We all know what happens: We attend a magic conference or lecture and see something really amazing, and we vow to learn it. Time passes by and we then see the "newest shiny" magic thing, and we soon forget the first routine, sleight or trick.
So, how do you keep track of 1) things you already know, 2) things you've already began working on, and 3) things you want to learn?
Jon Racherbaumer told me to keep track of everything. Sometime in the future you'll think about it and begin working on it. Think about how Marlo had 25 different ways to accomplish the same trick. I somehow doubt that he kept all of those in his head. He must have written them down at one time or another. If you don't write down those "glimpses" of inspiration, they'll fade away really fast, and will be of no use anymore.
I'll start by showing you how I've done it over my 45 years of performing.
Back 30 years ago, with my then wife, we were asked to come up with 10 completely different shows, each lasting about 40 minutes. We performed at Summer camps around the country, and at some of them, we did a show in the morning and another in the evening, for 5 days. Therefore, I not only had to come up with enough routines, but remember them all for next time we were asked.
To do that, I've kept a list, which I titled, "ALL-I-DO." (page 1 of 4 shown below) It is a list of 1) things I already know how to perform (routines I've done over and over and over), 2) things I have the props, or instructions for, and have started working on, and 3) routines I would really like to add to my shows for one reason or another.
On my ALL-I-DO list, I began listing every single routine that I was currently performing. I then went through all of my props and books and added the items I would like to begin performing (most of the underlined items in my list). Finally, I also listed routines that I had done in the past but was not currently utilizing (Hey, I had to fill 10 separate shows!).
In some of my shows I used to perform a slapstick character, Homer, so I listed all of the routines I could as that character. The I could plug that character into as many different shows as I had routines for him. On my list you'll see Bowling Ball, Balloon Medley, Spinning Plates, etc.
One thing I didn't do that would have made the list more useable was to split the routines into CLOSE-UP, PARLOR and STAGE ROUTINES.
Recently I purchased a large magic book collection out of New York City. In one of the books I found a list that the former owner, Ezra, kept, and it was fascinating to read. It shows me exactly where he was in magic, or at least when the list was made. It showed me that he was primarily a card worker, and I liked the way he broke his list apart.
He had a category, "MAINTAIN," which are routines he performed quite often and didn't want to forget.
He has "PRACTICE" listed, and those were routines he already knew, was not proficient in, but wanted to be.
"LEARN" was the biggest list on his sheet. When I read through his LEARN list, I see how varied his skills and interests were. I see names like Swain, Paul Harris (one of my favorites), Bannon, Beam, Ortiz, Jennings, and Daryl. Quite the variety, I think.
Then he has two sections I had not considered, "SLEIGHTS TO PRACTICE" and "UTILITY MOVES." I believe these were moves and sleights that were utilized in various routines he was either working on, or simply wanted to familiarize himself with. Once again, when you look over his list, you see how varied his knowledge was: some moves are easy, while others could take fairly extensive practice to be comfortable with.
Keeping track of what you know may surprise you in how much magic you really do know. Jeff Kowalk keeps a notebook. My friend, Randy, used to keep a small mini tape recorder in his car to record his ideas. I keep the ALL-I-DO list, and Ezra kept a Maintain/Practice/Learn list.
How do you keep track of ideas, so that when the time comes, you can use your list to assemble a show, a close-up magic set, or a comedy stand-up set?
Please let me know in the comments your thoughts and ideas.
Never stop learning,