Ian Rowland – 2016 Lecture Notes

My First Completely New Set Of Material Since 2013

These lecture notes represent my first new set of magical thinkings since I did a number of lectures and conventions in 2013. They include some material that I've wanted to share for some time, including what is currently my favourite bit of magical repertoire: "C.O.T." . I love the reactions I get from this piece, even though it's trivial when seen through a magician's eyes.

With this set of lecture notes, you are definitely not paying for quantity – there are only about 46 pages, and even some of those are just 'theory' musings and matters of opinion.

If you look at the details here and don't think these notes are worth the money, then please don't buy them! Keep your money and smile. I wouldn't want you to buy anything you didn't think was worth every penny.

I love my work doing corporate talks, training and consultancy. The corporate world is the perfect venue for me, and has also proved to be the perfect vehicle for what one might call 'mentalism as metaphor'. This point is explained in the lecture notes. And I'm delighted to share some of the ideas that I use in my work all the time.

So, anyway, what you want to know is… what tricks do you get?

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RAMA

It stands for 'Read Any Mind Anywhere'. This is my all-time favourite way to either read minds or predict the future. It's versatile, it fools people, it's fun to do and it's good for close-up or medium-size parlour and platform gigs. I'll even tell you what it is: it's a variation on 'Albertest' by T.A. Waters, which many of you will know from 'Mind, Myth & Magic'. However, I've made what I think are some significant modifications. The result? You can now read anyone's mind, anywhere, whenever you want. You don't need any special gimmicks (not even a nailwriter) and it all takes place in the hands. Nothing hidden under cover, no awkward moves… you write your prediction, they make their choice (whether it's letters, numbers, celebrities, dates… whatever) and you are correct every time.

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The Instant Genius

Reduced to its bare bones, here's the effect: a spectator looks at a large, complex table of data he has never seen before. The data can be anything: a list of Superbowl winners, the largest lakes in the world, the complete films of Dustin Hoffmann… anything you want. The spectator just looks at this table for 10 seconds. Someone else in the audience (non-stooge) asks a random question based on this data, and the spectator is somehow able to come up with the right answer! It's as if he has somehow 'absorbed' all the information more or less instantaneously.

You can repeat the same demonstration with any other spectator in the room (no pre-show, no pre-selection of participants).

What's significant about this particular effect is how clean the illusion is. As far as the audience is concerned, the spectator on stage just looks at the table of data for ten seconds and then… somehow… just knows it.

This effect is the result of over eight months development. Here are some of the methods that I explored but then didn't use because they wouldn't give me the 'clean', deceptive effect I was after: dry wipe, flaps, my friend Chris Philpott’s ‘Hundredth Monkey’ principle, ambiguous figures, covert audio feed, small text, faint text, polarising filters, magnetic panels, Sanada gimmick (a la Colin Cloud), messages on small cards that I sneak in and out of play… and many more besides.

This is a tremendously versatile effect. Just imagine being able to turn a spectator into an 'instant genius' about any subject you want! It's fun, but also very mysterious.

Warning: there's quite a lot of 'paper and glue' construction involved, just to make up the lists and tables that the audience sees. However, you don't need any special equipment.

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C.O.T.

I love this routine. I've been using it as my closer at every corporate gig I've done over the past five years, and it always gets the kind of reaction that we, as magicians and mentalists, are always hoping for: audible gasps of disbelief, strong applause, looks of sheer amazement and delight, stunned recognition that they've just seen something they cannot even begin to understand.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Well, yes, but there's a problem. Seen through the eyes of ordinary spectators, it's a miracle, a marvel, the most inexplicable thing ever. Seen through the eyes of magicians, it's nothing.

The reason I'm publishing this is because it's one thing that I, as an old guy with grey hair, can pass on to the younger guys who are bringing so much good new energy into mentalism. I can say to them: trust me, with my thirty or more years of experience, when I tell you that sometimes the simplest ideas get the biggest reactions.

Okay, so what happens? Well, here's what the audience sees. You hand a spectator a deck of cards. You invite him to check it out and then thoroughly shuffle the cards any way he likes, for as long as he likes, while you get on with other stuff. When he has shuffled the deck to his complete satisfaction (he can take five or ten minutes over it if he wants), the spectators (not you) check what the top card is. Let's say it's the five of diamonds. You have predicted this accurately. Your prediction can take any form you want: a piece of paper in an envelope, an engraved metal plate, a message sand-blasted into a nearby mountain. You KNOW the top card is going to be the five of diamonds. No stooges, no pre-show. The guy who shuffles the deck will be dumbfounded.

Does that sound impossible? Yes. Is it what REALLY happens? Not quite. Is it what the audience perceives and believes? Yes. 100%. Everyone watching will swear this is what happened.

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Venus Mind Trap

This is a simple, do it anywhere bit of mindreading. Someone just thinks of something, such as a favourite song, and you can tell her what it is.

Now, I'll give away the main part of this,: it's sort of an instant stooge effect. I'm telling you this because it doesn't actually matter. What's important about this effect, and the reason why you might want to know about it (even if you hate IS effects) is that it's a little bit different from other IS routines. It's a bit more subtle, and there are lots of safeguards built in to ensure you'll never get caught and never be given away. If you've ever had those 'What if they talk afterwards?' worries, this is the IS effect you want. Plus the routining is good fun, and involves everyone in the audience having a go at reading minds. [Was previously published in MAGIC magazine].

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I Chant Now

If you want some fun mentalism, this is the item you'll like. It's a club / stage / parlour routine in which someone in the audience thinks of a famous movie and you try to read her mind. You try to do this in a slightly unusual way, using some breathing and chanting exercises that you say you've heard can assist the telepathic process. You try to read the spectator's mind and you fail. Then you try again, and fail again. Luckily, there is a hugely satisfying and ingenious twist at the end, wherein you show that not only can you read the spectator's mind, but you even predicted exactly which film she would think of. The routine offers plenty of scope for laughs and silliness, and the ingenious payoff at the end is very rewarding and enjoyable to perform. It delivers one of those wonderful 'We didn't see that coming!' moments. [Was previously published in MAGIC magazine].

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Parity Party

Possibly one of the weirdest things in the magic world. A spectator deals some red and black cards into separate piles at random. Yet the two piles are discovered to have a strange sympathetic property: the number of red cards in pile A exactly matches the number of black cards in pile B. He tries again and it still comes out the same way, even though he does all the dealing, it’s plainly a random process, and you don’t even touch the cards. It’s hands off, it’s baffling, and it even works when people vary the procedure to try to make it go wrong! An intriguing curiosity that you can perform with playing cards or any other items that can be dealt into two groups. Entirely mathematical and self-working, but well worth knowing. I get ten minutes of solid, fascinating, intriguing entertainment out of this! [Has been submitted for publication in MAGIC magazine].

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Some Aimless Musings

I've rounded off the booklet with a five short essays on some aspects of magic and mentalism close to my heart. These may or may not be of interest:

The Joy Of Meaning

The Joy Of Scripts

Theory Lectures

Anything Can Be Mentalism

The Joy of PACE

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The Mind Maze

I need to clarify that my effect 'The Mind Maze' is not part of these lecture notes. It is sold separately because you need a specific physical gimmick in order to perform the routine. For this reason, I only sell 'The Mind Maze' at lectures and conventions where I can sell the gimmick and then people can download the 'Mind Maze' documentation from this website.