Blog Archives
Conflict and Complications in Magic
For the magic student:
I was talking with some guys on the Magic Café about conflict and complications in magic routines.
Every magic trick is like a little play, with the magician as the Protagonist, and the assisting spectator as the Antagonist.
The magician has a card chosen, the spectator wants to put it back anywhere he wants, or otherwise creates Conflict.
The magician wins, creating Resolution.
Along the way are complications.
This is how a routine is developed–by filling in the details of plot and character. Conflict and complications are the easiest ways to enlarge on the plot.
If you ask someone to take a card, and they want to put it back some place different than you suggested, this is a great moment of conflict that can be manipulated into the routine and provide engagement and emotion.
Whenever there is an emotional exchange between the performer and his spectator assistant the audience is galvanized; what is going to happen? Nothing engages interest as well as conflict and emotional drama.
The more the magician can express surprise, worry, slyness, anger or joy, and the more he can set his little play us to make the spectator respond with emotion, the more fun and exciting the presentation.
The magician should seek out such complications and use them to add to the interest level of his little drama:
You can watch the whole routine here:
Pop Haydn in the WC Fields Bar
Pop Haydn performing in the W. C. Fields Bar at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. January 3, 2016.
Pop Haydn is a seven time award winner at the Magic Castle, and is a past Vice-President of the organization. Pop and his pal Doc Eason are the only performers to be named W.C. Fields Bar Magician of the Year.
Photos by Billy Baque
The Melbourne Magic Festival, July 2015!
Pop Haydn will be performing at The Melbourne Magic Festival, July 2015!
Also appearing from the USA is Rob Zabrecky. Pop Haydn just won “Stage Magician of the Year” at the Magic Castle, and Rob Zabrecky is this year’s “Parlor Magician of the Year”
Acting in Magic
These are comprehensive lecture notes (21 pages) from Pop Haydn‘s acting and character development workshop.
This workshop will help the magic performer to stretch and improve their own performances. Whatever approach you take to performing, and no matter how much your performing personality is “natural” and just ” you yourself” you are already a character in the eyes of your audience.
Pop teaches you how to take control of that character and enliven and energize your performance. Pop will show you strategies for engaging and connecting with your audience. This is not esoteric theory, but concrete exercises and acting tools that can immediately begin helping your performance.
Only $10 for the downloadable pdf!
Purchase HERE
Pop Haydn’s Lecture Notes ~ Creating the Magic Routine
These are the comprehensive notes for Pop Haydn’s lecture on the art or routining magic, Creating the Magic Routine. Twentynine dense pages with live links to videos books and other important resources.
Pop Haydn started out as a street performer in the 1960’s, and has worked all over the world in every type of venue. He is a six-time award winner at the Magic Castle. Pop will talk about the psychology and the process of routining magic. He will discuss the philosophical principles that underlie his approach to magic using his own original routines to illustrate his thinking.
He will explain how to use patter to strengthen the effect of the trick and to develop humor out of the situation rather than through “lines” and jokes. The routines he will be discussing include both stage and close up magic, and are all award-winning routines designed for real world situations. He teaches useful principles and sleights and ruses that can be applied to any routine.
Stage: Four Ring Routine, the Mongolian Pop Knot, and the Six Card Trick and The Teleportation Device
Close Up: Chicago Surprise, Multiple Peeked Cards to Pocket, Specific Resonance, Intricate Web of Distraction (color-changing knives).
ONLY $10 for downloadable .pdf!
Available Here
Pop Haydn’s Magic Castle Awards
These are the performing awards I have won from the Academy of Magical Arts (Magic Castle). The wands are all made from rosewood, ebony and silver by famous magic craftsman John Gaughan. The cases are made of cocobolo wood, except for the 1979 case which is made of walnut. They are engraved on the bottom with Johnny Gaughan’s signature. The crystal globe is from the year that Johnny didn’t make the wands, 2004. That was for “Close-Up Magician of the Year.”
Bob Sheets, Pop Haydn and Doc Eason, 2004.
All the awards I have won at the Castle up until now have been for the “Whit Haydn” character. This year’s award is the first for the “Pop Haydn” character, which I adopted in 2005.
The awards are these:
1979, Stage Magician of the Year
1995, Parlour Magician of the Year
2002, Parlour Magician of the Year
2003, Close Up Magician of the Year
2004, Close Up Magician of the Year
2005, W. C. Fields Bar Magician of the Year
2014, Stage Magician of the Year
2015 Academy of Magical Arts Awards Show Winners!
2015 ACADEMY OF MAGICAL ARTS AWARDS
The member-voted award winners are:
Lecturer: Steve Valentine
Close-Up: Richard Turner
Parlour: Rob Zabrecky
Stage: Pop Haydn
A Junior Award of Merit was awarded to Sean Self.
The Junior Achievement Award went to Mark A. Gibson.
The Trustees awarded Awards of Merit to Randy Pitchford and Alan Watson
The Trustees bestowed the following Fellowships:
Creative: Mark Setteducati
Performing: John Carney
Literary and Media: Dan and David Buck
Lifetime Achievement: Walter “Zaney” Blaney
Special: Avner Eisenberg
Masters: Silvan
And the 2014 Magician of the Year is Michael Carbonaro.
“Scoundrels Touch” S4S Shell Game video available as download!
Chef Anton, Whit “Pop” Haydn, and Bob Sheets outline their advanced system for the shell game and teach routines complete with patter and alternate endings for walk around, as well as demo the methods used by hustlers to work the scam for money. The psychology and philosophy of the game are explained and demonstrated. The advanced system for working the shells that was briefly outlined on Volume I, is here explained in full and seen in operation in live performance videos.
On Disc I, Bob’s complete original instructions for handling his Sheets Acquitment and his system for working the shells (Absolutely Nuts) is here amplified and expanded, with new and more detailed explanations and a live performance of the routine for a regular audience in theMagic Castle’s Close-Up Gallery. Bob has added a number of new ideas and deceptive ruses, but more importantly, you see the whole thing up and running. Whit adds some maneuvers and moves, along with some new devices that make they system unassailable.
On Disc II, Chef Anton performs and explains his own routine. Whit discusses psychological outs while contrasting two very different live performances in the Magic Castle’s Close-Up Gallery of is shell routine. Incredible video of a street hustler working his craft at a music festival is shown and explained, with Scoundrel Member Giuseppe Aliotta discussing the props and betting cycles used by the contemporary street hustler. Pop shows how the Maneuvers can be very useful for working with a hand held board. New shells and props for the game are demonstrated.Pop and Chef discuss the idea of “Thinking like a Scoundrel” and how it is applied to magic performances. The Escobar Move is demonstrated along with some variations by Chanin. Several versions of the Kick Steal are demonstrated.
Included in this download are a number of pdf and other files that can be used as a further resource and several training aids that make learning the moves easier. These are enclosed in a .zip file. All the moves and maneuvers from Introduction to the Shell Game are briefly taught here.
For More Info or to Buy: Pop’s Magic
Nancy Magill
Pop Haydn
Pop's Soapbox 