Teaching others

[CDarklock]

In the "Blaming Spectators" thread, mattjones made mention of some basic rules he follows when teaching others. That got me to thinking.

When someone comes to you and says "teach me", that's just about the highest praise you can get. But given that most people who start with magic will not stick with it or respect it enough to be your colleagues, how do you decide whether and when and what to teach someone?

What makes someone worth teaching at all? What should they do or have done before you start teaching? Once you do start teaching, what do you teach?

I expect that my son (he's three and a half) will start wanting to learn magic soon. He's already begging me to buy him "special balls" so he can learn to juggle, and when he drives us insane doing the same thing over and over, he protests our complaints with "but I need to practice"... and I certainly know where he got THAT. But I've never taught anyone magic before. I've never met anyone that wanted me to teach them before. This is very new to me.

Currently, what I'm planning is to teach him some basic juggling (gross dexterity), then move on to the cups and balls (secrets one shouldn't reveal), then sponge balls (detailed manipulation), and then introduce him to his very own copy of "Scarne on Card Tricks" along with a few decks of Bicycles.

In between, I'll get him various gimmicks and props, like the imp bottle and the dollar bill printer and stuff like that - but I want to focus his effort on learning the foundational skills instead of just gimmicks and props. I just don't want him to think there's something wrong with gimmicks and props; I avoid them as a stylistic choice, not because they're somehow unfair or "not real magic".

An additional component of this is that I want him to see real performers up close, so I'm joining a local magic club to find appropriate role models who don't stink up the place like his dad. Just like I registered on a few online magic communities to try and... well, maybe not stink up the place so much.

 

[DannyT]

I'm glad you made this thread.
My friends want to learn so much. I tell them I that I rent DVD's to learn.
"Oh you have to lend me them because I want to learn card magic too".
They say it like I owe them something. I said "I paid a lot of money for my DVD's." I don't owe them anything. However, my best friend did want to learn magic, so I taught him a few tricks. But now, he as a different hobby (photography). No harm in that, but I wish I hadn't taught him anything though. So if someone asks to learn from you, just say go to the library and read a book on it (suggest some books). They will appreciate it more and know that they worked for it, so they'll put in the time to learn the effects. Otherwise just take it as a complement. Don't ever try to teach them because they'll just lose interest.

 

[Sergey]

It's best to appoint them to starter book, like RRTCM for cards, and Bobo's Modern C. M. for coins. And it's best to tell them to buy it, unless they come up with the library idea themselves, because then most people will be like no, and those are the ones you don't want to teach. But there is always going to be someone rich who doesn't care about money buys it, but then you have to see if they learn from it, whether they perform the material the very next day, etc. If they do, then teach them, but not your best material because even then if they screw up and expose your favorite trick, you'll be pretty mad.

And see if your kid likes magic, maybe he won't, because you might become one of those dads in a lot of movies that have the child do something (usually a sport) that the child doesn't like.

 

[CDarklock]

It's best to appoint them to starter book, like RRTCM for cards, and Bobo's Modern C. M. for coins.

Why is this best? Because it sounds pretty rude to me.

"Could you teach me how to do that?" "Go buy a book."

I mean... isn't the entire point of Theory11 that 1:1 instruction is the best way to learn? Why send someone to learn from a book full of confusing descriptions and cryptic diagrams instead?

But there is always going to be someone rich who doesn't care about money buys it

And... that's who you want to teach?

I don't get it.

 

[Dude291]

Hey whats up?
I think you should teach your child to do simple tricks, I dont think that cards are the best choice now since he´s only 3 and a half years and a card is bigger that his head xD, can he palm a card?!
Actually im just starting out in magic.
Im 16 years old and i was looking for something, since like a year and a few months, that i liked doing it. I tried with violin and it was boring, i went to classes but when i was back home, i put the violin somewhere and didn´t practice it for more than half of an hour. Then i came up with "Tae Kwan Do" it was pretty cool like a sport but didn´t full myself (I´m still going by the way).
And then, I found theory11 and it woke up something that i dreamed when i was child being a magician!! And now im practice at least 4 hours daily and still need more!!
So, let the kid choose what he is going to do and practice , He WILL feel more happy

 

[Ampersan5340]

My firend wants me to teach him magic, he knows most sleights and the very basics.

I promised him if he mastered 2 flourishes that i approved and got 1000 views on a magic youtube video. I would teach him magic.

My firend has finished 0/3 of the things he needs to do.