When I started to learn magic, the internet didn’t exist. I learned from books and from other magician’s lectures held at local magic clubs. Many people now try to learn magic from various expose programs on YouTube. Learning magic from this source is not recommended. Many of the people teaching (or exposing) magic on this media are doing so as a kind of showing off their knowledge vanity project. Many cannot perform the necessary sleights well themselves and often only teach the base mechanics – often poorly. They might teach the handling to show how the magic effect works, but there is much more to being a magician than just knowing the mechanics. Magicians need to be good communicators and to put their audience at ease in addition to being script writers, actors, creators and artistic directors. These skills are normally not even mentioned in the YouTube programs.
Exposure itself of course is a tricky subject for magicians. On the one hand we don’t want everyone to know the methods we use, however if that information is not passed down from magician to magician, from generation to generation, then magic as an art dies.
If you want to learn magic, my advice is to contact a local magician and speak to them. They will be able to direct you to good learning materials, any local magic clubs or professional magicians who could provide lessons. This will ensure you learn the building blocks to be a fully rounded magician and not just know a couple of poorly executed magic effects that would not entertain anyone.
