This question is mainly for magicians or for people who study sleight of hand. Are magicians just naturally more dexterous than the average schmoe? If so, do they regularly apply their nimble skills to everyday mundane tasks? Or is their dexterity a learned trait that only applies to their conjuring on stage?
Dexterity will help with the mechanics of a trick, and for any given trick, you need at least some to pull it off. And of course, this is something that magicians practice a lot, too. So they’re probably going to be more dexterous on average than non-magicians.
But what really separates the good magicians from the bad isn’t the mechanics of a trick, but how the magician sells it. A truly great magician can do a “trick” that’s no trick at all, and keep the audience enthralled the whole time, but if you can’t sell the trick, then even the most amazing legerdemain will fall flat.
That’s the real secret of magic. Some of the most amazing shows are at the core based around tricks so simple a ten year old could do them at birthday parties.
But yes, there are some sleight of hand guys who have superhuman abilities. But there are also plenty of guys making a living who have no more brains, heart, or courage than you do.
Thanks Chronos. What you said makes sense. I guess another way I could have asked the question is, does the increased nimbleness only apply to the slight of hand feats on-stage, but at home the magician could still be all thumbs with everyday tasks? One example I can think of is having to skillfully manage your toolset if you are making repairs on the outside of your house. I’ve been in some pretty precarious positions trying to navigate a ladder, my toolbelt, various bits/screws, etc. and you have to be fairly dexterous to do this.
The levitation helps when you have to work high up. It is much easier than using a ladder.
Meh, I can simply miss the ground entirely if I slip off the ladder. Hasn’t worked yet, but my technique is improving.
They have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma! A testimonial! A medal!
There are various types of magic performances. Stage magic, closeup, mentalism, etc.
There are many stage magic tricks that require no real skill at all. You can rent the classic props at a magic shop, practice a bit, and there you go. You’re a “magician”.
Letterman used to have a really bad guy on called Kamarr (or “Kamarr the Discount Magician” as Dave called him). Did the simplest, most well known, standard bits. Nothing special there at all.
Some stage magic tricks can be quite sophisticated and require a lot of skill by the performer. The type of skills needed depends on the trick. Really good stage magicians are good at a lot of things.
It’s closeup magic that is most closely tied to being very skilled. If you want to do more than Sleight-Of-Hand 101 things you better be good.
Mentalism may seem to not require sleight of hand but quite often it does. Getting the word the rube thought of to appear on the covered chalkboard isn’t easy without someone noticing that were writing it down while waving your arms around. But without good hand skills you can do many tricks that will fool most people with some basic practice. But to be truly good you have to have stuff up your sleeves, as it were.
Like with most skills, if you practice, practice, practice you will usually get better. But inherent abilities makes things go faster and easier.
To do birthday parties and such you just need practice and some basic adeptness. If you want to go for the big time natural ability plus practice are usually required.
I got a little magic kit for Christmas from a relative who notoriously gives bad and useless gifts. My 9 yr old daughter really wanted to try it, so I reluctantly went along, figuring it would be boring and frustrating for her, but to my surprise she pretty quickly got the basics of some fun tricks. I’m not saying she could go on stage or anything. But I think the “performability” of a lot of magic tricks has been well honed over the centuries, to the point where even a kid can do them more or less as intended.
Basically, I agree with Lemur–the real magic is not the trick, it’s the performance.
I’ve been doing sleight of hand magic for many years and I’ve been asked this question before.
My answer is that it’s simply a physical skill, just like playing tennis is a physical skill. Anyone can put in the time and become proficient.
But, just as with tennis, those at the top of the game combine years of practice with an inborn talent.
I also believe that part of what we call talent is really just a passion that makes practicing not feel like drudgery and is, in fact, fun.
I once heard Alex Van Halen say that his brother, Eddie, practiced relentlessly. Eddie, on the other hand said of those years growing up that he never practiced at all, he just enjoyed playing the guitar so much that he played it whenever he could.
So I think sleight of hand is like that. Anyone can practice and become competent, but only the few take it to the top of the game and why that is so is debatable.
There’s a move called “continuous front and back palming” which you can find on YouTube being done mostly with cards and mostly being done poorly. However, I once saw a sleight of hand artist do the same move holding three coins at the same time (with no clinking). it was amazing. He was really fast and really smooth and it was perfection. This was at The Magic Castle, and they guy I was with knew the performer and he came and sat with us after his show and he told me he didn’t start to get “decent” until after three years of practicing, and it took five years to get good enough to put it in his act. This is practicing it for a few hours at a time, a couple of times a week. The average person isn’t going to feel that level of dedication. So yeah, he was as dexterous as all get-out, but he also practiced it for more than a thousand hours to get good enough to actually show it in public. It’s like if you had to put in a thousand hours of practice to get good enough to play your first game of tennis.
How many people would do that? Does it take someone “special” in some way? Obviously, but special in what way can be debated.
On a personal note, I enjoy performing sleight of hand (which I do rarely), but I also enjoy practicing it (which I do often). I find it meditative.
I once worked in a medical lab and I had to take a dexterity test as part of the hiring process and I was told I scored in the 98th percentile, so there you go.
And of course, the real magic is the performance, but skill matters too. “The French Drop” is the first sleight of hand move I learned and anyone can become proficient with very little practice, but I’ve got at least a thousand hours of practice into continuous front and back coin palming and mine still sucks.