Busk Skill Level.

There have been a few topics at The Magic Cafe concerning the requirements you need to succeed at street busking. It has made me come up with the idea of something i refer to as busk skill level. In the following set of post i hope to explain what i mean by this and give some real life examples.

First up this is nothing new. Many busker speak about what works and not works on the street.

Firsts up the more information and experience you have concerning magic and performing it the better. However  there a certine things that are different about the street and that's were the Busk Skill Level comes in.

First example my egg bag routine worked well in close up and small cabaret settings but on the street it faulted. People would leave half way through. It took a lot of work .Now what i normally did was to show the bag empty then get a volunteer to wave there hand over the bag to make the egg appear. Then were make the egg vanish. then it would reaper but invisibly and after a little joking around it would then reappear as real egg. But i changed this. I start by showing the egg and the bag at the start. I get a volunteer to vanish the egg, then make it reappear invisibly. Not only have i cut the first production but this bit is a lot faster and direct. Now i have time to play, i do some joking around and hat lines. Then bang hit with the pace and get the egg reproduced at the end. I feel this is stronger as as before the egg appeared then disappears so they know it will come back so why hang around. But the new way i need to get to the egg vanish quickly yet there wait for it to reappear.

Understanding that once they saw something vanish they would wait for it to come back sounds simple. But its amazing how much control this gives you. And I think that the Busk Skill Level is to realise that you have them hooked and you can relax. This is the first installment in Busk Skill Level.

I am useless at .

Hi there not very good at keeping this up to date. But feel free the read some of the old post there just ideas that come to me and i pop them up for people to use as they wish.

Here is a short video of me street busking at a buskers festival. The crowd were a little far away as they are all hiding in the shadows away from the pushing sun of New Zealand.

Hope you enjoy and remember enjoy your magic and let others enjoy it as well.

Cabrate ,CABRATE

Here is a video of a show i did. The first video has a clip of my egg bag routine and a few of the other acts. The second video is of me and has a fuller egg bag and my 6 card repeat. Hope you enjoy this little puzzlement and wonder.

A great volunteer. Her group was lots of fun.

I also didd a close up set in the break as well. Hopefully there will be more of the nigths going on soon i will keep you posted when there is more puzzlement and wonder.

Out and about

Few pictures of me out busking in Auckland New Zealand.

 A School of Clown fish pass buy.

 The X on the floor is sign i us so volunteers know were to stand. Magic sign to point out the obvious.

Hot Az days

Condition your crowd

This is how I replied to a post on a magicians forum. The magican said that kids enjoy the magic but they just sat in silence. They don't clap and cheer.

First this is normal behaviour for them. And we don't want to force a response. But you do have to let them know a few thing. First up what you expect. Then how they respond.

When I am doing close up I engage with my viewers. I ask them if they enjoyed that. I also look for reactions from people. And point them out. I say look that put a smile on his face, Then I follow up with either thank them or supporting there reactions so they and others know its ok. I find that this helps and gets them on your side. And I find there a lot more animated and chatty at the end. At the end there probably will clap on there own accord.

Some time with walk round and especially when busking I am less descreat. When I do my final trick the egg bag. I use a volunteer. And my patter goes a bit like this - Ok when I go 3,2,1 your going to wave your hand over the empty bag, And if something amazing happens the audience is going to clap and cheer. This give my helper clear instructions so they are safe and confidant. But it also tells the audience what is expected of them.

You never force your audience to much. They don't need to to do cart wheels ever time you do something. But if you point out what expected from them and create a safe place for them to express them self. Your have a better time and there have a better time with a little puzzlement and wonder.

A note on making sense (making sense of your notes)

So many ideas. Well what to do with them? There is no simple one way. But in this post ill run over a few process of developing notes in to ideas.

First up. You make a few notes on a page. Then later you’re flicking throw your note book and you see your old notes and build on it. You might also hit a dead end so write a question on what to do next. Or something you need to research. The idea will slowly develop.

When I was working on a coin routine using a purse frame I had lots of lists.


-Effects with four coins,
-Patter about coins
-Options other than coins,
-Ideas and diagrams of pocket management.

I then just pick out what I want. So a story line. Then a pick of effects from the list of effects. So your trying to get a begging a middle and a end. A coin routine using four coins  with a story of street cons. And a routine using bottle caps. Came out of this.

Next up is something I use more for the development of our science in a van shows. I call it the brain. It’s a A2 board. The image below is of the brain I used for our material show for schools.

First up across the top is aims of the show. Then i marked areas for the intro and other sections in the show. Then I wrote down all the material based demo I could find along with information notes. Then I started to re-sort the info into a show format. The benefits of this is you can have a brain dump of ideas the stick them at the bottom a there when there needed, if needed.

This I a quick intro in a few ideas of how I have developed puzzlement and wonder.

Notes and Books.

Weather you’re working a new trick, story line, routine, and joke or developing your charter a note book is something to consider. In this post we look at recording ideas. I hope that it helps you as you work on ideas.


 First up the note book. This comes in many forms. Whatever form it need to be easy accessible. I buy well bound note pads about an inch thick. These stand up to begin carried around in a bag and beaten up a bit. They last me about 8 months which is good as you will refer back and develop ideas. You can use digital format or even just audio record your notes.


Whatever you chose make sure you use it. Record all ideas and thoughts. It does not matter how much or how little you put in. Also what you write now might not be much but keep going over it and thinking about it. Your notice your idea grows.


When I have a gig I write down what the client as requested. Then draw up a set list around that. I make notes of any changes needed to set routines. And after a gig I write down how it went good and bad.


I have lots of list which are drawn up from thinking sessions. Tricks that need no re-set and do not need a table for example. Don’t be afraid to stick things in to your note book. Also does not matter how bad they are draw in there. I have drawn out patter for mirror boxes construction in mine which later got built and worked well.


So use your note books to plant future puzzlement and wonder. Next up we will look at developing ideas more.