My First Gig
- Thread starter mormonmob
- Start date
Haha...don't worry man. You'll always feel unprepared for the first fwe months, that goes without saying. Atleast I always felt like I never had enough material, patter sucked, etc. But, it's just a feeling. I call it the unknown. You're nervous because you don't know what to expect, but it'll pass.
As for a birthday...hmm. Haven;t done a lot of them. With that young an age group though, I'd say don't do a set over 20 minutes. They'll get bored relatively quickly unless you're exceptionally good. Not to say you're not, but it's your first gig, so yea.
You have to be bad before you can be good. It's a fact of life, and it applies to all entertainers. Why do you think comedians have a hard time finding paid work in the town they started out it? Club owners will always think of them as an open-mic kinda guy, and nothing more. Even when they make it big. That's the truth man...
Good Luck!
Steve
As for a birthday...hmm. Haven;t done a lot of them. With that young an age group though, I'd say don't do a set over 20 minutes. They'll get bored relatively quickly unless you're exceptionally good. Not to say you're not, but it's your first gig, so yea.
You have to be bad before you can be good. It's a fact of life, and it applies to all entertainers. Why do you think comedians have a hard time finding paid work in the town they started out it? Club owners will always think of them as an open-mic kinda guy, and nothing more. Even when they make it big. That's the truth man...
Good Luck!
Steve
my first is gonna be like that too, in october. I only do card magic though, and little coin magic. i'm afraid they're too young to understand most card tricks i do, so i might not have enough material. if i'm lucky, i'll get ten minutes.
Children's entertaining is one area of magic available to us all - whether you are a parent performing to your child at a birthday party, or a professional magician hoping to expand your repertoire, or a teenager trying to entertain some children. Children's entertaining is a rewarding and enjoyable branch of magic.
Kid's magic is very different from close-up magic or sleight of hand - it is nearer to stage magic, with visual illusions to keep your audience from wandering off into their imaginations..
When planning your children's magic shows, it is essential to keep in mind that children have a relatively small attention span, so you need to keep them on their toes by using visual props (such as magic wands, colourful tricks etc.), funny jokes and a lot of audience participation. The magic illusions should be varied, exciting and most importantly, entertaining for the children.
The tricks you choose for the magic show are very important - you should pick tricks for children that are suitable for their age and sex. A patter about football wouldn't go down too well at an all-girls birthday party!
Before you perform a show, watch a little children's television and see how the presenters act. They smile, laugh and appear to be enjoying themselves - a very important part of being successful! Try to also remember some of the characters names - you can rename your pet rabbit to a "Teletubby", or "Barney" at the time being, for example.
To be (almost) as successful as famous magicians, you need to enjoy performing magic, the kids will know you are enjoying it, and your positive feelings will help to make them enjoy your magic show - there's nothing worse than watching magic performed by a bored magician!
Improve your chances of repeat performances by rewarding the children with merchandise. A well crafted balloon model is great, but once it pops, you're forgotten. If you can afford some promotional material with your contact information to give to the children along with the balloon, then the parents will have a way of calling you for their child's next party. Just don't pin your business card to the balloon!!!!
To sum up, try to create a fast-paced, varied and exciting magic show to keep the children entertained. Reward participation with merchandise, and word of mouth will be your main exposure.
Mitchell
Kid's magic is very different from close-up magic or sleight of hand - it is nearer to stage magic, with visual illusions to keep your audience from wandering off into their imaginations..
When planning your children's magic shows, it is essential to keep in mind that children have a relatively small attention span, so you need to keep them on their toes by using visual props (such as magic wands, colourful tricks etc.), funny jokes and a lot of audience participation. The magic illusions should be varied, exciting and most importantly, entertaining for the children.
The tricks you choose for the magic show are very important - you should pick tricks for children that are suitable for their age and sex. A patter about football wouldn't go down too well at an all-girls birthday party!
Before you perform a show, watch a little children's television and see how the presenters act. They smile, laugh and appear to be enjoying themselves - a very important part of being successful! Try to also remember some of the characters names - you can rename your pet rabbit to a "Teletubby", or "Barney" at the time being, for example.
To be (almost) as successful as famous magicians, you need to enjoy performing magic, the kids will know you are enjoying it, and your positive feelings will help to make them enjoy your magic show - there's nothing worse than watching magic performed by a bored magician!
Improve your chances of repeat performances by rewarding the children with merchandise. A well crafted balloon model is great, but once it pops, you're forgotten. If you can afford some promotional material with your contact information to give to the children along with the balloon, then the parents will have a way of calling you for their child's next party. Just don't pin your business card to the balloon!!!!
To sum up, try to create a fast-paced, varied and exciting magic show to keep the children entertained. Reward participation with merchandise, and word of mouth will be your main exposure.
Mitchell
Well guys, I have done some small gigs like that myself. Honestly, there will always be jitters. The first thing I always do is a self worker. This gets me going and I don't have to do any moves to look amazing. I agree with a twenty minute set. I actually would say less, but have some solid illusions ready to go. One that I love is the sponge bunnies. It is the same illusion as the sponge balls, except it is of course done with little bunnies. Children love it, and you can be funny by showing the bunnies "multiplying" right in a kid's hand. You can also do some thread work. Loops or anything like that work great with kids because a) they won't suspect you and b) the will love animated miracles. Another one that works very well is TT. If you know how to do some simple TT tricks, you will be golden, the kids will not be expecting it. Lastly, try to be funny, not as in stupid funny, but try to smile and make simple jokes (puns work great with kids). More than anything please try to have fun. Kid shows are always great for trying simple visual tricks. Although kids can be judgmental, they will also be very honest and will respond well if your illusions are simple and very visual. Trust me, I'm always nervous, even when I do simple stuff to my parents, but after you start having fun and relax, your audience will relax as well.
Dude, if you have the color book (book that has no color and then has color after) is one effect that I would say do for that age group.
A clown that was kind of crappy when I was a kid only got me to remember that one effect and I love it. Have all the kids have fun and throw imaginary colors in there and act like you are catching them and sometimes act like your leaping for it with the book....
I've never done a gig so I'm not sure what to tell you. Have enough memorable visual Wow-ers with that age group.
A clown that was kind of crappy when I was a kid only got me to remember that one effect and I love it. Have all the kids have fun and throw imaginary colors in there and act like you are catching them and sometimes act like your leaping for it with the book....
I've never done a gig so I'm not sure what to tell you. Have enough memorable visual Wow-ers with that age group.
Even though i dont do parties and such there is some really really good info in here, and what about cups and balls would little children like that?
If you present it properly, some cups and balls are really fast pace and sort of hard to follow, you have to really show them where the ball is going and what exactly you are doing.
Mitchell
The best advice I can give you is children have a Gold Fish Memory. Which is exactly 3 seconds remember that and you'll know exactly what to perform.
Thanks
Thanks for all of the advice so far guys...
the tricks i have gotten set on so far are as follows
1)3 stage magic coloring book
2)equal-unequal rope routine
3) eating paper and producing 25' mouth coils
4) cant decide weather rings would be too long or not but that is what i am thinking
5) partner levitation
oh... i forgot to mention that i am doing it with a friend... we are partners... so material might not be a huge problem because we both have our own libraries to work from...
tell me what you think of the tricks so far...
Thanks for all of the advice so far guys...
the tricks i have gotten set on so far are as follows
1)3 stage magic coloring book
2)equal-unequal rope routine
3) eating paper and producing 25' mouth coils
4) cant decide weather rings would be too long or not but that is what i am thinking
5) partner levitation
oh... i forgot to mention that i am doing it with a friend... we are partners... so material might not be a huge problem because we both have our own libraries to work from...
tell me what you think of the tricks so far...
S
sidrohc
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sidrohc
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sidrohc
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yes IT would go over well, every kid wants to fly around like superman, or iron man, or who ever. If you can make things float and fly around, they will love it. But they may grab it as well.