches scripting by sitting down, writing too much to say, and then scrapping what doesn’t feel right when he’s on stage. He explains that he’d rather have too much to say while he’s performing on stage rather than having nothing while he’s performing.  That is the key, Michael points out. You have to find a safe stage to be able to perform material to find what does and doesn’t work.  Creating Magic Tutorials When he set out to create magic tutorials, there was always the temptation to teach more than what was necessary. But, knowing that they not only wanted to set but elevate a standard, Michael went into creating the tutorials by asking what they could to make it a more effective teaching device. He spent hours immersing themselves in material longer than other people because they could. The market was ripe for good learning material which is why the tutorials hold up to this day.  Nowadays, Michael says, the shelf life of this products is limited. Most products aren’t meant to sit on a shelf or become a mainstay in a collection. Putting the time and effort into products like they did back in the day isn’t necessarily worth it today with how quickly the market turns over.  Wrap Up Endless Chain Jeff Taylor What do you like about modern magic? What don’t you like? Not being able to predict trends, is what Michael does and doesn’t enjoy. Trends today are things that he wouldn’t have banked on being successful a decade ago.  Take Home Point It doesn’t matter where you are. You can benefit from the wealth of magic knowledge that is out there. Plugs  Michael’s Website World’s Greatest Magic Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page. The post Refining Your Magic with Michael Ammar appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Right now, we’re living through some scary, uncertain times. But, with everyone self-isolating, we’re flattening the curve and giving our healthcare system a fighting chance to get us back to some semblance of normal as quickly as possible. With all this time now, we should be focused on improving ourselves so that when we can come back, we can come back stronger than ever. The Discourse Team promises that in the coming weeks, we’ll have some fantastic guests to keep you occupied and thinking about your magic. Most likely, you’ve had gigs cancel or postpone on you due to Covid-19. Jonah, and TMC, has felt the impact and sympathizes with your circumstances. While getting through this time, Jonah offers some tips to performers: Get a deposit for future shows. Book shows a few months in advance. Include a Corona Clause to keep your current clients for the future. Make gift cards so people can still support your shows now. Whether you’re a professional or a hobbyist magician, there are activities you can be doing now to take advantage of the time. Recently, Jonah sent out an email with ideas on how to spend your time. If you’re not signed up for the mailing list and would like to keep informed, you can do so here. If you missed the email, here were the ideas mentioned in the email: Learn a new trick from the material you already own. Gather your marketing material together so that when you need it, you have it all in one place. Back up your computer. Clip out some of the footage from the shows that we’re sure you’ve been recording. Have a jam session over Skype. Transcribe your act or trick to clean up your script. Build better expense management processes. Fix your website. Listen to podcast episodes you’ve set aside (or binge some of your favourite Discourse in Magic episodes). Watch some magic online. This could be on Magicana’s Screening Room, Fool Us acts, or checking out some of the Magic Castle acts magicians have posted to YouTube. If you’re interested in joining some fans of the podcast and want to add to the discourse, you should join the Discourse in Magic Facebook group (Jonah knows. 208 episodes later and now he decides to create a place for his fans?! But! It’s here now). At the end of the day, we’ll get through this. Don’t give up hope. We’ll see you next Thursday. Peace! The post We’re In This Together. appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Jonah joins Luke Dancy this week to discuss exposure online, consulting for Criss Angel, and the magic marketplace. Alongside being a magic consultant, Luke works with Murphy’s Magic Supplies and hosts a weekly livestream where he talks with magic creators about their recent product releases. At the age of eight, Luke saw David Copperfield performing on TV and, since then, he’s been a magician. While his journey into magic began with him dabbling with tricks, he began to take it seriously after attending a S.A.M. convention in Milwaukee when he was sixteen. Seeing so many magicians and masters of the craft in one room was an eye opening experience to him. He began to befriend people in the community, and he quickly developed a community around him.  He started out as a performer, polishing his magic at a high end sushi restaurant two nights a week. As he continued to attend conventions throughout his early twenties, he began to build a name for himself and, through the help of his friend Tim Trono, Criss Angel eventually reached out to him, inviting him to join his team. After working with Criss for seven years, he would eventually move on to working with Murphy’s Magic.  Consulting for Television Being a television consultant is more than just creating concepts for tricks. While you are taking old plots and making them fresh for a performer, you also need to recognize that you’ll need to wear various hats behind the scenes. There is a timeline with television productions, so if something goes wrong, you need to be ready to think on your feet and be ready to move on to the next effect if necessary. It’s a fun but extremely stressful job.  Luke’s strength with consulting was his ability to take effects and place them into a real world context. When he was plotting out new tricks for Criss to do, he would walk through the casino and figure out what effects Criss could perform based on the spots he passed.  The Magic Marketplace  The marketplace is flooded but you shouldn’t let that discourage you, Luke explains. If you have a trick you want to see become a reality and you’ve put months or years into perfecting it, you shouldn’t give up on bringing it to the marketplace. That being said, you shouldn’t expect to become rich from releasing material; to actually make money doing that, you would need to constantly be creating and releasing and it’s impossible to continuously release quality effects. But what makes a good effect? Based on Luke’s observations, he says that tricks that have a toy aspect, are built well, and are visual are often the effects that sell well in the marketplace. The tricks also need to be something you would perform. People can tell when a trick is released for the sake of making money.  Online Exposure If you’re sharing magic online when it’s not your material, Luke does not agree with it. He sees these people as wanting to gain views and monetize ideas of other people. Most of the people online sharing the scerts haven’t done anything for the community and are only damaging it by teaching other people’s material incorrectly. While he hopes that this is only a fad and will soon die out, Luke points out that if the people who stumble across these videos and gain a real interest in magic dig deeper, they’ll find the actual good material.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain  Ryan Schlutz What do you like about modern magic? What don’t you like? While Luke loves that the internet has given us the ability to connect with magicians and discover a deeper wealth of magic making it easier to cite sources, he dislikes how people abuse social media to get views and skip the hard work necessary to build a real name in the industry.  Take Home Point Luke wants people to know that he loves magic, and he is doing everything he can to inspire and guide the next generation into the art form.  Plugs Luke’s Facebook Group: All Things Magic Luke’s Murphy’s Live Show Luke’s Instagram Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Releasing Magic with Luke Dancy appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Mike Pisciotta joins Jonah this week to discuss transitioning from close-up to stage, originality, and expressing your you through magic. Mike is an established bar magician at the Magic Castle, having won Close-Up Magician of the Year twice and Parlour Magician of the Year.   While his interest in magic started at a young age, he didn’t begin practicing it until after witnessing Copperfield performing live; the dancing girls and bright lights convinced him that magic was more than just tricks for children. Desiring to know how Copperfield did what he did, Mike picked up a copy of Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic and from that point forward he knew he was destined to become a magician.  Throughout his life, he strayed from his path to becoming a magician several times. At one point, when he felt at his lowest, he left behind a cushy life and moved to L.A. to learn and work among the magicians at the Magic Castle. Although not the easiest scene to break into, Mike’s passion eventually helped him land his dream job of being a Magic Castle bar magician, where he still works to this day.  Finding You If you’re struggling to find something to talk about on stage, you’re probably focusing on the wrong subjects. Mike explains that you need to find topics that you’re passionate about and bring you bliss. Those are the things people want to hear you talk about on stage; they don’t want to hear you reciting a script from an old magic book you found on your shelf.  Your ideas can come from anywhere. For example, Mike is a constant reader with an interest in philosophy, who has brought together the ideas of other people to build up his own take on the world. When he goes on stage, he is expressing his interests through the tricks, rather than just doing tricks for the sake of the tricks.  Confidence Through Comedy When Mike was starting out in L.A., he had a brief stint in comedy. Hopping from open mic to open mic, he experienced how brutal the comedy circuit was, but he gained the confidence to stand in front of a room and just speak. He knows that he doesn’t need to rely on his tricks to be interesting, which has elevated his performance. The best part of shows, Mike explains, are not the tricks but him. People book him for who he is, not because they’re looking for another magician.  From Close-Up to Stage There aren’t a lot of people hiring close-up performers for intimate sets which is why he developed stage material (alongside the fact he loves it). Mike notes that the biggest difference between the two formats is not only in the trick selection but how you are presenting the effects. Suddenly, you’re trying to give thirty to a hundred people the feeling of magic which means you have to make sure everyone can see and hear what you’re doing.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain  John Wilson  Modern Magic Mike likes that the art is coming back into magic and that stage shows are pushing magic forward. He, however, isn’t a fan of Instagram or YouTube magic that doesn’t work in the real world.   Take-Home Point  Follow your bliss.  Plugs Mike’s Website  Mike’s Instagram  Mike’s Twitter Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Follow Your Bliss with Mike Pisciotta appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Tyler Erickson joins Jonah this week to talk about working with a mentor, finding the positive, and what to consider when scripting. Alongside being an extremely skilled sleight of hand artist, Tyler is a magic coach who works to improve the approach magician’s take to assessing their own magic. Tyler’s interest in magic started while he was watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating cereal with his friend as deep inside that cereal box was a trick based on the grandma’s necklace principle. Unimpressed with the trick, Tyler resumed watching TV, forgetting about the trick until that following Monday; his friend had gathered a crowd performing the trick, and it was then Tyler realized he wanted that type of attention and told his mom he was interested in magic. Growing up in the swampland of Minnesota, Tyler depended on the inter-loan library system for his access to magic. Reading books like The Magic Handbook by Peter Eldin and 3/4 of the Greater Magic series, Tyler developed his knowledge and skills alone. He had an opportunity to show off what he learned to fellow magicians after about a year when he visited his first magic shop. While he admits the vanish he did was rather meh, the magicians were impressed that his first bit of coin magic involved putting the coin into Down’s palm. As he grew more aware of the magic community, he began to work with other skilled magicians who welcomed them into their world, sharing their own knowledge and libraries with him.  Working with a Mentor A mentor is able to provide you with something that books, dvds or any other instructional text can’t provide you, Tyler explains, eyes on you. Material created by other people is created with the belief that the person buying is capable of performing exactly what it asks; the creator can’t take into account what you specifically are capable of. Whereas a mentor is able to see who you are and capitalize on the aspects that make you strong while pushing you in the directions you’re clearly passionate for. Alongside focusing on your interests, a good mentor will also help you recognize the aspects of your performance that are wrong so that you can begin to adjust and improve your performance.  Thinking with Context At the end of the day, when you’re planning your performance it all comes down to context. Where are you performing? A stage performance in a theatre and sitting down at a coffee shop are two very different settings. What tone do you want? Who is the audience? What are the forces that are going to affect your trick overall? If you fail to acknowledge that different contexts call for different requirements in your performance, you’re setting yourself up for failure.  Stories & Magic When it comes to telling stories with your magic, you have to step back and ask yourself: Do I like telling stories? If the answer is no, that’s fine; we’re not all born storytellers and you can’t force yourself to take on a role you don’t want to play. By forcing themselves to include stories with their tricks, magicians often cover their magic or overload the audience with information, lessening the impact of the effect. At the end of the day, Tyler points out, we’re human beings and we need to let our passions guide us for, when we express the passion we have for our interests through our performance, that’s what the audience will find entertaining.  Practical Sleight of Hand If you want to do strong sleight of hand magic you need to leave your ego at the door. Tyler explains that sleight of hand magic isn’t good if your sleights are seen; you don’t get points for trying hard material. He drives home the point that you should be looking for moves that are versatile, not angle sensitive, and are at your level. Some moves may be flashy and cool for Instagram, but if you’re terrified by the thought of someone viewing the sleight from the side, then it’s probably not the correct sleight to use. His primary advice, however is: Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice.  You can’t always spend your time always reading books and watching videos. While these are fine to learn from, you won’t get anywhere with your magic if your time is spent only viewing theory; you have to apply the theory to your practice and then actually perform what you’ve been working on to improve.  Wrap Up Endless Chain  Al Schneider  Nick Diffatte  What do you Like About Modern Magic? What Don’t You Like? Tyler likes that people are working harder than ever to make things better than they were in magic. However, these interesting ideas got leveraged into terrible effects because, somewhere along the way, we’ve seemingly lost clarity regarding what is classified as a miracle.  Take Home Point Tyler wants the audience to remember that it is the mindset with which you teach yourself and others. The framing of things in the negative is typically disempowering. If you don’t like something, ask why and press on these things to discover the reason you’re not a fan of them.  Plugs Tyler’s Website Tyler’s Spot in Reel Magic Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Stronger Magic with Tyler Erickson appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Discourse is back from our break and, to kick things off, Kostya Kimlat joins Jonah to discuss balancing your business and art, considering various audiences, and the importance of building a community.  Alongside being a skilled sleight-of-hand magician, Kostya is also a business consultant and motivational speaker based in Orlando, Florida. To Kostya, he views his journey through magic as a series of episodes that have led him to his current point in life; the first episode was in Ukraine, where his father taught him two simple card tricks that sparked his interest. When his family moved to America, Kostya discovered the World’s Greatest Magic, which he would record and dissect. Between friends and mentors, Kostya continued to grow in his magic throughout his childhood until eventually his father invested in the Tarbell Course. His contributions to the field of magic started when he was young. Between newsletters and publishing in magazines, Kostya established a reputation for himself among magicians. He valued, and still does, sharing and teaching magic to help other succeed alongside him. Motivation  Losing motivation when starting out your business is all too simple due to the lack of a reward system. In magic and entertainment, you are rewarded for your practice through your audiences. In business, you may only see failure after failure which is difficult to get your head around if you don’t reshape your view of success.  To keep motivated, Kostya recommends starting your business with a friend. If you’re planning to go to restaurants to offer your walkaround services, pitch with a friend who shares your desire; you can keep each other accountable and give the person a nudge when they need it to continue.  Keeping Secrets Any answer is only a few key strokes away if you’re determined enough to discover the secret. While this access is great for the development of humanity, it is a hindrance for magicians as there is such a wealth of knowledge out there that they don’t know how to find the good material. Kostya points to YouTube as an example of the blind leading the blind; there are people online who have measured there success in view counts, so they’re sharing less than useful information.  Kostya has nothing against sharing material, pointing to his work on the cull as an example. His distinction, however, is that he studied the cull for years and has spent time teaching it in person to magicians. He goes on to refer to his YouTube video that breaks down his spots on Fool Us. He knew that kids and amateurs would be posting videos that exposed the technique, so he decided to change the conversation and post his own exposed video so that those who stumbled across it could truly appreciate the effort he put into his spot.  Creating a Business  For the last eighteen years, Kostya has been on his journey through magic, building the necessary skills and knowledge to start truly serving his audience’s needs and focusing on the tricks. His journey into business began with his work with tradeshows, where he had the opportunity to see how the world is much bigger than what he knew. His business views shifted when he began to learn about franchises. As he went from city to city, he recognized that there were the same magician types—with a few magicians in every city who had the same goals as him. Kostya realized that the model he built for his own success could be shared with other magicians to help them succeed. Starting out though, he knew he couldn’t treat his art like his business.  The EMyth Revisited inspired Kostya when he was starting his business. Mapping out the various departments he would need for his business to efficiently run, Kostya took on each of these roles until, over the course of three years, he could hire people to fill positions. Everyday, he would put on a different hat, shifting his perspective of what he was getting done; he recognized that he sometimes needed to focus on his magic to improve his services while other times his focus needed to be in marketing. By understanding that he could focus on different aspects of his business, he shifted his definition of a successful day.  Developing Magic There is a difference between practice and rehearsal. Practice is a personal thing where you work on the moves. Rehearsal involves actively working through your content and recognizing the aspects that need to be improved. Kostya rehearses alongside a team of people, all of them sharing the approach often seen in Spain; they are actively helping each other improve rather than smiling and keeping their criticism to themselves.  Much like his approach to business, Kostya likes to compartmentalize his rehearsal by breaking it down into sections. One of his rehearsal techniques is what he refers to as the Penn & Teller brain. One rehearsal he doesn’t talk but moves through the actions while the next rehearsal is the talking without the actions. By taking this approach, Kostya has been able to focus on the two aspects of his performance before bringing them together. When he began taking this approach, he watched his performance abilu multiply.  Wrap Up Endless Chain Ken Weber  Doug McKenzie Meraux Dantes Modern Magic  Kostya’s loves the fact that live shows and the popularity of magic has continued to grow and seems to be continuing on that trajectory.  He isn’t a fan, however, of people on YouTube who create a false sense of what success is for the viewers; the incoming magicians seem to have a sense that success is in view counts rather than overall skill. Take Home Point Create the reality you want. You have the means and the resources. If you can make the world a better place while doing it, even better.  Plugs Kostya’s Website Kostya’s Instagram Kostya’s Twitter Kostya’s YouTube  Want to join in on the discourse? Join the Discourse in Magic Facebook page The post Balancing Business and Art with Kostya Kimlat appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

One last bite-sized episode before we return to the interviews! This week, Jonah talks about the magic of scripting and why you should seriously consider it before going on stage. There’s a magic to memorizing your script. Not only are you able to focus on the moment, but you can listen to the audience and take in their feedback. Maybe someone says a line you know you can call back to later on. Or, someone derails your trick, you can immediately jump back into your presentation.  There’s also a confidence you gain when you know your script. No longer are you standing off to the side, thinking about what you’re going to say. Your focus can be on your breathing and taking in the performance atmosphere. Furthermore, having predetermined lines allows you to play with your delivery. Being able to play with your tone and volume allows you to better control the flow of your show.  Memorizing a script allows you to explore and be confident when you go on stage. You don’t have to fumble for what to say next or panic when something goes wrong. Scripting acts as an anchor for you and gives your show a reliable longevity as you continue to grow on stage.  The post Magician Appetizer #10: The Magic of Memorizing appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Keep your magic taste buds ready with these quick tactics from Jonah on how to book more gigs in 2020. The interviews will be back soon with some amazing guests. Booking Tactics: Email Marketing: Get into mailboxes! Reach out to the people in your market to let them know what you do.  Cold Calling: If you think of it as telemarketing, you’re doing it wrong. Contact the people in your market to build a personal connection with them. You’re looking to build a relationship so when the time comes, they know a magician who would be perfect. Niching Your Network: If you know your target market, scroll through your friends with your niche in mind and reach out to them to see if they have potential opportunities in mind.  Rebookings: the more organized you are, the easier this will be. Personally email the people who have booked you in the past to see if they’ll bring you back on again.  Referrals: Reach out to your past gigs to see if they can connect you to people like them.  Facebook Ads: You can target the people in your industry, view your metrics and customize your ads to better reach your market.  Google Ads: When people search for a magician in your niche, you want to be the one that comes up first in their search.  The post Magician Appetizer #9: Gig Booking Strategies for 2020 appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

As Jonah mentioned in the previous episode, he’s taking a four-week break from the regular interviews. So this week, while he works away behind the scenes, Jonah wants to hear about what magic is like in your city! Do a little research to see where magic and magicians reside in your city. For example, in Toronto: Clubs: Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club, Alakajam, Browser’s Den Monthly Club Shops: Browsers Den of Magic Conventions: Browser’s Bash Organization: Magicana, The Toronto Magic Company Shows: Newest Trick, The Art of Magic, The Wanderer Show, Magic & Martini Maybe you’re not seeing the event or community you want. Maybe there isn’t a community at all in your city. Well, good news! You have the opportunity to build one yourself! There are a lot of people who have recently started putting on shows and creating the magic they want to see in their area: Felice Ling & Zach Evans started up the Boston Magic Lab  Brent Braun launched the J & B Magic Shop  The Magic Underground has started up in Indianapolis  If you’re not sure where to start, please reach out through email or social media! Jonah would love to help you build up your community. The post Magician Appetizer #8: Magic in Your City appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Is this the end of Discourse in Magic? Of course not! But, Jonah is taking a break from interviews for the next few weeks to work on some projects for you, the listeners. However, he’ll keep serving up some bite-sized episodes to keep your appetites wet. While the podcast might be taking a slight break, Jonah won’t be. He’s currently working on a course that will help you take a trick and turn it into your own masterpiece. For more information, you can sign up for the mailing list at the bottom of the page. Jonah also recently released a book! If you’re looking for help on how to become a professional, Your First Five Gigs is a great resource. Jonah draws on his own experiences starting out to help you avoid the common mistakes he did. You can purchase the book here: https://gumroad.com/l/ZibZR. As always, if you have questions or comments about the podcast or anything magic related, please reach out! The post Magician Appetizer #7: A Short Break appeared first on Discourse in Magic.