Perhaps the most difficult thing for a new magician is overcoming nervousness when performing in front of a crowd. While there's no magic remedy for nervousness, here are a few things that have personally worked for me.
Tough Art
I maintain that magic is one of the most difficult arts to get into. There’s no way to slowly get one’s feet wet and work oneself up to performing in front of a live crowd. Musicians can play backup-one sings in a choir before performing solo. But in magic, there’s little opportunity to gain experience before being thrust into the limelight with all eyes on you.
Second, magic is one of few arts that potentially draws the worst in spectators. Few spectators watch dancing and want to disrupt the performance or make it difficult for the dancers. At times, when performing magic, you will encounter hostile crowds that question your every move, interrupt your routines and even grab your hands and reach into your pockets. While this has happened to me, it’s a rare event.
Standing Up for Magic
So how does one get up the nerve to stand-up in front of a crowd? The best course is to be prepared (the old Boy Scout motto). Practice until you thoroughly know your routine and are confident with it. After practicing in front of a mirror, ask your magician friends to review your routine from a technical standpoint to ensure that you are not revealing something that you should not.
It’s probably best in the early stages to concentrate on easier tricks that allow you focus on presentation and help you build your confidence. I personally made the mistake of trying to demonstrate difficult tricks when I was beginning in magic, which made my start far more difficult. You have to be secure in the secrets and moves before you’re standing in front of an audience.
After mastering the technical aspects of an effect, you’ll want to make sure that your patter or presentation is flawless. Remove those awkward silences and make sure that you’re talking and interacting with spectators, particularly when performing any dirty work. Here, videotaping will provide you with lots of insights and valuable feedback.
Giving Your Best
Something that has helped me is to approach magic with the goal of entertaining spectators. I’m not trying to fool them but give them a fun experience. And when I enter a show with this attitude, I think that spectators understand that I’m there to offer them some fun and they tend to relax.
Having the spectators on your side effectively removes conflict and encourages them to go along for the ride. Going in with an attitude that you’re going to fool them bad or make them look silly invites scrutiny and negative feedback. While some magicians have smart aleck characters, these are experienced entertainers who almost can’t be caught and know where to draw the line with audiences.
Even when showing magic to friends and family, I recommend that you have three routines that you have polished and can do well. This way, if one trick goes bad--you make a mistake–you have another that you can do.
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.
