Repertoire
How to Organize Your Magic Repertoire (and Never Forget a Trick)
What to record for every trick, how to track what is performance-ready, which tags actually help, and how to keep your methods private — a system for working magicians.
By the Magician Helper team · Updated · 7 min read
Most magicians know far more tricks than they perform. Some are in a notebook, some in a drawer with their gimmicks, some in a video you bookmarked years ago. When a client asks for a 20-minute set without a table, you should be able to build it in minutes — not by searching your memory. Here is a simple system to organize your repertoire.
What to record for every trick
You do not need to fill everything at once, but these fields are the ones you will actually use:
- Name — the name you use, and the published name if it is different.
- Effect — what the audience sees, in one or two sentences. This is what you read when building a set.
- Method — how it works, kept private (more on that below).
- Category — cards, coins, mentalism, close-up, parlour, stage, children.
- Status — where the trick is in your learning (see the next section).
- Duration and reset — how long it plays and whether it needs a reset between groups.
- Difficulty and angles — can it be done surrounded? Standing? Without a table?
- Props — everything it needs, including consumables like flash paper or rubber bands.
- Source and credits — the book, video or creator you learned it from.
- Notes — patter lines, audience reactions, video references of your own performances.
Track where each trick stands
A trick you watched once and a trick you have performed two hundred times do not belong in the same list. Give each one a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| To learn | Bought, seen or noted — not started. |
| Learning | You are working on the method and the moves. |
| Needs polish | It works, but the handling, patter or timing is not there yet. |
| Performance-ready | You would happily do it for a paying audience tonight. |
Only “performance-ready” tricks go into setlists. The other columns become your practice plan — read how to practice magic to move them along.
Tags that actually help
Categories describe what a trick is. Tags describe when you can use it. Useful examples:
- Conditions: no table, surrounded, walk-around, needs a chair, loud room.
- Audience: kids-friendly, family, corporate, small group.
- Role in a set: opener, closer, signature, souvenir.
- Practical: instant reset, pocket-only, borrowed object.
Keep the list short. A tag that you use on one trick is not a tag, it is a note.
Keep your methods private
Your methods are part of your livelihood and often belong to their creators. Do not keep them in a shared document whose link might be forwarded, or in a notes app synced to a family account. Use a tool where your data is private to your account, and where the method stays hidden on screen until you choose to reveal it — so you can open your repertoire in front of a client without exposing anything.
Notebook, spreadsheet or app?
| Tool | Good for | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Paper notebook | Thinking, sketching routines | No search, easy to lose, not with you at the gig |
| Spreadsheet | Free, sortable | Methods visible to anyone who opens it, hard to use on a phone |
| Notes app | Always on your phone | No statuses or filters; becomes a long scroll |
| Dedicated app | Statuses, filters, props, setlists linked together | A subscription |
Review it once a month
Take ten minutes each month to look at your repertoire: which performance-ready tricks you have not performed or practiced in a while, which ones are stuck in “needs polish”, and which new ones deserve to start. That small habit keeps your best material warm and your sets fresh. When you are ready to put tricks together, read how to build a magic setlist.