So, You're A Good Magician, And You Want To Become A Busker.
-an introduction to busking theory.
So you're a great Magician, and have blown peoples minds, and you figure it will be easy to street perform, because your Magic is better than anything you've ever seen done by a street performer.
Well, first off, you're going to have to change your mindset.
Street performing and magic are two completely different things!
I can't tell you how many great Magicians I've seen, even much better than myself, who crashed and burned, when they tried to do a street show.
The first and hardest thing you're going to have to embrace, is that, it doesn't matter in the least how good you are at magic!
Read that again!
Without knowing how to street-perform, your magic is useless when you first hit the street!
Let that sink in for a moment, and don’t blow it off, think about it!
Your first job is to sell them on the idea, that what you are doing is interesting, and that you are approachable and really like-able.
Always be closing them on that idea, from beginning to end.
Ask yourself.
What good is your Magic, if nobody will stop to watch it?
What good is your Magic, if they keep walking off before you finish.
What good is trying to make money with your Magic, if they won't pay you for it?
The essence of street performing is to:
Get them to stop.
Get them to stay.
And get them to pay!
Another thing, if you’re a good Magician, the hardest thing for you to accept, is that you are going to have to suck at this!
Not only that, but you are going to have to suck at this, to get any good at it!
In fact, when you're out there, if you're not sucking at this, at some, or all points, you're doing something wrong!
Like brainwashing yourself, that you don't suck at this.
You must know what the audience is seeing when they watch you, in order to improve.
You must look at yourself, the way you really appear to other people, not as you assume you look with your own delusions of grandeur.
Watching a video of yourself will humble you, and wake you up real fast, and this humility will get you to correct your errors right away.
Without access to video, you will have to learn the old school method of trying to see yourself through the spectators eyes, every show, and correcting the next show and the next show, ad infinitum.
Remember the streets are at face value, you were not hired by a venue that gives you credibility or promotion, so the people can only go on what they see at that moment.
Nobody knows your story or how great you think you are, so you must prove this to them, every time you start a new show.
From Zero To Hero, is the name of the game here.
As hard as it was to learn magic for you, it should take the same time and effort to learn how to street perform.
You will need to engulf yourself in busking info and huge, huge, stage time on the street.
Stage Time is what makes you good at busking, not magic.
Magic will not make you better at busking, only busking can make you better at busking.
Working the streets is not like working a gig with a controlled venue.
Think of yourself as a theater owner, ticket taker, usher, and movie trailer.
You will need to make your little spot on that chaotic city street your own personal theater, because nobody else is going to do it for you.
Don't assume that the people walking by, know who or what you are, or what you are doing.
You need to educate your people, just like a theater or other controlled venue would.
In short if you want to be a great street magician you will have to put forth the same effort into street performing as you did for your Magic, and I would suggest since you are already good at magic, focus on busking.
Your performance should always be for the cause of getting them to stop, stay, and pay.
Remember, Magicians are the smallest percentage of buskers working on the street, most of the people who busk don't even do Magic, they do other forms of art, like music, comedy, juggling, mime, painting, dance, and the list goes on.
But, they all have one thing in common, they all have mastered the skill of getting people to stop, stay, and pay.
Your Pal Jimmy.
This is an awesome article. I plan on reading it twice a day for the next week in a nutshell, Jimmy being my teacher has tried to tell me these very things over and over and over again. And I always believed him, but for some reason seeing, everything he’s been saying to me for years has seriously impacted me when I read it.
I’ve been performing magic and getting paid for it for over 35 years. I’m a solid journeyman at magic but like Jimmy says it’s not about the magic. It’s about creating real live Street theater that no one expected to see that day. It’s about you and showing them that you have some value to show them that will entertain them and make them smile.
Jimmy, thank you so much for this article and everything you write and everything you do in your students lives!
By the way, I still don’t consider myself a Busker though I’ve done it often on for 20 or 25 years. I’m still not good, but God and the streets aren’t done with me yet!
I needed this!