Why would anyone bother to read the original texts
I know I have a reputation for insisting books are better than DVDs or stand-alone tricks. Luckily this isn’t what this article is about, although it may sound like it at first.
It seems to me that these days, magicians have no need or intention of reading the core texts. I’m not preaching that everyone should be an academic of the art, my concern is that by learning second or third hand information a sort of Chinese whispers kind of creeps in. Two sleights which spring to mind are the Erdnase Colour Change and the Double Under Cut, both of which I have seen mis-taught multiple times on DVDs by respectable magicians and You Tube by perhaps less reputable magicians.
As it stands, these sources are the core method of learning for the fledgling magician. I don’t blame them; they have been ‘taught’ the move incorrectly unbeknownst to themselves. Often the teaching doesn’t come with references for the source material either, making it even harder to discover the truth.
Technology has enabled us to pass on knowledge quicker and better than ever before, but accuracy has been the price. I fear that soon, no one will have read the original description in Erdnase, or realise how a Double Under Cut should look. We will be a wash with false assumptions. Already, I feel like a lone voice crying into a void for things to be taught and demonstrated properly, for bad habits not to be passed on.
When my Dad was teaching me to drive, I learnt to reverse looking through the back window, with my left arm hugging the passenger seat and my palm flat on the steering wheel. My instructor freaked out when I did my first backwards manoeuvre. Why aren’t more of us freaking out now?!
0 Comments To "Why would anyone bother to read the original texts"
Write a comment
Enter the code in the box below:
Note: HTML is not translated!