DVD Review: Muscle Pass by Jay Noblezada

Years ago, when I was trying to learn the “muscle pass,” I found its description in books and worked on it for some time, but it wasn’t until a magician showed me how he performed the move that I understood it’s workings and was able to eventually learn and perform it.

On this DVD, Jay Noblezada walks you through all the steps necessary to learn the muscle pass and cause a coin to fly up out of your hand with seemingly no means of propulsion and without relying on gimmicks such as magnets or threads. I know the power of the muscle pass as I often use it in my stand-up Miser’s Dream routine.

The muscle pass has a reputation for being difficult to learn and master. And I’ve heard horror stories from other magicians who talked about bruising and hurting their hands when trying to learn the move. If you follow Noblezada’s clear, step-by-step instructions, you should have no problems learning the move. All that’s needed is lots of practice.

Noblezada also discusses finer points such as performing the move for visibility, extending the jump and maximizing height, choosing a coin, body positioning and more. It’s a thorough treatment although Noblezada neglects to teach you how to set the move using only one hand, the way he does. (Actually, once you learn the move, it’s not that hard to figure it out on your own as I did.)

Beyond the standard “coin falling up” routine, Noblezada offers a cool vanish of a coin and an effect where a coin appears to pass through a solid object, both of which are based on the muscle pass. The pass-through is most stunning when done through a sliding glass window or glass table top as it benefits from an optical illusion, but it’s also fairly impressive through an opaque object.

If you’ve always wanted to learn the muscle pass, this DVD will show you how. Start building those callouses.

-Wayne N. Kawamoto

MSRP: (US) $19.95

I used to regularly perform the muscle pass in my restaurant work until the day when I missed the coin at the top of its arc and hit the coin in a strange way with my catching hand, which caused the coin to fly into a patron’s soup, just as it arrived at the table. True story. I haven’t performed muscle pass since in restaurants, but perhaps it’s time to bring it back. -WK

Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.