Put the Magic Into THEIR Hands!
I get asked this question a LOT: "How do you introduce pendulums to your audiences?" It's probably the number one thing that comes up when talking pendulums with performers who are just discovering how wonderful they can be.
I talked about this in an essay that closes our third book: Magic Pendulums: Masterworks for Mystery Performers. I've published an excerpt from that essay here. It appears in its entirety in the ebook...but I hope this will be enough to get newer performers started with pendulums.
I hope you enjoy it:
Do you work hospitality suites? How about conventions? Okay. Do you work any events AT ALL where adults are served copious amounts of alcohol? Most of us do.
If you’ve performed with pendulums at these kinds of venues, you know the challenges they present. The environments are often loud and the audience will always contain at least one guy who is going to feel like a jerk the next day…but for the moment considers himself the wittiest character on the planet.[1]
The kinds of effects that play here best are broad, easy to understand and very simple to explain, right? What I’m saying, with absolutely no disrespect to the people who pay my fees, is that if a six year old can understand what you’re doing, then most drunks can as well.
So how does a pendulum get used in these circumstances?
Here are a few thoughts that may be of use to you:
1) Qualify your volunteer…or better yet, allow them to qualify themselves. Much of the muscle of a solid pendulum presentation is in the power of suggestion. The suggestions you make become the very literal influences that will make the effect more powerful and easy to perform…provided you’ve chosen the right volunteer.
I will always ask a leading question like “Who believes they may have had a psychic experience?” or the ever popular “Who believes in ESP?”
As you ask the question, watch your audience carefully. You are choosing a volunteer with as much care as you packed your props. The person you wind up with will either make your routine…or send it crashing to the ground with an audible-loud-enough-to-be-heard-in-the-next-room thump.
So you’re not going to pick the drunk – who is probably after global recognition. If you’re me – you are also highly unlikely to pick a male. When I ask my qualifying question, I am looking for a woman who is making direct eye contact and is giving all the signs of agreeing with the question.[2]
You’re looking for alert eyes and emphatic nods. This needs to be a person who has already talked themselves into thinking that ESP is real…and are most likely to buy into the concept that a pendulum can be used to divine information. In short, you have chosen someone who will welcome your suggestion.
If no one meets the criteria, do something else. I’ll often go to the routine I’ve written in this book. It means that I retain control of the pendulum and that the routine will be performed under my complete control. [3] The routine still fits perfectly with my qualifying question…and…well…it rocks.
Remember that the audience is going to experience the effect through the REACTIONS of your volunteer. That’s why you are looking for an expressive face to respond to your qualifying question.
2) Don’t rush the instructions. Be clear. The first time I performed a pendulum routine which involved putting it (the pendulum, I mean) into an audience member’s hands, I was you-know-whatting bricks.
As a recovering magician, I would rather drive knitting needles into my eye than have an effect fail in front of an audience. I had visions of a limp pendulum just hanging there (yeah…I know how that sounds) and blank looks on the collective audience face.
Because of this, I rushed through the instructions on how to hold the pendulum and what they could expect to happen. What happened? I wound up with the nightmare of a limp pendulum and blank looks coming true.
I had to go over everything again. Fortunately, I forced myself to take my time and be clear…and fortunately (cubed) it worked the second time around, which made it even more miraculous. My volunteer came close to freaking right out when the pendulum started to move in her hand.
3) You need to be ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENT when you explain the workings of the pendulum to your volunteer. It really is a wee bit like hypnosis, I suppose. You are implanting suggestions that you expect will activate that Ideomotor response that will make the effect “go.” If you expect it, your audience will expect it. If your audience expects it, you can bet your volunteer will expect it…and it will happen.
So if you are uncertain…or lacking conviction, your routine is going to have a much harder time of getting off the ground.
Also: I make my explanation with my eyes looking right into hers. If she’s not looking at me, I ask her to meet my eyes. Why? Eye contact is very powerful and it makes the things you say even more convincing.
Use your hands as you talk…as you explain how the pendulum IS going to respond. Using your hands cements the image in their mind and, oddly enough, enhances the credibility of what you’re saying.[4] When you talk about the pendulum swinging from side to side, show this with your hand. When you talk about small circles, show it. A very powerful technique.
So at the end of your crystal clear directions, you allow your participant to calibrate the pendulum. Have them say something that is patently true. (“I am a female.” “I sell medical insurance.”) Wait for the pendulum to respond.
No. That’s not quite right. Expect the pendulum to respond. Focus your eyes on it. As you do so…your volunteer will do the same thing. So will your audience.
S.V.C. (“Something Very Cool”) will happen as all these people concentrate on the pendulum. Why? They are staring at it in the unspoken expectation that it will move. The force of your suggestion is going to do the work for you. Guess what? The freaking thing moves. It happens every single time.
Once in a while you need to wait a little longer. But given the proper application of expectation and pressure on your volunteer, that puppy is gonna move.[5]
You need to know when to be quiet. Don’t feel the need to fill the void with nervous chatter. It weakens you and your presentation. Remember that silence exerts its own power on a situation. They will look where you look. Silence will actually heighten the tension.
The INSTANT that pendulum starts to move…you are going to do one of two things. WHAT you do depends on the audience reaction.
If they break out into spontaneous chatter and shocked responses, keep quiet. Your job is doing itself. People are astounded. Amid all the “oooos” and “ahhhs” anything from you is only going to be like a velvet Elvis painting in the Louvre.
If they don’t say anything, you offer IMMEDIATE positive feedback to your volunteer. Something like “Look at that…look…it’s….moving. Amazing!”
In either case…after the pendulum has moved for the first time, you’re in. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Whatever you suggest (gently) to your volunteer is going to happen.[6]
THE FOOTNOTES:
[1] I have often thought that I get funnier AND better looking in direct proportion to the amount I’ve had to drink. But that’s probably just me…
[2] “Why a woman, Scooter?” you ask. “Is this the only way you get to meet girls?” Nope. I will choose a woman for several reasons. First: men can become quite competitive…particularly in front of other men. They aren’t likely to take direction as well as a woman.
Also…and here’s the thing that may or may not get me into trouble…I have simply found that it is much easier to influence (and control) a female volunteer. They are far less likely to view the routine as being something they have to “win” and are often much more expressive than a man would be.
[3] Trust me on this…if you don’t get the right volunteer, it could turn into a looooong routine.
[4] I’m not smart enough to have figured out the “hand” thing on my own. I picked it up in a wonderful book on body language called “What Every Body Is Saying” by Joe Navarro. It’s a very powerful technique…and it’s vastly enhanced the power of the words I say…on stage as well as close-up.
[5] Am I suggesting that it is ALWAYS an I.R. that moves the pendulum? In all honesty…no. Once in a while your volunteer helps things along, because the group dynamic is pressuring them into it. And I’m not above taking that. But I think in well over 90% of the time your volunteer is genuinely unaware of what’s happening…and will be blown away by the pendulum’s response.
[6] With this in mind…why not go back and re-read Luca Volpe’s outstanding routine? It is totally dependent on getting into your spectator’s mind this way.
I talked about this in an essay that closes our third book: Magic Pendulums: Masterworks for Mystery Performers. I've published an excerpt from that essay here. It appears in its entirety in the ebook...but I hope this will be enough to get newer performers started with pendulums.
I hope you enjoy it:
Do you work hospitality suites? How about conventions? Okay. Do you work any events AT ALL where adults are served copious amounts of alcohol? Most of us do.
If you’ve performed with pendulums at these kinds of venues, you know the challenges they present. The environments are often loud and the audience will always contain at least one guy who is going to feel like a jerk the next day…but for the moment considers himself the wittiest character on the planet.[1]
The kinds of effects that play here best are broad, easy to understand and very simple to explain, right? What I’m saying, with absolutely no disrespect to the people who pay my fees, is that if a six year old can understand what you’re doing, then most drunks can as well.
So how does a pendulum get used in these circumstances?
Here are a few thoughts that may be of use to you:
1) Qualify your volunteer…or better yet, allow them to qualify themselves. Much of the muscle of a solid pendulum presentation is in the power of suggestion. The suggestions you make become the very literal influences that will make the effect more powerful and easy to perform…provided you’ve chosen the right volunteer.
I will always ask a leading question like “Who believes they may have had a psychic experience?” or the ever popular “Who believes in ESP?”
As you ask the question, watch your audience carefully. You are choosing a volunteer with as much care as you packed your props. The person you wind up with will either make your routine…or send it crashing to the ground with an audible-loud-enough-to-be-heard-in-the-next-room thump.
So you’re not going to pick the drunk – who is probably after global recognition. If you’re me – you are also highly unlikely to pick a male. When I ask my qualifying question, I am looking for a woman who is making direct eye contact and is giving all the signs of agreeing with the question.[2]
You’re looking for alert eyes and emphatic nods. This needs to be a person who has already talked themselves into thinking that ESP is real…and are most likely to buy into the concept that a pendulum can be used to divine information. In short, you have chosen someone who will welcome your suggestion.
If no one meets the criteria, do something else. I’ll often go to the routine I’ve written in this book. It means that I retain control of the pendulum and that the routine will be performed under my complete control. [3] The routine still fits perfectly with my qualifying question…and…well…it rocks.
Remember that the audience is going to experience the effect through the REACTIONS of your volunteer. That’s why you are looking for an expressive face to respond to your qualifying question.
2) Don’t rush the instructions. Be clear. The first time I performed a pendulum routine which involved putting it (the pendulum, I mean) into an audience member’s hands, I was you-know-whatting bricks.
As a recovering magician, I would rather drive knitting needles into my eye than have an effect fail in front of an audience. I had visions of a limp pendulum just hanging there (yeah…I know how that sounds) and blank looks on the collective audience face.
Because of this, I rushed through the instructions on how to hold the pendulum and what they could expect to happen. What happened? I wound up with the nightmare of a limp pendulum and blank looks coming true.
I had to go over everything again. Fortunately, I forced myself to take my time and be clear…and fortunately (cubed) it worked the second time around, which made it even more miraculous. My volunteer came close to freaking right out when the pendulum started to move in her hand.
3) You need to be ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENT when you explain the workings of the pendulum to your volunteer. It really is a wee bit like hypnosis, I suppose. You are implanting suggestions that you expect will activate that Ideomotor response that will make the effect “go.” If you expect it, your audience will expect it. If your audience expects it, you can bet your volunteer will expect it…and it will happen.
So if you are uncertain…or lacking conviction, your routine is going to have a much harder time of getting off the ground.
Also: I make my explanation with my eyes looking right into hers. If she’s not looking at me, I ask her to meet my eyes. Why? Eye contact is very powerful and it makes the things you say even more convincing.
Use your hands as you talk…as you explain how the pendulum IS going to respond. Using your hands cements the image in their mind and, oddly enough, enhances the credibility of what you’re saying.[4] When you talk about the pendulum swinging from side to side, show this with your hand. When you talk about small circles, show it. A very powerful technique.
So at the end of your crystal clear directions, you allow your participant to calibrate the pendulum. Have them say something that is patently true. (“I am a female.” “I sell medical insurance.”) Wait for the pendulum to respond.
No. That’s not quite right. Expect the pendulum to respond. Focus your eyes on it. As you do so…your volunteer will do the same thing. So will your audience.
S.V.C. (“Something Very Cool”) will happen as all these people concentrate on the pendulum. Why? They are staring at it in the unspoken expectation that it will move. The force of your suggestion is going to do the work for you. Guess what? The freaking thing moves. It happens every single time.
Once in a while you need to wait a little longer. But given the proper application of expectation and pressure on your volunteer, that puppy is gonna move.[5]
You need to know when to be quiet. Don’t feel the need to fill the void with nervous chatter. It weakens you and your presentation. Remember that silence exerts its own power on a situation. They will look where you look. Silence will actually heighten the tension.
The INSTANT that pendulum starts to move…you are going to do one of two things. WHAT you do depends on the audience reaction.
If they break out into spontaneous chatter and shocked responses, keep quiet. Your job is doing itself. People are astounded. Amid all the “oooos” and “ahhhs” anything from you is only going to be like a velvet Elvis painting in the Louvre.
If they don’t say anything, you offer IMMEDIATE positive feedback to your volunteer. Something like “Look at that…look…it’s….moving. Amazing!”
In either case…after the pendulum has moved for the first time, you’re in. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Whatever you suggest (gently) to your volunteer is going to happen.[6]
THE FOOTNOTES:
[1] I have often thought that I get funnier AND better looking in direct proportion to the amount I’ve had to drink. But that’s probably just me…
[2] “Why a woman, Scooter?” you ask. “Is this the only way you get to meet girls?” Nope. I will choose a woman for several reasons. First: men can become quite competitive…particularly in front of other men. They aren’t likely to take direction as well as a woman.
Also…and here’s the thing that may or may not get me into trouble…I have simply found that it is much easier to influence (and control) a female volunteer. They are far less likely to view the routine as being something they have to “win” and are often much more expressive than a man would be.
[3] Trust me on this…if you don’t get the right volunteer, it could turn into a looooong routine.
[4] I’m not smart enough to have figured out the “hand” thing on my own. I picked it up in a wonderful book on body language called “What Every Body Is Saying” by Joe Navarro. It’s a very powerful technique…and it’s vastly enhanced the power of the words I say…on stage as well as close-up.
[5] Am I suggesting that it is ALWAYS an I.R. that moves the pendulum? In all honesty…no. Once in a while your volunteer helps things along, because the group dynamic is pressuring them into it. And I’m not above taking that. But I think in well over 90% of the time your volunteer is genuinely unaware of what’s happening…and will be blown away by the pendulum’s response.
[6] With this in mind…why not go back and re-read Luca Volpe’s outstanding routine? It is totally dependent on getting into your spectator’s mind this way.