Card Magic Notation

This page dedicates to the so-called Symbolic Method, a universal notation for card tricks. Based on a categorization of the technical elements employed in card magic it allows to describe their technical backbone in a most concise manner. It is to card magic what notes are to music.

The Método Simbólico, as it is originally named, was designed by Juan Tamariz, who published it in 1978. Mostly ignored, silently forgotten, and eventually declared as too specific, difficult, theoretical and obsolete, it may be considered the maestro's most fundamental, most practical, highly intuitive and visionary contribution to card magic, ranking among the most intellectual and groundbraking ever delivered to the inner circle.

It was not before 2022 when the method gained new attention with the publication of the 2nd edition of Sonata, Juan Tamariz's masterpiece first released in 1991. Included with Sonata is the reprint of the New Mini-Symbolic Method booklet that provides an excellent introduction to the essential elements of the notation. The full set of references is provided further below.

The concept of a notation, as opposed to the use of words, has been introduced and established in many artistic disciplines such as music, dance, choreography. In all these places notation is unquestioned and fundamentally anchored as it allows for fast workflows and efficient studies. The underlying idea is a strict separation of the artistic and technical elements, the latter ones which are addressed by symbolic notation. This approach is also applicable to card magic.

The artistic jacket of a performance aside, card tricks can be primarily described as a sequence of position checks and actions. Along with those, there are secondary elements such as patter (statements, questions, responses), structural elements (e.g. the set-up, phases, repetitive loops), dramatical elements (e.g. pause, effect) and compositional elements (e.g. in-transit, synchronized, intersecting actions). Notation is the best way to reveal all this in a most accurate, consistent and transparent manner, visually and holistic. As if x-raying the card trick while it evolves, its technical backbone gets drafted, step by step. Dissected and layed out in this way, the student is in a best position to elaborate over all aspects of the performance - approaching tricks in this manner literally opens up new perspectives to the students. Traditional formats, books and videos, serve as the primary source to introduce the trick, to discuss sleight details and, in a more or less tideous manner, to explain the trick's backbone. Notation serves for the practical work in the same way notes serve the musician during the daily rehearsals.

The Symbolic Approach

Three ideas are applied:

1. Trick sequences are formulated by means of symbols for position checks (e.g. the sequence of cards in the piles) and symbols for actions (e.g., turn card, take a break, do a double lift, etc.)

2. The symbols are parametrized for additional context: the card's suit and value, its position in a deck (e.g. a break below the 3rd from top), whether a position is face up or face down, or whether an action delivers a card in either face up or face down condition (e.g. deal a card in face up or face down manner).

3. Some amazingly powerful rules apply:

- on position checks, dots/circles on the left signal a face down condition, dots/circles on the right signal a face up condition.

- on actions, arrows pointing up signal an action that delivers a card in a face down (i.e. in an back-up) condition, and vice versa.

The most important Symbolic Rules

Please hold your device in landscape orientation for best viewing experience.

Icons were created by the Symbolic Method app, available on the App Store.

An Example

All this allows for efficient visual formulations, as illustrated on the following simple example which may represent a typical trick sequence embedded into a larger routine.

Intro One by One Final Arrangement

The applied symbolic elements are illustrated, first, one by one, before then showing them in a seamless arrangement typical for symbolic documents.

An ace of hearts, followed by a king of spades is located topmost on a face down deck. Ace and King are reversed (i). A double turnover is executed (1), followed by a push-off (2) of the now top card which is dealt (3) face down to the table. The ace remains on top of the deck, while the king is tabled instead (iii). This description encloses three position checks, i), ii), iii), and three actions, 1),2), and 3). In notation, top-downwards:

i		An ace of hearts, followed by a king of spades is located topmost on a face down deck. Ace and king are reversed.
1		A double turnover is executed...
2		... followed by a push-off of the now top card...
ii		King and ace, in this order, are now face down on top of the deck
3		...which is dealt face down to the table.
iii		The ace remains on top of the deck, ...
iii		... while the king is tabled instead.

The above serves to give a first idea. Even though the symbolic vocabulary has not been disclosed yet, the reader may spot the radically different approach to verbose descriptions.

The above sequence is now arranged into a seamless grid layout. Additional details were included to specify the performer's patter; that the turnover and the pushoff are synchronized actions; and where the card was dealt to (to the upper right table segment). Also, some boxes for closely related actions and position checks were combined vertically. Read each row from left to right before moving downwards. On a phone device the grid arrangement is best seen when held in landscape orientation.

Symbolic Overview

What follows is a list of the most frequently used symbols.

Intro Position Checks Actions I Actions II Counts Shuffles Objects Pockets Drama and Grammar Miscellaneous The Airtight Pressure Grip Places Structure

The most typical symbolic elements, grouped into various categories, are presented.

Item	Symbol	Comment
1	Position Checks
1.1		single card, face down
1.2		single card, face up
1.3		an ace of spades, face down
1.4		double face card, AC is face up, and 2H is face down
1.5		double backer, blUe back showing-up, and Red back showing-down
1.6		a pile of cards
1.7		a sequence of cards (aces) on top of a deck, all face down
1.8		a sequence of cards, face down aces on a face up deck
1.9		a sequence of cards, all face down except face up ace of clubs
1.10		same as above, in image 1.9, but with break below the aces
2	Deck, generic symbol
2.1		a deck, face down
2.2		a deck, face up
2.3		a deck, face down
2.4		a deck, face up

3	Turns
3.1		turning a single card face down (back-up)
3.2		turning a single card face up (back-down)
3.3		turning a deck face down (back-up)
3.4		turning a deck face up (back-down)
3.5		double turnover, ending face down
3.6		triple turnover, ending face down
3.7		quadruple turnover, ending face down
4	Breaks, Arrangements
4.1		taking a break below 3rd from top
4.2		taking a break above 3rd from bottom
4.3		combining right hand pile over the left hand pile
4.4		splitting the deck, taking top part into right, and bottom part into the left (hand)
5	Deals, Takes, Push-offs
5.1		deal face down (back-up)
5.2		deal face up (back-down)
5.3		lifting one card (face down)
5.4		double-lifting two cards (face down)
5.5		single card push-off
5.6		double push-off
5.7		stud dealing a card, so it ends face up (back-down)
5.8		stud dealing a card, so it ends face down (back-up)
5.9		forcing a card, here: the KH
5.10		selecting a card
5.11		returning a card
5.12		counting n cards without reversing the order
5.13		counting n cards reversing the order
5.14		buckle the bottom three cards

6.	Cuts
6.1		straight cut
6.2		false cut
6.3		a pass
6.4		a half pass
6	Controls
6.6		controlling a card control the chosen card to 2nd from top
6.7		glimpse the 3rd card from the top glimpse the 2nd card from below
7	Hidden Maneuvers
7.1		squaring the deck
7.2		switch in AH, and switch out 2C
7.3a		palming once card in left hand
7.3b		palming once card in right hand
7.4		culling, here: the Kings
7.5a		crimping at lower left corner
7.5b		crimping at lower right corner
7.6		out jogging a card, here: the chosen card
7.7a		inserting a card, here: below the 4th from top
7.7b		tilting a card, here: below the 2nd from the top
8	Open maneuvers
8.1		spreading a deck face down
8.2		fanning a deck face down

9	Detailed Counts	Numbers indicate the original positions, dashes mark the separate counts or beats, asterisks mark hidden cards. The arrow indicates the order in which cards are sequenced from the top after the count. The positions within each beat are always sequenced from left-to-right. Of course, cards can only be sequenced once, even if the were counted twice.
9.1		Jordan count count 5 as 4 the 4th card is hidden at the 3nd beat the arrow indicates that the final order is: 1,2,3,4,5
9.2		Elmsley count count 4 as 4 the 3rd card is hidden at the 2nd beat the arrow indicates that the final order is: 1,4,2,3
9.3a		Rhythm count - the left hand card falls last count 4 as 4 cards actually shown are 2, 4 and 2, 4 again the arrow indicates that the final order is: 4,2,3,1
9.3b		Rhythm count - the right hand card falls last count 4 as 4 cards actually shown are 2, 4 and 2, 4 again the arrow indicates that the final order is: 2,4,3,1
9.4a		Ascanio count count 5 as 4 3rd card is hidden the arrow indicates that the final order is: 1,2,3,4,5
9.4b		Ascanio count - the double is replaced on top count 5 as 4 3rd card is hidden the arrow indicates that the final order is: 2,3,1,4,5
9.5		Standard reverse count (to table) count 5 as 4 4th card is hidden at 3rd beat the arrow indicates that the final order is: 5,3,4,2,1

10	Shuffles
10.1		Out faro
10.2		In faro
10.3		riffle shuffle, left pile runs last
10.4		riffle shuffle, left pile runs first
10.5		push through strip out
10.6		Shank/Zarrow shuffle
10.7		ovrhand shuffle
10.8		running cards
10.9		milking cards
10.10		OLRAM subtlety

11	Objects
11.1		table
11.2		pen
11.3		case
11.4		coin
11.5		left hand
11.6		right hand
11.7		spectator
11.8		magician

11.9	Pockets
11.10		left outer breast pocket, 5D in outer right breast pocket
11.11		left jacket pocket, AH in right jacket pocket
11.12		left jacket pocket, 3S in right jacket pocket
11.13		left inner jacket pocket, right inner jacket pocket

14	Compositional overlays
14.1		effect
14.2		Acción: initial
14.3		Acción: in-transit
14.4		Acción: final
14.5		fidget
14.6		affirmation
14.7		synchronized
14.8		intersecting

12	Miscellaneous
12.1		watch
12.2		say
12.3		think
13	Generic
13.1		a generic move or action in verbose form
13.2		Ascii art for the rare case illustration is needed, here: the original 'Ralph Cos Airtight Pressure Grip' from 1986, inspired by Jay Sankey's amazing Airtight routine.
13.3		patter

14	The Airtight Pressure Grip
14.1		The original 'Ralph Cos Airtight Pressure Grip' from 1986, inspired by Jay Sankey's amazing Airtight routine. Reference: Ralph Cos, Magical Mystery Yeahs & Wows p. 20, Simsalabonn, 1987

15	Places, Coordinates
15.1		upper left table segment
15.2		center table segment
15.3		lower right table segment

16	Structure
16.1		pause
16.2		open loop
16.3		close loop
16.4		end

Symbolic Method in Praxis

Tamariz originally devised the method as a shorthand script for pencil and paper. This way it serves to annotate books and publications, and to take notes during lectures, during creative sessions, and to pin down ideas. Only a few attempts are needed to achieve accurate and concise results.

Times have changed since then.

The symbolic method is now available in digital format on iPhone and iPads. Documents can be finetuned, extended, if needed printed to paper, shared by email etc. The digital application uses vector graphics for the symbols and allows the student to configure the number of rows and columns on the screen, to set the colours and font sizes to allow for the best possible rendering. Documents are encryptet in xml file format. The iPhone app (ideally launched on an iPad, supported by a stand while you practise with the cards in your hand) serves to manage an entire repertoire, making it available for the daily dedication to the tricks and ideas. Symbolic Method is available on the Appstore, here.

Symbolic Method replaces an earlier solution that was released in 2001 for the Microsoft Word platform.

Authorization and Credits

References