You have just discovered the wonderful world of magic. Trip
after trip to the magic shop has added to your ever growing
arsenal of magic tricks. Thirty-three days later the credit card
bills arrive to remind your wife that this IS an expensive
hobby.
No problem! You will make back all of the money you’ve spent and
more by becoming a part-time professional magician. Looking
around for places to hone your craft, you suddenly remember that
you niece has a seventh birthday coming up. You call you sister
and offer your services in lieu of a gift.
Two weeks later the performance time arrives. You pack all of
your “A” material into two large cardboard boxes. You start the
show for sixteen first graders and all of your relatives. The
show goes well. Everybody is laughing and having a good time.
You take some theatrical pauses to build suspense as you search
your boxes for the next great trick. Finally, your fifteen
minute show concludes after fifty-three minutes. You never
realized you had that much great magic. The kids cheer and
applaud for your debut magic show. Even your sister, wiping the
tears from her eyes, says, “I have never had more fun than I did
watching your magic show. It was great. John got it all on tape.”
This is how many part-time professional magicians attempt to
begin their career. They look around and decided that doing kid
shows is the best way to start. Performing magic for kids is one
of the most difficult areas of magic to do well. This article
explores some of the challenges of performing children’s magic.
–You are training children–
Children don’t understand many of the common cues in a live
performance. Most children are raised in the age of television.
Not a bad thing, except the laugh tracks prompt the children
when to laugh. No laugh tracks and the children are left out in
the cold. They are quick and will get up to speed in no time.
But they need your help.
The same issue is even more problematic with applause. Children
are not used to clapping. They don’t understand applause cues.
Those wonderfully timed applause cues will leave you and your
audience with a lot of uncomfortable silence.
What can be done? Everything. One of your most important tasks
as a children’s magician is your opening. The beginning of your
show must do four things:
•Establish audience control •Teach the children to react to
applause cues •Set the tone for the show •Introduce your
performing personality
The audience needs to be warmed up prior to your magic show. It
seems hokey and a waste of time, but it can make the difference
between a great magic show and a horrible one.
Children love to have fun. Even in school children are taught to
obey those in authority. For some reason, many magicians forget
to establish authority early in the show. The result resembles a
saloon brawl in the wild west.
When you step out for the start of your show, you have the
perfect opportunity to establish the ground rules for the show.
I don’t mean that you should bring out a list of house rules for
the show. Instead come out with confidence and warm up your
audience.
After you welcome everyone to the show, look out over the
audience and say, “This looks like a really great crowd. Let’s
see how loud you can clap. On the count of three ONE. . . TWO .
. THREE . .Not bad! Let’s try it again. On three . . .” After
some byplay conclude by saying, “What do we do when we like the
magic? (pause) What do we do when we LOVE the magic?” (pause and
react strongly to the crowd)
Four things are being done by that warm up. You have taught the
children to clap when they like the magic. It also trains them
to react to the applause cues in the rest of the show. The warm
up establishes that you are in control for this show. Finally,
it sets a fun tone for the show. This is the first time your
audience gets a sense of your performing personality.
–You are not performing for the kids–
You will learn quickly that the most difficult task facing the
children’s performer is to design the show to appeal to children
and adults at the same time and at different levels. No I don’t
mean filling your performance with phrases that have sexual
double meanings. Nothing is more pathetic and unprofessional
than the performer that gets a child on stage and slyly eyes the
adults in the crowd and says “Do I have a big magic wand or
what? ”
Children’s cartoons provide the best examples of the point I am
trying to make. Take Loony Toons or Spongebob Squarepants for
example. These cartoons work for children and adults on
different levels at the same time. This is what you must achieve
to be a successful children’s magician
This is very difficult thing to pull off. This is one of the
main reasons that doing children’s magic is so difficult. You
must DESIGN your show for both audiences. One key to the show
design is your performing personality.
–You are not yourself today–
When you perform magic for children, you must have a distinctive
and appealing performing personality. Long gone are the days
when the children’s magician can come out on stage in a second
hand tux and wow his audience with a formal magic show. Look at
Silly Billy, one of the most successful children’s magicians.
His performing personality is fun and engaging. His show tone is
fast paced and humorous.
Even beyond children’s magic, examine the performing
personalities of children’s television. Captain Kangaroo, Mr.
Rodgers, and Peewee Herman are examples of compelling performing
personalities. Each one was successful, yet, had very different
performing personalities. The common factor was that each
performer engaged children through fun.
Your performing personality must engage you audience, children
and adults, with fun and wonderment. You must draw your audience
into the show by your performing personality, but you must wow
them with a well designed show that delivers great magic. This
is why doing children’s magic is so tough.
If you want to start your career in magic as a children’s
magician, think again. Kids are brutally honest. There is
nothing tougher or more satisfying than have a great children’s
magic show. Being a children’s magician is not the best way to
become a part-time professional magician.
Find out more about perfroming for kids at Learn-Great-M
agic-Tricks
