There are many resources to help you learn good magic tricks and you may be surprised at how easy it can be to learn magic with the right resources, tuition and guidance. There are many places you can turn to learn the magic you are most fond of be it coins, cards, mental or street magic. However, you may not be aware of the best places you can go to find these learning tools. The problem is not so much finding resources but choosing which ones will be right for you. Once you have found a good teaching system for yourself and learned the fundamental techniques common to most magic, it is simply a question of building a repertoire and polishing your act. But how do you go about finding that good teaching and avoid wasting time and often money on poorly devised materials or simple scams?
Years ago, the only way available was to find a professional magician and convince him (or pay him!) to teach you. Today things are a lot easier. You can certainly find a lot of good materials in books, although most of those readily available in high street book stores are of a general nature and do not help much in teaching the fundamental principles of magic. Also, it can be very difficult to interpret the subtleties of a particular move from text alone. Books have their place but they are much less useful to the beginner than you might think.
Undoubtedly, the 'digital revolution' has transformed the way magic can be taught and brings huge benefits to those just starting out in magic today. If you can find a good website with genuine teaching materials and the possibility of personal support via email or other digital means, then you have absolutely the next best thing to having a real, live magic tutor at your beck and call! In fact, there are many advantages that digital learning has over the real teacher. For example, the resources are constantly available day and night at your convenience. You can go over and over a lesson or trick as often as you like and need without annoying anyone. You can get photographic and video demonstrations and explanations of a host of techniques and routines so that you can really see what is happening both from the audience's and the magician's point of view. So how do you go about finding such a website and telling it apart from the cons and scams?
A genuine magic teaching website will be run by a magician, either professional or retired, but with the skills and experience to guide you well and the enthusiasm to give you the time you need. Such a site will always give you the chance to directly ask questions and make comments to your tutor. Another factor to look for is that most of the teaching resources will be free and those that cost will be very reasonably priced compared to others and also have been carefully selected for recommendation by a trusted, knowledgeable magician. Purchases will always be optional, any newsletter will be free (if there is one you should certainly sign up to it to make the most of the teaching available) and you should be able to learn all the fundamental magic techniques at no cost whatever. Also, the site will be kept up-to-date with new materials added at least on a monthly basis, often more frequently.
Sadly, there are not as many of these sites in existence as we would all like, but as magic learners turn more and more to online resources, I believe that this situation will change. There are some excellent paid member courses already but from the emerging free teaching sites (rather than those that merely expose magic tricks but don't really teach) I would recommend that you choose carefully, bearing in mind the indicators outlined above. Not every site will be right for every learner, so you may want to experiment with a few before you settle on one to stick with.
Having chosen a site that offers you the online resources you need, the rest is up to you and your success will ultimately depend on your degree of commitment and passion.
Austin is a performing magician, entertainer, theatre practioner and writer of many years standing, always keen to share his experience and encourage the novice. His website, The Magic Tricks Homepage is a great free resource for magic tutorials, articles, visual guides, eBooks and more.
Austin specialises in coin tricks and manipulation. Having worked in 'the real world' all his life, he is gaining a reputation on the web. Austin has a passion for magic tricks and has always been keen to teach and support beginners.
The Magic Tricks Homepage is proving an excellent medium for reaching out to aspiring magicians across the globe and offering them the best teaching not only in learning magic tricks but, importantly, learning how to perform them well. If you want to learn magic tricks well, go there now: The Magic Tricks Homepage.
