Method behind the magic

Most of us have watched transfixed as illusionists perform their ‘magic tricks’, asking ourselves in wonder: “How did they do that?” 

Simon Coronel went beyond asking the question and discovered the secrets for himself. A graduate in Arts and Engineering, Mr Coronel has applied his skills as a software engineer and programmer to develop new skills as a magician and illusionist. 

As a lover and user of video games, Mr Coronel became interested in the programming of games, an interest he went on to develop as an engineering student. He now uses that methodical approach to problem-solving in the context of performing ‘magic’.

As a student, Mr Coronel joined the Melbourne University Magicians' Society and started to see that magic could be interesting and accessible.

“Not only were they doing things that looked impossible without being condescending about it, they were also teaching hands-on classes in how to learn them yourself. Having an actual person walk me through the complex and counter-intuitive processes to make an illusion work was what enabled me to actually start getting my head around it,” he says.

“At the time, it was just a hobby; something enjoyable and fascinating to explore in between other interests. It was only after doing it for several years that it even occurred to me that it might become more than that.”

After graduating and working in the corporate world, Mr Coronel knew there were far more connections between engineering and magic than one might think. 

“The connections between magic and engineering as a discipline are things like designing, testing, error margins and all the general problem-solving and debugging that’s involved in engineered work. All these steps are hugely relevant to making an illusion work effectively in performance.

“My favourite area of software engineering was and still is user interface (UI) design. One of the reasons good UI design is so difficult is that it requires you to put yourself in the shoes and indeed, the mind of the user; someone who will likely be very different from you, and see the world very differently. When creating an illusion – which literally happens in the mind of the audience – the same mindset is very valuable,” he explains.

Mr Coronel believes the project management skills he attained as a student of software development, have also been incredibly useful. 

“The difference between doing a few tricks and producing a whole public show is enormous. Having decent project management, task and milestone tracking, and other management infrastructure can make a huge difference.”

According to Mr Coronel, performing in public is not unlike delivering a lecture or teaching a group of students. Performers need to consider staging, vocal modulation, reaction of audience and the need to plan for possible failure. 

Working as a magician has brought him back into the corporate world as an entertainer at events and conferences.

Mr Coronel is also developing online resources for those wanting to learn magic.

“I'm actually in the middle of developing my own online version of a beginners course I've been teaching, in order to deal with the lack of current suitable teaching tools. Not surprisingly, I'm using most of the skills I learned in my software engineering degree to do so.”

www.eng.unimelb.edu.au/

www.simoncoronel.com/