Rising to the Challenge

Dear Friends:
 
Our guest contributor this month is Magic & Mystery School long-time student, contributor and friend, Judge Gary Brown. A magician and writer, having authored Wandcraft, The Coney Island Fakir, and a host of magic articles, Judge Brown is also passionate about inventing and creating original magic, having developed more than a dozen original effects that have been released to magicians worldwide. In this Museletter, Judge Brown encourages magicians to embrace challenges as a way to enhance their craft and spark ingenuity.

Rising to the Challenge
by Judge Gary Brown

“Alexa, play the song again!” I snapped, growing increasingly frustrated. On the table before me lay a trio of vases and a piece of rope with which I could demonstrate a series of astonishing animation and levitation effects. My plan was to offer these pieces set to music to meet an upcoming challenge called “The Silent Treatment,” concocted by members of the Long Island’s Sleight Club. The idea was to perform a favorite routine without words, so I was going to use a piece of magic-themed music. So while Alexa played Pilot’s 1975 jaunty pop single entitled “Magic,” I ran through the routine again. Dozens of rehearsals notwithstanding, it still didn’t feel right.

Then I had a flash: change the song. I said “Alexa, play ‘Extraordinary Magic’ by Ben Rector.” I tried again. This time, it went like clockwork. The evocative tune had just the right tempo and created the perfect mood for the performance. I had learned something important about rhythm, movement, and magic, while adding a lovely little piece to my repertoire.

Participating in magic challenges can be fun and exciting. More importantly, such exercises provide an inspirational incubator, nurturing the kind of directed play and guided experimentation that can drive innovation. For the imaginative performer, participating in challenges can open new avenues to original magic. Producing a performance piece that meets the requisites of a challenge often requires researching and combining methods, developing or adapting gimmicks, building props, refining, handling, and/or writing new scripts. These efforts represent the basic building blocks of magic invention.

If you’re lucky enough to belong to a vibrant club or an informal group of magicians with whom you collaborate, I’d urge you to introduce the idea of challenges. If you don’t have access to such a group, you may have to find one or form one. Alternatively, participation in Magic & Mystery School events will provide similar incubator opportunities.
Of course, to participate effectively, you’ll need to pull these things together on a schedule. Here’s where my suggestion could be seen to run afoul of conventional wisdom. “[We often tell ourselves,] ‘I simply must have this magic trick ready for the show/magic club meeting tomorrow night!’” Eugene Burger wrote. “Don’t you see this is the statement that is destroying
magic, both as an art and as a craft?” This is powerful and important advice when it comes to practice. Inadequate, hurried preparation is anathema to polished performances.

For the inventor, however, I believe the primary problem is different. Innovators run the risk of staying in the theoretical indefinitely. You can tinker with an idea for years without producing anything of value. Thus, imposing a deadline for a deliverable—in our example, a challenge—can spur production and creativity. The difference is that you are not expecting to produce a pitch-perfect presentation. The goal is to build and test a concept. That test might fail, so one has to make sure the stakes are low, and the audience will be forgiving. Yet, by holding to production deadlines, you will become more prolific. “The secret to making things,” Michael Weber notes, “is to make things.” a phrase that has become my creative mantra. (David Regal, Interpreting Magic at 533). In the same spirit, Jeff McBride likes to say, “a goal is a dream with a deadline.”

Working on a challenge piece will help you hone your skills and may, with a little luck and perseverance, drive you to produce something astonishing. As I reflect back on some of the innovative magic pieces I’ve been able to develop, many have their roots in magic challenges: 

• An event called “Out of My Comfort Zone” led to the creation of an effect using a ukulele, an antique deck of cards, and a slide show about Depression-era labor unrest. This unlikely mosaic came together in “The Miner’s Lament,” a piece I shared during last year’s Weekend of Wisdom at Mystery School.  
• For a “Dollar Store” challenge, I located a plastic travel mug that was readily converted into an effective lota bowl. “The Alotta Mug” became a well-reviewed commercial release. Nathan Kranzo and Lee Asher used a dozen of them to train contestants for a Chinese television program called “China’s Amazing Magicians.” Gwo How Way, a participant, used the little mug as part of his set, where it was seen by a half billion viewers.
• Preparing for a “Music” challenge, I made an acoustic discovery that led to the development of the Viking “Spirit Trumpet,” an effect that paved the way for my appearance on Penn & Teller: Fool Us. 

Material-based challenges – like “Dollar Store” or “Thrift Store” events,  will prompt you to rely on ingenuity to convert something you find into something useful. Theme-based challenges can go well beyond the traditional magic club “rope trick night” or “Tarbell nights,” by identifying a topic subject to interpretation by each performer. During the pandemic, Carisa Hendrix (a/k/a Lucy Darling) moderated the Spark Creative Facebook group that provided a weekly prompt, like “small” or “luxury,” which inspired members to produce short responsive videos. My local group has dabbled with quirky themes like “That Ain’t Right!” or “What Should I Do With This?” generating broad inspiration. So if you’d like to learn to develop original magic, and have some fun along the way, take or create a magic challenge. You won’t regret it.

¹Eugene Burger: Final Secrets, Lawrence Hass, with additional material by Eugene Burger (2021) at 5.
² Regal, David, Interpreting Magic, Blue bikes productions (2019) at 533.

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