How do you practice/Keep your moves sharp.

[fridoliina]

After doing magic for several years you will probably have collected quite a lot of material and information. You have probably learnt tons of Sleights and Tricks and other stuff. The problem is, because of school, work, friends and family and other activitys you cant just sit and practice all day and if you want to bring your A game you need to put in quite a lot of time into the moves and routines that you use.

So how do you guys practice? Do you just practice the stuff that you use on a daily basis? Do you pick out a few things that you like and work on them? Do you practice everything? How much stuff do you keep at "performance" level?

I feel that i have learnt so much and have so much material that it is getting a bit overwhelming. It would be nice to hear how you keep up with it.

 

[RikAllen]

Pick a few pieces, practice them until they're part of you, literally unable to forget them, and then perform them over and over. When you can do these without even thinking you can pick up another move or trick and work on it over and over...

If you just want to keep your sleights up to par, make a routine that is very sleight heavy (more so than you would use in performance) and include tons of moves. Practice the routine in private to keep your chops nice and sharp. It's also good to have dedicated practice to single moves, just do it over and over in front of a camera from different angles and watch it...figure out weak spots and work on them.

I also keep index cards with each effect written on it with a brief description and where I learned it (in case I want to review) with a few other things (what is needed for the effect...etc). Just glancing through I can usually find tricks that I've forgotten about and re-learn them without re-reading all of my books.

 

[MalibuARMY]

Unlike many others I have a lot of time on my hands because I do an independent study program at my school so I just come in for 15 minutes a week and drop off my work and do it in one day at home.

Before I did that every night before I go to bed I go over my close up show 5 times which takes about an hour in a half, and if not that I take all the stuff I am performing and go over it; presentation in all. It is really just practicing and going over your chops. The best form of practicing is performing. So perform at any time that you can without driving people crazy. That way you won't get a black eye like me and your pikachu won't end up in jail.

 

[JNGmagic]

this is when i practise
- when im one the computer/watching tv and playing around with my sleights
- in the mornings before i do work/ activities
- at night when im finished everything

and that's about it, school is crreeping up on me too so it's going to be difficult aswell for me. but anyway, i hope that helped

 

[saborfang17]

After doing magic for several years you will probably have collected quite a lot of material and information. You have probably learnt tons of Sleights and Tricks and other stuff. The problem is, because of school, work, friends and family and other activitys you cant just sit and practice all day and if you want to bring your A game you need to put in quite a lot of time into the moves and routines that you use.

So how do you guys practice? Do you just practice the stuff that you use on a daily basis? Do you pick out a few things that you like and work on them? Do you practice everything? How much stuff do you keep at "performance" level?

I feel that i have learnt so much and have so much material that it is getting a bit overwhelming. It would be nice to hear how you keep up with it.

Muscle memory is far more powerful than people think. Once you have the moves down pat, it is a very simple process to bring it back up to speed again if you haven't done it for a while.

Just don't think picking up a deck and bottom dealing after 20 years will be easy. You will have to do the moves occasionally.

 

[FPS.]

Funnily enough, the only sleights I'll perform is the Double Lift and a card control, as that's what the effect demands. I'll be honest though and say I'll either practice when I'm bored and have nothing to do or when I'm watching TV at the same time.

 

[eostresh]

I try to blend it up a bit. There are some core moves and routines that are my work horses so I practice them a lot but you can get in a rut. I try to learn something new to keep my interest up. Also, stepping away from difficult moves and coming back to them works well for me. Last thing. An ACR can be a lot of fun to tinker with new moves. Obviously, keep it in perspective and realize that "Practice ACRs" are a different animal than "Performance ACRs." You might create something that you love for the sake of its complexity but generally complex effects have a danger of boring the lay audience.

 

[rynkuangel]

Practice whenever you breathe. but practice is nothing without performance

-Rynku Viceroy