Tag: kids magic show

Cutting Routines From the School Assembly

Yesterday was the second day of doing my school assembly show. I’ve done some reworking of the show. The bit I was doing with the egg bag wasn’t really hitting how I wanted it to, so I cut it out of my last show yesterday. The show felt like it had a better flow without it.

The last show of the day also ran long, even with one less routine in it. I think this was because I had a sign language interpreter at this show. Whenever I have one, I try to slow down a lot so their job is easier.

After two days of shows, I’ve streamlined a lot of what I’m doing. Prop management and packing are something you can practice at home, but you really figure it out doing shows. You realized why a particular spot isn’t the best for a particular prop, or that if you turn a prop 90 degrees, it makes picking it up much easier.

I’ve recorded most of my shows over the last two days, but haven’t really had a chance to review any video. That’ll be something that I do this weekend, and I’ll probably make some changes based on what I see!

-Louie

The Speed Bump That is 6/7

I’m still working on the show I’m doing for a school assembly tour in April. One of the tricks that I had planned is a cards across type effect using postcards. I had a method worked out, then I realized the trick involves counting to ten.

Counting to ten means I’ll have to deal with kids and the 6/7 trend that’s still happening. It’s not as crazy as it was a year ago, but it’s still a thing.

In the past, I’ve used the Piano Card Trick‘s method of pairs to do an object across types of trick. That version has no counting, just moving pairs of cards. That eliminates using the numbers six and seven in sequence.

The downside of using the pair method is that only one thing moves instead of two or three cards. I guess the big plus is that since I’ve used this in shows before, I have a lot of the “bits” built in, so I don’t need to do a lot of figuring out gags. That’s also a bad trap; I shouldn’t be lazy and should be writing new gags.

-Louie
PS If you’re interested in using the piano card trick onstage, look into Jim Steinmeyer’s Apples and Oranges trick.

Play-Duh

Hocus-Pocus in Fresno put out a prop called Play-Duh. This is a snake can that’s built into a Play-Doh style can. I wrote up the routine I’m doing with it here: https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/play-duh/

I’m using the Play-Duh props in my library and summer camp shows. The fair I was performing at last week I did the routine for some kids between shows.

here’s what it looks like:

It’s just a solid, fun routine.

-Louie

Card Tricks For Kids

When I do kid shows, there’s one card trick in the show. The cards aren’t really cards in the sense that one is a king of hearts and one is two of spades, they are just a stack of objects. When I kid picks a card, I draw a picture of their favorite animal on it, and we name that animal.

card tricks for kids

By creating an image with the kids it makes the card more memorable than just a two of hearts with their name one it. I will also frequently use a blank face or double blank deck of cards. That takes it a step away from a card trick and it’s a trick with a drawing.

-Louie

The Handbook for School Assembly Performers by John Abrams

A couple of months ago John Abrams sent me a review copy of his new book The Handbook For School Assembly Performers and it’s fantastic!

The Handbook for School Assembly Performers by John Abrams

I think this is a fantastic book, and as someone who has a done a ton of school assemblies, I learned a lot from the book!

Here’s the blurb I wrote for the book:

Holy cow, I wish I had this book when I started doing school assemblies a couple of decades ago! It would have knocked off about 3+ years from the learning curve.

The book reveals one of the biggest mysteries of school assemblies, “What is a teachers guide and how to I create one”. Then John also covers the nuts and bolts of actually doing the gig from when you wake up to the marketing calendar after the gig is completed.

One huge thing for me, which I’ve never read about is how to deal with “burn out” when you’ve done a ton of shows, and he give you some great strategies to keep it fresh! If you’ve ever thought of going into the school assembly market, this book will take you from 0-60 in no time!

If you are interested in performing in schools, or doing some sort of educational or themed program for kids, this book is a will help you a ton! Even if you’ve already done hundreds of school shows, this book will have a few things or approaches you didn’t think of or don’t do.

I highly recommend The Handbook For School Assembly Performers!

-Louie

Using the Flic Button

Someone asked me about how the Flic Button works for controlling music. It’s pretty simple, the button has three things is can do which are triggered by a click, double click and press and hold. For me I use those as Play/Pause, Next Track, and Previous Track.

You can use multiple buttons, so I may use a second one for volume and up and down, but for now one is working.

For a simple and cheap audio device for smaller shows, I’m really liking the Flic Button!

-Louie

Vanishing Bird Cage Costume Tip…

I’ve been doing the vanishing birdcage for years, and have never buttoned up my coat when I did the vanish.

@louiefoxx Taking my bird out for a walk between shows at the San Mateo County Fair! #sanmateocountyfair #countyfair #sanmateo @SanMateoCountyFair #magic #magician #birdtrick #louiefoxx #magictrick #parakeet ♬ Stolen Dance (Instrumental) – Milky Chance

Traditional advice is that you button up the coat as it takes away the idea that the cage goes into your coat. Last week when at a few library shows I buttoned up my coat before the vanish and at all three shows a kid said out loud that the cage went into my coat. It was handy that I could open the front of my coat to show nothing is there and that got me out of that.

I’m trying to decide if the kids thought that the cage went into my coat because I buttoned it up before the trick, or if something else is at play. However doing it at three shows and getting the same unwanted response tells me that I don’t need to button up my coat for the vanishing birdcage.

-Louie

Simple Audio Set Up

In my attempt to have all of my different shows as self contained units, I’m working on having separate sets of audio equipment for some of the shows. My kid show that I’m doing for summer camps has just gotten it’s own sound set up.

MAGIC SHOW audio

The only thing not dedicated to this show is the speaker. Here’s the gear list:

Good Structure, Okay Routine…

There are two things that are surprising me about performing for kids on this tour. The first is the lack of rules that I have to go over and the second is that I’m not needing to coach applause. I don’t know if it’s me as a performer getting better, or if it’s them being used to watching TV shows where people applaud for variety acts.

I figured out that the first real magic trick in the show I do is a production of a tennis ball. If I display it and just freeze, they will clap. This is done with no coaching or bits that tell them how to respond. It’s kinda blowing my mind that they are doing it on their own.

I’m closing the show with the vanishing birdcage and I’m getting kids to jump up to their feet and clap…also without any coaching. I’m essentially getting partial standing ovations from kids at a school assembly. I will say that my routine for the vanishing birdcage is structured fairly well, with how it’s paced and with the music cues. Also unlike most vanishing cage routines, my has a reappearance. It’s just the bird that reappears, but it’s a release of the audience’s tension and gives them a moment where they know they are supposed to applaud. I will say it’s the structure of the routine and not the routine that is what’s getting the reactions. The routine is just okay.

I’m working on the routine this tour and it’s getting better, but still has a lot of work that needs to happen. Most of the new bits I’ve been trying have been falling flat. This is just a case of continuing to write and hopefully it will eventually stick.

This is the work.

-Louie

School Assembly Tour Day 1

Today is the first day of the school assembly tour and the first full performances of my new show called Incredible Idioms. This show is themed about the language we use and it’s been a lot of fun to work on.

The whole show fits inside one case and here’s what it looks like:

school assembly magic show

Unfortunately it doesn’t really travel set up. It’d be nice to just open the case and go, but there’s a lot of crushable things in there AND that picture doesn’t show things like my mics and audio cables which need to travel in the case.

The show is going to probably go through a lot of changes over the month of performing it on this tour. This is where the work comes in. I need to record, at least audio record and hopefully video record as many shows as possible and review them as often as possible. This is how a show gets good in a short amount of time.

Well, off to the first gig…

-Louie