My question follows:
I have just recently added ventriloquism, (a dragon puppet that sits on my shoulder and I make his mouth move with my left hand) to the beginning of my magic shows. (He is on a stick that is behind my back)
My last three shows to be exact. I have also videoed my shows but the camera is set up at a distance, and set up to see my entire magic show, not a closeup of my face. So I can not really tell how good I am doing at not moving my lips.
Anyway, it seems that I'm getting a good response out of my vent act, but it is at the very beginning of my show, and I do about 22 magic tricks in a typical 45+min. show, plus I end my show with the production of a live rabbit, which is a big hit.
So because I have so much that happened, know one really says anything good or bad about my ventriloquism routine.
I have just bought a remote control vent toucan and WILL also add him to my magic show. I've written a script and there is interaction, mostly negative between the dragon and the toucan. I plan on practicing quite a bit this entire routine. I wrote the script as my puppets will talk so that I can practice saying it as they will. Example: (You haaa Dragon reath)-(So-you
are a erd-rain)
Now for my question: If my dialog is funny, and the interaction between the 3 of us is funny, how concerned or worried should I be about slightly moving my lips? The reason I ask this is because I think I am better at not moving my lips in practice then I was in my 3 live shows to date. I can not tell from my videos but I just think it.
I just think that if I do not really worry about it and keep practicing and performing I will naturally get better.
Did you ventriloquists that have been performing for a long time feel like I do now in the beginning.

Thanks for asking for input and thanks for adding ventriloquism. There are MANY magicians around, but you now have a unique selling point. A talking toucan. Who can? You can! Not to mention a dragon on the shoulder.

For future routine materials they could play the part of your conscience, like a devil on the shoulder and an angel on the side.

I noticed that you are leaving out the labials (letters made with lips) rather than replacing them with similar sounds. That is starting off on the wrong foot, my friend. Be sure to check out the how to section on the Axtell website and find out what letters replace the labials, instead of just leaving them out.

As per your question: The best way to practice is in front of a mirror. The second best is in front of an audience. Keep up the good work.

In the meantime, you may want to extend your routines with the magic so you are doing more show with less tricks. 22 tricks in 45 minutes seems more like a show and tell. I heard a great quote yesterday at a magic club. You want the audience to remember you and not your magic. Let your personality shine through. This may not be true if you do it all to music, where tricks are rapid fire, but if you are using volunteers, patter, and letting your persona shine through, you won't have time for 22 tricks.

I know I answered questions you didn't ask, but this forum is for everyone and it may help others as well. My opinion only.

Thanks Tony for your input
I have just recently joined this site and have been reading a lot from all of the forums and I think there was something else you said that really caught my attention. In my last show just one week ago I was performing for a 9 year old girl's birthday. There were about 25-30 kids there. There were a couple of spots where they started to clap but stopped because I immediately moved onto another trick. Anyway, I think you said somewhere on these forums to give people time to applause. This I will do from now on.
Before my show begins I will ask the person that hired me if time is a factor. Example: If the party is from 1-3 and my show is to begin at 1:45, I do not want to go beyond my 45 minutes. I want to give them time to do the cake open presents, etc. If time is no factor, my 45 minute show usually goes 1 hour.
Why do I do that? I love performing and want to be sure I give people their money's worth. I know of some magicians that do about 5 tricks in 45 minutes.
Watching most of the audience, I notice a lot of people getting bored and walking off.
I have never had a dissatisfied customer and sometimes even get a tip on top of the $130-$250 I get for the show. I really love doing magic and just want to make sure people feel they are getting their money's worth.
As a beginning ventriloquist I know I have a lot to learn. I have been practicing in front of a hand held mirror held close to my face. I will reread the instructions on this site to learn what you are saying. I am very, very, interested to hear from you. I read just about every post you make. You can go to my web site to see my dragon puppet. www.themysticalmagician.com
I would even like to run my script by you, to see what you think of it and also to learn what sounds I should be striving for.
Thanks again Tony

Tony,
I am going to work on my script with the replacement letters today instead of leaving them out. I'd rather learn it correctly now instead of learning it incorrectly and then trying to relearn it later. I really do want to try and do a good job at ventriloquism, so anyone's suggestions are extremely welcomed. I accept criticism well.

You will find that different people have different replacement sounds. Here are my favorite's with reasons why.

B: Replace with a soft d (duh type) sound. Instead of having the tip of your tongue hit the roof of your mouth as it does for a d, have the tip of your tongue hit the back of the front teeth right at the top of the teeth.

F: This one is so easy you will think it isn't right. But it is! Just replace F with a hard th sound as in throw. I like thish. Thour score years ago. Don't be afraid to make it a hard th sound. Otherwise it sounds like a v.

V: Replace with a soft th sound as in the word the. I like thalentines. Thicky is cute. thictory in Jesus. Soft is the key here.

M: Use an ng sound as in ring, sing, etc. It is a common Chinese phonetic. Just think ung. What you are doing is closing off the passage of air through your mouth, just as you would if your lips were closed. Try mmmmmm the regular way. Then ngggggg. Do them one after the other, after the other, after the other.
mmmmmm, ngggggg, mmmmmm, ngggggg. You should hear the same sound, one with the lips closed and one with it open.

P: Replace with a tuh or kuh sound as in t or k. I like t. The BEST way is to actually use both at the same time! Uh-oh. This is really advanced. Feel how your tongue hits for k. Now feel how it hits for t. Now try to combine those two spots either at the same time or as a very quick roll. So you have three choices for P. T, K, or a combo.

W: Replace the w sound (not always the letter, but the sound) with a long o sound. (short o also works). Sandwich is now sand-o-ich. Water is 0-ater.

WOW!
Between what you have just written and Steve's site I have learned a lot.
I'm not exactly sure I get your M sound. I use the M quite a bit in my script, in words like me, magic, I'm, name, more, famous, them, mist, empty, and some.
I was just substituting the N sound, like Magic is nagic.
That is not the correct thing to do?

Substituting the n (a slightly drawn out, lazy n sound) for an m will work. I like ng better (as in rung, sung, hung) for the match AND for the fact that the audience cannot see the tip of the tongue as easily .

Some people use a hard g sound for B so the tip of the tongue is not doing the work as well. The difference is if you wind up on TV and have gaps in your teeth, then you want to be able to make the sounds further back.

I got it. Here I sit with a hand held mirror practicing your last response.
To me it sounds better. It is more in the back of my mouth, and you can not see my tongue moving while my teeth are slightly apart.

A male ventriloquist spends more time in front of the mirror than his wife.

To mirror the topic, one should also have the puppet on while looking in the mirror. It really allows you to see what can be done. Granted, in the case of the dragon and the toucan your choices are preset as to movement.

I have often found better ways to hold a puppet while practicing in the mirror. Look for
Height What looks best when comparing your height to the puppets?
Distance apart Close means safe. What about the lion or gator? A cautious distance might look better.
Emotions Try showing different emotions silently with the puppets' movements.

I kind of did that also. Being a beginner, I want to first prefect the technique of not moving my lips while also learning the script. When one REALLY knows their script I feel it is easier to concentrate on technique.
Not having received my toucan yet I of course can not really work on him yet, but what I did was put my dragon on my shoulder and have been also practicing doing the toucan's voice, the dragon's voice and my voice, while also reacting to an invisible bird. Gee, I hope know one is peeking through my windows at me. They'll know I'm crazy.
I'm guessing that I'm 3 months away from performing this routine. I really want to get this down. Last summer was a slow time for me and it seems this June is no better then last June with only 1 show scheduled so far. So I might as well practice this.

Hi Chris;

Going back to your original message, I have found warm-ups are essential to a successful kids show.
Think of a warm-up as a mini "pre-show" that engages the audiences and gets them clapping and shouting BEFORE the actual show starts.

Headline acts will have a warm-up band before the show to build anticipation for the headliner. We don't have that luxury, but it is still very important to set-up the audience.

Consider this, for many of the kids in the audience, this might be their first live performance.
They need to be told how to react to a live show!
Check out David Ginn's web-site.
He has several books with routine ideas for warm-ups.

This alone made a huge difference in both the reaction to my show and my attitude towards my audience.
Please encourage and allow your audience to react to your hard work!!

Best Wishes.

David Ginn does have a tremendous selection of warm ups. I find it particularly helpful to teach kindergarten students how to be an audience at the beginning of the school year. One of my favorites is to teach them the way that movie stars learn how to laugh, even if they don't feel like it.

"Are there any boys and girls who would like to be an actor someday? GREAT! I'm going to teach you how an actor learns how to laugh, even if they don't feel like it. It's as easy as counting! If they are in a movie and they are told to give a small laugh they can say one HA! Let's try that. Ha! GOOD! If it's a little bit funnier they can say two ha's. Ha, ha! Now let's try three! Ha, ha, ha! Today you are going to see some things that get four or five laughs in a row! Hold up one hand. Now make a fist. As you say Ha, ha, ha, ha you can quickly put up your fingers. Now try five and you can add your thumb! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

The hard part will be to stop laughing! A movie would cost a lot of money to make if the actors couldn't stop laughing! And today you will hear some funny things but you'll need to stop laughing so you can hear the next thing that is said. Let's try a 5 ha laugh and see if it can get really quiet afterward. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Pretty good!

2. Main tip: If kids do get unruly the best thing to do is to give them something physical to do. This takes their mind off of their mouths and they generally stop talking. Works for ages up to 10 and 11. I usually say, "Everyone take a deep breath! Hold it, hold it, hold it. Now let it out slowly..." That only takes 10 seconds to quiet the whole gym full of kids!
Another from Bill Wilson is "Get your backs straight, feet comfortable, hands comfortable, and eyes looking right...... HERE!" That also only takes 10 seconds to quiet a whole crowd.