Jeff christensen
MAGIC
IS
EDUCATION
"Anytime magic is performed, whether it is on
a stage or in an informal setting with friends,
it is the performance of a piece of theater.
Whether you like it or not, whether your
interested in it or not, good theater or bad, it
will always be theater.”
TOMMY WONDER
In this column I’d like to share my thoughts
on presentational frames, learning intentions
and the structure for my popular educational
show Pick a Book, Any Book. For me, the
beginning of any magic piece coming together
involves creating a presentational frame for it.
Simply stated a presentational frame provides
a context or reason for doing the trick. This
hopefully goes well beyond the oft used “…
because I can” response.
I can remember Jeff McBride once asking me
about a piece of magic that we were working
on together. He said, “What’s it called?” I
struggled to answer him and our subsequent
conversation ended up providing us with a
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VANISH Magazine
starting point for moving the piece along. A
few years later it’s now called The World’s
Greatest Magician and this framing gave me a
context and a reason for sharing it. My good
friend Dr. Larry Hass, the Dean of the McBride
Mystery School, has written some excellent
insights on the topic of presentational frames.
I highly recommend that you check out his
excellent book Inspirations. You can find
out more about Larry’s work by going to his
website at:
http://www.theoryandartofmagic.com
In addition to a presentational frame an
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