“Clap and Cheer!” It’s the cry of the busker—the street performer—who captivates a crowd, delights them with his antics, and then passes his hat to earn a daily wage. What’s that got to do with kid shows?
Actually, everything!
“Clap and Cheer!” It’s the cry of the busker—the street performer—who captivates a crowd, delights them with his antics, and then passes his hat to earn a daily wage. What’s that got to do with kid shows? Actually, everything!
Pro-magician Tom Hughes digs deep into the techniques of the street performer, revealing how you can learn from their successful strategies to get and keep kids’ attention; engage them in hilarious, seemingly impromptu escapades; and get the sponsors to rebook you. He shows you how to take the street busker’s approach to crowd psychology and position it right in the middle of the living room, library or wherever you do kids shows.
At 110 pages, there’s a lot to learn from Tom Hughes. Straight from his “Clap and Cheer” lecture at the KIDabra convention, we’ve reorganized his lecture notes into a three-section e-book. Street performers have mastered all of them.
- The Crowd Build—Watch a successful street performer and you’ll see “the show before the show.” This section is about the interactions—the tricks, sight gags and silliness that you do with kids while you’re waiting for everyone to arrive. You’ll learn 3 great bits with props that you already own and different approaches to establishing rules—a busking technique to make sure everyone enjoys the show.
- Make them Stay—The busker’s worst fear? Walk-offs! Folks that leave in the middle of a show. Kidshow entertainers can have the same problem at certain venues. Bottom line: If you can’t engage the children, they won’t stay. How do you do it? Tom reworks some lessons from street magicians, applies them to kids and shares 12 full-blown routines that are guaranteed to captivate kids. Plus he discusses why famed British street performer Gazzo’s use of Double Trouble is a great strategy to use when designing a kids magic routine.
- Make Them Pay—When talking kid shows, this busker term translates into “Make Them Rebook You." And Tom Hughes takes his cue from the way street performers perform their grand finale. It’s all about making them like you as you take your magic to a whole other level. This discussion and the 3 routines he teaches are worth many times the price of this e-book and will get you thinking about making changes in your own kid show.
Download the table of contents and a few free pages of Clap and Cheer. Decide if it’s for you. We know, that most of you, after reading the entire e-book will stand up, clap and cheer for Tom Hughes, just as your audiences will clap and cheer for you!
