Magic Based Upon Physical and Mental Fundamentals That Remain Constant

Slydini’s Magic is based upon fundamental principles that do not change from one trick to the other, therefore when you are learning one routine, you are actually paving the way to another. This Magic is very easy to perform poorly and difficult to perform properly, not because of difficult sleights; the sleights are almost primitive compared to what some magicians do. You will be asked, at first, to move ‘mindfully’ in a way that you have long ago surrendered to your subconscious. Once you understand how these natural movements came be exploited to accomplish necessary mechanics you must learn how to use them and then surrender them to your unconscious again. You must understand how you move and then employ those movements and while so doing, not concern yourself with them. If you focus on what is natural then it is no longer natural and so it , the thing you are thinking about, will draw attention to it self.

This is a system of integrated thought and movement. Nothing exists in isolation. You will be asked to move in a way that while perfectly natural, will seem un-natural in the beginning. You will have to practice until your mechanics are performed on a subconscious level and your only thought is on ‘the moment’, moment by moment, one beat at time.

You will begin my learning how to sit at the table. This includes the angle at which your body is in relationship to the edge of the table, how far you are from the edge of the table, and the height of the chair and the table. All of these factors will contribute to your being comfortable or uncomfortable. If you are uncomfortable because you have not ‘situated’ yourself properly before you begin your routine, that discomfort will be transmitted to your audience. This is not abstract thought. A baseball player must assume the proper stance when he goes up to bat. If his stance is ‘off’ it will affect the mechanics of his swing. The same thing is true here.

You must understand timing. Timing, in this case, is not a matter of knowing what to say and when to say it, it is knowing when to move, be it forward and back, left to right or right to left. Timing is knowing when to create tension in your body and when to relax. Timing is knowing when to speak and when to remain silent.

This Timing System does not change form one routine to the next; it is a constant. You must condition yourself to move within this very specific 72 beats per minute discipline.

You will have to learn and employ the grand concept: The Body Takes The Hand. A study of this principle will enable you to perform ‘invisible sleights’, so named because given the same set of physical circumstances, your audience would move in the same way. You will gain an unconscious acceptance, of your movements, from your audience , because you have done nothing to arouse their ‘concern’.

Watch a ‘typical’ Close Up performance. As you do ask yourself how much interaction is there between the magician and the person seated at his table. Is that person a ‘passive observer’ or is that person actively engaged in the presentation; so involved that he is part of it.

This relationship, between the magician and his impromptu assistant is what originally attracted Slydini to Magic.

The guiding principles are covered in The Master of Misdirection. I have chosen routines that embody those principles so the student can focus his attention. Not all guiding principles are present at every moment but one never exists in isolation.