"Learn the 24 Critical Keys to the Art of Magic"

"The art of magic is fast passing out of the picture in my opinion. Today the youthful magician cares little about the art. He want's to know how much it costs and how soon can he learn to do it."

-- M.S. Mahendra (Linking Ring, Sept 1952)

"The end of all magic is to feed with mystery the human mind, which dearly loves mystery."

-- Harry Kellar (1849-1922) 1st Dean of American magic.

Keys to the Art of Magic

The art of magic is important to everyone. As spectators of magic shows, the keys to the performing great magic provides an objective way to tell a great magic show from a terrible one.

As a magician, we should study and apply these keys to the art of magic to help make each of our shows better. Tommy Wonder is one of the masters of the art of magic.

One of the greatest books ever published on the art and theory of magic is Our Magic by Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant. Mr. Maskelyne sets out 24 rules every aspiring magician must understand and apply as one purses the study of the art of magic. Study each of these rules or "keys" carefully. Wherever you are in the study of magic, your diligent study of these keys will take your magic to the next level.

1. Never set aside any accepted rule, unless it is absolutely necessary to do so for some clearly defined reason.

2. Always endeavor to form an accurate conception of the point of view most likely to be adopted by a disinterested spectator.

3. Avoid complexity of procedure and never tax either the patience or the memory of the audience.

4. Never produce two simultaneous effects and let no effect be obscured by any subsidiary distraction.

5. Let each magical act represent a complete, distinct and separate entity; compromising of nothing beyond one continuous chain of essential details, leading to one definite effect.

6. Let nothing occur without an apparently substantial cause and let every potential cause produce the general impression which is intended to be conveyed.

7. Let every accessory and incidental detail be kept well "within the picture" and in harmony with the general impression which is intended to be conveyed.

8. Always remember that avoidable defects are incapable of justification.

9. Always remember that a plea of justification is ordinarily an acknowledgement of error, and consequently demands every possible reparation.

10. Cut your coat according to your cloth, but spare no pains in cutting, or your procedure cannot be justified.

11. Always remember that a notable surprise is incapable of repetition and that the repetition of an effect, of any kind whatever, cannot create surprise.

12. A minor conception ordinarily demands the cumulative effect of repetition; a conception important in itself should usually create a distinct surprise.

13. The simultaneous presentation of two independent feats is permissible when one of them is associated with cumulative effect and the other in a final surprise.

14. Unless good reason can be shown, never explain, upon the stage, precisely what you are about to accomplish.

15. When presenting an effect of transition, the most important essential is the avoidance of every possible cause of distraction.

16. When an effect of transition ends with a sudden surprise, the course of the transition should be punctuated by actions or sounds leading up to and accentuating the final impression.

17. In every effect of transition, the beginning and end of the process involved should be distinctly indicated by some coincident occurrence.

18. In each presentation the procedure should lead up to culminating point of interest, at which point the magical effect should be produced and after which nothing magically interesting should occur.

19. When a presentation includes a number of effects in series, the final effect should represent a true climax and it's predecessors successive steps whereby that climax is reached.

20. When Magic and Drama are combined, the stage procedure should be governed by Dramatic requirements of the case, rather than the normal principles of Art of Magic.

21. When in a combination of the two arts, the primary requirements of Drama have been satisfied, all subsidiary details of procedure should be dictated by the normal principle of Art of Magic.

22. No magician should ever present, in public, any magical feat in which the procedure cannot be, or has not been, adapted to his own personal characteristics and abilities.

23. Never attempt, in public, anything that cannot be performed with the utmost ease in private.

24. Never present, in public, any performance which has not been most perfectly rehearsed, first in detail and finally as a whole.

If you want to improve the art of your magic, print out these rules. Study these rule before every performance. Study other magicians like Jeff McBride who use these rules. As spectators, we should demand a high artistic level. As performers, we must strive to raise the artistic level of our shows. This is the only way to imporve the art of magic.

Magically yours,

P.S. I hope this motivated you to raise the level of your magic. If you want to know how to use magic to motvate others, check out Magic to Motivate