The 10 Commandments of Magic (Cont'd)

Commandment No. 7: Look Into the Spectators’ Eyes
To be a great magician or a great entertainer, we need to be able to engage the audience. It doesn’t matter if you have the world’s best sleight of hand, but you have failed if you can’t get your audience to look at it. Engaging the audience is the key. One good way would be to look into the spectators’ eyes whenever you get the chance to. When you have to talk during your show, talk to the audience and don’t just recite a prepared script. If you can’t engage the audience, the audience won’t bother being engaged to your performance. Remember, talk to them. Whenever you get the chance, look into their eyes. Do remember to lock eyes with different members of the audience to ensure that you engage as many of them as possible.

Commandment No. 8: Respect Your Audience
No one likes to talk or interact with a rude person. Similarly, during a magic performance, we as magicians need to respect our audience. No one likes to watch a performance where the magician is rude and uses all available opportunities to humiliate the audience. Remember how we have always taught you the need to make the audience feel good whenever we use them as volunteers? Hence, we always honour volunteers by making it appear that they were instrumental in making the magic happen, even though they didn’t. Even if it is a comical routine, such as the Paper-Ball Over the Head, we never make fun of the audience member even though he is the only one who doesn’t get it. Of course, in this case there is no opportunity to honour them for making the magic happen, but neither do we humiliate the person. If we often put down our volunteers, then people would not want to volunteer for us or even watch our performances even though we may be great magicians. So remember, always engage your audience by looking into their eyes and also always, always, respect your audience. A great magician is not just one who has smooth skills, but one who is “likeable” to the audience.

Commandment No. 9: Never Distract From Another Magician’s Performance
As a magician, do you dream of a perfect audience? Well, start by being a good audience yourself. You can occasionally spot the smart alecs in a crowd. They’d be nudging their friends and whispering in their ears, most likely clueing them where and when to watch for the magician’s secret move. This can be so annoying, right? Partly because they are distracting the other spectators from your act (if you are the performing magician) and partly because, if they guess your secret correctly, they would steal your thunder. Since we are magicians, we would have learned many a trade secret and we probably can guess how the magician on stage is doing his trick. We should respect him by keeping the knowledge to ourselves, and besides, we shouldn’t rob our fellow spectators of the thrill of suspense and the surprise at the end of the act. In such a situation, learn to sit back and enjoy another magician’s performance.

Commandment No 10 – Have FUN!
Loaded with nine commandments by now, you may start thinking magic is pretty grim business. But remember how you entered into this lifestyle? Wasn't it because you were mystified, fascinated and mesmerised by the craft? Master magicians who have been practising magic for ten or even 20 years have one thing in common. Ask them why they do magic and they’ll answer that it’s because they’re still having fun. Yup, having fun while doing what you do is the only surefire way to improve and excel in magic, and I suspect, in any career or enterprise. So, relax and enjoy your craft. And until we meet again, stay magical.

Yours Magically,
Daniel Khong