Tigerdriver: Hi Peter, Glad to see you here as a special guest. I have just performed my first little magic show ( close-up ) to a group of 20 people.  Everything went fine except for continuity errors and some patter that definitely needs to be worked on. Obviously I saw the errors on hand due to the all mighty camcorder. Being my first show, I was wondering if you could give any advice to us newbies in magic about continual improvement. I mean in in the presentation of the magic and not in the technical side. Thanks for your time. You are a very lucky guy to have been into magic for such a long time.. Best wishes.

Peter: Tigerdriver, First of all congrats on your first show!!!  As far as continual improvement, well that’s something everyone strives for including myself. No matter how good you are at something you can there is always room for improvement. Now the biggest advice I can give you is something I’m sure you have heard a million times over...Practice! But I can offer you some tips when practicing to improve. You already did one of my favs and that’s having a camcorder there to view your performance. If you have access to one use it when you rehearse. In our Studio we have a camcorder and several mirrors facing us straight on and on angles. The mirrors give you a direct reference while you are performing, while the camcorder catches things you can't see while you are in rehearsal. But remember the mirrors will give you a perspective that is sometimes different than what your audience will see, however a valuable tool non the less. Mirrors are essential for blocking and timing. Now as for Presentation, Here is something else you may want to try. Find someone you are close to, a family member perhaps, a close friend, spouse or mate, make sure you see this person on a regular basis. Ask them if they will be your personal lab rat. You have to be able to trust this person. But make sure you tell them not to be bias when critiquing your performance and presentation. A mother is usually not the best person to pick, as they usually applaud at anything their child does.  I know mine did.  Make sure this person will give you an honest opinion of an effect that you practice on them. Also try doing the same trick for them more than once but using different patter or a different routine and get their opinion on what they like and don't like about the presentation. Remember you don't have to take their advice but it can never hurt to get a second opinion before you take the finished routine in the real world. You can also try writing a script for each individual routine you do, and learn them well, and now you will always have a reference. Don't forget to relax, this will help you remember where you are in the routine and keep you on track in your presentation. Oh and fun. Try to be original in your presentation, and remember that you are the one setting the mood of your spectators. You can make people feel however you want them to when you set the atmosphere with your presentation. Think about how you want your audience to feel when watching a particular trick, and begin to write your presentation around that. Anyway I hope some of these help, and if you give me some more details about your style of performance, I may be able to add some more direction to your question.

Tigerdriver: Thanks for the reply Peter. Imagine my style being some kind of mad mix between Daryl and Eugene Burger ( My biggest influences ) with a lot of myself thrown in. I try to keep the fun tricks fun and the mystical tricks mystical. I hope that helps you in defining any of your professional advice that you may wish to add. Thanks again. Best wishes.

Cathal: After reading your reply to my last question I have another 2 questions! First of all I am 13 and I perform a lot of children’s shows but how did you start performing for kids? How did you get shows? etc and secondly by 16 you said you were doing illusions on tv etc but how did you make the jump from children’s magician to illusionist?

Peter: I first starting performing for kids with some basic marketing strategies. I handed out flyers, put a small ad in the local paper, put business cards up in laundry mats etc. But I think that word of mouth was my strongest assest. I simply made the jump by slowly adding a new illusion to the show every time I could afford to. Once I had a couple of big illuisons in the show, I could start charging more to do a show, and it just snowballed from that. P.

Mike: I'm enjoying this excellent interview immensely, Peter. Thanks again! I'd like to know how much influence your family has been in your rise into this industry. Is your family firmly behind you, or are there any of them who feel you are crazy? Now, obviously, you've proven anyone wrong, at this point, who felt that way, but were there any detractors or folks who tried to talk you out of going this route? How much value, from a financially successful point of view, do you place on family support? Do you feel that these family influences, had they been different, would have affected you negatively or that things would be different right now? Wow, now that's getting personal! I'm interested, but I'd understand if you would rather not answer these.

Peter: Well Mike I’m enjoying this too, My family is very supportive of me now. But that wasn't always the case. Yeah they all thought I was a little crazy trying to become a professional magician, I mean...it still sounds weird to me now.  My dad was very supportive of me when I was younger, and he would slide me a few bucks when I needed to get by until I got my next gig. My mom was a little hesitant about me getting into magic as a 'Job', but once she saw the money coming in and how independent I was becoming at such and early age, she became much more supportive. But to be honest with you Mike, I got where I am today because of me, ultimately I was the one who chose this route in life and no one could have ever changed that.