That magic trick you have been looking forward to has finally arrived in the post. The box is patiently waiting to be torn open and it’s secrets learned! You examine the props and have a go at working out how the trick is performed, then sit down to follow the instructions. If you picked wisely, you have a brilliant new magic trick to practice and perform. If not.. well, there’s still going to be something you can learn from any magic trick. Chances are, even if it didn't live up to your expectations can help you develop your skills and understanding. But there is almost always something missing…
What they never teach you
There’s a key set of core skills that will mark a magician apart from anyone that only buys and performs tricks from a magic shop. Those skills are almost never included within the instructions that come with the tricks, yet the probably the most important to learn. They are misdirection techniques.
Learning how magicians use misdirection opens the door to making your magic so much more powerfu. It is vital to successfully fooling your audience. Misdirection makes magic stronger. It makes you a better performer. The problem is that it's an ‘unspoken’ art within magic, and finding good theory and resources on the topic is hard to come by.
How magicians use misdirection
This may surprise you, but there really are some people who find the term ‘misdirection’ offensive. They argue that to use the prefix ‘mis’ generally has negative connotations. Words such as ‘mistake’, ‘misfortune’, ‘misunderstand’ and ‘misuse’ all suggest negative aspects of the technique. So ‘misdirection’ implies that you have failed at ‘directing’. So if we want to keep everyone happy and can’t call it ‘misdirection’, what do we call it? We don’t have any problem with the term ‘misdirection’; however, some people prefer to call it ‘Direction of Attention’. In a way this does express its meaning much more clearly, and doesn’t have the negative connotations of using ‘mis’. Whatever you like to call it, the great news is that it’s not hard to do at all, if you know what you are doing.
“Not only shouldn’t they see anything, they shouldn’t suspect anything” – Erdnase
Your goal as a magician is to learn to use misdirection to stop your audience seeming things you want to keep secret. It’s not about hiding moves. It’s not about turning your back while you do a suspicious half pass; it’s about controlling audience attention so that when you are going to make a move, the audience is not only focused somewhere else, but they don’t even suspect you are doing anything. It is about making sure that suspicion doesn’t even cross your spectator’s mind. ‘A sleight is not perfect when the spectators are unable to tell what you’re doing. Only when they’re completely unaware that you did anything at all, will they experience magic.’ – Jarle Leirpoll
Better than a poke in the eye
There is a very old saying that goes “the quickness of the hand deceives the eye” right? Well, guess what, it’s wrong! Eyes have the power to track you hand movements a lot faster than your hands are able to move. Quick moves done in full view only create suspicion, and we really do not want suspicion at all. The hand is not quicker than the eye. Misdirection is quicker than the eye!
I hope this helps you and your magic
Best Wishes
Dominic Reyes
P.s Want to learn more? I've teamed up with Clint Baron and created a guide to help you understand how magicians use misdirection and ways to build it into your own performance. The free ebook will teach you the core principles to help improve your magic.
You can download it free of charge here:
