The Secrets of Rubber Band Magic with Joe Rindfleisch

This week Jonah sits down with Joe Rindfleisch to talk all about rubber band magic and hoe Joe is at the forefront of developing the language used to teach this style of magic and the classic magic he taps into to influence the new tricks he’s developing. “You got sixty bucks”? Originally Joe wasn’t involved in magic at all, but he did meet with friends to play cards and eventually every night would end with someone doing a card trick. When he finally asked how it was done he was told that “a magic trick is told, when a magic trick is sold” and his friend directed him to a magic shop. Pouring over books, Joe found that trick and learned it’s secrets and a few years later was able to perform that trick for the same friend, with a few select changes he learned from classic magic so he wouldn’t know how it was done. Learning From The Classics Joe has earned a reputation, through teaching courses and selling instruction videos, as one of the world’s biggest developers and inventor of rubber band magic. The secret to that success was a decision to approach rubber band magic just like all the other forms of magic. Almost anything you can do with cards or coins you can do with rubber bands and from that you can create a beginning, middle, and end to the routine and evolve rubber band magic from a quick short trick into a full magic routine as robust as any of the other classics. Joe gets into where he finds his inspiration, how he adapts classic coin and card magic into his rubber band routines, and why he’s so fascinated by the potential of rubber band magic. Developing A New Vernacular Developing a whole new branch of magic means coming up with language to describe it. Because rubber band magic has been so underdeveloped it can make it very difficult to write out instructions because all the basic hand motions and positions have to be written out in long form detail that can be hard to visualize in one’s head. Which is why, if you’re like Jonah and other magicians learning rubber band magic today, you have likely only learned a rubber band trick by jamming with another magician in person or watching video instructions. What Joe is setting out to do is create a new vernacular, a new set of words, to describe what is being done in a rubber band trick. By teaching the basic hand positions and motions first and creating a robust foundation he can then move on to more easily, and efficiently, teach more complex rubber band routines.  Joe shares with Jonah some of this language and helps describe the terms used to describe those fundamental positions you’ll need to learn if you want to grow your rubber band magic knowledge.  Wrap-Up Endless Chain Dr. Cyril Thomas, from France, is a very prolific creator. And Joe loves Marcus Eddie’s magic. He’s just a powerhouse creator. What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Lately Joe has been teaching magic through Penguin Magic School and the enthusiasm of his students is making him enthusiastic. What Joe doesn’t like is the proliferation of content creators teaching and sharing magic without crediting the sources. The best way to learn a Joe Rienfliesh rubber band trick is to learn it from Joe Rienfliesh!  Plugs Joe has his own site at rubberbandmagic.com All of Joe’s downloads can be found exclusive at Penguin Magic And you are invited to message Joe on Facebook Messenger, he’s always open to chat and answer your questions.