When I watch videos of magicians (especially close-uppers) on the net, there is one thing that is annoying to me: the constant snapping of their fingers, when a magical moment is about to happen. Sure, we are used to quite a lot of silly “magical gestures” (in the past years also strange and silly “plops” and whistles from the mouth), but the useless finger snapping for me tops it all.
I agree that a magical gesture can enhance the effect and make the spectators aware that something magical is about to happen. But then — must it be a finger snap? I looked up Wikipedia and it says: “Snapping one’s fingers abruptly and repetitively, often in conjunction with one or more spoken exclamations, is commonly employed in getting someone else’s attention.”
Personally, I connect finger snapping with my childhood in school, with little kids wanting to get the attention and therefore snap the fingers, until the teacher turns towards them (at least that was so in my time decades ago). I don’t think this gesture to be the ultimate and truly fitting “magical gesture”. There must be more powerful gestures …
I also wonder where all this snapping in magic came from. I remember about 30 years ago the first American performers coming to Germany. I remember those “presentations” very well: “I when I snap my fingers, the signed card comes magically back to the top of the deck. All I have to do is to snap my fingers …”
Back then this seemed sort of normal. Maybe because it was the first time we heard it and saw “presentations” in this way. It also didn’t mean anything to me, because I was watching the trick. But then, now, it has become disconnected to what it was meant to be, or at least it seems so. Take a look at this short sequence:
Fine card moves, sure, but then the snapping with the fingers. I have never seen a violinist snap his fingers before playing a note. In music, snapping the fingers is used to keep rhythm. In poetry readings it is used as a substitute for the applause done by hand clapping. We magicians use it carelessly for … ?
But the finger snapping is only one example. We do have a lot more of these “magical gestures”:
- whistling
- blowing on something
- wiggling the thumbs
- wiggling the fingers
- woofle dust
- casting a shadow
Isn’t it time to think of more impressive, unobtrusive and sense-making “magical gestures”? Gestures that mean something and do not make the performer look like a silly child?
Hmmmm …
