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         How to Get Started If You're a Beginner

         Whether you've been practicing magic for two days, twoyears, or twenty, the only effective magic trick is onethat actually "fools" your audience. This ability to createa good illusion depends in huge part on one thing:rehearsing!

         Let's face it-no matter how great a trick is or how usefula magic prop is, you won't surprise or delight anyoneunless it's performed smoothly and confidently. What if youdrop your deck of cards or accidentally mishandle a coin?The illusion will be destroyed, and you'll have lost youraudience's trust.

         When you're just starting out it's understandable thatyou'll have to practice in front of an audience severaltimes before you get it just right. No one expects you tobe perfect right away. But you also can't expect to foolanyone unless you put in the time to practice your skillsand work with your props (if you are using any).

         The tricks in this chapter were chosen because they aresimple, effective, fun to perform, and appealing to justabout any audience. You can delight a crowd ofschoolchildren with them, or you can test them out onadults. But before you do, practice, practice, practice toget it right!

         For now, let's cut straight to the chase and talk morespecifically about these simple yet stunning tricks. Then,at the end of this chapter I'll give you some highlyeffective strategies and techniques I used when I was juststarting out!

         Sleight of Hand

         What exactly is sleight (pronounced "slite") of hand? Thisterm refers to a broad category of magic tricks that relieson your skills and techniques as well as the facility ofyour fingers and hands. In other words, these are tricksthat depend on your skill and dexterity to fool theaudience, much more so than on props or gimmicks. It's yourfingers that do the work, not a manufacturer's product.

         Another way of saying all this is that a sleight of handis a trick that is performed so well and so deftly that theaudience can't tell precisely how it was done!

         There's a great word for this that every magician shouldknow: "legerdemain." This word comes to us from the oldFrench phrase "leger de main," in which "leger" translatesas light, and "de main" means "of hand." So if you performwith a light touch, that's the ideal form of legerdemain.

         This deftness applies to most magic tricks, though, notjust sleight of hand! In fact, most of tricks we're goingto discuss involve sleight of hand, from shuffling cards topalming coins. Even levitation, which we'll discuss inChapter 4, involves sleight of hand-although that's morelike "sleight of foot!"

         Just keep in mind that accomplishing many of the followingtricks successfully involves not just a working knowledgeof the techniques but also the ability to carry them outeasily and without a lot of obvious effort. Another goodreason to get in as much practice as you can!

         Chris Lloyd is the author of 'Discover The Magic Trick Secrets You're Not Supposed To Know'. To find out more please visit http://www.DiscoverMagicTricks.com