**UPDATE: THE DECAL IS NOW MONDAY and WEDNESDAY 6.30-8 IN 108 WHEELER**
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Ever wanted a better introduction than "what's your name" or "how are you?"
Ever wanted to distinguish yourself, or hold the attention of a room of people with a borrowed, $2, worn-down deck of cards?
Ever been asked to showcase a talent, but froze?
Learn Magic!
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Description
“What is Magic? The power of magic is not in the trick we think we see... It's the act itself... The image a magician creates... The way it makes us feel... That certain sense of childlike wonder...” -David Blaine
This Decal course is about learning and performing magic as well as understanding the psychology behind how tricks deceive people’s perceptions. You will learn the history, basic theories, psychology, and skills behind magic so you can understand the fundamental aspects of what make magic an amazing and deceptive art form and perform tricks for real people, sharing with them a wonderful and unforgettable experience. All skill levels are welcome, and we will primarily focus around card magic that can be performed in an intimate or public setting. For the midterm, students choose a magic trick they like and perform it for people around campus, and for the final, students will demonstrate a mastery of sleight-of-hand techniques taught in the class that will enable them to create tricks of their own. While we teach many secrets of the trade, the main purpose of this course is to illustrate the true beauty of magic and integrate magic into students' lives by giving them the confidence and creativity to learn and perform magic. Whether you want to simply improve your social standing by being able to perform amazing tricks to, learn the ingenuity and creativity of the methods behind magic tricks, or understand the psychological aspects that magicians exploit to make a magic trick truly deceptive, this class is for you!
Key Learning Outcomes
From this course, students will become familiar with magic, understand the psychology behind how magic tricks work, perform magic tricks confidently in any situation (e.g. to strangers), and learn the basics of creating their own magic. As a result, students will be able to take the lessons and principles they learn from magic and apply them to their own careers and goals.
That's all fine and dandy, but what effects exactly will students be able to perform? The sleights we teach, and theory about structure and creating a magical experience can be applied to an infinite number of tricks, limited only by creativity. However, here are some of the effects possible.
Transposition: Two signed, unique cards chosen by the spectator switch places while held by the spectator.
Change: An indifferent card visually dissolves into the spectator's chosen card.
Sandwich control: Under impossible circumstances, a card is found and visually sandwiched by two other cards.
Predictions: The spectator's thought of card is fairly predicted from the start of the routine.
Order from Chaos: The cards are mixed far more chaotically than a simple shuffle, and impossibly separates into its original condition, without the magician's interference.
Vanishes: The spectator's selection vanishes visually and appears in the spectator's hand.
Other tricks are taught too, but these are just a few to whet your appetite. All students will be able to do these tricks by the end of the semester, with practice.
Course Format
1. Lecture: Lectures will be the primary tool to give students information about the principles of magic and the mechanics and psychology behind how tricks work. Once students become familiar with these aspects of magic, the practice and performance portions of the class will become more important, but lecture is still a key way to help students learn the nuances of magic as well as the psychology associated with it.
2. Office Hours: Office Hours are designed for students who want to explore magic in more depth. This optional discussion will be grouped by instructors outside of class to focus on specific topics. Students are free to drop-by any office hour, and attending office hours can get extra credit for the class. More importantly, attending office hours will vastly improve a student’s repertoire and help them cement the image of them as a magician. Students may prepare questions or routines when coming to office hours. Office hours will be held by rotating instructors. Times and locations TBA.
3. DVD Rentals: Starting around the third week of instruction, magic instructional DVDs will be made available for students to borrow. A student can borrow one DVD at a time. DVDs give students the opportunity to learn from an alternative source and to learn material more thoroughly. They also provide new ideas for tricks that students can perform for their midterm or final.
4. Guest Lectures: We will be having a few professional magicians as guest lecturers. They will be giving lectures on presentation, acting, creativity, theory, and other aspects of magic. Guest Lecturers TBA.
Performance Evaluation Guideline
1. 50% - Attendance and Participation - Attendance is CRUCIAL for this course. Missing class will hinder one's growth in magic because many of the moves and concepts we teach are built on one another. Students are allowed up to 2 unexcused absences and up to 3 excused absences. To excuse an absence, students MUST email the main facilitator 24 hours before the missed class with a valid excuse. Students must also participate in group activity, as it is an essential part of learning the material.
2. 10% - Readings and Responses – The readings serve to give students a more academic perspective on the information presented in class. Readings will be emailed out every week along with a set of discussion questions. All readings can be found online or in the library.
3. 15% - Midterm - The midterm is designed to give the students an opportunity to perform magic for real people. This is a P/NP test, and students can retake the test until they pass to ensure a progression in their magic career.
4. 25% - Final - A major part of the grade will come from a final performance at the end of the class. Students will take a trick they have learned in class or on their own, create a routine with it, study it, practice it, and finally perform it. There will also be an evaluation of the sleight-of-hand techniques taught in the class in order to ensure that students can create and perform great magic in the future. We will be guiding students throughout this process.
Required Materials
A deck of playing cards. You are free to use any deck of your choosing, but we highly recommend using Bicycle® brand playing cards.
Magic Club
We also have a Magic Club on campus. If you would like to join the club's email list, please email magicatcal@gmail.com.
No day(s) left until application deadline!
Section | Facilitator | Size | Location | Time | Starts | Status | CCN(LD) | CCN(UD) |
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Magic | Rupert Kay, Young Cai, Henry Tang | 30 | 108 Wheeler | [M, W] 6:30PM-8:00PM | 09/06/2017 | Open | -- | -- |
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