The Two Fears
I think that beginning magicians are afraid of two things. One is making a mistake and revealing a magic secret. The other is having a tough crowd and getting ridiculed in a battle of wits.
Keep in mind that if you blow a trick and reveal a secret, you won’t be the first magician to do so. All of the great magicians, in fact, anyone who regularly performs magic, has had a trick that has gone bad in front of an audience.
All Tied Up
To help you beginners out there, I’ll publicly admit that my most “magical” screw-up occurred the first time I performed my strait jacket escape in front of a crowd. I couldn’t get out and had to walk off the stage still bound. Everybody laughed. I was embarrassed. But I encountered a situation that won’t happen again--I learned from the experience–and I now regularly close my act with my strait jacket routine. You just have to move on.
Most spectators will understand that something has gone wrong. And this is why it’s important to have another trick that you can immediately bring in and demonstrate.
If you run into an ultra-tough crowd that won’t let you perform, there’s no shame in showing a quick trick, thanking them and walking away. It may hurt your ego a bit, but if a particular crowd doesn’t want to see magic, or won’t allow you entertain them, you can simply thank them for briefly watching. Don’t make a contest out of it.
Calming Nerves
Unfortunately, there’s no replacement for experience and confidence. And you can only gain both through performance. Find some easy tricks, work them up, create a compelling presentation and get out there. In the end, you’ll find that magic can be a blast to perform and gives you a connection with a crowd that exists in no other situation.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
