When I first started in magic, it was quite by accident. Well not an accident, but a sickness. I came down with a disease that was only curable by bed rest. My family doctor was the brother of a famous kid’s magician, Bert Easley. My doctor got me started by bribing me with a trip downtown to visit his brother and magic shop; if I did not cry when they drained my lungs. Now, you ask, what does this to do with the article? well, because of all the trips I made; I became fairly good friends with the local magicians and learned a lot from them. When I needed to come up with a persona for me, the magicians all agreed, “be what fits you and your personality”.
Those words of wisdom have stuck with me for over 50+ years, and they have served my students and I well. You need to know your strengths and how to use them. If you do not know your strengths then you must find your strengths and work on them. This is where friends and relatives can help. They know you and can give you advice on what compliments you and your persona. They can also tell you what does not work for you.
There are so many different approaches to finding your persona (what fits you). Are you funny? Can you pull a comic routine off and do it well? Do have what it takes to be serious? What does your voice sound like? Do you enunciate and project well? Can you create stories easily and make them fit the show? Can you think quickly on your feet? Can you (your persona) connect with the audience? Is a silent act better for your personality?
These are just a few of the questions you must start with in developing or finding your persona/character you want to be as a magician/mentalist. You can also mix the character traits to make it work for you. There is a lot of psychology and perception involved.
You must also consider your appearance and confidence. Let’s start with your appearance first.
I am not talking about whether or not you are short or tall, thin or heavy or that you have a chiseled face look and ripped body; no, I am talking about the way you hold your head up, the way you walk, the way you interact, the style of your speech, and your mannerisms.
There are many factors that make up your appearance. No matter what shape you are, tall, thin, short, or heavy you can always do something to counteract you shortcomings. I think that there are 2 facets to appearances, inner and outer. The inner you is the true you and outer is only how you look.
I believe there are basically 5 or 6 aspects to enhancing your appearance.
The first is how you take care of your body; it does not mean you need to diet, overeat or stretch your self or try to shrink. It means you recognize your physique and you take care of it the best you can.
Next, personal hygiene, you need to smell good. Your clothes need to be fresh and aromatic, clean fingernails, shoes shined, facial hair trimmed or clean-shaven, and fresh clean breath is a must. Put a smile on your face, that is one of the best additions to your good appearance.
Mind your language and manners. No one likes a foul mouth, but that’s not the language we are talking about. We are talking about the way you put sentences together and the grammar you use. You need to be well rounded in your knowledge of current events and not just be a one-topic person. The voice you have, is it a monotone or is it pleasing to listen to? Let’s take a minute and explain a few common ways to overcome a monotone voice. The best way to avoid a monotone voice is to be passionate about your topic. Passionate presenters are never monotone or boring. You should also experiment with changing your volume and your pitch while you speak.
Throw in dramatic pauses at key points in your speech to heighten the audience’s interest. When all else fails take some speech and/or theatre classes, they really help.
The old adage that “clothes make the man” is a very fitting truism. Watch what you wear and how you wear it. Make sure your clothes fit properly and do not be afraid to add color. There are many men’s clothing stores that offer free advice. You can also hire a fashion consultant to help put together “your look”.
Finally, the last actually deals with the inner you. You need to have a good self-esteem, self-image and an even better self-respect for yourself. I should explain the differences in all those selves.
Self-esteem is the way you like yourself; you think you are a good person, you have a lot of good qualities and you deserve a good life. Self-image is how you view yourself, are you intelligent, attractive, and popular or are you stupid, shy or unsightly? Self-respect is how you treat yourself, whether it is good or bad. Always strive for the good.
Confidence is also a very important part of developing your persona. We just touched on all the “self’s”, self-image, self-esteem, and self-respect, these all are what makes up an essential part of your confidence. Let’s ask what is confidence and how do we get it. The dictionary defines confidence as faith in oneself and one's powers without any suggestion of conceit or arrogance. Self-confidence does not necessarily imply 'self-belief' or a belief in one's ability to succeed. For instance, one may be inept at a particular sport or activity, but remain 'confident' in one's performance.
If you do not have or you lose your self-confidence, there are ways of getting or rebuilding it. Here are a few ways: Recognize your insecurities, don't view yourself as inferior to others, if you have troubles or problems talk about it with friends and loved ones, remember that no one is perfect.
Identify your successes; be thankful for what you have, be positive, and accept compliments gracefully and if all else fails fake it. Please do not forget, there are numerous books on the subject as well as self-help sites online.
Your persona is what and how people perceive you and is part of all the self’s (see above), attitude, appearance and your traits. You need to find what you want people to believe you are.
Please remember, every performer has a persona and every performer has a sense or an impression of mystery that they want to convey to the audience. Once you can find your little niche, and you've been practicing, you'll develop your own character/persona. You'll develop your own routine, and you'll actually find that you're putting things together that will form your act. Then as you go on putting routines together, you'll figure out which ones work and those that don’t. You will be able to ascertain what routines excel in this place or that place and which ones to leave out.
Always remember and never forget “people love to be fascinated and intrigued". So go out there and wow them!
Attivo il bella vita
Massimo
“The Mental Institution ™”