Is every Magician Really Unique?

I was thinking about things to put into my profile and I realized that I started thinking in "market speak." I was going to say something about having spent many years creating a "unique" style all my own, when it really occurred to me that perhaps there is a problem with that statement.

I mean aren't all Magician's Unique?

Now I know that many working professionals will jump up and say "No, not all magicians are unique." What they are thinking about, of course, is the idea that what we see as professionals seems to be the same things over and over again.

A new book, video or DVD comes out and suddenly everyone is doing material from it. They are even using the same lines and stories and so in this sense they may very well be copies and not unique. This much is certainly true.

But the perspectives of the average audience is something else isn't it? How many of the people in my audience have ever seen a magician before? When I think about it I do realize that the lions share of them haven't ever seen a magician before in real life and few have seen them on TV.

So to them I am already unique.

Now, does this mean that I shouldn't worry about developing my own style, my own stories and my own presentations?

Not even close. Of course I want to develop my own stuff because then I do set myself an artistic goal and achieve a level of presentation that sets me apart from even the other working professionals. We all want to be different from each other too.

And I think that maybe that is the real heart of it.

I love magic. I love performing it, but I also love watching it. I don't get to watch enough of it I think, and when I go spend an evening in the Magic Castle, I can't get enough of it. It's a wonderful thing for me to forget about how things are done for awhile in favor of just enjoying how someone else does them.

Of course I know how things like The Linking Rings or The Cups and Balls works. It's my job. But that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate the differences between the way I do them and the way others do them. That's what I'm looking for, and hopefully when others see me do them, then they will get the same kind of enjoyment as well.

Reflecting on those differences simply means that I have a greater opportunity. An opportunity to not steal material, but rather to make sure that I come up with something different that works for me.

To many magicians watch other magic acts for material to steal and frankly that stinks. There is a difference between stealing material and being inspired to create my own material.

So in that sense, maybe I am Unique?

Santa Cruz Magician