How long do you practice for?

This weeks reader question comes from Caroline, who asks:

How long do you practice your magic tricks for?

As a professional performer, my audiences rely on me putting on a fantastic performance for their event. As such, it's really important that I keep my skills sharp through regular practice.

I must admit that repeating my current material over and over again is usually not the best use of my time. I perform at a close up magic event multiple times per week, so I have plenty of opportunities to keep this material at a consistently high level, through regular performance.

Instead, my main practice sessions tend to be focused on learning and improving new material, or improvements to my working repertoire. For example, at the time of writing I am working on a very advanced coin routine. I already perform a fair amount of close up coin magic, but this routine is designed to be presented to a larger group, of about 10 to 20 people. I think that would be a very worthwhile and useful addition to the events I find myself performing at with increasing frequency these days.

I am also currently working on some new mind reading magic, again with a larger audience in mind. So, that's one goal for my practice sessions, to round out my repertoire and make sure it fits the types of events I'm working at and the audiences I'm meeting.

Also, for the clients that rebook me for a second or third time (my record is performing a Christmas party for the same company seven years in a row), it's great to have a new season of magic that I can share with them.

Another situation where I would put in a lot of time for practicing would be when I have a show coming up and would be required to perform a few routines that I haven't performed in a while.

One example of this, was a few months ago, I was booked for an event for a group of teenagers at a high school. I have a few routines that I knew would be perfect for this group, but as it's such a unique situation, I don't get the chance to perform them that often. I spent a few weeks revising the routines a few times at home, and then I ran through them at a local open mic night.

That's actually an excellent point. As well as practicing at home, I also look for opportunities to run my stage routines for real at open mic nights, or my close up magic for friends and family. Think of these as a dress rehearsal. It's doing the magic for real, but in an environment with lower pressure than a real event.