Some years ago, I got the idea of creating a magic tutorial site – but of a different kind. It would not be teaching tricks, but rather deal with all the obscure fringe skills that a magician often need but rarely find documented. Things like, how to cut circular holes exactly in the center of playing cards, now to cut plastic discs suitable for the Hydrostatic Glass, how to drill in glass, how to make crochet covers for the balls in a Cups and Balls set, how to sew a good Devil’s Hank, how to mold a custom thumb tip… things like that.
Sadly, I quickly realized that it would be too time consuming to do it as a non-profit project, so I began to build a commercial learning site, with lessons, payment options… As I explored the functions of the LMS, I soon realized that I wouldn’t understand anything if I didn’t have any actual learning content to insert and experiment with, so just as a “placeholder” course, I quickly put together a course in how to do the Elmsley and Jordan false counts – classic techniques in Card Magic. Not really representative for the content I planned to feature on the site, but it was “dummy” content that I was able to assemble in a short time.
The LMS software wasn’t really designed for programming hobbyists like me – the technical aspects of the website quickly became overwhelming… with the end result being that the whole site have been untouched for the last 5 years. Since I am about to delete it all, I just thought that I should salvage the False Count course and post it here instead. Enjoy!
Lessons
Table of contents
1: Introduction
Of all the false counts in the realm of card magic, the Elmsley Count is the most famous. And the Jordan Count is not far behind. You can say that those two are the grand parents of all modern false counts. They are used in thousands of card tricks, and are the foundation for many other false counts.
What you need to take this course:
- A deck of playing cards of a good brand. We have a penchant for the Phoenix Deck, but most decks manufactured by US Playing Card Company, Fournier, Piatnik and Cartamundi works well.
- A notebook and a pen. The size and brand of the notebook is not important, but if it fit well in your pocket, chances are that you’ll have it at hand whenever you get an idea you want to document.
- (Optional) A metronome. A real one is nice, but an app version is more handy. Search for “Metronome” in the iOS or Android app stores, and you’ll find hundreds of them. Pick any of them.
- (Optional) A video camera. The one in your mobile phone is perfect. A selfie stick and some duct tape work just as well as a camera stand.
- (Optional) An account at a video sharing site (YouTube, Vimeo…). If you are uncertain about how to get an account, there are plenty of tutorials on internet that you can consult.
- (Optional) Fingertip Moistener for those with very dry fingertips. There are many various brands out there. Sortkwik is the most known, but any of them works (Elfen, Horse, Sparco, BilTema…). Can be found in stores for office supplies, and on Amazon and eBay.
General assumptions:
- The lessons assume that you are right handed and have average motor skills. Those who are left handed will have no problems adapting the lessons, but it might take a few seconds extra at times.
2: True Count
Knowing what you try to emulate makes for a better deception, so we’ll begin by looking at a few true counts.
Remove Ace, 2, 3 and 4 of Spades from your deck of cards and follow along.
Dealing position
You will now hold the four cards face up in your left hand in a position that is known as the “dealing position“. This is a soft and light grip around the cards, that holds them almost ‘floating’ in the hand. The cards doesn’t rest on the palm, neither are they clutched by the fingers.
The inner left corner of the cards rests lightly against the lower heel of the thumb.
The left index finger is resting against the edge of the outer end, close to the outer right corner.
The finger tip pads of the second, third and fourth finger are resting lightly against the right side of the cards.
The left thumb rests on the top of the cards.
True count (standard)
The right hand takes hold of the right side of the packet, right at the edge, thumb on top and the finger tips below. You will now drag the top card diagonally forward to the left. The left thumb swivel the top card counter-clockwise, as in the two illustrations above. The pad of the left index finger is acting as a soft threshold that holds back the three bottom cards and keeps them aligned, while the top card is sliding over the finger tip pad of the left index finger.
The left hand is now moving the top card forward until it is completely clear off the right hand packet. At this point, you turn the left wrist downward, so that the top surface of the card is exposed as much as possible to the imaginary audience you have in front of you. This feels very uncomfortable until you get used to it, but it is important so don’t skip over this when practising.
The left hand is turned back to the neutral position and moves back to slide the next card onto the first card. In doing so, the first card goes below the packet and the right hand fingertips. The left thumb touch the new top card of the right hand packet, and once again, the pad of the left index finger is used as a ‘threshold’ that keeps the bottom two cards of the packet aligned, as the new top card is slid off the packet diagonally forward. The second card is also displayed properly to your audience, but turning the wrist uncomfortably downward.
Repeat the same actions to display the third card, and then take the last card on top of the first three cards, emulating the same actions as before.
The cards are now back in a left hand dealing position.
One hand holds, one hand count
Even though you yourself know that you are displaying the cards in order, if it isn’t done in a somewhat strict manner, it can easily look as if you are shuffling the cards into a random order. To avoid that, make sure to designate one hand as the holder, and keep it static and motionless, while the other hand have the active role of the counting hand. In the standard display; after the right hand have taken hold of the right side of the packet, it is kept as motionless as possible. That way, the left hand that is moving back and forth diagonally is getting all the attention, and it is easy for the audience to follow along.
True count (Fingertips right)
In older magic books, the false counts are often done while held at the fingertips, and counted from the left hand to the right hand. It was a style trend that since then have passed. However, there are times when this style is useful, for example, if you want to emphasize the lack of manipulation, as to say “Look, I’m hardly touching the cards, still the magic happens!”
Hold the packet at its left side with the palm up left hand, fingertips below and the thumb on top.
The right hand now pinch hold of the right long side of the packet, mirroring the left hand. The right hand now pull the top card to the right, as the pads of the right fingertips keep the bottom three cards back. Move the right hand diagonally forward and turn the top surface of the card forward so it is well displayed. This will feel uncomfortable for the wrist until you get used to it.
After displaying the first card, the right hand moves back so that the right thumb tip can pinch off the next card. The first card slides underneath the left hand finger tips and the packet. It can be ‘knacky’ to slide the second card off. Make sure you don’t hold the cards too hard, the lighter and softer touch you have the easier it is. The pads of the right hand second and third finger tips assist in holding the bottom two cards of the packet back, as the new top card is slid off, diagonally forward. The right hand snaps down forward to display the top surface of the second card.
The same is repeated to display the remaining two cards.
True count (Fingertips left)
If you want to use the standard grip and the fingertip grip interchangeably, it might be good to have a consistency in how it is done, and count the cards in the same direction regardless of the grip. This version is identical to the previous one, only mirrored.
Practice session 1 (repetitions)
Vary the pace of each of the following repetitions, one count in slowmotion, another one fast… and so on.
- Do ten repetitions of the True Count (standard).
- Do ten repetitions of the True Count (fingertip right).
- Do ten repetitions of the True Count (fingertip left).
- Put the cards down and relax
Practice session 2 (cycles)
Vary the pace of each of the following repetitions, one cycle in slowmotion, another one fast… and so on.
- Cycle through the variants of the True Count: Standard, fingertip right, fingertip left.
- Repeat that cycle ten times.
- Put the cards down and relax
Practice session 3 (cold starts)
Place packets of 4 cards around the house, in your car, in your coats.
Now and then, just grab a packet and make one true count, in any of the styles, and then immediately put the packet down again. Let a few minutes pass before doing it again.
The reason for this is that in performance, you seldom get the chance of doing a warm-up run. Usually, you can only do it once, and it have to be good directly. Therefore it is useful with cold start practice.
3: The Slip-back
The Slip-back is the first half of what makes the Elmsley count deceptive.
The Slip-back is a part of the Elmsley Count. It should look identical to a true count, because it is almost identical, apart from only one small change. The simplest application of the Slip-back is to false count four cards as five, and that is what we are going to do here.
Slip-back (standard)
The four card packet is held in a left Dealing position. The right hand takes hold of the right side of the packet, right at the edge, thumb on top and the finger tips below. You will now drag the top card diagonally forward to the left until it is completely clear off the right hand packet. At this point, you turn the left wrist downward, so that the top surface of the card is exposed as much as possible to the imaginary audience you have in front of you.
The left hand is turned back to the neutral position and moves back to slide the next card onto the first card. In doing so, the first card goes below the packet and is slipped in between the bottom card and the right hand fingertips so it becomes flush with the packet. It is then left there as the left thumb touch the new top card of the right hand packet, and the new top card is slid off the packet diagonally forward. That the left hand suddenly is missing a card is not noticed, because the observer will assume that the second card is covering and obscuring the view of the first card.
The second card is also displayed properly to your audience, but turning the wrist downward.
The display of the rest of the cards are done as a regular true count. And thanks to the slip-back the four cards will seem to be five, as the first card is counted twice (first and last).
As mentioned before, it is important that the holding hand is motionless and that the movements of the counting hand get all the attention. In your head, the actions are all about taking cards one by one, avoid all thoughts about slipping cards back – that is just something that should happen incidentally.
Slip-back (Fingertips right & left)
The applications for the Slip-back in this position are rare, outside its use in the Elmsley and Jordan counts. As you notice in the video above, even the instructor finds it fiddly. Still, let’s spend some time on it just to be complete.
Hold the packet at its left side with the palm up left hand, fingertips below and the thumb on top.
The right hand now pinch hold of the right long side of the packet, mirroring the left hand. The right hand now pull the top card to the right, as the pads of the right fingertips keep the bottom three cards back. Move the right hand diagonally forward and turn the top surface of the card forward so it is well displayed.
After displaying the first card, the right hand moves back so that the right thumb tip can pinch off the next card. The first card slides in between the left hand finger tips and the bottom card of the packet, and is left there flush with the bottom card. It can be ‘knacky’ to slide the second card off. Make sure you don’t hold the cards too hard, the lighter and softer touch you have the easier it is. The pads of the right hand second and third finger tips assist in holding the bottom two cards of the packet back, as the new top card is slid off, diagonally forward. The right hand snaps down forward to display the top surface of the second card.
The same is repeated to display the remaining two cards. Four cards have now been displayed as five.
Now, do the same thing mirrored, counting from right to left.
Exercise 1 (repetitions)
Vary the pace of each of the following repetitions, one count in slowmotion, another one fast… and so on.
- Do ten repetitions of the Slip-back count (standard).
- Do ten repetitions of the Slip-back count (fingertip right).
- Do ten repetitions of the Slip-back count (fingertip left).
Put the cards down and relax
Exercise 2 (cold starts)
Place packets of 4 cards around the house, and all the places you can think of.
Now and then, just grab a packet and make one Slip-back count, in any of the styles, and then immediately put the packet down again. Let a few minutes pass before doing it again. The reason for practicing like this is; in performance you seldom get the chance of doing a warm-up run..
4: The Block Push-off
This is the second essential part of the Elmsley and Jordan count
The Block push-off is the second essential part of the Elmsley and Jordan count. The simplest application of the Block push-off is to false count four cards as three, and that is what we are going to do here.
Block push-off (standard)
The four card packet is held in a left Dealing position. The right hand takes hold of the right side of the packet, right at the edge, thumb on top and the finger tips below. The pad of the thumb tip is centered on the very edge of the packet’s right side. Your left thumb will now drag the top card diagonally forward to the left until it is completely clear off the right hand packet. At this point, you turn the left wrist downward, so that the top surface of the card is exposed as much as possible to the imaginary audience you have in front of you.
The left hand is turned back to the neutral position and moves back to slide off the next card onto the first card… but just as the left thumb touches the top surface of the next card, the right thumb pushes all the cards above the bottom card to the left, aligned as a block – as one unit. There is a little bit of knack to it, and you have to experiment with how hard you need to press the right thumb tip downwards, and how hard you press to the left. However, the final goal is to use as little pressure as possible. The aim is a relaxed and soft appearance.
Even if you are actually pressing a whole block sideways with the right thumb, it should still look as if it is the left thumb that drags a card off.
The left hand moves diagonally forward with the block of cards on top of the first card, then the left wrist bends down to expose the top surface of the block.
Then the left hand returns to take the last card, as in a true count, and displays its top surface as well.
Four cards have now been false counted as three!
Block push-off (Fingertips right)
Hold the packet at its left side with the palm up left hand, fingertips below and the thumb on top.
The right hand now pinch hold of the right long side of the packet, mirroring the left hand. The right hand now pull the top card to the right, as the pads of the right fingertips keep the bottom three cards back. Move the right hand diagonally forward and turn the top surface of the card forward so it is well displayed.
After displaying the first card, the right hand moves back so that the right thumb tip can pinch off the next card. But just at this very moment, the left thumb does a Block push-off, and the block of all the cards above the bottom card is slid off, diagonally forward. The right hand snaps down forward to display the top surface of the second card.
The same is repeated to display the remaining card. Four cards have now been displayed as three.
Block push-off (Fingertips left)
Do the same thing as the previous variant, only mirrored, counting from right to left.
Exercise 1 (repetitions)
Begin by writing down ten different emotions in your notebook. Then use those emotions to vary each count in the following repetitions, one count in anger, another count in surprise, one afraid, another happily… and so on. Don’t forget your whole body is a part of the performance.
- Do ten repetitions of the Block push-off count (standard).
- Do ten repetitions of the Block push-off count (fingertip right).
- Do ten repetitions of the Block push-off count (fingertip left).
Put the cards down and relax
Exercise 2 (cold starts)
Place packets of 4 cards around the house, and all the places you can think of.
Now and then, just grab a packet and make one Block push-off count, in any of the styles, and then immediately put the packet down again. Let a few minutes pass before doing it again. The reason for practicing like this is; in performance you seldom get the chance of doing a warm-up run..
5: The Elmsley Count
We assemble all the parts into the famous Elmsley Count.
Origin
So why is this count named Elmsley? That is a good question! It is named after its originator, the Scottish magician and programmer Alex Elmsley (*1929 †2006).
In 1959, he published a little manuscript titled “The Four-Card Trick” and at the core of that trick was a false count that he had named something else, but that soon became known as the Elmsley Count. It is probably one of the most popular card sleights created, due to its versatility. With no significant change in handling, it can be used to hide an upside down card, a different color card or a special gimmicked card. It has been used in routines to make a card appear, vanish, or change. Or to secretly rearrange the order, or to secretly switch out cards… the full range of possibilities of the technique is not yet completely explored, even now 64 years later.
The full paternity and lineage of the count is published in the wonderful book The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley, Vol.1 (page 23, Stephen Minch, 1991).
Elmsley Count (Standard)
With the Slip-back, you can make four cards to appear as five – one more then the actual amount. With the Block push-off, you can make four cards appear as three – one less than the actual amount. So if you do both techniques in the same count, they cancel out each other, so that four cards are false counted as four cards (four plus one, minus one = four)…which might sound a bit silly at first, until you realize that one card then is completely hidden during the count. And that is the Elmsley Count.
The four card packet is held in a left Dealing position. The right hand takes hold of the right side of the packet, right at the edge, thumb on top and the finger tips below. The pad of the thumb tip is centered on the very edge of the packet’s right side. Your left thumb will now drag the top card diagonally forward to the left until it is completely clear off the right hand packet. At this point, you turn the left wrist downward, so that the top surface of the card is exposed as much as possible to the imaginary audience you have in front of you.
The left hand is turned back to the neutral position and moves back to slide off the next card onto the first card… but just as the left thumb almost touches the top surface of the next card, two things happen simultaneously:
– The right thumb do a Block push-off; pushes all the cards above the bottom card to the left, aligned as a block – as one unit.
– Underneath the packet, a Slip-back is done, as the first card goes below the packet and is slipped in between the bottom card and the right hand fingertips so it becomes flush with the packet.
The first card is left at the bottom, as the left hand moves diagonally forward with the block of cards, then the left wrist bends down to expose the top surface of the block.
Then the remaining two cards are counted and displayed just as in a true count. Four cards have now been displayed as four, while one of them have remained hidden.
It will likely feel quite awkward to do this at first, but once you get past that, you’ll soon find that you’ll appreciate the choreographical elegance in it. The minimalism in how two techniques comes together like a little clockwork, and you’ll notice that the hands will find the moves pleasurable. You’ll eventually will discover a meditative quality to doing it over and over, that no fidget spinner can compete with.
Elmsley Count (Fingertips right and left)
You have all the components at hand, so it will be left as an exercise for you to figure out the handling for a Left-to-right and a Right-to-left Elmsley count at the fingertips. The video above will give you some hints.
Exercises
Practice cold starts a lot with this. That is to pick up four cards, do the Elmsley count, and then immediately put the cards down again. Then wait a bit before doing it again.
Repetitions and cycles as in previous lessons are also useful. Try various stances, tempos, feet positions and emotions.
Put two cards face up and two cards face down, in various orders, and do several Elmsley counts and see what happens.
6: The Jordan Count
With a small adjustment of the handling, we get the Jordan Count, that goes well together with the Elmsley Count.
Origin
As with he previous count, the Jordan Count is also named after its originator, the american magician and chicken farmer Charles Jordan (*1888 †1944).
In 1919, he published a little manuscript titled “Thirty Card Mysteries” which contained a trick named “Phantom Aces” that utilized a certain false count that have become known as a good compliment to the Elmsley count. Now, you will be forgiven for thinking; “Hey, wait a minute! This is from 1919, and the Elmsley got published 1959 – forty years later! Why is Jordan Count not the famous one, and the Elmsley the known compliment?” Great question! Jordan created his false count as a way to secretly reorganize the cards into a certain order specific for his trick “Phantom Aces”. That it also concealed one card was never noticed at the time, so it wasn’t considered very useful and in time it got forgotten. That aspect wasn’t noticed until 1963 when British magician Francis Haxton discovered it, and it didn’t became generally known until 1970, when Haxton’s discovery was published in the magic magazine “Epilogue” (page 75, no. 10, November 1970).
The benefit of the Jordan Count is that its start position is identical to the end position of the Elmsley Count, and vice versa, so it is mostly used in tandem with the Elmsley count. But there are uses for it on its own. Despite being 104 years old, it is still largely unexplored.
Jordan Count (Standard)
In Elmsley count, all the covert actions happen on “two”. In Jordan count, it all happens on “three”.
The four card packet is held in a left Dealing position. The right hand takes hold of the right side of the packet, right at the edge, thumb on top and the finger tips below. The pad of the thumb tip is centered on the very edge of the packet’s right side. Your left thumb will now drag the top card diagonally forward to the left until it is completely clear off the right hand packet. At this point, you turn the left wrist downward, so that the top surface of the card is exposed as much as possible to the imaginary audience you have in front of you.
The left hand is turned back to the neutral position and moves back to slide off the next card onto the first card – exactly as in a regular True count. The left hand moves diagonally forward with the two cards and display the top surface of the top card.
Again, the left hand is turned back to the neutral position and moves back to slide off the third card onto the left hand cards card – but this happens almost simultaneously:
1: Underneath the packet, a Slip-back of the first two cards is done, as the left hand cards goes below the packet and are slipped in between the bottom card and the right hand fingertips so it all becomes flush with the packet.
2: The right thumb immediately do a Block push-off; pushes all the cards above the bottom card to the left, aligned as a block – as one unit.
The left hand moves diagonally forward with the block of three cards, then the left wrist bends down to expose the top surface of the block.
Then the last card is counted and displayed just as in a true count. Four cards have now been displayed as four, while one of them have remained hidden.
It will likely feel very awkward to do this at first, especially if you are still struggling with the Elmsley Count. But you’ll get the hang of it sooner than you’ll think.
Jordan Count (Fingertips right and left)
You know all the components, so it will be left as an exercise for you to figure out the handling for a Left-to-right and a Right-to-left Jordan count at the fingertips. The video above will give you some hints.
Order progression
When working out new tricks, it can be useful to know exactly how a count changes the order, without having to actually do the count.
This video might help you visualize it more clearly:
Exercise 1
Practice cold starts a lot with the Jordan count. That is to pick up four cards, do the count, and then immediately put the cards down again. Then wait a bit before doing it again.
Exercise 2
Repetitions and cycles are also useful. Try various stances, tempos, feet positions and emotions. Cycle between True count, Elmsley count and Jordan count. They should preferably all look identical.
Put two cards face up and two cards face down, in various orders, and do several Jordan counts and see what happens.
7: Dry skin
But what if you have dry skin, due to climate or age?
Some people have a bit too dry skin to comfortably perform these false counts. Weather can affect it, and so can age.
Therefore, it can be good to have a Fingertip Moistener nearby, just in case.
There are many various brands out there. Sortkwik is the most known, but any of them works (Elfen, Horse, Sparco, BilTema…). Can be found in stores for office supplies, and on Amazon and eBay. Some brands have been made specially for card magicians, but for average use the office versions are usually good enough.
You need only apply it on the specific points where you need more friction, and you don’t need a lot. If you drag one finger over the moistener, you can then use the amount on that finger and apply to the other spots.
Juan Tamariz noted that this is nothing you need to hide from the audience. If you openly bring out the moistener and apply it where you need it, while saying something along the lines of “This is so advanced and difficult that I must prepare extra carefully!”, people will assume it is a gag and laugh.
8: The Metronome
The most important factor in a false count is the rhythm, and a metronome is a great aid!
One of the most important factors in a false count is the rhythm, and a metronome is a great aid! A real one is quite nice, but an app version is more handy.
Search for “Metronome” in the iOS or Android app stores, and you’ll find hundreds of them, many completely free. Pick any of them. In the video above, I show three I just picked at random.
You can start by setting it to about 40 BPM (beats per minute), and then gradually increase the tempo. I find 60 BPM to be a fairly good pace. Try to display the cards exactly on the beat, and try to take the next card exactly on the midpoint between the beat. As an aid, when practising, you can count the rhythm out loud, and say “and” inbetween each number. That tend to aid in finding the proper rhythm.
The reason we aim to have a steady rhythm, is that the human brain is constantly searching for things to simplify down into patterns. Because, once we have a pattern, then the brain decides that it doesn’t have to analyze it very carefully, and can free up cognitive resources to find other things to simplify. So, with a pattern, the brain is replacing what the eyes actually see, for a mental construct of how the brain have decided the pattern should be. So, with a steady rhythm, it is easier to get away with mistakes and accidents.
Practise with the metronome, and don’t forget to practice with cold starts also.
9: Count or Display
Depending on whether you show the identities of the cards or show the amount of cards, it can be useful to change the appearance of the count.
So far, we have focused on showing the identities of the cards, turning the face of each card towards our audience.
But there are also times when emphasize should be on the amount of cards, and not their identity.
In those cases, it can be useful to do the count downwards instead, snapping the cards down audible.
Try that with both Elmsley count and Jordan count.
10: (n) as four
The Elmsley Count can also be used to misrepresent the amount of cards in the packet.
Try doing the Elmsley count with only three cards, and it will look like four card – giving you the chance to do the worlds easiest vanish of a playing card.
You can also have a packet of 5, 6, 7… cards, and with Elmsley count (or Jordan), it will also look like only four.
Try it out!
11: Body positions
A magic performance isn’t done solely by the hands, but with the whole body. We examine how the body can contribute.
When focusing on a specific sleight of hand technique, you need to remember that the hand choreography doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Sometimes, the difference between a boring and an interesting card display can be your feet positions.
Sidenote: Ascetic instructions
Dramatic content, posture, emotions and things like that will be mentioned in this course, like it is important. Which might make it seem odd that the videos and illustrations are so ascetic in nature – close-ups solely on the very essentials. The thing is, it is really important – but it is also very compelling and contagious. Once you have seen it done in a certain way, it becomes easy to assume that it is the only way to do it, and before you know it you are imitating a personal style as if it was a part of the technique taught. We are not aiming to create clones of the instructor, hence the ascetism.
Keep this in mind also when you are asked to post videos here. It is tempting to see what others have done before trying yourself, but that is self-defeating. Instead, do it blindly, film yourself doing the exercise in what you assume is the most obvious way – then look at what others have done, and you will be stunned over the innovative range. And know that others will look at your piece and be equally stunned.
Posture
Something to watch out for is the top of the head stance. This is when you are so focused on your own hand choreography that you never look up, and the only thing the audience see is the top of your head. Having this posture too often and for too long periods might alienate you from the audience, since you become quite anonymous.
Having this posture occasionally and briefly is not a problem though. The posture is difficult to avoid, and sometimes it can even be used for dramatic contrast – going from an extrovert attitude to a very introverted ‘top of the head’ stance can sometimes ‘pull’ the audience closer, in a figurative sense. The ‘top of the head’ stance is also useful when you need to pretend that a trick have gone wrong.
A neutral stance sounds simple, but requires some practice: Stand up straight. Let the arms hang to your sides and relax the shoulders. Your face is facing forward and your gaze as well. Now lift your hands to waist level, in front of you. Tilt your head downward a little bit, so that your face is facing the midpoint between the average eye level of your audience and the position of the cards in your hand. From this stance, you should be able to – without moving the head – raise your gaze and look the audience straight into their eyes. Or – also without moving the head – lower the gaze and see the cards in your hand. The latter will feel slightly odd and uncomfortable before you get used to it, because the natural inclination is to go into the ‘top of the head’ stance.
Sometimes you will need to communicate the intense focus of a “top of the head” stance, but without becoming anonymous or lose the connection with your audience. In those cases, you can use a low stance. That is; lower the whole body with your legs while keeping the upper body somewhat upright, so that the distance between your face and the cards becomes shorter. That way, the audience can still see your face.
Exercise 1: Stance
If you have a camera (the camera in your mobile phone is perfect), prop it up and film yourself when you do the various display variants of the true count, using the three stances just mentioned. Do several repetitions, and then view the recording and write down your observations in your notebook. What does each stance communicate? When is one stance preferable over another?
Sidenote: Camera vs. mirror
Never use mirrors when you practice. Always use a camera if you need visual feedback. Otherwise you risk getting ‘mirror damaged’ which can take time to fix.
Using the feedback from a mirror (or a camera monitor) gives a false sense of security, since the instant visual feedback makes you constantly adjust your movements… but when you finally try it out for a real audience, it will feel horrible as you lack the comfort of the instant visual feedback. Suddenly, everything you thought was familiar and comfortable will feel like you are blindly walking around in a dark labyrinth. There is also the problem of subconscious realtime editing, that whenever you do a move that is supposed to be invisible, you will blink so that you don’t see anything, which will lead to the embarrasing self-delusion where the only person in the room that is fooled by the moves are you. So, only practice in front of an imaginary audience, or a camera. Shun mirrors like the plague!
Wide display
When performing for several people, it is often useful to slowly turn during the display count, and give a wider section of the audience a good look at the cards. But if so, make a micro pause just as the top surface of each displayed card is shown, as it is difficult to see the identity of a moving card. So, even when moving the hands in a small and soft arc, let the counting hand move out like a straight spike from that arc.
Positions of the feet
Unfortunately, many magicians forget that the whole body is involved in a performance. A lot of performers are magicians only from the waist up. Therefore it is probably good thata we bring attention to the feet as soon as possible, at once, here and now, so you’ll have this in the back of your head for the duration of the course.
Some feet positions will give you a nonchalant look, while others will make you seem elegant or dramatic. Other positions might make you look clumpsy, and some will make you look pedantic. The interesting part is that this is not necessarily identical from person to person. The same foot position might give two performers very different looks.
Exercise 2: Feet positions
In your notebook, draw simple schematic drawings of 12 different feet positions. For inspiration, make a Google search for word combinations like positions of the feet, dance, martial arts, theatre, fencing, ballet…
After you have 12 different feet positions, prop up your camera and film yourself trying each of those feet positions for a true count of the cards.
Then view the video and note down your observations in your notebook. How does the various feet positions change your expression?
Exercise 3: Subtext and physical expression
As you have noticed, a purely physical position or stance can infuse your expression with emotional or dramatic content, even when you had no intentions in that direction. You can also move in the other direction. That is, to paint a mental image in your head and keep it there while you execute a display count. That is, do not act anything out, just keep the mental image in your head. And, even if you do nothing to overtly act it out, if the mental image is vivid in your head, subtle undertones will still leak and seep out into your physical actions. Henning Nelms, in his book “Magic and Showmanship” (1969) refer to this as a “silent script”, but in the dramatic arts, it is more often refered to with the word “subtext”. It is a good way to add complexity to a performance, without adding procedure. Sometimes the thought can inform the action, and sometimes the action can inform the thought. So, compare these situations… While you do a display count of the cards, you vividly paint the following in your head:
- You are frying bacon in a hot pan, and burning hot fat is splattering everywhere.
- It is an ordinary day like every other, but then you discover that the cards in your hands are turning into solid gold.
- You are actually trying to imagine the correct product of the multiplication 122 times 8.
Despite not acting anything out overtly, the display count in each of these examples will seem very different. Because your mind will always color your actions. And it is not at all necessary for anyone else than you to understand what image you paint in your head. In fact, it is even better when no one can figure it out, because the motivations that your audience will invent as an explanation to the complexity in your behaviour will always be more impressive and dramatic than anything you can come up with.
Write down ten mental images with various emotional content in your notebook. A good mix of positive and negative emotions. Like “I’m starving, but these cards seem edible”, “I love these cute kittens!”, “I’m changing diapers on my great grandfather”, “Look at these fragile priceless antiques!”… There is no need to be “creative” here. Be obvious and make it easy for yourself. The only important thing about the ten mental images is that there are ten of them. If it takes you more than 5-10 minutes to write down ten mental images, you are trying to make the exercise more difficult than what it should be. Keep it simple and silly, because no one but you will ever see it.
Prop up your camera and film yourself doing a true display count of the cards for each of the mental images you’ve noted down.
View the movie and write down your observations in your notebook. Try to keep track of the feet positions and the stance you naturally use in each case.
12: Twisting the Aces
One of the most known applications for the Elmsley Count is Dai Vernon’s “Twisting the Aces”. We take a look at that routine here.
Origin
The creator of the trick in the video below is Dai Vernon (*1894 †1992), who probably was the most influential figure in modern magic. The title of the trick is “Twisting the Aces”, and we will use it as an illustrative example of how these false counts can be applied in a card trick.
It is being taught with permission of the Dai Vernon estate.
-“But…”, you might think, “…wouldn’t it be better to learn Elmsley’s original ‘The Four-card Trick’ instead, and get to know the technique in the context it was created for?” And yes, usually that would be the preferable approach, and Alex Elmsley certainly originated countless great tricks! Unfortunately, ‘The Four-card Trick’ is not one of them. Despite that it contains a rapid succession of very surprising effects, it is not a particulary good trick. It is all over the place, and doesn’t really know what it wants to be. Dai Vernon’s “Twisting the Aces”, on the other hand, is a little masterpiece in minimalism. It was published the year after Elmsley’s original release, in the book “More Inner Secrets of Card Magic” (by Lewis Ganson, 1960).
Analyze, deconstruct & reverse-engineer
We will not go into the handling and choreography until the next lesson. Instead, try to pick apart the trick. Bring out your notebook and note down everything you notice, and then try to reconstruct what needs to be in the remaining gaps. As you notice, the performer’s technique is not perfect in the video. There are flaws and errors, and it should be possible for you to discover which false counts that are used. Also, note down what you consider to be necessary improvements in technique, so that you will be able to do it without any ‘tells’.
Also, it is good if you begin to ponder vagely over what kind of feet positions that will go well together with the effects, what stance works well at the end, and the progression of emotions. Try to visualize yourself performing it.
Drama as deception / Deception as drama
When struggling with new sleight-of-hand techniques, it is sometimes easy to deceive oneself to believe that the sleight-of-hand is all that matters. That is a mistake. Magic is a dramatic art. Even though it is largely choreographical in nature, it still contain quite a lot of dramatic principles and concepts. However, despite sharing a lot with theater, magic is not theater. It is its own art. If we reduce the arts down to their naked skeletons, we might say that painting at its core is about making symbolistic marks and impressions on a surface. We might say that theatre is about portraiting fictional people and events. And we might say that magic, at its core, is about enticing people to make wrong assumptions about their observations. While our deceptions often results in drama, that drama is often created for the sake of deception. Let’s examine a small part of the Twisting the Aces. Let’s assume that this is the timeline of the routine:
Let’s say that “E” represents the last phase, at 0:43 in the video, where the Ace of Spades refuses to turn over. Why does this happen? Why not let it happen without any problems? Well, from a theatrical point, it would become boring then. Conflict is a very important dramatic concept. I suggest you read a bit about dramatic conflict, as you will have a lot of use for this later. TvTropes is a good place to start.
There is a lot of nifty techniques and concepts within drama that can be used to either amplify or smooth out things. For example, still viewing at it from a theatrical point of view, to introduce a conflict too abruptly can also block the storyline as the audience might need a few seconds to catch up with the events and understand the premise for the sudden conflict… To smooth out that obstacle, there exist a very useful dramatic technique called “foreshadowing”. You can google that term, or read about it at TvTropes.
Here, still viewed from the theatrical point of view, since we don’t want the piece to be boring, we have created a conflict at “E”. That way, we have dramatic content. Once we have that, we can work our way backwards in the timeline, in search for a good place to insert some “foreshadowing”. That is, to insert a small hint about things to come, in this case a conflict is coming, so that when it happens, it doesn’t come out of the blue. For example at “A”. And in the video above, you can see the foreshadowing being established at 0:07-0:11, where it is mentioned that the Ace of Spades is tricky. In other words, from a theatrical point of view, this little thing at the start is solely a function of the dramatic conflict to come, and the conflict to come is solely a function of making the piece dramatically interesting…. However….
Magic isn’t theater. Even though everything said so far is correct, that is still just the surface, just one single layer. Magic is double-layered, and underneath the theatrical layer is the layer that is unique to us. And on that layer, we are moving in the other direction. Because the thing that happens at “A”, at 0:07-0:11 in the video, is absolutely necessary for the trick to work. The secret action that happens there is setting up everything to come, and the trick wouldn’t work without it. But for this essential part to seem unimportant, Dai Vernon decided to make it look like a foreshadowing. Then he moved forward along the timeline searching for a place to insert an overt conflict, to which the essential intro could appear like merely a foreshadowing. The foreshadowing at “A” is a function of the conflict at “E”, which is a function of the covert action at “A”. In other words, the very presence of drama here is just as much a part of the deception as the false counts are.
13: Twisting the Aces (the handling)
With kind permission of the Dai Vernon estate, we examine the handling of the classic “Twisting the Aces”.
This will be complicated, so let’s dive into it without preambles.
Set-up
Remove the four aces from your deck of cards, and arrange them in CHaSeD order (Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds) from the top down. Ace of Diamonds is at the face of the packet. The packet is turned face down.
Performance
You will now show the faces of the cards to your audience, so they will know it is the four Aces. But you don’t want them to remember the order, so spread the face down Aces into a fan. Then take the two top cards in one hand and the two bottom cards in the other, and turn both hands over to show the faces of the cards. Then assemble the cards back into a face down packet again, and square it.
Single buckle & triple turn-over
What follows now should look like you are simply flipping over the top card of the packet. But in reality, it will be three cards that is kept in alignment and turned over as if it was just a single card. To accomplish this, you begin by doing a “Single buckle”, which is done as follows.
Little finger break
If you want to, you can do this quite early, and then maintain the separation with a little finger break (shown in the third illustration), which is simply to put the fleshy pad of the tip of the left little finger against the separation, preventing the separation from closing when you relax the hand again.
Thanks to the separation, the right hand can now pinch the right side of the three top cards and then drag them aligned to the left for almost the whole width of the cards, and then turn the block face up, as if turning over a page in a book. The face of the Ace of Spades have come into view. Tell the audience that this ace is especially difficult.
You will now turn the Ace of Spades face down again, but leave two cards face up. That is done like this:
Turn the left hand palm down, at the same time as your left thumb pushes the Ace of Spades out rightwards. The right hand now takes the Ace of Spades and turn it around, and it is then squared with the rest of the packet. The left hand then returns to a palm up position. It will seem as if all the four Aces are back to their initial position, but in reality the two center cards of the packet are face up.
Ace of Hearts
Create some kind of magic moment, a small dramatic touch that will hint “it is now it happens!”. In the video, that moment is when the packet is rotated 180°. Then do an Elmsley Count to show that the Ace of Hearts have turned face up.
Ace of Clubs
Do your magic moment again, and do a new Elmsley Count to show that the Ace of Clubs now have turned face up – but put the last card of the count at the bottom of the packet, rather than take it on top.
You will seem to flip the Ace of Clubs face down, but in reality, you do a single buckle and a triple turn-over.
Ace of Diamonds
Do your magic moment, then do a true count to show that the Ace of Diamonds have turned over. The Ace of Diamonds is taken in an out-jogged position during the count, and as you take the last card, you keep it separated from the rest of the cards with a little finger break.
Strip out the face up Ace of Diamonds and place it on top of the packet. Turn the right hand palm down, and take the two cards above the little finger break in an end grip, the right thumb at the inner end of the cards and the right fingers at the outer end. Lift the two cards aligned as one, and use the left side of the double card to flip the remaining cards in the left hand face up. Place the double card on top of the left hand cards. Then turn the whole packet face down.
Ace of Spades
Do an Elmsley count – nothing seems to happen.
Do a Jordan count – nothing seems to happen.
Place the packet down on the table, and pick up the deck. Riffle the outer end of the deck towards the tabled packet, so that the packet flutters. Then spread the packet out to show that the Ace of Spades now are face up.
The end.
14: False Counts finale
You have now got a fairly good introduction in how to do the two most known false counts. From now, it will be quite simple to learn other variations.
Remember that it is more than what the hands do. It is equally important with tempo, pacing, stance, gaze, feet positions, drama and script. You can add an almost infinitive amount of layers.
Don’t hesitate show off your work! You often learn more from trying out something in the real world once, than from trying it out in solitude 20 times.
If you enjoyed this course and found it useful, then help us out by mentioning us on social media and magic forums.
If you are curious about Alex Elmsley’s other creations, try to find his two amazing books “The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley, Vol. 1” and “Vol. 2”. You can also see Alex Elmsley perform and teach some of his routines in the video series “Alex Elmsley Tahoe Sessions“
Good luck!
