When the word patter was first applied to magic, it meant that the magician, while doing his tricks, would speak in an extemporaneous and often amusing fashion. Or at least, that would be how the spectators perceived it. Originally patter was something the magician made up and worked out along with the other elements of his performance. The patter the magician spoke was the result of expressing his stage personality.

Today in theater there is a discipline called improvisation that is similar. Audiences attending an evening of improv are charmed by what are apparently spontaneous events on stage. Many improv groups devote a significant amount of time working out their improv before the show.

So if you want to walk out on stage and apparently be yourself, saying witty and amusing things as you do you magic, you have to be aware that this type of patter is the result of premeditation, rehearsal and some natural talent.

None of this goes down very well with the magician who's bought some self-working tricks and plans to give a show. The patter sometimes supplied with such tricks is usually abysmal, to be polite about it.

There is a solution, which is to consider working out dialogue for each effect. This is an established theatrical convention. Actors don't come up with what they'll say in a movie or a play. They work off a script. The magician can just as easily script an effect, a routine or an entire show. It will be modified over time by things that come up during actual performance, but it gives the performer a place to start, and to fall back on, as the effect is presented.

Unfortunately, some magic thinkers with artistic pretensions use the word script as if it is grander than it really is. A magic script is like a grocery list that you take to the store so you don't forget anything. The really good magician makes his or her magic seem as if it has never happened before. In the same way, what the magician says must seem of the moment, a reaction to the magical situation.

A good magic show is a mixture of what the magician says and what he does. Learning to talk to an audience is as important as anything else you do during a show. With some thought you can create a basic script that provides you with the confidence to start talking to your audience and then, through experience, make what you're saying seem comfortable and natural.

Very often the magician is initially at a disadvantage because he is working backwards from an existing effect or prop. The most effective artistic expression works in the other direction. The artist wants to say something and finds a way to illustrate the thought. It is very difficult to take someone else's song or painting or magic effect and make it your own. In general this is what makes figuring out what to say daunting.

-- Robinson

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