Herrmann Pass

[John Doe]

Hi. I'm new to magic. I bought Royal Road and have gone through all of the material. Before moving on to other books I decided to buy Herrmann Pass by Jason England. I want to dedicate a few months or so to really clean up this sleight before I move onto anything else. I'm having some problems and could really use some help.

Is the Herrmann Pass suppose to be completely silent? I can't seem to get it to be completely silent during some of the covers.

I don't really understand the movements in Jason England's Broad Side Cover. There is no over the shoulder shot to help me with it. Can anyone help explain the mechanics to me?

 

[DanielG2]

Hello John,

I myself bought Royal Road when i first got into magic 10 years ago. The Herman pass is tricky pass there is no doubt about that, with that said every sleight is tricky in the beginning. The herman pass was the first one i learned myself, seeing as how i struggeled with the classic pass for years before getting it to where it is today. Personally the herman pass is easier then the classic pass but they are the complete reverse actoin of eachother. I have not seen Jason's take on it nor am i intending to, i learned it via the expert at the card table by S.W.E. If you are new to magic however, Jason's work is a great place to start. What he means by broad side cover (I think as i can only assume) has to do with clearing the pack. As you see in the video the bottom packet has to go to the top, me myself use the pinky and ring finger to maintain the pack and have it clear the top packet before replacing it. With that said making it silent has alot to do with wether the packets touch or not, i could recommend trying a light biddle grip so that the bottom packet has a lot of wiggle room when clearing. Also it's important to note that your pass isn't going to be perfect at day one, i practise the classic pass (as it is my favorite) every single day and still it isn't perfect, that move is a perfect example of us conjurers strive for the perfect move that will never be truly invisible. my recommendation is that the best practise you get with the pass is through performance, there you get to learn angles and how to misdirect during the pass. The pass should never be something that is burnt by the spectator and it should be used in an off-beat moment when their focus is taken away for only a second, thats all you need.

I welcome you to the world of magic. I want to note for you that alot of magic in this day in age has different quality when it comes to teaching, it can wary alot from quality of the explanation, crediting, cinematography and so on. This is what seems to be the problem that you have encountered and eventhough Jason is an amazing teacher that might be what held you back. I would recommend you pick up these teqnichues as quickly as you can: Pinky count (any source will do) for a cleaner double lift, The pass project - Xavior Spade (classic pass), DnB spread control 2.0, and the classic force (USUALLY any sorce will do)

Hope this helped you out, without really seeing you pass that is about all i can do.

Have a good one
- Daniel

 

[obrienmagic]

If you would like to learn a cool technique to teach you how to fix these small little issues like noise, or anything else i suggest you check this out:

 

[VagueTheory]

Hey man. Welcome to the forums.

The Herman Pass is one of my favorite moves. Although complete silence on the execution of the move is a bit exaggerating, to lessen the noise would be to reduce any contact of the packets when you "shift" them. This takes patience. I practice my passes very slowly during some practice sessions so I can see, hear, and feel when and where the packets may collide. Then every repetition, I adjust my grip little by little to reduce the contact as much as I can.

Let me know if this works for you or not.

 

[ChrisJGJ]

These are the only covers for the Herman pass that I think are any good. Turnover pass is basically invisible, but you need to justify turning over the deck. I don't think it has to be completely silent. If you turnover the cards normally, it isn't completely silent, so your pass shouldn't have to be either. And the last one is a variation on the Malone Shift. It looks like you're "doing something", but from my experience nobody thinks much of it. And if you're distracting them they won't see it anyway. I haven't really practiced with cards since graduating. So sorry :\

Edit: I have never heard of the broad side cover in literature or video O.O