Axel Hecklau's Linking Rings Masterclass Review

Hi, my name is Steve Faulkner. Welcome to Real Magic Review. And today I will be reviewing Axel Hecklauer's Linking Ring Masterclass. Before I do this review, can you please like and subscribe? Check out online magic.co. That's my online magic course resource compendium. That's not the right word. Huge library of, uh, of videos and live sessions every week. And next week we've got Looch coming. If you're watching this in real time, uh, Looch mentalism, uh, lecture next week, live and uploaded on the course forevermore for your membership. So check it out. Online magic.co. Thousands of magicians have worked intensely on the linking rings. It is a classic and for good reasons, visually linking two solid rings of steel. It's a very strong effect, but if you eliminate the noise, less is more, but that alone is not enough. The linking rings can only develop their full impact. If you use all of the advantages and combine them correctly, a deliberately planned routine with a clear structure and a sensible dramaturgy is just as important as the purely mechanical moves. So this has been a real commitment for me. I'm not saying that in a, in a, in a way to pick myself up at all. And it's a total choice. I, when Axel told me he was doing a masterclass on Lincoln rings, I was excited because he'd already recorded this in German. And he said he was coming out with the English version and I've got a history of the Lincoln rings. First of all, I love it. I love Lincoln rings. I love classics. I love multiplying balls, all that stuff. And a lot of you that watch the show will know that, but always been fascinated with it. Even the little ones that I know, Axel said he's not so keen on the small ones, but when I first saw Schuettegauer do his Ninja ring routine, I just thought it was so magical. Everything went out of my head, the idea of it being weird apparatus and things like that. I didn't care. Just looks lovely, looks beautiful. That's all I cared about and I wanted to learn it. And I did and performed it a lot. Before that, I had performed Hayden's comedy Lincoln ring routine, Pop Hayden, which I remember getting a manuscript for on the cruise ship, went on a cruise ship, didn't have enough material. So I learned it and performed it, did it terribly, but still got really good reactions. I remember learning the one from Davenport's, which was this kind of really involved loads of different shapes you can make with the rings and trying to learn it out of the book. This was before the internet. That's how long ago it was, really struggling with it. Well, kind of before the internet, but, um, and, and just it being this complex thing and really unintuitive. And I couldn't get my head around it way back. So because I'm a massive fan of Axel Hecklauer, every single thing he's put out that I've seen, I just love it. I think he's a great thinker. He's known for creating amazing props, amazing routines, taking classics and changing them, which is what he's done here. Now I want to say changing them. As he says the first half of this, and this is a three and a half hour download or stream. Uh, the first half of this is his classic routine and that is incorporating his silent linking, which is really important part of this actually. I would say I was going to say the most important part, but actually arguably not. Um, it's silent Lincoln ring, which is his kind of development of the Lincoln rings and mixing it with a classic routine, which did actually remind me of the, the Roy Davenport one that I did with the different shapes and all the different things you can do with them. And what he's done is he's taken the two melded them together into this beautiful routine. Uh, he's been doing the Lincoln ring for over 40 years. It's got a lovely bit of footage from 1980 when he's performing in the first ever bit of footage he's got doing magic. There's got a whole performance of him in 1999 performing it for his grandfather's 90th birthday. And then an up-to-date performance, which is in the, um, I think the palace of wonder, uh, salon of wonder, or my apologies, of course, out of wonder in Berlin, which is his theater. And that's the show that he analyzes. So he takes this, this routine. He says it mixes the first act is the sort of classic stuff. And then he's got his host silent bit. And then he's, he's got the, the multi the seven ring routine, which is what this whole thing is. And then he analyzes the whole thing. The first download is the analysis of it, the drama of it, why he's chosen to do things, why he structured it into free acts were prologue and free acts. All these learnings are incredible. And then he breaks down the moves and the technique and teaches you this thing all the way through with the idea that you take that and do the bits that you want from it. And the second download is the, all his silent Lincoln ring stuff, which is his kind of work on it. So he says, it's not, you know, the routine is classic. It's not his, um, but his bits of silent bit. So I decided to really go for it with this one. And because I remember why I started this channel and that was to keep me learning. And the temptation is with a three and a half hour download or stream is to go around and watch it through and then talk about, I didn't want to do that. I wanted to learn everything from it. And I did. And it's taken me weeks of practice. I'm not saying I've mastered it. You'll see bits of footage on here, which are nowhere near as good as what he does. But the important point is it's not hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. It's hours and hours. So that's the difference. So I think a lot of this stuff, well, all of it is, is within the ability of nearly everybody. So the idea that they are not, um, everyday objects, he covers this in the, in the pros and cons of this said, yes, there are so many pros. There are so many reasons why he would perform this that how magical they are, how, how relatable they are, because they are, it's a routine that makes complete sense. You know, metal is passing from hell. That's the routine and you're just doing stuff with that to make it entertaining and beautiful. So this idea of them not being everyday, it's fine. I think people recognize them as magicians, props, and they, they have an idea of how it's done, but with the different moves and subtleties, you cancel all that out and you create a piece of theater and a piece of magic that is wonderful. I think stop overthinking it, take these out and you'll, you'll understand what I mean. And for somebody who's performed different versions of this, I kind of have a little bit, tiny bit of, of, of experience to be able to tell you that other things are that you're going to learn an awful lot about magic with this, this learning just on this spot. And I've done both keep saying desk. That's showing the age, isn't it? I've done both of these and learn all of it, but, or I'm learning all of it, but I learned so much because he tells you why everything works. And this is interesting with the Lincoln's because it can be so confusing. It's not making these shapes, but he breaks it down in a way that you understand why he would do it in that way, where you would look in that way, why you would do a body movement rather than just a hand movement, how you can make something that is potentially unmagical, look very magical, just with some little subtleties, just with some looks, just with some wrist movements, just with knowing where you're going to be facing when you do that part of the movement, that's the stuff that I think is transferable to so much of magic and going. And I would say I've really enjoyed the learning process of learning that classic routine of just learning it and then getting some music on and going through the moves and really getting a firm foundation and knowledge of the Lincoln means, which is what I've got from this. Then I got into the silent main stuff, which is in download too, which I just thought was so magical and I knew it was going to be good, but there are so many moves. And as he says, you don't want to do all of them. It's not like you want to hold to, you know, 15 minute routine on silent routine because there's a reason why he's put it in the middle. He's got the, the audible stuff, the classic links, and then he's got the silent bit. And then that's that sort of juxtaposages, juxtaposages that jokes that I'm trying to think of a less pretentious word, but you know what I mean? How that that contrasts with then going into the classic stuff after that. So he says, you know, don't overdo it. Less is more, all of that stuff, which he talks about at length. But the moves are just, you do them and you kind of fool yourself. I've videoed myself doing this and I, a couple of moves, I'm not even doing that well, but because of all the little subtleties, they just look really good. And when you do them, you think I'm not going to get away with it. And then you watch them back and you go, right, that's great. And he's got all the classic links of course, as well. But you know, just off the top of my head, the Isaac Newton, when he does this drop is just so I looked into it and I kind of had an idea and then I was wrong because I looked at myself, he's got me with this. I can't do it. I can't suss it out. Um, he's got the throw link, which seems really difficult, which is called, um, catch me if you can, which is just, you know, it feels so good when you do it. Um, this silent crash link, which is his favorite, which again, you, you, you, you burn this stuff and you can't see it. It's utterly beautiful. And I think it's one of the best things I've seen in a long time. And the best learning experiences I've had in a long time, I've spent hours with this and I'm still loving every minute of it. And the reason I've liked it, if you look at the conditions of flow, which is a state you get into when you're in practice, which we'll all know about where you'll just, you forget about what time it is and everything else loses meaning. You're just doing the thing for the sake of doing it with this. It's not too difficult that you lose hope. You can see that instant feedback that, and that's what flow needs. You need to see that you're getting better at it. And I think with this stuff, there's none of it's really, really difficult. It's all doable. And you see that, that, um, uh, improvement quite quickly. And I think that's what, for me, it's, yes, it's an amazing routine that I want to do, but part of the joy of this is just doing it for the sake of doing it, learning it. And yes, to be able to show people will be great. And I showed my partner the other day, some of the real kind of classic shapes and she was like, that's really cool. And then kind of forgotten how cool it works. I've been doing it for so long. So I think the learning from it, the teachings, brilliant, the knowledge that you'll gain to transfer that knowledge to different aspects of magic and learn something really unique, really cool. And it is unique. It's a classic, but it's unique is not that many people are doing it now. And I think this has its place way more than a lot of magic. I think we are totally wrong with this idea that the classics and I know I've banged on about this before aren't as relevant. If you take this onto a stage and do it well, and you can see that and do it well, you'll understand that you might not do all of it. You might not do all the classic stuff, but I think that it's, it's a really incredible piece of work this. And I think it's a tragedy that a lot of people are going to look at it and go, it's Lincoln rings. I don't want to learn that. I really recommend you get it. I really recommend you get a set of, you know, cheapo rings. Don't get really expensive ones and, and enhance your magic and become a better magician, which is exactly what it's done for me. Now, once you've learned everything, you've stopped being able to put the moves together in ways that aren't on the, the download. And I think that's what I'm starting to gain an understanding. And that's that real lovely moment for me when you go, I really understand this now. I'm really, really getting it. He goes over all the other stuff as well. Like wonderful displays of the key ring, holding the, the magic ring. If you see what, if you see what I mean ways of displaying them that aren't just what you'd think. And this says a lot about this download, by the way, you know, when you're, when you're taking this ring, you can, yeah, you can display it like that and take it back like that. But he does it in a way that that is totally different. So he will take it and put it down here and then bring it up here because it looks so much more natural than kind of placing something in a certain way. And, and, and that says a lot. He's taken something. I nearly didn't watch that bit when he's talking about, you know, displaying the key ring because of all, I know all this, but every single thing had this fit. Well, actually, if you do it this way, it looks a little bit more convincing and, and we'll, we'll flow more. So he's taken all those classic things and kind of made them a little bit better as well. And I suppose the only, and for sake of balance, if I was to say anything negative about this, um, the, the version I saw, and I think the version you get, you get a PDF of all the links is on Vimeo. I found it quite difficult to highlight tiny little bits. I find this with a lot of streaming and downloading. I want to be able to go back frame by frame sometimes. And I couldn't do, I was clicking on them. There might be a way of doing it. I don't know that I was clicking on a bit and I couldn't get to the bits. I had to rewatch the whole thing. It was, I really, that's why I like DVDs because you can scan back and forward. Um, and, and I'm not, you put, you might be able to download this and not stream it. I'm not sure, but, uh, that's that bit, but it's, it's really not a deal breaker at all. I know this is a bit rambling and it's a bit gushy, but I genuinely, um, I've had a great time with this and I, and I think you should know about that. So do use the links below. Do of course, I always check out all of say, check out all of Axel stuff. I think it's all brilliant. Um, but this is affordable. Yes. You might look at the price and go with streaming, but for 60 euros, I think it is, or maybe it's $60. I don't know. I think it's an, it's a bargain for what you're going to get from it. You know, if you think about certain tricks you can buy for that. And yes, of course you're going to have to get the rings, but highly, highly recommended. Uh, so thanks very much. Thank you to Axel for, for that and the experience I've had from it and the learning and sending it to me. Of course. Uh, any questions you've got, do put them in the comments below. I will be answering these on Thursday evenings at five UK time at time of recording that might change, um, of the comments on comments shows. So check them out and come and hang out live and do of course check out online magic.co where I'll be adding loads of non-card stuff, a lot of card stuff on at the moment, um, including link and rings at some point. Hopefully we'll get Axel in for a lecture there as well. Uh, and like and subscribe. So thanks very much. Have a great one. Cheers.