This New Year's eve, as you vow to spend more time with family and friends, lose weight, exercise, make serious financial decisions or take on new ventures, don't forget to include your art of magic. Here are some magic resolutions for consideration:
Give back to the magic community
The world of magic has its ups and downs, and for now, attendance and participation is on a downward trend. The magic community needs your participation to remain healthy and viable, and to maintain a strong presence among the lay public.
Use the new year to not only learn, practice and improve your magic, but be active in the magic community. Join the Academy of Magical Arts (Magic Castle) or Magic Circle and participate in your nearest IBM Ring, SAM Assembly or local magic club or organization. These worthy entities can use your support. And in the long run, you’ll benefit as a magician.
And if you're an experienced magician, take the time to encourage and help a magic novice. Chances are, there were influential people who helped you begin in magic. You can return the favor and make a world of difference to someone who is starting out.
Put together that effect or show that you’ve been thinking about
There's no time like now to study that effect or put together that show that you've been thinking about. If you're so inclined, make a plan. Set March as the time when you've mastered the sleights and built the props. By May, have your routine choreographed and the patter written. In August, test your routine in front of friends. By next New Years, you'll be performing it.
If you're a beginner, use the new year to study and build your magic foundation. Read and study the classic texts by Mark Wilson, Bill Tarr, Corinda, Anneman, Bobo and more. You can also learn some easy tricks from our ever growing library of tricks and instruction here at Magic.about.com.
Always perform the best shows that you can
All working magicians have accepted shows that didn't pay enough, required too much travel and were in parts of town that everyone tries to avoid. And to top it off, were greeted by surly hosts. One's initial inclination is to finish the show, collect the money and get the heck out. But somewhere at each party, there was someone who wanted to see magic and believed that magic was the best entertainment for their event. It's our job to always give the best magic shows that we can under any condition. We are ambassadors for our art, and this applies to every time that we perform.
Good magicians also have to make up for the many awful clowns and incompetent "magicians" out there who present something that vaguely resembles magic and offers little or no entertainment value. And please don't get me started with the many costumed characters-the Sponge Bobs, Power Rangers and others- who carry with them six dollars worth of cheap tricks and actually show them to paying audiences. Unfortunately, it's the performances of these inept entertainers that many lay spectators long remember and help them conclude that they don't care for magic. It's up to magicians to make up for these so called "entertainers" who constantly degrade our art.
